Restormel Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Restormil; Raistormel; Tywardreath; Lestmel

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

Restormel Castle was first built as a motte and bailey castle by Baldwin Fitz Turstin, Sheriff of Cornwall in around 1100 AD. It stands on the summit of a spur projecting into the west side of the River Fowey valley. The motte has a diameter of about 52 metres with a surrounding ditch and bank. The rectangular bailey was sited on gently sloping land extending west south west from the motte and today remains marked by earthworks. The earthworks indicate the siting of a hall, chapel, kitchen and administrative centre within the bailey. The circular shell keep, on top of the motte was constructed in about 1200 AD. It measures about 125 feet in diameter and was built to replace the original timber defences. The keep comprises a curtain wall nearly 2.5 metres thick, butted against the earlier gate tower and surviving to the height of the wall walk with a battlemented parapet. Inside this is an inner courtyard bounded by a circular wall. The internal structures included guardhouses, a kitchen, great hall, solar, ante-chamber, bed chamber and guest chamber. In the 13th century a chapel was added, projecting beyond the curtain wall on the west side. The castle was acquired by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, in the reign of Henry III (reigned 1216-1272), and his successor, Earl Edmund, appears to have made it his chief residence. Edmund converted the existing shell keep into its present form in the later 13th century. Thereafter it served more as a lordly residence then a defensive structure, standing within a large deer park. In 1337, the castle was handed over to Edward of Woodstock or 'the Black Prince' as 1st Duke of Cornwall, and he made extensive repairs. After the prince died (1376), the castle declined before it was garrisoned by the Parliamentarians during the civil war, only to be captured by Royalist forces in 1644. It thereafter fell into decay and became a picturesque ruin. In 1925, guardianship of the monument passed to the Ministry of Works. (PastScape)
On one occasion called Tywardreath which has lead to idea that there was a separate castle of Tywardreath.
Crieghton states the masonry was of one phase of the late C12, that the earthwork of the old ringwork were added to by adding to the base of the new masonry walls (c.f. Lydford 'keep') to make the castle have the appearance of sitting on a motte, giving this new masonry an more ancient look and presence. The castle is sat in the centre of a deer park, with other high status features, such as a hermitage, in the surrounding landscape.
Certainly after the castle was obtained by Earl Richard is was used as a pure pleasure palace. The Duchy administrative and judicial centre was the Lostwithiel Duchy Palace (qv) - which probably also functioned as the military storehouse. Creighton also make the point that the castle is not sited with the bounds of a nearby Roman fort at the strongest military location but on a false crest which gives the castle the highest visibility. It should be noted that the choice of this location was made in the late C11, in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest. The implication is that, from the start, this castle was more designed as a high status, highly visible, residence than anything else.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX10406138

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 432711
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.

• Web site links
  • http://homepages.tesco.net/~k.wasley/Restormel.htm
    http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/england/restormel/restormel.php
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_south/200/restormelcastle.htm
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.300
    http://www.itraveluk.co.uk/content/434.html
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/restormel.html
• Books
  • Creighton, O.H., 2009, Designs Upon the Land (Boydell and Brewer) p15-23
    Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p136-43
    Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p32-4
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p20-21 [plan]
    Spreadbury, I. D., 1984, Castles in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Redruth)
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p75
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p284
    Price, M. and H., 1980, Castles of Cornwall (Bossiney Books) p19-32
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Pevsner, N. revised by Enid Radcliffe, 1970, Buildings of England: Cornwall (Harmondsworth) p132-3
    Renn, D.F., 1969, Three Shell Keeps (HMSO) p16-21
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p804-5
    Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain (Heinemann) p62-3 plan
    Toy, Sidney, 1939, Castles: A short History of Fortifications from 1600 BC to AD 1600 (London) p60-1
    Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p109-111
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p11-2
    Hext, 1891, Lostwithiel and Restormel (Truro) p203-24
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p361
    Lysons, D. and S., 1814, Magna Britannia Vol3 Cornwall p. ccxli, 176-8 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=403]
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p26
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol1 p40-41 http://books.google.com/books?id=D01LAAAAMAAJ, Vol8 p46
    Borlase, William, 1754, Antiquites, historical and monumental, of the county of Cornwall (Oxford) p356-8
• Journal Articles
  • Preston-Jones, Ann and Rose, Peter, 1986, 'Medieval Cornwall' Cornish Archaeology Vol25 p135-185 http://www.cornisharchaeology.org.uk/documents/CA25-5s2.pdf
    Radford, C.A.R.,1974, 'Restormel Castle' Archaeological Journal Vol130 p292-4
    King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol3 p90-127
    Toy, S., 1933, 'The Round Castles of Cornwall' Archaeologia Vol83 p220-6 [plans]
    Quiller-Couch, 1879, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol35 p155-8
    Clark, 1862, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol17 p310-12
    MacLauchlan, 1849, Royal Institute of Cornwall 31st report p28-9 [slight]
• Guidebooks
  • Nicholas Molyneux, 2003, Restormel Castle (London: English Heritage)
    Radford, C.A.R.,1986, Restormel Castle (London: English Heritage)
    Radford, C.A.R.,1980 (2edn), Restormel Castle (HMSO)
    Radford, C.A.R.,1947, Restormel Castle (HMSO)
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p143
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/cornwalleng.html#cornwall1]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p78, 86
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p205 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl01lelauoft
• Other sources, 'grey' literature, unpublished works, etc. (Theses, in-house reports and other such)
  • Higham, Robert and Creighton, Oliver, 16 May 2009, 'Castle Studies in Transition: a forty-year reflection' Castles, Landscapes and Lordship: Aspects of Castle Studies (Royal Archaeological Institute/Yorkshire Archaeological Society Medieval Section Conference at York)