Trematon Castle (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

Castle mentioned in Domesday and passed to the Duchy of Cornwall in 1337. It became neglected in the mid C14 and was in ruins by C16. There are the remains of C12 shell keep and the gatehouse, rebuilt in C13, is substantially intact. A deer park is named in 1282 but had lost the deer by 1500. Higher Lodge, a two storey crenellated house (2-star listed), was built within the castle bailey in 1807-8 and part of the curtain wall was demolished to provide views of the estuary. (PastScape)

Trematon Castle, mentioned in Domesday, passed to the Duchy of Cornwall in 1337. It became neglected in the mid C14 and was in ruins in C16. The C12 shell keep stands on a natural hillock having traces of buildings round its internal face. A large portion of the curtain wall, including parapet, still stands but a length to the south east was destroyed to provide a view of the estuary when the house was built within the bailey in 1807. No trace exists of the hall and chapel which originally stood in the bailey. The gatehouse, rebuilt in C13, is substantially complete although the windows have been enlarged. The deer park adjoining Trematon Castle was named in 1282 but had lost its deer by 1500 (Henderson). Bought by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, in 1270 from the Vautort family, it was bestowed on the Black Prince in 1337. At the time it was described as being well-walled, containing a kitchen, hall and two-storied chamber, the buildings being constructed on wood and plaster. There was also a chapel and gateway. Granted out between 1392-1443, it was again in royal hands from 1443, and was in ruins by Leland's time. In the early C19 a surveyor-general of Cornwall bought the property and built a house for himself in the bailey. He pulled down a section of the wall in order to improve the view. The keep, C13 gateway and the greater part of the bailey wall still remain largely intact. (PastScape–Ref. HKW)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004384, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number co578
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1140367 , 1140368
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 437464.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6243.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Higham, Robert, 2015, Shell-keeps re-visited: the bailey on the motte? (Castle Studies Group - online publication) online copy
  Creighton, Oliver, 2015, 'Castle, Landscape and Townscape in Thirteenth-Century England: Wallingford, Oxfordshire and the 'Princely Building Strategies' of Richard, Earl of Cornwall' in Jörg Peltzer (ed), Rank and Order: The Formation of Aristocratic Elites in Western and Central Europe, 500–1500 (Ostfildern: Thorbecke Jan Verlag) p. 309-341 (slight)
  Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 239, 260
  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. 45-6
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 24
  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. 76
  Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p. 311
  Price, M. and H., 1980, Castles of Cornwall (Bossiney Books) p. 105-117
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 330-2
  Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p. 846-7
  Henderson, Charles (edited by Rowse, A.L. and Henderson, M.I.), 1963 (original written 1935), Essays in Cornish history (Clarendon Press) p. 161
  Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain (Heinemann) p. 50-1, 151-2
  Toy, Sidney, 1939, Castles: A short History of Fortifications from 1600 BC to AD 1600 (London) p. 59-60
  Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p. 107-8
  Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p. 226-7 online copy
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 19-20 online copy
  Lysons, D. and S., 1814, Magna Britannia Vol. 3 Cornwall p. ccxl, 287-9, plates xxiii, xxxviii online transcription
  Buck, Samuel and Nathaniel, 1774, Buck's Antiquities (London) Vol. 1 p. 34
  Strutt, Joseph, 1774, Horda Angel-cynnan i, plate xxix
  Grose, Francis, 1787, Antiquities of England and Wales (London) Vol. 8 p. 46-8 online copy
  Borlase, William, 1754, Antiquites, historical and monumental, of the county of Cornwall (Oxford) p. 321-4
Periodical Articles
- Goodall, J., 2015, 'An improbable partnership: Trematon Castle, Cornwall' Country Life Vol. 209:22 p. 108-14
  Harfield, C.G., 1991, 'A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book' The English Historical Review Vol. 106 p. 371-392 view online copy (subscription required)
  Preston-Jones, Ann and Rose, Peter, 1986, 'Medieval Cornwall' Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow Vol. 25 p. 135-185 online copy
  Kenyon, J.R., 1977, 'Early Gunports' Fort Vol. 4 p. 84
  King, D.J.Cathcart, 1972, 'The Field Archaeology of mottes; Eine kurze übersicht' Château Gaillard Vol. 5 p. 101-112
  Brown, R. Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' The English Historical Review Vol. 74 p. 249-280 (Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 90-121) view online copy (subscription required)
  Hussey, 1948, Country Life Vol. 104 p. 428-31, 478-81
  Toy, S., 1933, 'The Round Castles of Cornwall' Archaeologia Vol. 83 p. 217-19 (plans)
  Armitage, E., 1904, 'The Early Norman Castles of England' The English Historical Review Vol. 19 p. 209-245, 417-455 esp. 435 online copy
  Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 46 p. 197-217 esp. 202 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1086, Domesday Book online copy
  Stubbs, W. (ed), 1880, The Minor Works comprising the Gesta regum with its continuation, the Actus pontificum, and the Mappa mundi, by Gervase, the Monk of Canterbury (London: Longman Rolls series 73) Vol. 2 p. 424 online copy
  Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) (lists sources for 1272-1422) p. 145-6
  C145/226(15) (Survey of 1382) The National Archives reference (calendared in Evans, D.L. (ed), 1957, Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous (Chancery), preserved in the Public Record Office (H.M.S.O.) Vol. 4 p. 113 No. 205 online copy)
  B.M. Harleian MS. 6252, f. 73 (Survey of temp. James I) British Library collection information
  E120/1 (Survey of 1337) The National Archives reference
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 81-2, 87
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 210 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Bridget Gillard, Sept 2005, Cornwall & Scilly Urban Survey: Saltash (Cornwall County Council) online copy

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