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Carn Brea Castle on Carn Brea is a 14th-century
The castle was originally built as a chapel, in 1379, thought to be dedicated to
Time-lapse video
of Carn Brea Castle. Castles in Cornwall 1379 establishments in England Folly castles in England Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall
grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
granite stone building which was extensively remodelled in the 18th century as a hunting lodge in the style of a castle for the Basset family. The building is in private use as a restaurant.
Description
The castle is a small stone folly decorated in the romantic ideal style of a medieval/gothic castle. It has an irregular layout with four rectangular turrets round a core of the same height and an embattled parapet. The building is built into a large stone outcrop with a steep drop on the rear. The building was designed as a hunting lodge rather than a dwelling and measures .History
The castle was originally built as a chapel, in 1379, thought to be dedicated to St Michael
Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...
. Antiquarian William Worcester
William Worcester, also called William of Worcester, William Worcestre or William Botoner (1415) was an English topographer, antiquary and chronicler.
Life
He was a son of another William of Worcester, a Bristol whittawer (worker in white leather ...
recorded that there were 32 castles on the Cornish peninsula, including Carn Brea which was described as a tower.
The castle was extensively rebuilt in later periods, primarily in the 18th century by the Basset family as a hunting lodge. It is considered a folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
, due to the huge uncut boulders that make up part of its foundations, giving the impression of the building melting into the land.
Its use as a beacon for ships was recorded in 1898 when stipulated in the lease, the tenant agreeing to show a light in the north facing window. The castle had periods of disuse and disrepair in the 1950s to 1970s, until private renovation in 1975-1980. The building was classed by English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
as grade II listed in 1975.
In the 1980s the building was converted into a Middle Eastern cuisine
Middle Eastern cuisine or West Asian cuisine includes Arab, Armenian, Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Cypriot, Egyptian, Georgian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Kurdish, Lebanese, Palestinian and Turkish cuisines. Common ingredients include olives and ol ...
restaurant.
Media interest
* A 19th-century East India trading ship was named after Carn Brea Castle. It was wrecked off the Isle of Wight in 1829 and reported in ''The Times'' as being involved in excise tax fraud. * Carn Brea castle appeared in the 1983James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film ''Never Say Never Again
''Never Say Never Again'' is a 1983 spy film directed by Irvin Kershner. The film is based on the 1961 James Bond novel '' Thunderball'' by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Flemi ...
'', as two air-launched cruise missiles armed with nuclear warhead
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
s fly over the English countryside and out to sea, passing directly over as well as the nearby Basset monument viewed through the missiles head-up display
A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...
.
* The stolen Ford Anglia featured in the ''Harry Potter'' films was found at the Castle in 2006.
See also
*Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 10 ...
*List of castles in England
This list of castles in England is not a list of every building and site that has "castle" as part of its name, nor does it list only buildings that conform to a strict definition of a castle as a medieval fortified residence. It is not a li ...
*
References
External links
* {{Commons category-inline, Carn Brea CastleTime-lapse video
of Carn Brea Castle. Castles in Cornwall 1379 establishments in England Folly castles in England Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall