Place House, Fowey

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

Site of C15 tower. The seat of the Treffry family, playing a large part in the life of Fowey, and was defended against the French in 1475 by Dame Elizabeth Treffry, and soon afterwards strengthened and largely rebuilt in early C16. Current Place House is the early C16 rebuild which is Grade 1 listed.

This site has been described as a Tower House.

The term Towerhouse is much used and loosely defined, some authors use it for any type of tower house, including pele towers, and there is, indeed, a continuum in size and status between these buildings. However, I more closely define a Towerhouse as a form of Fortified Manor House where all the accommodation is in one tower, often has a parapet along the top of the tower, turrets and other defensive features. Although the residential buildings form one tower this would usually have had a court of ancillary buildings. This is a high status building and usually a manorial centre. Unsurprisingly for high status buildings these sites are often named castle.

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

Nothing visible remains.

This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 70709)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX12515175

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 readingBooks

Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p136-43
Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern) p20
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p78
Pevsner, N. revised by Enid Radcliffe, 1970, Buildings of England: Cornwall (Harmondsworth) p58-9
Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p361

Journal Articles
- Cornforth, 1962, Country Life Vol131 p1510-13, 1568-71
  Treffry, J.T., 1840, Annual report of the Royal Institution of Cornwall Vol22 p64
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p77
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol5 p204

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations.

It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

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The comprehensive gazetteer of the medieval fortifications and castles of Cornwall

With thanks to Philip Davis

Place House, Fowey

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX12515175

Sources of information, references and further readingBooks