Holidays in Launceston, Cornwall – Castle, Walled Town & Steam Railway

HOLIDAYS IN LAUNCESTON

Launceston – pronounced “Lanson” by many locals – is often called the ancient capital of Cornwall. Standing on a hill above the River Kensey, a mile from the River Tamar and the border with Devon, it was for centuries the gateway into Cornwall, and its Norman castle still crowns the town.

The heart of Launceston is the old walled town that grew up beneath the castle. It is often described as the only walled town in Cornwall, and the medieval Southgate Arch still spans the road into the town centre. Within the old walls are narrow streets, a busy town square, fine Georgian houses and the extraordinary church of St Mary Magdalene, whose granite walls are carved on almost every stone.

For centuries Launceston was the county town, where the assizes were held and Cornwall’s prisoners were kept in the castle gaol. Today it is a friendly market town with independent shops, cafés, pubs and restaurants, a thriving community and a strong sense of its own history.

It is also a superb base for exploring. Bodmin Moor rises to the west and Dartmoor to the east, the Tamar Valley winds south towards Plymouth, and the beaches of the north coast at Bude, Crackington Haven and Boscastle are within easy reach. The A30 bypasses the town, making it quick and easy to reach from Exeter and the rest of Cornwall.

Families will love the Launceston Steam Railway, which runs vintage narrow gauge trains along the Kensey valley, and the castle with its towering keep. Walkers, cyclists and anglers have the countryside of the Tamar and the moors on the doorstep, and there are plenty of holiday cottages, farmhouses and B&Bs in the town and surrounding villages.

This guide covers everything you need for a holiday in Launceston: the castle, the walled town, its churches, history and famous people, the steam railway, things to do, walks, places nearby and local events, plus practical visitor information on parking, buses, shops and health services.

LAUNCESTON CASTLE

Launceston Castle stands on a great mound at the top of the town, with views across the Tamar Valley to Dartmoor and west towards Bodmin Moor. It was founded soon after the Norman Conquest, around 1068–1070, and by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 it was held by Robert, Count of Mortain, the half-brother of William the Conqueror – one of only two castles recorded in Cornwall.

The first castle was built of earth and timber, with a motte and bailey. Stone soon replaced the timber, and a shell keep was built around the top of the mound. In the 13th century Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III and one of the richest men in Europe thanks to Cornish tin, rebuilt much of the castle and added a tall round tower inside the shell keep – creating the unusual “tower within a tower” that still dominates the town.

As the earls moved their chief seat elsewhere, the castle became Cornwall’s courthouse and county gaol. Its prison had such a grim reputation that it was known as “Castle Terrible”. The Catholic priest Cuthbert Mayne was held here before his execution in the town in 1577, and the Quaker leader George Fox was imprisoned in the notorious “Doomsdale” cell in 1656.

Today the castle is cared for by English Heritage. You enter through the old gateway from the town, cross the grassy bailey past the castle lodge, and climb the steps up the mound and through the keep to the top of the tower, where the views are superb. A small exhibition tells the castle’s long story.

The climb to the top involves 64–68 steps, some steep and narrow, with handrails and resting places. There is no parking at the castle, and no toilets on site; the town car parks and facilities are only a few minutes’ walk away. The castle is open seasonally – see our Launceston Castle guide and check opening days before you visit.

THE WALLED TOWN

The medieval town of Launceston grew up within the outer defences of the castle. Its walls had three gates – the North Gate, the West Gate and the South Gate – but no east gate, because on that side the ground falls away almost like a cliff to the valley below. Stretches of the old wall survive behind the houses, and much of the old town is now a conservation area.

The Southgate Arch is the only one of the three gates still standing. Its main arch is medieval, with two rooms above added in the 16th century, and the smaller pedestrian arch alongside was added in the 19th century. The slate-hung cottages around it, and steep Angel Hill beside it, once the main road into the town from England, look much as they did two hundred years ago.

At the heart of the town is the Square, dominated by the war memorial, with the White Hart Hotel and fine old shopfronts around it. From here Broad Street, High Street, Church Street and Westgate Street lead off past independent shops, cafés, galleries and pubs. Look up above the modern shopfronts and you will see the slate hanging, sash windows and carved cornices of buildings from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

On Western Road, opposite the castle gateway, is the Victorian Guildhall and Town Hall, built between 1881 and 1887, whose clock has carved quarterjacks that strike the quarter hours. Behind the castle, Castle Street is a handsome street of Georgian houses, much admired by Sir John Betjeman, including Lawrence House, home of the town museum, and the Eagle House Hotel.

