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Summary

Site of Medieval Truro Castle

Protected Status

• Conservation Area: TRURO

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SW 84 NW 13
• National Record of the Historic Environment to Historic Environment Records data transfer
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 428730
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW84NW 13
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 25246
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW84NW 31

Monument Type(s):

• CASTLE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• ADULTERINE CASTLE (Medieval - 1134 AD to 1154 AD)

Full description

Castle Hill is the site of an early, and relatively short-lived, castle at Truro (1). The site is now occupied by the law courts, but had previously been the site of a C19 cattle market (2, 3). The site was selected for the market in 1839 (4), and the Royal Cornwall Gazette reported that "the general plan… was to cut down a portion of the mound in the centre of the hill, so as to leave a bank about 4ft high all round" (5). The foundations of a circular wall, enclosing an area c. 75ft in diameter, were reportedly discovered during this work, desribed as of slate-stone rubble construction and 2-3ft in thickness (6). Small-scale excavations in 1984 in advance of the construction of the law courts confirmed the removal of much of the mound during the Post Medieval period, although a 2m deep ditch, possibly associated with the castle, was located to the west (7).

The site was described a number of times between the C16 and its final clearance in the C19. Leland (c. 1540, 8) describes the castle as being ‘now clene down’ and its remains now used as a playing place (or Plain-an-Gwary, see related monuments). Tonkin (9) in the C18 believed that the castle was more like an old Danish camp or Round, than a site that had ever been inhabited, and Hals (10) recorded that ‘there is nothing left of the citydel but the situation of the place and the great heaps of downfallen and much carried away stones and rubbish’. In the early C19 Whitaker (11) wrote: ‘it was only a small castle. This the ground of it shows when the walls are gone .... The only remains of the castle indeed are the name, a waste area, and the old mount or keep, the earth of which is nearly gone and is daily vanishing by application of it to other purposes. This artificial mount marks the centre of the castle, had the main tower upon it, and constituted the principal part of the whole’.

The date of the castle is uncertain, it may have been constructed soon after the Norman conquest by Hamelin, the lord of the Domesday manor of Trehaverne (12), or Robert, Count of Mortaine (13). Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, the castle was likely an Adulterine Castle erected by Richard de Lucy without Royal permission during the Anarchy (1134-1154) and demolished soon after (14-16). Sincock (17) records that in a document dated to the reign of Henry II, Richard is denominated Richard de Lucy, de Trivereu (Truro), and is said to live in the castle. Documentary evidence points to the castle having been demolished by 1270, when a ‘placea’ (or vacant plot) named ‘Le Castel’ is referenced; a deed of 1418 also mentions a ‘Castellum de Guelon’ (or Castle Field [14, 15]).

<1> Cornwall Council, 2010, Truro Conservation Area Appraisal, 12 (Report). SCO21306.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1880s, 1st Edition 6 Inch Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4049.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1900s, 2nd Edition 6 Inch Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4051.

<4> Truro Buildings Research Group, 1985, River Street and its Neighbourhood, 16, 23 (Booklet). SCO27600.

<5> Unknown, 1840, Unknown (Article in newspaper). SCO5936.

<6> Anon., 1840, Proceedings at the Evening Meetings, 1839 & 1841, 31, Plt III (Article in Journal). SCO30644.

<7> Perring, D, 1984, Investigative excavations on the site of the Old Cattle Market, Castle Hill, Turo (Unpublished document). SCO1281.

<8> Leland, J, 1535, The Itinerary of John Leland, 1, 198 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3862.

<9> Tonkin, T, 1702, Parochial History of Cornwall (Bibliographic reference). SCO4948.

<10> Hals, W, 1700, Parochial History of Cornwall (Unpublished document). SCO5491.

<11> Whitaker, Rev JM, Manuscript (Unpublished document). SCO5729.

<12> Thorn, C & F (Eds), 1979, Domesday Book 10: Cornwall, 5, 5, 21 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4703.

<13> Whitley, HM, 1924, Unknown, 41 (Article in Journal). SCO7099.

<14> Henderson, C, 1935, Essays in Cornish History, 5 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3501.

<15> Lysons, D & S, 1814, Magna Britannia, 3, 311 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3885.

<16> Douch, HL, 1977, The Book of Truro: a Portrait of the Town (Bibliographic reference). SCO3244.

<17> Sincock, W, 1891, Principal Landowners in Cornwall, AD 1165, 153 (Article in Journal). SCO5699.

<18> Page, W (Editor), 1906, Victoria History of the County of Cornwall, 466 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4068.

<19> Preston-Jones, A & Rose, PG, 1986, Medieval Cornwall, VOL 25, 172 (Article in Journal). SCO4188.

<20> Clark, 1884, Medieval Architecture in England, 141 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3075.

<21> Pounds, N, 1937, The Medieval Castle in Cornwall, NO 104, 29-30 (Article in Serial). SCO4152.

<22> Sheppard, PA, 1980, The Historic Towns of Cornwall, 23 (Report). SCO4422.

<23> Thomas, R, 1851, Letters to the West Briton, NO 43 (Article in newspaper). SCO4699.

<24> Cathcart King, DJ, 1983, Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the Islands., Vol. 1, 77 (Bibliographic reference). SCO29959.

<25> Mackenzie, J, 1897, Castles of England, Vol. 2, 20 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3888.

<26> Harvey, J (Ed), 1969, Itinerary of William Worcester, 21 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5395.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO1327 - Truro Castle, Truro: Watching Brief, 1984
• ECO3798 - Old Cattle Market, Truro Castle: Excavation, 1984
• ECO5316 - Pydar Quarter (Ref: 190301)

Related records

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