Mount Edgcumbe Blockhouse (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Blockhouse at Garden Battery; Wilderness Point; Barnpool

In the civil parish of Maker With Rame.
In the historic county of Cornwall.
Modern Authority of Cornwall.
1974 county of Cornwall.
Medieval County of Devon.

OS Map Grid Reference: SX45605317
Latitude 50.35818° Longitude -4.17195°

Mount Edgcumbe Blockhouse has been described as a certain Artillery Fort.

There are major building remains.

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

Description

Mount Edgcumbe blockhouse is a small square stone structure of two storeys opposite Devil's Point which controlled Barnpool beach and the entrance to the Hamoaze (Saunders). It is thought to have been built c.1545, but the earliest mention of it is in 1602 (Carew).

The building is 6.0m square with walls 1.0m thick. The doorway is granite in the north-west corner and was defended by a vertical slot like a portcullis slot but used as a machicolation. There are two gun ports splayed externally a little wider than internally, a probable third in north east wall. The roof and stairs are modern, and indications of a modern roof line are clear. The building is shaped like a low tower and the battlements are mostly old. The building needs some repair. (Cornwall & Scilly HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004497, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number co315
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1161267
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 437545.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6228.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 25
  Saunders, Andrew, 1997, Channel Defences (London; Batsford/English Heritage) p. 69, 117
  Pye, Andrew and Woodward, Freddy, 1996, The historic defences of Plymouth (Exeter: Exeter Archaeology Fortress Study Group South West) p. 35-6
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 73
  Carew, R., 1969, The Survey of Cornwall 1602 p. 166
Periodical Articles
- Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 218-19
  Sheppard, P.A., 1974, 'Parochial Check-Lists of Antiquities' Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow Vol. 13 p. 69 online copy
  Girouard, 1960, Country Life , Vol. 127 p. 1598, 1601
  Beckerlegge J J, 1939, Transactions of the Devonshire Association Vol. 71 p. 178-9
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. 110
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 214 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*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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