Garden Wall With Gateways And Folly Tower Attached To West And East Of Caerhays Castle

ST MICHAEL CAERHAYS SW 94 SE 3/133 Garden wall with gateways and folly - tower attached to west and east of Caerhays Castle

GV I

Garden walls with gateway and folly tower. 1808, by John Nash, for J.B. Trevanion Slatestone rubble with granite and Pentewan stone dressings. Plan: The wall is attached to the service buildings of Caerhays Castle to south west with gateway leading to the entrance front (to north). The wall is continued to enclose a garden in front of the entrance front, and returned, with another gateway in a range running from north west to south east, with corner towers. At the south east corner there is a circular plan folly tower. The wall is returned to enclose the garden to south of Caerhays Castle and is attached to the house to south west. Exterior: At the south west side, there is a 2-centred arched gateway with embattled parapet over. The walls extends uphill, embattled, about 5 metres high. At the western corner there is a square plan corner tower, roofless, with 2-centred arched doorway and battered walls. Along the upper ranges of the wall, there is stone coping. The northern corner has a corner tower with loops and 2-centred arched doorway. Along the eastern range, the wall is embattled, with a polygonal embattled eyecatcher, with loops. There is a second main gateway with round arch and C20 wooden gates, embattled parapet over; the wall runs in an arc to each side with battlements and loops; running down to south east there is a flight of stone steps on the inner side of the wall, leading down to the folly tower at the south east corner of the garden. The folly tower is of circular plan, in 2 stages, with plain string courses and lancets at staggered levels. There is an embattled parapet with wide merlons, and set on top a smaller tower as a top stage, with corbelled embattled parapet and loops with splayed cills. There is a slight batter at ground floor level. On the garden side there is a doorway leading to a stone newel stair inside the tower. The south eastern range of the wall forms a retaining wall to the garden along the garden front of Caerhays Castle; the wall is embattled, and battered on the outer side with raking buttresses. The garden walls and towers form an integral part of the design of Caerhays Castle, as part of the asymmetrical Gothic design. Sources: Pevsner, N.: Buildings of England: Cornwall 1970. Summerson, J.: The Life and Work of John Nash, Architect. 1980.

Listing NGR: SW9717841652