Mount Edgcumbe Blockhouse

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Blockhouse at Garden Battery; Wilderness Point; Barnpool

In the civil parish of Maker With Rame.
In the historic county of Cornwall (Modern Authority of Cornwall, 1974 county of Cornwall).

Coastal defence block house. Circa 1540. Slatestone rubble. Square on plan. Single storey with roof platform with remains of battlements. Doorways on two sides, of which one is a later alteration. Main doorway to landward side, plain square-headed one with squint and drawbar holes. Gun ports on 3 sides. Tablet of 1980 with the history of the building. Severely plain interior. A part of a private scheme of defences of Plymouth Sound by Sir Peter Edgecombe which included Stonehouse (qv).

This site has been described as a Artillery Fort. Fortifications designed specifically for mounting artillery, usually as coastal defence against warships. Vary from large stone structures to small earthwork bulwarks with room for one or two pieces. Although some of the large royal buildings were of high quality with good detail these are actually practical military works.

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

Major remains.

This site is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 61866)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX45605317

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; 437545

Books
- Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p25
  Saunders, Andrew, 1997, Channel Defences (London; Batsford/English Heritage) p69, 117
  Pye, Andrew and Woodward, Freddy, 1996, The historic defences of Plymouth (Exeter: Exeter Archaeology Fortress Study Group South West) p35-6
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p73
Journal Articles
- Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' Archaeological Journal Vol138 p218-19
  1974, Cornish Archaeology Cornwall Archaeological Society Vol13 p69
  Girouard, 1960, Country Life, Vol127 p1598, 1601
  Beckerlegge J J, 1939, Devonshire Association reports and transactions Vol71 p178-9
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p110

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The comprehensive gazetteer of the medieval fortifications and castles of Cornwall

With thanks to Philip Davis

Mount Edgcumbe Blockhouse

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX45605317

Sources of information, references and further reading