Restormel Castle

Restormel Castle
Lostwithiel, Cornwall
Restormel Castle, seen from the west.
Restormel Castle
Coordinates	50°25′20″N 4°40′17″W / 50.4223°N 4.6715°W / 50.4223; -4.6715Coordinates: 50°25′20″N 4°40′17″W / 50.4223°N 4.6715°W / 50.4223; -4.6715
Grid reference	grid reference SX1032561466
Type	Shell keep with bailey
Site information
Owner	English Heritage
Controlled by	English Heritage
Condition	Ruined
Site history
Materials	Shale

Restormel Castle (Cornish: Kastel Rostorrmel) 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. Now in the care of English Heritage, it is open to the public.

Located on a spur of high ground overlooking the River Fowey, 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 of all. 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 38 metres (125 ft) in diameter and is up to 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) thick. It still stands to its full height with a wall walk 7.6 metres (25 ft) above the ground, and the battlemented parapet is also reasonably intact. The wall is surrounded in turn by a ditch measuring 15 metres (49 ft) by 4 metres (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. On the opposite side, a square tower projecting out from the wall contains the chapel; it is thought to have been a 13th century addition. It appears to have been converted into a gun emplacement during the English Civil War. A former external bailey wall, apparently constructed of timber with earthwork defences, has since been destroyed, leaving no trace. There are also historical references to a dungeon, also now vanished.