Cardinham Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Cadenham; Cardinan; White Hill

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SX126680
Latitude 50.48184° Longitude -4.64260°

Cardinham Castle has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The remains of a motte and bailey castle built soon after the conquest, probably by Richard Fitz Turold, steward of the Count of Mortain. The descendants of Richard lived for two centuries in the castle, taking the name "Cardinan" after their place of residence. There are two enclosures, the higher almost circular, 35 yards diameter. It appears to have been a quarry for centuries from the uneven state of the mound. The ditch encircling the base of the mound at the NW may be seen. The bailey or lower enclosure is approx 89 yards x 83 yards - it is fairly level and enclosed by traces of a mound, especially at the S side. The motte which is approximately 4.0 metres high has been extensively mutilated on its top and east side by surface stone digging. The erroneously described "ditch" on the north-west side is the result of modern stone quarrying. The bailey is generally well preserved on the west and south sides but the east side has apparently been cut away. There is no trace of the entrance. The north-south double bank and ditch to the east of the bailey is probably a flanking work as the slope is too steep for a hollow way. There are no obvious traces of a contemporary settlement within the earthwork. (PastScape)

Even before their extinction the Cardinhams had begun to build Restormel Castle near their borough of Lostwithel. Cardinham Castle, a ringwork on the margin of Bodmin Morr, was abandoned (Pound)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004443, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number co455
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 432594.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2958.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastleUK.net
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
  Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 18
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 24 (slight)
  Pounds, N.J.G., 1994, The medieval castle in England and Wales p. 138
  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. 73
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Cornish, J.B., 1906, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Cornwall Vol. 1 p. 462 online copy
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 2 online copy
  Daniel, J., 1854, A Geography of Cornwall p. 117
  Hitchins, Fortescue, 1824, A History of Cornwall (Samuel Drew) Vol. 2 p. 150 online copy
  Polwhele, R., 1803, History of Cornwall (London) Vol. 1 p. 107 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Thompson, M.W., 1986, 'Associated monasteries and castles in the Middle Ages: a tentative list' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 143 p. 310
  Preston-Jones, Ann and Rose, Peter, 1986, 'Medieval Cornwall' Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow Vol. 25 p. 135-185 online copy
  King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol. 3 p. 90-127
  Picken, W.M.M., 1954-5, Devon and Cornwall notes and queries Vol. 26 p. 203-4
  Pounds, N., 1937, 'The Medieval Castle in Cornwall' Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society Vol. 104 p. 29
  MacLauchlan, 1850, 'Notes on Restormel Castle' Royal Institute of Cornwall 32th report p. 36 plate xxvii
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 78
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 205 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- History of East Cornwall sketch (Henderson MSS in Royal Institute of Cornwall Truro)

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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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