Lostwithiel Duchy Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Restormil; Raistormel; Convocation Hall; Stannary Palace

In the civil parish of Lostwithiel.
In the historic county of Cornwall.
Modern Authority of Cornwall.
1974 county of Cornwall.
Medieval County of Cornwall.

OS Map Grid Reference: SX104596
Latitude 50.40660° Longitude -4.66834°

Lostwithiel Duchy Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Edmund, Earl of Cornwall built a great range of buildings, c 1290, "to accommodate the county court and stannary offices. There was a county hall, a 'coinage' hall ... a prison ... and an exchequer." The buildings were kept in good repair until the 17th c when they were apparently allowed to fall into decay. "Buck's view of 1734 shows them in ruins, and when the Duchy offices were removed from the town in 1874, they were sold and further mutilated. The remains of the coinage hall were converted into a Freemasons' Lodge in 1878, and are still used for this purpose." The remains of walls and archways built into adjacent houses show in some measure the great extent of the whole". (HKW, Henderson) The extent of the Duchy Palace is accurately delineated on the OS 25" 1905 and since then, except for some demolition in the extreme SW corner, there have been few alterations to the property. It has been adapted to use as dwellings and warehouses, and the coinage hall is still the Masonic Lodge. The premises are all of two storey height, constructed of coursed killas with numerous granite doorways, window frames etc. Evidently most of the walling is medieval to C17, if not of C13. Glossed over by Pevsner with the apt remark that "the remains of the Stannary Court .. have not been sufficiently investigated." (Field Investigators Comments F1 NVQ 18-SEP-70). (PastScape)

Comments

Although called the Duchy Palace this was the administrative centre of the Duchy. The Dukes residence in the area was Restormel Castle. Restormel was an almost pure pleasure palace for hunting, with some slight agricultural role whereas the Duchy Palace had the court house and jail and was where taxes were collected and also probably had the military function of munitions store and base for what few soldiers there were in the area. The surviving building is a small part of the complex that was said to be modelled on Westminster Palace. The complexities of Cornish government, particularly the Stannaries, were and still are complex and the site reflects both that complexity and the importance of the Duchy.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1327326 , 1144243 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 432153.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 29004.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
  The Prince's Regeneration Trust
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 239, 260
  Berry, Eric, 2009 (rev edn), Convocation Hall (Duchy Palace) Lostwithiel Historic Building Report (Cornwall Buildings Preservation Trust)) online copy
  Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p. 982-3
  Pevsner, N., 1951, Buildings of England: Cornwall p. 108
  Henderson, Charles (edited by Rowse, A.L. and Henderson, M.I.), 1963 (original written 1935), Essays in Cornish history (Clarendon Press) p. 48
  Hext, F.M., 1891, Memorials of Lostwithiel p. 53-4
Periodical Articles
- Guy, N., 2010-11, 'Lostwithiel's 'Duchy Palace'' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 24 p. 202-215
  Fraser, R., April 2009, 'Rescuing The Duchy Palace' Cornwall Life p. 38-39 online copy
  Johnson, N. and Rose, P., 1984, 'Quay Street, Lostwithiel' Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow Vol. 23 p. 189 online copy
  Pounds, N.J.G., 1979, 'The Duchy Palace at Lostwithiel, Cornwall' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 136 p. 203-17
  Whiteley, H.M., 1912-13, 'The Great Coinage Hall of Lostwithiel' Devon and Cornwall notes and queries Vol. 7 p. 225-32
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 86
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 323 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Jo Sturgess and Nigel Thomas, 2013, The Duchy Palace, Lostwithiel, Cornwall Historic building record and archaeological watching brief (Cornwall Council and Cornwall Buildings Preservation Trust) online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 26 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 26 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 23 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 32 online copy
  Tyers, I., 2010, Old Duchy Palace, Lostwithiel, Cornwall: Dendrochronological Analysis of Oak Timbers (English Heritage Research Department Reports series 1-2010)

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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