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THE GATEHOUSE
The comprehensive gazetteer of the
medieval fortifications and castles of Cornwall
Trematon
Castle
In the
civil parish of Saltash.
In the historic county of Cornwall (Modern
Authority of Cornwall, 1974 county of
Cornwall).
Castle
mentioned in Domesday and passed to the Dutchy of Cornwall in 1337. It
became neglected in the mid C14 and was in ruins by C16. There are the
remains of C12 shell keep and the gatehouse, rebuilt in C13, is
substantially intact. A deer park is named in 1282 but had lost the
deer by 1500. Higher Lodge, a two storey crenellated house
(II*listed), was built within the castle bailey in 1807-8 and part of
the curtain wall was demolished to provide views of the estuary.
This site
has been described as a Masonry Castle / Timber Castle.
Masonry Castle : These include castles designed from the outset
to have masonry defences and timber castles where the fortifications
or significant building have been replaced in Stone. This includes all
the classic castle types such as Shell Keep, Great Tower and bailey,
Enclosure, Concentric castles etc. These are the buildings which are
what are generally thought of as castles and are well described in
many books, web sites etc. Masonry is stonework bounded with mortar. A
few castles have dry-stone walls, these are listed under earthwork
castles, since the dry-stone walling basically requires a similar
level of expense and skill as earthwork defences.
Timber Castle :These are the earthwork and timber castles of
the motte and bailey or ringwork form which where the vast majority of
castles of the early conquest period, of the Marches in the 11th and
12th centuries and of the period during the reign of Stephen known as
the Anarchy. They were generally fairly short lived, although some
such castles survived for centuries, with the timber buildings and
defences being replaced on occasions sometimes in timber and sometimes
in Masonry (Alderton Castle in Northamptonshire was shown in a Time
Team excavation to have been built about 1070 and to still have been
having high status visitors in the C15-a fine piece of enamels horse
harness being found in the gatehouse). Some of the smaller low mottes
may have been adapted into moated manor houses, whilst others where
abandoned and replaced by manor houses of a more comfortable and
domestic nature. Timber castles varied greatly in size with some being
massive constructions clearly deserving the term castle, whilst other
were small mounds of minor knights and had a similar size, function
and social status as the later pele towers. These small mottes are
called 'castle' but this could be considered a rather loose use of the
term.
The
confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Major
remains.
This site
is a scheduled
monument protected by law.
The
Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SX410580
Sources
of information, references and further reading
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
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The information on this web page may be
derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of
English
Heritage and other individuals and organisations.
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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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resource as possible by contacting
me if you see errors or if you can add information.
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