Carn Brea Castle

Carn Brea Castle is a hunting lodge or folly, now used as a restaurant. It was built by the Basset family of Tehidy, primarily in the 18th and 19th centuries, though it incorporates fabric believed to be medieval. The building is constructed of uncoursed granite rubble with granite dressings, set on an irregular foundation of natural granite and boulders at the summit of the hill. The plan is irregular, consisting of four rectangular turrets surrounding a central core, all of the same height. The style is Gothick, featuring mostly two-centred arched openings and an embattled parapet. The castle is mostly two storeys high. The entrance front, facing south, has a narrow set-back section between two turrets. It includes a doorway to the right, a small window to the left, and a window above the door. The right-hand turret has a raised square-headed doorway in the re-entrant wall, a small square window above, and an arched window at the first floor of the front wall. The narrower left turret has two similar windows at the first floor of its outer wall. To the rear, a pile of massive boulders forms the “ground floor” of the north-west turret, which is precariously positioned upon them. This turret has one small square-headed lancet window at a high level on each of its three sides, with flat coping and a chimney on the west side. A long flight of steps leads to a doorway in the re-entrant wall of the north-east turret and to the rear wall of the core, which is exposed here. This wall has a depressed two-centred arch at the same level, alongside some larger masonry that may be of earlier origin. The north side of the north-east turret features two windows at a raised ground floor level, and a small lancet above. Its east side has a similar lancet at the upper level and a chimney pipe rising from an upstand of the battlements. The interior was not inspected. Carn Brea Castle, along with the nearby Dunstanville Memorial, forms a very prominent landmark.