Moresk Castle, St Clement (The Gatehouse Record)

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SW85204344
Latitude 50.25509° Longitude -5.01661°

Moresk Castle, St Clement has been described as a probable Timber Castle, and also as a probable Masonry Castle.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Castle, mentioned in a documentary source of C15 as having been destroyed c.1104, 'old walls' recorded in C17. No recent physical evidence found. (PastScape)

The castle is mentioned by William of Worcester (C15) as being near Truro and destroyed, the dwelling of Edmund, a duke of Cornwall. The Manorial Assession Rolls mention Dynys, Denys, Dyney etc (ie Dinas). Old walls are recorded forming part of an old garden in 1794 and an unspecified excavation of the lane "strengthens the opinion". (PastScape–ref. McLauchlan) This description suggests the given map reference in PastScape, is slightly inaccurate and the site was nearer to the village and church.

The duchy manor of Moresk, comprising the greater part of this parish, was sold under the land-tax redemption act, in 1799, to Henry Prynn Andrew, Esq., subject to the remainder of a lease of thirty years, granted to Sir William Lemon, Bart. William of Worcester, whose Itinerary of Cornwall was written in the reign of Edward IV., speaks of the castle of Moresk, then in ruins, as having been the residence of Edmund, Earl of Cornwall. There are now no remains of the buildings. This manor was given by Edward the Black Prince, to his usher of the chamber, Sir Walter de Woodland, who died without male issue (Sir William Pole's Devonshire Collections, p. 278.). (Lysons)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 428761.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 22676.10.

Books
- Lysons, D. and Lysons, S., 1814, Magna Britannia Vol. 3 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Pounds, N., 1937, 'The Medieval Castle in Cornwall' Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society Vol. 104 p. 34
  Mc'Lauchlan, H., 1847, Royal Institution of Cornwall 29th report p. 20-22
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Harvey, J.H. (ed), 1969, Itineraries (of) William Worcestre (Clarendon Press)

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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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