Crane Godrevy (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Castle Giver

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

OS Map Grid Reference: SW58924265
Latitude 50.23472° Longitude -5.38172°

Crane Godrevy has been described as a Fortified Manor House although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Crane Godrevy comprises the remains of an Iron Age/Romano-British round with traces of houses in the interior dated from the C1st BC to the C2nd or 3rd (or possibly C4th) AD. The site was reoccupied in the C11, when a small rectangular dwelling was constructed inside the round. A second similar house was built in the same period to be later replaced by a long rectangular structure in the C14, partly due to the drifting sand. The site was excavated by Thomas from 1955 onwards with a large scale resumption of the work in 1969. Iron Age and Romano-British pottery was recovered from the round, and Medieval and Post-Medieval sherds from the C12 to C17. Crane Godrevy was possibly a subordinate manor within the Manor of Tehidy, but was basically a farm surrounded by extensive field systems. (Cornwall and Scilly HER)

Comments

This close to the Bristol Channel, vulnerable from Irish and Barbary pirates, the reuse of a prehistoric fortification may have been defensive although stock control may have been the more important day to day function of the bank and ditches. A 'Castle Giver Cove' lie 500m to the east, and is directly linked to this site by a road and the castle name presumably relates then to this site. A site of modest social status but not a peasant holding. More a fortified semi-manor house rather than the more usual semi-fortified manor houses of the rest of England. St Gothian's chapel, dating back to the C6, lies 600m to the south and the area was probably more densely populated in the medieval period although settlement in Cornwall is often dispersed.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004258, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number co770
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 425102.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 37066.

Books
- Thomas, A.C., 1958, Gwithian: Ten Years Work, 1949-1958 p. 17, 26-30
Periodical Articles
- Thomas, A.C., 1969, 'Excavations at Crane Godrevy' Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow Vol. 8 p. 84-88 online copy

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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.
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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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