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Summary

Pengersick Tower, mid-C16. Grade I.

Protected Status

• Conservation Area: PENGERSICK
• Listed Building (I) 65781: PENGERSICK CASTLE
• Scheduled Monument 36039: Pengersick Castle and associated building platform

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SW 52 NE 7
• National Record of the Historic Environment to Historic Environment Records data transfer
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 424575
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 29223.10

Monument Type(s):

• TOWER (16th Century - 1530 AD to 1560 AD) + Sci.Date

Full description

A four-storey crenelated tower, known as Pengersick Castle, is the principal surviving element of an early-16th century manor house. The tower itself does not appear to have been part of the original construction of the manor, and was added later. It has been suggested that it was probably constructed for William Pengersick in the mid-16th century (1), and this suggestion has now been supported by dendrochonrological dating of original timbers from within the tower, were probably felled AD 1532-57 (2). For a detailed architectural account of the tower, see (1); the uppermost window has a panel with the initials WW, this was previously believed to be William Worth, but are now unidentified.

Whilst the rooms on the ground floor were evidently defensive, with the presence of gunports and other features, the upper levels appear to have been largely residential (7). Borlase (1, 3, 8) visited the site in 1734, and records that a wainscot with a number of paintings survived in one of the first floor rooms, and created a transciption of the surviving text, as well as reproducing some of the paintings. Evidence for these panels has recently been rediscovered during the removal of modern plaster (7). By the late 18th century the tower was being used as a granary and hayloft, and as a stable in 1881 (4-6).

<1> Herring, P, Thorpe, C & Morley, B, 1998, Pengersick, Breage; An Archaeological Assessment (Report). SCO1114.

<2> Bridge, M, 2012, Pengersick Castle, Pengersick Lane, Praa Sands, Penzance, Cornwall - Tree-Ring Dating of Oak Timbers (Report). SCO25368.

<3> Borlase, WC, 1734, Reproduction and transcriptions of paintings in the wainscot of Pengersick Castle, Breage (Unpublished document). SCO30992.

<4> Lysons, D & S, 1814, Magna Britannia, Vol. 3, 42 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3885.

<5> Chope, R Pearse (Ed), 1967, Early Tours in Devon and Cornwall, 255 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3058.

<6> Anon., 1881, Account of the annual Excersion (Article in Journal). SCO30997.

<7> Thomas, N, 2013, Pengersick Castle, Praa Sands, Cornwall: Archaeological watching briefs and historic building recording 2011-12 (Report). SCO26021.

<8> Nance, RM, 1953, The Pengersick Panels (Article in Journal). SCO28689.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO3743 - Pengersick Castle, Breage: Dendrochronological Dating, 2012 (Ref: 38-2012)
• ECO4125 - Pengersick Castle archaeological works 2011-12 (Ref: 2011034)
• ECO4167 - Pengersick Castle, Breage: Research Report, 2011
• ECO54 - Pengersick Castle, Breage: Archaeological Assessment, 1997

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