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Launceston is located in the north of Cornwall next to the Devon border, ideally located between the Bodmin Moor to the west and the Dartmoor to the east. The town of Launceston is known as the gateway to Cornwall and is a traditional Cornish place with narrow streets, Georgian houses and market square.
Launceston lies close to the Devon border and was Cornwall's capital until 1835. All the traffic entering Cornwall had to pass through the narrow 12th century Southgate Arch until a bypass was built here 20 years ago.
Launceston Castle was first built as an earthworks castle after the Norman Conquest located high on a grassy mound from where the Earls of Cornwall could control their vast estates. Today all that remains is a rough hewn cylindrical keep and round curtain walls run by English Heritage.
Launceston still retains much of its original architecture and the Lawrence House Museum is housed in a red bricked Georgian building with well displayed local exhibits.
The Launceston Steam Railway is a heritage railway that runs five mile round trips to New Mills through the Kensey Valley on narrow gauge steam locomotives built in the 1880's and 1890's for the transportation of slate in the quarries of North Wales.
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