Fowey Blockhouse (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Fowey Castle

In the civil parish of Fowey.
In the historic county of Cornwall.
Modern Authority of Cornwall.
1974 county of Cornwall.
Medieval County of Cornwall.

OS Map Grid Reference: SX12175133
Latitude 50.33193° Longitude -4.64045°

Fowey Blockhouse has been described as a certain Artillery Fort, and also as a certain Chain Tower.

There are major building remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

at the entry of the haven on the west syd is a blokke howse and a chapel of S. Catarine be the same. Also ther is on the same syd a towre with ordenans for defens of the haven. (Leland)

Boom tower survives as a ruined three storied rectangular building, built into the side of the cliff which forms the bank of the River Fowey, and is located opposite another chain tower Polruan Blockhouse. The structure is roofless and is constructed of local slate, with three walls surviving, the south east wall having collapsed at some time in the past. The chain tower was probably built in response to a raid on the town of Fowey by the French in 1457. Leland states that the tower was built during the reign of Edward IV. The two boom towers were designed to have a chain laid across the river between them which could be raised to prevent enemy shipping reaching the town of Fowey. Advances in artillery made the tower obsolete and it was superseded by St Catherine's Castle in the 1520s. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1019056, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 31863
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1327315
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 432257.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 26850.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
Books
- Purton, P.F., 2009, A History of the Late Medieval Siege: 1200-1500 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) p. 374
  Harrington, Peter, 2007, The Castles of Henry VIII (Oxford: Osprey) p. 10 (mention)
  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) p. 136-43
  Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 20
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 18
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 73
  Henderson, Charles (edited by Rowse, A.L. and Henderson, M.I.), 1963 (original written 1935), Essays in Cornish history (Clarendon Press) p. 35
  Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p. 112
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 3 online copy
  Lysons, D. and S., 1814, Magna Britannia Vol. 3 Cornwall online transcription
  Buck, Samuel and Nathaniel, 1774, Buck's Antiquities (London) Vol. 1 p. 23
  Grose, Francis, 1787, Antiquities of England and Wales (London) Vol. 8 p. 16-21 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 214-15
  Whitley, H.M., 1883-5, 'Cornwall and the Spanish Armada' Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall Vol. 8 p. 150 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 76, 77, 86
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 204 online copy

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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