The Gatehouse website record for Carn Brea Castle

In the civil parish of Carn Brea. In the historic county of Cornwall (Modern Authority of Cornwall, 1974 county of Cornwall).

Carnbrea Castle is a small irregular building about 60 ft long and 10 ft wide. Only part of the building is ancient the masonry of which is very crude and the modern part has probably been built on ancient foundations (Lysons). Carnbrea Castle is mostly C18 building of folly type, now used as a private house. The NW side incorporates heavy boulder masonry for about 3.0m above ground level but there is no distinct building line between this and the obvious later work. The plain pointed arched doorways have no dateable features (F1 NVQ 24-MAR-70). Carn Brea Castle was used as a hunting lodge by the Bassets (See SW 64 SE 17 for medieval deep park) (Henderson). Carnbrea Castle is first mentioned in 1478 (Worcestre). The building stands on a narrow, irregular ledge of rock which results in varying levels of floors for different rooms. Only part of the masonry is original and Borlase records former outworks at the north end (Borlase). Renovation of the castle, including the complete gutting of the interior, has revealed varying styles of stonework and a number of hidden features which are shown on C18 and C19 drawings. In the small turret at the west end, accepted as the earliest section, a small window has been exposed looking west. At the base of the north wall of the east wing a previously blocked arched recess has been opened into a cellar, which is mentioned in C19 accounts as being the only means of access. A few feet to the west is the open, lower end of a Medieval garderobe. The location of the Medieval chapel remains uncertain but is probably represented by the upper two rooms in the east wing. In both the north and south walls are two arched windows with interior stone sills which appear to be of Medieval date (Mercer, Tangye). (PastScape)
Leland records it as associated with a park and it is clear this was a hunting lodge, built to add dramatic interest to the hunting. It is within an Iron Age hill fort but this is not a fortified site.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SW68644086

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 426089
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.