Truro Castle Hill

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Truer

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

Site of an adulterine castle of probable C12 date, attributed eirther to the Count of Mortain, or built as an adulterine castle in the Anarchy. The site was levelled in 1840 for the construction of a cattle market, whereupon the footings of shell keep with forebuilding were revealed. Subsequently, the area has been further developed, during which a watching brief was carried out, although no masonry or other material relative to the castle were found. No remains.

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.

Nothing visible remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SW823450

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; 428730

Books
- 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) p47
  Spreadbury, I. D., 1984, Castles in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Redruth)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p77
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol2 p20
  Lysons, D. and S., 1814, Magna Britannia Vol3 Cornwall p311 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=403]
  Clark, G.T., 1884, Medieval Military Architecture in England (Wyman and Sons) Vol1 p141
Journal Articles
- Whitley, H.M., 1924-5, Devon and Cornwall notes and queries Vol13 p4
  Treloar, 1840, Royal Institute of Cornwall 31st report p31 plate iii
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p73
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p198
  Harvey, J., 1969, William of Worcester Itinerarii p20

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