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Summary

A C16 castle built to protect New Grimsby harbour.

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 62551: KING CHARLES' CASTLE
• Scheduled Monument 15411: KING CHARLES' CASTLE MID-16TH CENTURY ARTILLERY CASTLE AND CIVIL WAR EARTHEN ARTILLERY DEFENCE ON WESTERN CASTLE DOWN, TRESCO

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SV 81 NE 25
• National Record of the Historic Environment to Historic Environment Records data transfer
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 303391
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SV81NE 25
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 7294
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SV81NE 28

Monument Type(s):

• ARTILLERY CASTLE (16th Century to 17th Century - 1548 AD to 1700 AD)

Full description

A Post-Medieval artillery castle, named King Charles' Castle, on Castle Down, Tresco, commanding the entrance to New Grimsby Harbour. The castle consists of a polygonal gun battery, and adjoining domestic rooms. Despite its name, the castle was constructed between 1548 and 1554 during the reign of Edward VI, constructed in the style of some of the buildings of Henry VIII's reign; the present name is a 19th century invention (1, 2). The fortification appears on Spence's 1792 Map of Scilly, under the name Oliver's Old Castle (3), and on the 1889 OS Map under its modern name (4).

Borlase (5) describes 'The Old-Castle' in 1756 as a large pile of ruins, with many windows and doors still standing. He astutely suggested that building could not be older than Henry VIII, and that it was abandoned, and provided some building stone for, Oliver's Castle below. The castle is also described by Troutbeck in 1794, who suggests that it was abandoned due to its siting (6).

In 1954 the castle was cleared of debris and a small excavation undertaken under the direction of O'Neil (2, 7). The excavation consisted of two trenches, whose locations are only approximately known, and produced an interesting assemblage of early Post-Medieval ceramics, painted floor tiles, a ridge tool, 17th c. tobacco pipes, early 16th c. maioloica wall tiles and an early Post Medieval copper alloy buckle. Two coins of Edward VI were also found. The closest parallels to this fort are the now destroyed blockhouses on the Thames built by Henry VIII (7).

When visited in 1978 (8) the monument was described as a C16 castle, situated in the SW corner of a later, civil war earthwork, and protected on the SW by a steep face of natural rock outcrop.

When visited in 1988 (9) the castle was as recorded by O'Neil and the OS. The maximum surviving height of the walls was 3.4m, but the average height 1.5m. Walls averaged 0.8m wide. They were of stone average 2.0m cubed, faced on both sides with stones average 0.4m long by 0.2 by 0.2m, and with regular worked blocks average 0.8m long by 0.5m high by 0.1m at openings, quoins etc. The north west and south west corners of the castle were built up from the natural rock outcrop. There was evidence of the robbing recorded by Borlase and perhaps more recent damage, with dumps of worked and other stone around the exterior.

The site was visited in 2008-2010 by English Heritage (1, 10, 11). The building consists of a canted, polygonal gun room or platform originally with five gun embrasures, though one was later abandoned later when a room was created in the north east corner. A large room is attached on the east side, the northern half of which was used as a kitchen, and bed chambers are attached to the north and south ends of the room. It is unclear whether there was a second storey.

The monument was placed in Guardianship on 11/5/1950 and inclusion in the Schedule was confirmed on 9/10/1981. Scheduling was amended on 1/4/1994 and revised on 14/2/1997 (12).

Further references to this monument (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18).

<1> Bowden, M and Brodie, A, 2011, Defending Scilly, 8-10 (Bibliographic reference). SCO29932.

<2> Miles, TJ and Saunders, AD, 1970, King Charles’s Castle, Tresco, Scilly (Article in Journal). SCO8073.

<3> SPENCE, G, 1792, SURVEY OF THE SCILLY ISLES (Unedited Source). SCO5644.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1880s, 1st Edition 6 Inch Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4049.

<5> Borlase, W, 1756, Observations on the Ancient and Present State of the Islands of Scilly, 46-47 (Bibliographic reference). SCO2883.

<6> Troutbeck, J, 1796, Survey of the Ancient and Present State of the Scilly Islands, 126-127 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4965.

<7> O'Neil, BH St J, 1961, Isles of Scilly MOW Guide, 22-25, 32 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4042.

<8> Field Investigator's Comments, OS/Barton, JG 1978 (Survey). SCO29739.

<9> Field Investigator's Comments, CAU/Parkes, C 1988 (Survey). SCO29739.

<10> Field Investigator's Comments, HE/Bowden, M and Brodie, A 2008-10 (Survey). SCO29739.

<11> Bowden, M, 2011, Isles of Scilly Military Defences, 1540-1951: Earthwork Sites and Minor Features (Cornwall Event Report). SCO25530.

<12> DOE, Listed Building Description (original DOE), 1954, 17 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5173.

<13> Pevsner, N & Radcliffe, E, 1970, The Buildings of England: Cornwall, 211 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4128.

<14> Laws, P, 1980, The Buildings of Scilly, 6 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3829.

<15> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 1998, The English Heritage visitors' handbook, 78 (Booklet). SCO29951.

<16> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2004, Heritage Unlocked: Guide to free sites in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, 76-77 (Booklet). SCO29764.

<17> Colvin, HM et al., 1982, The History of the King's Works, Volume 4 : 1485-1660 (Part 2), 587-593 (Bibliographic reference). SCO29948.

<18> Saunders, A, 1989, Fortress Britain: artillery fortifications in the British Isles and Ireland, 27 (Bibliographic reference). SCO30039.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds

• FCO4912 - BUCKLE (16th Century to Unknown - 1548 AD)
• FCO4913 - COIN (16th Century to Unknown - 1548 AD)
• FCO4911 - SHERD (16th Century to Unknown - 1548 AD)

Associated Events

• ECO3819 - Isles of Scilly Military Defences, 1540-1951 (Ref: RDRS 56-2011)
• ECO537 - Isles of Scilly Management, 1991-1992
• ECO6341 - King Charles' Castle, Tresco: Excavation, 1954

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