Restormel Castle

Overlooking the River Fowey, this typical motte and bailey style castle was first built c1100, and is surrounded by a deep, wide moat, long since dried up. However, Restormel Castle is rather unusual as its huge circular shell Keep encloses the principal apartments of the castle and, viewed from above, resembles an amphitheatre.

Restormel Castle was entered over a drawbridge, and there is some evidence to suggest that a second drawbridge existed at one time within the square Gate Tower. Little evidence remains of the original castle, but some masonry of a very early date can be seen at the base of the Gate Tower. Construction of the vast stone Keep during the early years of the 13th century would have replaced former timber defences, and most of the battlemented parapet has survived remarkably well. Towards the end of the century, the main castle buildings within the Keep were completed, including the accommodation, kitchen and great hall, located around a circular courtyard. A well chamber in the courtyard provided the original water supply, but an additional source was supplied from a spring, sited on the higher ground outside of Restormel Castle itself, and sections of leaden conduit have been found throughout the buildings and surrounding fields.

When the chapel was added, a wide archway was cut through the stone curtain of the Keep leading to a rectangular eastern projection built specifically for that purpose. Not too much of this exists today, but an arched piscina still stands on the south side of the altar.

During different periods of history, Restormel Castle has belonged to the Crown, the final date being 1299. Since then Restormel Castle has belonged to the Duchy of Cornwall (originally Earldom of Cornwall), and this provides an income for the Sovereign's eldest son. In 1354 and in 1365 it is known that Edward, the Black Prince, visited Restormel Castle and, for a while, made it his home. Even before the Civil War, the castle buildings had been abandoned and had begun to fall into ruins, but they enjoyed a brief spell of rehabitation when the Parliamentarians garrisoned the Keep. However, Restormel Castle was captured on 21 August 1644, and from that point was left to decay through neglect.

Now to be found in a very quiet spot in the Cornish countryside, Restormel Castle retains its air of wealth and power as it sits high above the valley, not surrounded by a deer park, as in the Middle Ages, but a very pleasant picnic spot nonetheless.