Liskeard Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SX25366460
Latitude 50.45526° Longitude -4.46110°

Liskeard Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a certain Fortified Manor House.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Possible castle mentioned by William Worcs. Leland writes 'There was a Castel on an Hiile in the Toun side by North from St. Martin. It is now all in Ruine, Fragments and Peaces of waulles yet stond... The Castell was the Erles of Cornwall. It is now used somtym for a pound for Cattell.' PastScape record states 'Site of a medieval castle or fortified manor built originally in 1337 and rebuilt in 1361. The site is now a park and playground and there are no extant remains.' The king's surveys report the wall surrounding the manor house as ruinous in 1337, repairs were made in 1341-2 and 1361 (The little hall was rebuilt, not the castle!). Higham put this in his list of castles built prior to 1300.

At Liskeard was a castle or fortified manor-house belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall. In 1337, when extensive repairs were needed, it was described as 'a certain manor-house surrounded by a wall'. Within the wall were a hall and chambers, adjoining cellars, a chapel and a chamber over the gateway. The hall was rebuilt in 1361, but after repairs in the reign of Richard II the buildings were totally neglected, and by Leland's time were 'al in ruine', being used as a cattle pound. Mackenzie notes a few remains still standing next to a field called 'Castle Park'. (PastScape–ref. HKW, Leland, Mackenzie, Lysons)

Comments

The town was important in medieval Cornwall, had been a pre-Conquest administrative centre and royal manor and, according to Leland, had the second most important market in Cornwall. The castle seems to have been modest and although it had a gatehouse there is no mention of a great tower or keep of any form. The town development and landscaping of the park making reading the map difficult but the area of the castle seems to be an elongated rounded rectangle with a form suggestive of a motte (or ringwork) and bailey and one would certainly expect an early castle at this significant administrative centre (c.f. the other post-Conquest market towns of Count Robert; Launceston and Trematon). Hitchens records an associated deep park in C14.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 435054.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 10363.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, Index and Amendments to Mike Salter's English Castles Books (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 6
  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
  Spreadbury, I. D., 1984, Castles in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Redruth)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 77
  Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p. 980
  Elliot-Binns, 1955, Medieval Cornwall (London) p. 43
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England Vol. 2 p. 7 online copy
  Hitchins, Fortescue, 1824, A History of Cornwall (Samuel Drew) Vol. 1 p. 425 online copy
  Lysons, D. and S., 1814, Magna Britannia Vol. 3 Cornwall p. 201 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Preston-Jones, Ann and Rose, Peter, 1986, 'Medieval Cornwall' Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow Vol. 25 p. 135-185 online copy
  Passmore, P.A.S., 1961-7, Old Cornwall Federation of Old Cornwall Societies Vol. 6 p. 436
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- E120/1 (Survey of 1337) The National Archives reference
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. 81
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 208 online copy
  Harvey, J.H. (ed), 1969, Itineraries (of) William Worcestre (Clarendon Press) p. 21
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Bridget Gillard, July 2005, Cornwall & Scilly Urban Survey: Liskeard (Cornwall County Council) Download copy

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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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