House of Baldwin Tyrel (The Gatehouse Record)

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

House of Baldwin Tyrel has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

During a trial, in 1212, of Baldwin Tyrel, a tenant of Alan de Dunstanville, a royal household knight, was accused of saying the King was dead. He is reported as barricading the house (domum castellatam et briaschiatam) against Alan's steward and two other of his men. The case was heard in the hundred courts of Truro and St. Austell but referred to the King. In the royal courts the steward gave evidence that the house was not castellated or bratticed, but merely barred.

Comments

Renn records this a possible castle in the St Austell/Truro region. Suggesting bolting the door against three men (who would have been armed but probably not armoured - and who went to court, not to battle) as a 'fortified house' seems to be pushing the definition of fortified to an extreme. The social status of Baldwin is unclear but this may have been little more than strongly built peasant house described in fanciful language by men who had failed to gain entry.

Holt calls Baldwin an unimportant Cornish Tenant. He writes "I have been unable to trace where Baldwin Tyrel's estates lay. It may be relevant that Robert fitz Walter (another household knight involved in the trial) held fees along the Fowey estuary."

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Church, S. D., 1999, The household knights of King John p. 58-60 (on trial of Baldwin Tyrel)
  Holt, J.C., The Northerners p. 82n1
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 354
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1935, Curia Regis Rolls John - 16 John 1213-1215 (HMSO) Vol. 7 p. 168-73
  Maitland, F.W. (ed), 1888, Select Pleas of the Crown Vol. 1 (Selden Society) p. 67-75 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.

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