Cuddenbreak Manor, St Germans

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Cudden Beke

In the civil parish of St Germans.
In the historic county of Cornwall (Modern Authority of Cornwall, 1974 county of Cornwall).

Site of early medieval episcopal manor house. Leland wrote "And at this day the Bisshop of Exceter hathe a place callid Cudden Beke joyning hard upon the southeast side of the same towne"

This site has been described as a Palace.A high status manor house. That is a fundamentally domestic building of a high status person usual a bishop or member of the royal family. Usually more elaborate that a fortified manor but a small bishops palace, such as the one at Lyddington might be quite modest compared to a large fortified manor. All these high status building had some fortifications, if only to keep out thieves, but were probably not seen, even by the contemporary people, as being military buildings. Included in this definition, for the purposes of this site, are Royal hunting lodges. These could vary from sizable buildings, even castles, with courts and gaols to simple timber building providing short term accommodation.

The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.

Nothing visible remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX361574

Modern Map from

Good for landscape form and features

Modern Map from

Good for general location

Air Photo from

1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 436606

Books
- Emery, Anthony, 2006, Greater Medieval Houses Vol3 (Cambridge) p549-51
  Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p177
  Elliott-Binns, L.E., 1955, Medieval Cornwall p302-5
  Henderson, Charles, 1925, The Cornish church guide and parochial history of Cornwall p70-2
  Defoe, Daniel [abridged and edited with an introduction and notes by Pat Rogers], 1971, A tour through the whole island of Great Britain p340
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p87
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p325

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