Restormel Castle

Restormel was part of the fiefdom of the Norman magnate Robert, Count of Mortain, located within the manor of Bodardle in the parish of Lanlivery. Restormel Castle was probably built after the Norman Conquest of England as a motte and bailey castle around 1100 by Baldwin Fitz Turstin, the local sheriff. Baldwin's descendants continued to hold the manor as vassals and tenants of the Earls of Cornwall for nearly 200 years. It may have been originally used as a hunting lodge as well as a fortification. Robert de Cardinham, lord of the manor between 1192 and 1225, built up the inner curtain walls and converted the gatehouse completely to stone, giving the castle its current design. The castle…

Located on a spur 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. 71 examples are known in England and Wales, of which Restormel Castle is the most intact. Such castles were built by converting a wooden motte-and-bailey castle, the external palisade replaced by a stone wall and the internal bailey filled with domestic stone buildings. These were clustered around the inside of the wall to provide a defence. The buildings are curved to fit into the shell keep, in an extreme example of the 13th-century trend. The wall measures 38 m in…

In 1925, Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall – later King Edward VIII – entrusted the ruin to the Office of Works. In 1971 a proposal was to restore the castle, but was dropped after strong opposition. A decade later, the castle was designated a scheduled monument.