Trematon Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Perched on a mound overlooking a navigable arm of the estuary, where the Lynher meets the Tamar, Trematon Castle is one of only two castles in Cornwall mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Its plan remains that of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle: a tall circular motte crowned by an oval stone shell keep, and a bailey below enclosed by a rampart carrying a curtain wall. Owned by the de Vautort family until 1270, it was then acquired by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and passed in 1337 to the Duchy of Cornwall created for the Black Prince. The Duchy still owns it. Neglected from the 14th century, the castle was in ruins by the 16th century, when the antiquary John Leland described it. In the early 19th century, a castellated house, Higher Lodge, was built in the bailey; a section of the curtain wall was knocked down to open up the view over the estuary. The whole now forms a private residence leased by the Duchy, surrounded by gardens, and the site is not open for free visits. The 12th-century shell keep, preserved up to its parapet, and the 13th-century gatehouse make it one of the best-preserved Norman ensembles in south-west England.