Camelford Town
The official web site of Camelford Town Council
Camelford Town Trail
Norman. In 1311 the Camelford burgesses (leading citizens) built their own chapel near the river crossing in the town and dedicated it to St. Thomas of Canterbury This however, was despoiled at the Reformation, fell into disrepair and was eventually demolished.
Crossing the road from the car park you come to a long building (now owned by Sleep's Farm Supplies) which was once the town jail, where during the Napoleonic wars, it is said that many French prisoners of war were locked up. During the first world war it became a cheese factory, and it was later used as an army barracks.
"misappropriation of the funds" the school ceased to function for most of the 19lh Century.
The handsome Bridge House on the left shows that by the mid-seventeenth century, Camelford was a sufficiently prosperous place to be deemed suitable for a substantial "gentleman's residence". Looking back at the gable-end of the house from the bridge you can see how the roof was raised (probably in the late 18th century) to accommodate a third story, making the house even more imposing.
1. St. Thomas Church
2. The Town Jail
3. Bridge House
The name of the town tells us the earliest crossing of the River Camel at this point was a ford, but certainly there has been a bridge here since 1521 when there are records of its being repaired. Probably the earliest one was of timber, to be superseded later by stone. As carts and carriages got bigger and heavier, the bridge would have been strengthened and widened Most recently, the river bed underneath has been deepened, to accommodate the floodwater after heavy rain, which used to flood the lower part of the town.
4. The Mason,s Arms
5. The Free Methodist Chapel
Next door but one is the "The Methodist Chapel". This was built in 1837 by a group of Wesleyans who had rebelled against the "despotic and tyrannical" organisation of the Central Methodist Conference and had been banned from the original chapel in Back Street. At the time of its opening, the chapel was described in the "West Briton" as "a neat building and an ornament to the town".
Click on drawing to reveal colour photograph
Photography: © Bob Ireland