Restormel Castle, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, UK
Restormel Castle lies by the River Fowey near Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England, UK. It is one of the four chief Norman castles of Cornwall, the others being Launceston, Tintagel and Trematon. The castle is notable for its perfectly circular design. Although once a luxurious residence of the Earl of Cornwall, the castle was all but ruined by the 16th century. It was briefly reoccupied and fought over during the English Civil War but was subsequently abandoned. It is now under the supervision of the English Heritage and open to the public.
Restormel Castle is an unusually well-preserved example of a circular shell keep, a rare type of fortification built during a short period in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Only 71 examples are known in England and Wales, of which Restormel Castle is the most intact. Such castles were built by converting a wooden motte-and-bailey castle through replacing the external palisade with a stone wall and filling the internal bailey with domestic stone buildings, clustered around the inside of the wall to form a defensive bailey; the buildings are curved to fit into the shell keep, in an extreme example of the 13th-century trend.
The wall measures 125 ft in diameter and is up to 8 ft thick. It still stands to its full height with a wall walk 25 ft above the ground, and the battlemented parapet is also reasonably intact. The wall is surrounded in turn by a ditch measuring 50 ft) by 13 ft deep. Both the wall and the internal buildings were constructed from slate, which appears to have been quarried from the scarp face north-east of the castle.
The domestic buildings within the wall included a kitchen, hall, solar, guest chambers, and an ante-chapel. Water from a natural spring was piped under pressure into the castle buildings. A square gate tower, largely ruined, guards the entrance to the inner castle, and may have been the first part of the original castle to have been partially constructed in stone.
The castle appears to stand upon a motte; its massive walls were, unusually for the period, sunk deep into the original motte. The effect is heightened by a surrounding ringwork, subsequently filled in on the inner side so as to appear to heap against the castle wall.
Restormel was part of the fiefdom of the Norman magnate Robert, Count of Mortain, located within the manor of Bodardle in the parish of Lanlivery. Restormel Castle was probably originally built after the Norman conquest of England as a motte and bailey castle around 1100 by Baldwin Fitz Turstin, the local sheriff. Baldwin's descendants continued to hold the manor as vassals and tenants of the Earls of Cornwall for nearly 200 years.
The castle overlooked the primary crossing point over the River Fowey, a key tactical location; it may have been originally intended for use as a hunting lodge as well as a fortification, however.
Restormel Castle, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, UK
Restormel Castle lies by the River Fowey near Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England, UK. It is one of the four chief Norman castles of Cornwall, the others being Launceston, Tintagel and Trematon. The castle is notable for its perfectly circular design. Although once a luxurious residence of the Earl of Cornwall, the castle was all but ruined by the 16th century. It was briefly reoccupied and fought over during the English Civil War but was subsequently abandoned. It is now under the supervision of the English Heritage and open to the public.
Restormel Castle is an unusually well-preserved example of a circular shell keep, a rare type of fortification built during a short period in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Only 71 examples are known in England and Wales, of which Restormel Castle is the most intact. Such castles were built by converting a wooden motte-and-bailey castle through replacing the external palisade with a stone wall and filling the internal bailey with domestic stone buildings, clustered around the inside of the wall to form a defensive bailey; the buildings are curved to fit into the shell keep, in an extreme example of the 13th-century trend.
The wall measures 125 ft in diameter and is up to 8 ft thick. It still stands to its full height with a wall walk 25 ft above the ground, and the battlemented parapet is also reasonably intact. The wall is surrounded in turn by a ditch measuring 50 ft) by 13 ft deep. Both the wall and the internal buildings were constructed from slate, which appears to have been quarried from the scarp face north-east of the castle.
The domestic buildings within the wall included a kitchen, hall, solar, guest chambers, and an ante-chapel. Water from a natural spring was piped under pressure into the castle buildings. A square gate tower, largely ruined, guards the entrance to the inner castle, and may have been the first part of the original castle to have been partially constructed in stone.
The castle appears to stand upon a motte; its massive walls were, unusually for the period, sunk deep into the original motte. The effect is heightened by a surrounding ringwork, subsequently filled in on the inner side so as to appear to heap against the castle wall.
Restormel was part of the fiefdom of the Norman magnate Robert, Count of Mortain, located within the manor of Bodardle in the parish of Lanlivery. Restormel Castle was probably originally built after the Norman conquest of England as a motte and bailey castle around 1100 by Baldwin Fitz Turstin, the local sheriff. Baldwin's descendants continued to hold the manor as vassals and tenants of the Earls of Cornwall for nearly 200 years.
The castle overlooked the primary crossing point over the River Fowey, a key tactical location; it may have been originally intended for use as a hunting lodge as well as a fortification, however.