Qualla: Launceston, Cornwall

Launceston, Cornwall: Introduction

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Harrie Gielen, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cross the River Tamar from Devon at Polson Bridge and the first town in Cornwall is Launceston, set on a steep hill above the small River Kensey. On top of the hill is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle, built by William the Conqueror's half-brother. Below it, an arch of the original town wall - the South Gate - still spans the road. Launceston is the only town in Cornwall with a surviving medieval wall, and it served as the county town for more than seven centuries before Bodmin took over in 1838. The town's motto, granted for its Royalist stubbornness in the 1640s, is Royale et Loyale. Most Cornish towns argue about their identity. Launceston has always known what it is.

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Image: Harrie Gielen | CC BY-SA 4.0

Launceston, Cornwall: Two Names for One Town

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ian Thompson, CC BY-SA 2.0. Launceston has answered to two names for most of its history. The Cornish name, Lannstevan, means "church enclosure of St Stephen" - the lan element is common Brittonic for a sacred enclosure - and refers to the original Saxon-era monastery at St Stephen's, on the northern edge o...

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Image: Ian Thompson | CC BY-SA 2.0

Launceston, Cornwall: The Conqueror's Half-Brother

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. Launceston Castle was built shortly after 1066 by Robert, Count of Mortain - the half-brother of William the Conqueror - to control the strategic crossing of the Tamar and dominate the surrounding country. The motte still rises sixty feet above the town, the keep on top still sub...

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Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

Launceston, Cornwall: Royale et Loyale

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Paul Loft, CC BY-SA 2.0. In the English Civil War of the 1640s, Launceston declared firmly for Charles I. The Prince of Wales, later Charles II, stopped in the town for a few days on his way to join the Cavalier army further west. In 1643, Parliamentarian forces under Major General James Chudleigh advanc...

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Image: Paul Loft | CC BY-SA 2.0

Launceston, Cornwall: The Man Who Predicted Neptune

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit David Johnson [1], CC BY-SA 3.0. On 23 September 1846, the German astronomer Johann Galle pointed his telescope at the coordinates a young Cambridge mathematician had calculated and saw a new planet. It was Neptune. The mathematician was John Couch Adams, born in Laneast just outside Launceston in 1819, who had ...

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Image: David Johnson [1] | CC BY-SA 3.0

Launceston, Cornwall: What's Worth Stopping For

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lastenglishking, CC BY-SA 4.0. Lawrence House on Castle Street, a Grade II* listed Georgian townhouse, holds the town museum. St Mary Magdalene's Church was largely rebuilt between 1511 and 1524 by Sir Henry Trecarrel as a memorial to his infant son, who died while being bathed. The granite carvings on the ext...

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Image: Lastenglishking | CC BY-SA 4.0