Lostwithiel Methodist Church (also known
as Taprell House Methodist Church) stands amongst a terrace
of stone-built cottages. The path is accessed via a gated entrance
next to the red telephone box on the south side of North Street,
twenty metres from the Liddicoat Road junction. When Bank Methodist
Chapel (see links) closed in 1987 the local Methodists met in St
Saviour's (see links) for a while until Taprell House, which
predates 1550, became available in the 1990s.
St Katherine's Old Chapel lay virtually
opposite North Street's entrance to the Methodist Church (above).
Medieval North Street grew in importance, with buildings along its
north side. These included a chapel by the early 1400s, thought to
have been dedicated to St Katherine. The Reformation saw it closed
and by 1620 it was noted as 'decayed chapel and old pair of walls
sometime known [as] the chapel'. This was redeveloped into today's
houses at Nos 16-17.
The Parish Church of St Bartholomew
occupies a large churchyard at the south-west corner of the junction
between North Street and Church Lane. Its dedication is for St
Bartholomew the Apostle and Martyr, and the structure was probably
erected about the year 1190 by Robert de Cardinan, lord of the town
of Lostwithiel and possessor of a great deal of property in the
neighbourhood. It replaced an earlier church which was perhaps Saxon
but probably Celtic in origin.
The Pentewan stone tower was added in the
thirteenth century, to be capped off with the spire in the early
fourteenth century. An octagonal screen was added around its base
around the same time, with windows on four of its eight sides (since
removed). The church was restored in 1878 and 1879 by Messrs Phelp
and Brown of Lostwithiel. The internal plaster ceiling was removed
in favour of an open-timbered pine roof, the pews were taken out,
and the floors relaid.
North Street Wesleyan Meeting House
stands at No 22, on the northern side, opposite the parish
church (above). This stone-faced building was established as
the town's first Wesleyan meeting house in 1790, a year after
John Wesley had visited the town. Records from 1823 note the
existence of a 'preaching house' here. By 1812 the Methodists
had been able to erect a purpose-built chapel on King Street
(see links), and the house returned to private use.
Pill Old Chapel (or Pyle) lies at the
southern end of a long lane which connects under the railway bridge
to the eastern end of Dark Lane, on Lostwithiel's southern edge.
Lanlivery parish once contained a number of chapels, including those
of St Nicholas at Bodardle, St Peter at Poldew, and St Chad at Pelyn
(see links for all three). The fourth was at the 'mansion of La
Pyle' (today the area is referred to as Pill). All were closed at
the Reformation and remains are scant.
