Churches of the British Isles

A second mention of the church dates to 1281, but that building, possibly Norman, was largely replaced in the fourteenth century by the present building. It consists of a nave, aisle, and north and west transepts, the latter being the tower which holds a peal of eight bells. A restoration (completed in 1993) was a major event here. The roof - the main cause for concern - was fully renovated. The interior and exterior stonework was also fully cleaned and re-rendered.

St Chad's Chapel was supposedly part of Penlyn House which lies on the south-eastern side of the A390 Edgcumbe Road as it heads towards Crewel. The house was the seat of the Kendall family, but the chapel seems not to exist in historical references. The subject of its dedication, St Chad or Ceda, was the patron of Lichfield, Worcester, and Coventry, all in Mercia, but the chapel at this house was probably a small domestic establishment of the less grandiose variety.

St Peter's Old Chapel, Poldew, lay in what is now a small field just a hundred-or-so metres to the south Poldew Farm (pictured here), on the eastern side of the B3269. There are multiple references to an ancient chapel at Poldew, and its approximate location is marked on late Victorian OS maps. It was one of a group of medieval chapels (probably chantries) in the parish, the others being at Bodardle (see below), St Chad Penlyn (see above), and La Pyle (Pill Old Chapel).

St Nicholas Old Chapel, Bodardle, is another of several medieval chapels in the parish, most of which were probably chantries which were closed at the Reformation. There are multiple references to this particular chapel, in the manor of Bodardle or Bodarle, on the eastern side of Poldew Woods. It was dedicated on 13 April 1387, and is mentioned again in 1422. Its location is uncertain, but it was highly likely to have been attached to the current Bodardle Farm area.

Lostwithiel Congregational Chapel stood where today's Clentworth Terrace exists, on the west side (on the photo's left) of the truncated Restormel Road in Lostwithiel, about forty metres north of the Liddicoat Road junction. The chapel was erected in 1807 and rebuilt and enlarged in 1878-1879 at a cost of £800. It was a plain building of stone with 250 sittings. There was an additional cemetery (laid out in 1857) but the chapel was eventually closed and demolished.

Elim Church (Lostwithiel Community Centre) meets in the centre itself, at the north-east corner of the junction between Pleyber Christ Way and the A390 Liddicoat Road, just fifty metres due east of the former site of the Congregational chapel (see above). The 'Oasis' room is the site of the regular Sunday meetings for this congregation, part of the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance. Elim church seems not to have had an earlier purpose-built meeting room of its own here.

The second site of Lostwithiel Wesleyan Methodist Chapel sits at the south-west corner of the Liddicoat Road junction with Restormel Road (formerly Norman Lane). It was built in 1880 to replace an earlier chapel on King Street (see below). Construction was in stone with granite and Bath stone dressings, in the Decorated style. It also had a twenty-one metre-high tower and spire on the north side. It closed in 1965 due to poor attendance and was quickly demolished.

King Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel stands at the northern end of the narrow King Street in Lostwithiel. It was erected around 1812 to replace North Street's meeting house (see links), although it doesn't appear on maps until after 1823. It closed after 1880 with the building of a grander Wesleyan chapel on Norman Lane (the second Wesleyan site - see above). This building was later converted into residential accommodation, with a plaque to remember its history.

Lostwithiel United Free Methodist Chapel is on the eastern side of Lostwithiel's Liddicoat Road, midway between Duke Street and Bodmin Hill. The first chapel here was built in 1835, a plain stone structure possibly with a Sunday school attached. 'The Bank' on which it was built became Albert Terrace following Queen Victoria's 1846 visit, while the chapel became known locally as Bank Methodist Chapel. It was rebuilt in the late 1890s, but closed in 1987 to become flats.

All photos on this page by Jo Lewis. Additional information from The Cornwall Register: Containing Collections Relative to the Past and Present State of the 209 Parishes, Forming the County, Archdeaconry, Parliamentary Divisions, and Poor Law Unions of Cornwall ; to which is Added a Brief View of the Adjoining Towns and Parishes in Devon, from Hartland to Plymouth, John Wallis (Liddell and Son, 1847).