Cromwells Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Tresco.
In the historic county of Isles of Scilly.
Modern Authority of Isles of Scilly.
1974 county of Isles of Scilly.
Medieval County of Isles of Scilly.

OS Map Grid Reference: SV881159
Latitude 49.96218° Longitude -6.34952°

Cromwells Castle has been described as a probable Artillery Fort.

There are no visible remains.

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

Description

Cromwell's Castle is an artillery tower that was built between 1651 and 1652, comprising a circular gun tower 13.5 metres diameter and built of coursed rubble. It is situated on a small low rocky shelf projecting from the western coast of Castle Down on Tresco. The tower replaced an earlier blockhouse built between 1548 and 1554. The artillery tower was built after Parliamentarian forces recaptured Tresco during the Civil War and sought to defend it from the potential threat of the Dutch fleet, which had arrived off the Scillies in March 1651. It was strategically positioned to command the channel between Bryher and Tresco. It is about 15 metres high and originally comprised of a basement and two floors above which lay the gun platform with 6 gun ports. The first and second floor rooms included timber floors and stone fire places and were linked by a wooden ladder or steps. Access to the first floor was via stone steps within the wall of the tower. The gun platform was reached from the second floor by a spiral stone staircase within the walls of the tower. There was originally a walkway along the gun platform protected by a parapet. In around 1740, partly in response to threats from Spain, the defences were altered and refurbished by Abraham Tovey, Master Gunner. A pentagonal gun platform was added against the seaward side of the blockhouse and a guardhouse built between the two structures. In 1752, the monument was recorded by the antiquarian William Borlase who noted that the 'principal battery' was armed with nine-pounder guns and the tower platform had small four-pounder cannon. He also recorded that the structure had no garrison and that the timber was 'already much decayed'. (PastScape)

This enigmatic gun tower with attached platform, covering New Grimsby harbour, is of mid 16th-century form but documentary evidence suggests that it was built in 1651-2 (see Bowden and Brodie 2011, 27-9); this issue still requires resolution. (Bowden 2011)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1013275, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 15404
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1141198
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 303385.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 7354.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- English Heritage
  CastleUK.net
Books
- Bowden, Mark and Brodie, Allan, 2011, Defending Scilly (London: English Heritage) p. 27-9
  Campbell, Adele (ed), 2004, Heritage Unlocked; Guide to free sites in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (London: English Heritage) p. 64-5
  Duffy, Michael, 1999, 'Coastal Defences and Garrisons 1480-1914' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p. 158-60
  Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 16
  Saunders, Andrew, 1997, Channel Defences (London; Batsford/English Heritage) p. 50, 51, 55, 90, 120
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 207
  Saunders, Andrew, 1989, Fortress Britain (Beaufort Publishing Ltd) p. 28-30
  Spreadbury, I. D., 1984, Castles in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Redruth)
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 217
  Laws, P., 1980, The Buildings of Scilly (Redruth) p. 8
  Pevsner, Nikolaus (revised by Enid Radcliffe), 1970, Buildings of England: Cornwall (Harmondsworth) p. 211
Periodical Articles
- Bowden, Mark and Brodie, Allan, 2011, 'Defending Scilly' Research News No. 16 p. 8-11 online copy
  Brodie, A., 2010, 'The Tudor Defences of Scilly' English Heritage Historical Review Vol. 5 p. 24-43
Guidebooks
- O'Neil, B.H.St.J., 1950, Ancient Monuments of the Isles of Scilly (HMSO) p. 18-19
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- SP16/368, No. 110 (Survey of 1637) The National Archives reference
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Bowden, Mark, 2011, Isles of Scilly: Military Defences, 1540-1951: Earthworks and Minor Sites (English Heritage Research Department Report series 56-2011) p. 6 (slight) online 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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*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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