Launceston, Cornwall

Launceston ( or , locally or , kw, Lannstevan; rarely spelled Lanson as a local abbreviation) is a town, ancient borough, and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. It is west of the middle stage of the River Tamar, which constitutes almost the entire border between

and

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

. The landscape of the town is generally steep particularly at a sharp south-western knoll topped by Launceston Castle. These gradients fall down to the

River Kensey The River Kensey is a river in east Cornwall, England, UK which is a tributary of the River Tamar. The river rises at Kensey in the parish of Treneglos Treneglos ( kw, Treneglos) is a hamlet and a civil parish in north-east Cornwall, Engl ...

and smaller tributaries. The town centre itself is bypassed and is no longer physically a main thoroughfare. The A388 still runs through the town close to the centre. The town remains figuratively the "gateway to Cornwall", due to having the A30, one of the two dual carriageways into the county, pass directly next to the town. The other dual carriageway and alternative main point of entry is the A38 at Saltash over the Tamar Bridge and was completed in 1962. There are smaller points of entry to Cornwall on minor roads.

Launceston Steam Railway The Launceston Steam Railway is a narrow gauge railway, in Cornwall, England. The railway operates from the town of Launceston to Newmills, where there is a farm park; it is long. The railway is built on the trackbed of the former stan ...

narrow-gauge

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

runs as a tourist attraction during the summer months. It was restored for aesthetic and industrial heritage purposes and runs along a short rural route, it is popular with visitors but does not run for much of the year. Launceston Castle was built by

Robert, Count of Mortain Robert, Count of Mortain, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (–) was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother (on their mother's side) of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hast ...

(half-brother of William the Conqueror) 1070 to control the surrounding area. Launceston was the ''

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