The museum at Lawrence House tells the story of Launceston and its people, from the castle and the assizes to the feudal dues still paid to the Duke of Cornwall. The main museum building has been closed for repairs, with a pop-up museum at Merchant House, 13 High Street – check before you visit.

Below the town, steep lanes and steps lead down to the River Kensey and the old district of St Thomas, while along the top of the old town wall The Walk offers wonderful views across the Tamar valley to Devon and Dartmoor.

ST MARY MAGDALENE & ST THOMAS

Launceston’s parish church of St Mary Magdalene is one of the most remarkable churches in Cornwall. Apart from its older tower, it was rebuilt between 1511 and 1524 by Sir Henry Trecarrel of Trecarrel, as a memorial to his infant son, and its granite exterior is carved on almost every stone – with flowers, shields, coats of arms, musicians and inscriptions. It is listed Grade I.

At the east end of the church, below the window, lies a carved figure of Mary Magdalene. Local tradition says that if you can throw a pebble over your shoulder so that it lands and stays on her back, you will have good luck – the old version promised a new suit of clothes. Inside are many memorials to Launceston families.

Down in the valley of the River Kensey, the little church of St Thomas the Apostle stands beside the scant remains of Launceston Priory. The priory was founded in 1127 by William Warelwast, Bishop of Exeter, and became one of the wealthiest religious houses in Cornwall, but it was dissolved in 1539 and later pulled down. Its foundations were rediscovered in 1886–88 during the building of the railway and a gasholder.

Nearby, the medieval Prior’s Bridge crosses the Kensey. On the hill to the north, the church of St Stephen marks the site of the original Launceston – the Cornish name Lannstevan means “church enclosure of St Stephen”. A monastery stood here in Saxon times, and the market moved from St Stephen’s to the new town below the castle after the Norman Conquest.

HISTORY OF LAUNCESTON

Launceston’s story begins at St Stephen’s, where there was a Saxon monastery and, by the late 10th century, one of the earliest mints in Cornwall, striking coins for King Æthelred. After the Norman Conquest the new castle was built on the hill of Dunheved across the valley, the market moved there in 1086, and a new town grew up around it. The borough kept the formal name “Dunheved, otherwise Launceston” until 1974.

Launceston became the chief seat of the earls of Cornwall and, for centuries, the county town. The assizes were held here, the county gaol was in the castle, and the town flourished as the market centre for a wide area between Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor. In 1337 Edward III created the Duchy of Cornwall for his son, the Black Prince, and Launceston Castle became part of the Duchy.

The town has a long link with the Duke of Cornwall. By ancient custom, each new Duke receives his feudal dues at Launceston – curious tokens from the old Duchy manors, such as a pair of gilt spurs, a salmon spear and a goat-skin mantle. The ceremony was revived in 1909 and held again in 1921, 1937 and 1973, when Prince Charles received the dues at the castle.

During the Civil War Launceston was strongly Royalist, and in 1643 Sir Ralph Hopton’s Royalist army held Beacon Hill against the Parliamentarians – the town’s motto, Royale et Loyale, recalls its loyalty. In 1838 the assizes moved to the new Shire Hall at Bodmin, and Launceston lost its status as county town, but it remained an important market town.

The railways arrived in the 19th century: a Great Western branch line from Plymouth via Tavistock, and later the London and South Western’s North Cornwall line. Both have closed – the last passenger trains ran in 1966 – but part of the old trackbed now carries the Launceston Steam Railway. Today the town, bypassed by the A30, has a population of over 10,000 and continues to grow.

FAMOUS LAUNCESTONIANS

Charles Causley (1917–2003), one of Britain’s best-loved poets, was born in Launceston and lived here for most of his life, teaching at the local primary school. His ballads and poems for children are read around the world. His home at Cyprus Well, where he lived from 1952 to 2003, carries a blue plaque, and the Charles Causley Trust celebrates his life and work, including a festival in the town.

