Qualla: Launceston Castle

Launceston Castle: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ulli1105, CC BY 3.0. George Fox, founder of the Quakers, was imprisoned at Launceston Castle in 1656. He called it a 'nasty stinking place.' Fox was not exaggerating. By then, the castle that had once been the administrative center of the entire earldom of Cornwall -- a fortress so prominent that its high tower was visible to anyone entering from Devon -- had devolved into one of the most reviled prisons in England, earning the nickname Castle Terrible. That a building could travel from seat of power to object of disgust in a few centuries is not unusual in English history. What makes Launceston remarkable is how many times it reinvented itself along the way.

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Image: Ulli1105 | CC BY 3.0

Launceston Castle: The Town Within a Town

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jonsausage, CC BY-SA 3.0. Robert, Count of Mortain, built the castle after the Norman conquest, probably following the capture of Exeter in 1068. The location was strategic: Dunheved, as the site was then known, controlled the passage between Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor and the crossing over the Polson ford ...

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Image: Jonsausage | CC BY-SA 3.0

Launceston Castle: From Grandstand to Gaol

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Speed, (1552 – 28 July 1629), Public domain. Richard's son Edmund inherited the earldom in 1272 and promptly moved the administrative center to Lostwithiel, closer to the tin mining industries that generated the real money. Launceston Castle entered a long, slow decline. By 1337 it was mainly used for judicial assizes and a...

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Image: John Speed, (1552 – 28 July 1629) | Public domain

Launceston Castle: Pigsties, Skittles, and a Queen's Complaint

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Derek Harper, CC BY-SA 2.0. By 1842, the last prisoners had been transferred to Bodmin Gaol and the castle's prison was demolished. What remained was a landscape of ruins covered in pigsties, cabbage gardens, and a skittle alley belonging to a local pub. Local tradition holds that the visiting Queen of Port...

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Image: Derek Harper | CC BY-SA 2.0

Launceston Castle: The Castle That Endures

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ulli1105, CC BY 3.0. Today Launceston Castle is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and operated by English Heritage. Annual visitor numbers average between 23,000 and 25,000. The motte, keep, and high tower remain, still overlooking what was once Richard of Cornwall's deer park. The south gatehouse with ...

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Image: Ulli1105 | CC BY 3.0