St Mawes Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; St Mose; St Marys; St Maudet; Pendinas; La Vousa

In the civil parish of St Just In Roseland. In the historic county of Cornwall (Modern Authority of Cornwall, 1974 county of Cornwall).

St Mawes artillery castle was built between 1540 and 1543, as one of a chain of coastal defences constructed by Henry VIII to counter the threat of French and Spanish invasion following the English Reformation. It is situated on a broad headland at the mouth of the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall. St Mawes was built just above an earlier fortification dating to the late 1530s, which was probably a preliminary attempt to fortify this coastline. From the 17th to 20th centuries, the slopes of the headland around the artillery castle were modified by successive phases of gun batteries as well as World War II searchlight emplacements. A lower gun battery was also built just below the castle (see associated records). The Henrician castle consists of a central keep with three semi-circular bastions arranged about it in clover-leaf pattern. The main entrance is on the landward side of the keep, approached through a hexagonal guardhouse and then by a stone bridge over a deep dry moat. Originally there may have been a drawbridge. The keep is of three storeys and housed a kitchen in the basement, accommodation for ordinary soldiers on the first floor, accommodation for the governor and chief officers on the second floor and an open gun platform on the roof reached by a winding staircase. In the late 17th century a lead-covered dome, called a cupola, was added to the castle's stair turret as a daymark - a maritime navigational aid. The part-circular forward bastion provided the castle's main gun deck on the ground floor and a raised gun platform on the upper floor. The castle was built under the direction of Thomas Treffry and it is constructed of local slatestone rubble with granite employed on many of the architectural features. There are many carved and incised decorative elements to the design including the Royal Arms over the keep, carved sea monsters, shield plaques, gargoyles as well as dedicatory and laudatory inscriptions to Henry VIII. (PastScape)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 63079)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SW84113275

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 428635
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://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/conProperty.307
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/stmawes.html
    http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_south/204/stmawescastle.htm
    http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/england/st-mawes/st-mawes.php
• Books
  • Harrington, Peter, 2007, The Castles of Henry VIII (Oxford: Osprey)
    Duffy, Michael, 1999, 'Coastal Defences and Garrisons 1480-1914' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p158-60
    Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p35-7
    Saunders, Andrew, 1997, Channel Defences (London; Batsford/English Heritage)
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p22
    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) p289-90
    Price, M. and H., 1980, Castles of Cornwall (Bossiney Books) p33-44
    Morley, B.M., 1976, Henry VIII and the Development of Coastal Defence (London) p13-4, 18-9, 40
    Pevsner, Nikolaus; revised by Enid Radcliffe, 1970, Buildings of England: Cornwall (Harmondsworth) p189-90
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p792-3
    Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p113-5
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England (New York: Macmillan) Vol2 p12-13 http://www.archive.org/stream/castlesofengland02mack#page/12/mode/1up
    Oliver, S.P., 1984, Pendennis and St Mawes: an historical sketch of two Cornish castles (Redruth: Dyllansow Truran) [facsimile of the 1875 edition]
    Lysons, D. and S., 1814, Magna Britannia Vol3 Cornwall [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=403]
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p28
• Journal Articles
  • Jenkins, S.C., 2007, Fort Vol35 p153-172
• Guidebooks
  • Linzey, Dick, 1999, Pendennis and St Mawes (London: English Heritage)
    Morley, B., 1988, The castles of Pendennis & St Mawes (London: English Heritage)
    Anon. 1985, Pendennis and St Mawes castles (London. English Heritage)
    Anon, 1963, Pendennis and St Mawes castles (HMSO)
    1947, Saint Mawes Castle [guide] (Ministry of Works, Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings)
    Drake, 1934, Saint Mawes Castle (HMSO)
• 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) p73, 75, 86