Philip Gidley King (1758–1808), son of a Launceston draper, was born in Southgate Street. He became a Royal Navy officer and, from 1800 to 1806, the third Governor of New South Wales. The city of Launceston in Tasmania, on the Tasmanian River Tamar, was named after his home town.

Launceston’s history also remembers two famous prisoners. St Cuthbert Mayne, the first seminary priest to be executed in Elizabethan England, was put to death in the town in 1577 and is honoured as a Catholic saint and martyr. George Fox, founder of the Quakers, was held in appalling conditions in the castle gaol in 1656; his account of the Doomsdale cell is one of the most vivid descriptions of a 17th-century prison.

LAUNCESTON STEAM RAILWAY

The Launceston Steam Railway is one of the town’s most popular attractions. It is a preserved narrow gauge line that runs for about two and a half miles (four kilometres) west along the valley of the River Kensey to Newmills, on the trackbed of the old North Cornwall Railway.

The trains are hauled by beautifully restored vintage steam locomotives. The railway opened in 1983, and its first locomotive, Lilian, a Hunslet saddle tank built in 1883, is still a favourite with visitors.

The station is on St Thomas Road, below the town, and the railway usually runs on selected days through the summer, with the first train mid-morning and the last return train late afternoon. Check the railway’s own website for current operating dates before you travel.

THINGS TO DO IN LAUNCESTON

Launceston is a town to explore on foot. A morning at the castle, a walk around the old town and a look inside St Mary Magdalene’s will give you a real feel for its history, while the shops, cafés and the steam railway will keep everyone happy.

Here are some of the best things to do in and around Launceston:

1. Climb Launceston Castle – to the top of the tower within a tower, for views to Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor.
2. Walk through the Southgate Arch – the last of the town’s three medieval gates.
3. See St Mary Magdalene’s – the carved granite church, and try your luck with a pebble.
4. Ride the Launceston Steam Railway – vintage narrow gauge steam trains to Newmills.
5. Visit the town museum – the Lawrence House pop-up museum on High Street.
6. Explore Castle Street – one of the finest Georgian streets in Cornwall.
7. Find the priory ruins – beside St Thomas’ Church and the Prior’s Bridge in the Kensey valley.
8. Follow the Causley trail – discover the places linked with poet Charles Causley.
9. Head onto Bodmin Moor – Altarnun, Jamaica Inn and Brown Willy are a short drive west.
10. Visit the north coast – the beaches of Bude, Crackington Haven and Boscastle.

WALKS AROUND LAUNCESTON

The best way to see Launceston is on foot. A town trail around the old walled town takes in the castle, the Southgate Arch, St Mary Magdalene’s, the Square, Castle Street and The Walk along the line of the old town wall – around a mile and a half, with some steep hills and steps.

From the town, steep lanes lead down to the River Kensey, where riverside paths pass St Thomas’ Church, the priory ruins and the Prior’s Bridge. Further afield, the lanes and footpaths of the Tamar valley and the open moorland of Bodmin Moor offer some of the finest walking in East Cornwall.

Wherever you walk, wear good shoes – Launceston is a hilly town – and on the moors take a map, water and warm, waterproof clothing, as the weather can change quickly.

AROUND LAUNCESTON

• Bodmin Moor – Altarnun, Jamaica Inn, Rough Tor and Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, a short drive west.
• The Tamar Valley – a National Landscape of wooded river valleys, villages and old mining country stretching south towards Plymouth.
• Dartmoor – the national park begins just across the Devon border, beyond Lifton and Lydford.
• Bude – surf beaches, the sea pool and the canal, about 18 miles north.
• Crackington Haven – a dramatic cove with folded cliffs and coast path walks.
• Boscastle – the National Trust harbour village, about 17 miles north-west.

LOCAL EVENTS

Launceston has a busy calendar through the year, from the agricultural show in summer to festivals, markets and events at the castle and the steam railway.

• Launceston Show (late July) – the town’s agricultural show, founded more than 130 years ago, with horses, poultry, a dog show, crafts and classic cars.
• Charles Causley Festival (in recent years) – readings, talks and workshops celebrating the town’s poet.
• Launceston Steam Railway (summer) – steam trains to Newmills on selected days.
• English Heritage events (seasonal) – family activities and living history at Launceston Castle.
• Royal Cornwall Show (June) – three days at the Royal Cornwall Showground near Wadebridge.

Dates change from year to year, so check before you travel.