RUAN LANIHORNE CASTLE

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DESCRIPTION

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Site of a medieval castle or fortified house. In 1334 John Le Erchedkne obtained a licence to fortify his house at Lanyhorn. The completed castle comprised a round keep, with attached higher and base courts. Six of the seven recorded towers were standing at the beginning of the 18th century, but by 1780 only part of the round tower survived. This tower was pulled down for building stone in 1889. There are now no identifiable remains of the castle.

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(SW 89484193) Castle (NR) (Remains of) (NAT). (1)

In 1334 John Le Erchedekne obtained a licence to fortify his house at Lanyhorn. The completed castle appears to have comprised a round keep, known locally as the 'round tower', with attached higher and base courts, the higher court extending by tradition north of the road leading from the church to the mill. Six of the seven recorded towers were standing at the beginning of the 18th century but by 1780 only the 40ft. high remains of part of the round tower survived. (See illustration for plan of castle remains).

Two stone chimneys attached to the round tower, one being incorporated in an adjoining house, were described by Whitaker and seen by Whitley who considered them later than the castle. Beneath this house was a cellar thought to be the dungeon. The tower had been pulled down for building stone by 1889.

A fragment of the castle wall consisting of flat bedded slate stones filled in with rubble set in clay, about 5ft wide and 8ft high, still stood at 'A' (see plan). The furnace beyond this wall had four flues and formed part of the castle brewhouse. The tradition of the site survives in the 'Malt House' built about 1870. The 'Water Gate' appears to be at 'B' where two parallel walls were discovered and in the yard behind a human skeleton was dug up in about 1750.

No traces of the west wall were visible in 1889 but Whitaker records an oak beam, said to be part of the castle floor, being
found in the gutter about 1775. Foundations of the walls were found in the same gutter again at 'C'. Whitley traced the north wall for almost its whole length, being about 5ft. wide and similar in construction to the south wall.

Between the north wall and the road, in a long narrow garden, were found about 1789 the foundations of walls forming a suite of rooms on one side of the higher court. This court had walls bonded with lime mortar instead of clay, indicating a later date.

Building stones from the castle can be seen in the walls of the village. (2,3)

There are no identifiable remains of a castle at Ruan Lanihorne. (4)

Listed by Cathcart King. (5)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 25" 1907

( 2a) General reference

J Whitaker MS c1780

( 2b) General reference

J F Tonkin c 1730

( 2) Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall

Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall 9 1886-9 425-48 plan (H M Whiteley) 9 Page(s)425-48

( 3) Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall

Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall NS 7 1974 108-116 illust 'Hist of Rural Lanihorne MS c 1780 (J Whitaker ed H L Douch) 7 Page(s)108-116

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 ANK 18-MAR-68

(5) by David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the islands. Volume I : Anglesey - Montgomery

Page(s)74

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