A near-perfect circle of grey stone on a mound above the Fowey, one of Cornwall's finest medieval ruins
Open to visitorsan English Heritage site — check opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Few castles keep their shape as cleanly as Restormel. What stands is a shell keep — a ring of wall built around the flat top of a motte, the earth mound thrown up by the Normans — and here that ring is almost a perfect circle, its rooms once ranged around the inner courtyard. The Earls of Cornwall held it in the thirteenth century, Richard, Earl of Cornwall and his son Edmund among them, and for a while it was a comfortable residence rather than a fortress. By the later Middle Ages it had fallen out of use, though it was pressed into service again briefly during the Civil War. Grass now fills the middle and you can walk the wall-walk right round. English Heritage looks after it. It stands above the River Fowey a mile or so north of Lostwithiel, and the wider sweep of Cornwall is all around; the big house at Lanhydrock is close enough to pair with a visit.
More at the National Heritage List entry
