RELICS dating back 380 years to the English Civil War were put on display at a two-day exhibition held in Tywardreath.

Members of In Search Of Tywardreath (ISOT), a community group dedicated to researching the past, hosted displays about the pivotal Battle of Lostwithiel, at St Andrew's Church in their village.

The items on show included a cannon ball and musket shot found at the site of fighting at Castle Dore in the summer of 1644. Other finds from the site included powder caps, a powder measure, pistol shot and coins from the reign of Charles I. There was also a helmet that had belonged to a soldier.

Around 200 people visited the exhibition and they were able to learn about the civil war between the supporters of the King, known as Royalists and Cavaliers, and those who backed the English Parliament, the Roundheads, also called Parliamentarians. The Cornish, by and large, supported Charles I. However, Lord Robartes of Lanhydrock, in common with the town of Plymouth, was for Parliament.

A sketch map showed army movements in the area in August 1644. The Earl of Essex commanded around 10,000 Roundheads. Some of these forces plundered the land around Tywardreath and Lostwithiel, ransacked Menabilly and tried to blow up Lostwithiel Church tower with Royalist prisoners inside.

The Cavaliers responded to the arrival of the Roundheads and skirmishes took place along the eastern bank of the River Fowey where Royalists with Charles I were out in force.

Then the two armies met at Braddock Down, south of the Lostwithiel-Liskeard road, with the Roundheads being routed in battle.

Skirmishing continued on high ground between Tywardreath and Fowey, and Essex made a final stand at Castle Dore. On August 31, there was fierce fighting all day with the Cavaliers overcoming their adversaries. Essex and Robartes escaped by boat to Plymouth but thousands of their troops were captured and harshly treated.

The prisoners, marched off to the east, found themselves mocked, looted, stripped of their clothes and boots, attacked and sometimes murdered.

Essex later described the defeat as “the greatest blow we ever suffered”.

A spokesperson for ISOT said of the exhibition: “There were lots of artefacts and finds including musket balls, a cannon ball and a helmet that had belonged to a Roundhead. There were details of why there was a civil war and how it altered life in the area.

“There were lots of maps and a whole section on The King’s General, written by Daphne du Maurier and based on the fact that a Cavalier’s skeleton had been found at Menabilly. The heroine in the story was an actual person, Honor Harris, who is remembered by a plaque in St Andrew's Church.”