Launceston Castle
Considering we were staying 11 minutes from Launceston Castle, it still took us 3 days to visit.
Friday was our 'lazy day', of course we don't mean as in do nothing, but we wanted to take a chilled approach to our final day in Cornwall and the idea was that we just travelled to places we fancied, pick up some local food for dinner, and wandered around.
So we headed to Launceston Castle and we were surprised with the height of the structure, but also how compact it was.
The castle was originally and earthwork and timber castle with the motte in one corner. It was then converted to stone and after 1227 Richard of Cornwall further redeveloped in order to have a high tower for guests to view the surrounding land. The castle formed the new administration of the Earldom of Cornwall and when Edmund inherited the castle from his father Richard, he moved the administration elsewhere so the large community packed within Launceston Castle vacated and thus it fell to ruin. By 1337 the castle was completely ruined and was used as a gaol which we witnessed during our visit. The tower on the motte which housed prisoners is cold, dark, damp, and compact. Depending how many people were imprisoned here, it would have been quite cramped and not nice at all.
LC was garrisoned during the English Civil War so was another one that we have visited that saw a little action during this time. It was toward the end of this war that the castle was stripped for building materials and left uninhabitable aside from prisoners. The small gaol in the centre of the bailey was also used for executions and later became the county gaol despite its terrible conditions and mistreatment of inmates. These inmates were eventually moved to Bodmin Gaol and Launceston was closed.
This castle saw action in another war however, WWII. In this war American soldiers were housed here and later the site was used by the Air Ministry for offices. In 1956 they left and the castle was reopened to the public.
In terms of ghosts, there is but one tale we have found on the interweb, that of witch trials at Launceston castle. It is said that those found guilty were burnt and at night you can still hear women screaming, these women were kept in what was later known as 'witches tower' but that this no longer stands. Now this may or may not be true as we know that Bodmin Gaol was home to a lot of convicted witches, so it stands to reason that Launceston may have as well especially as these women were purposely kept in poor conditions. We know this from Joan Wytte who we are doing a post on next as we decided to visit her grave after our visit here. The only thing we are unsure of is the other tower.
Our visit to Launceston Castle took about an hour. There isn't a large amount to explore as the only thing really intact is the bailey, motte and tower. We climbed the tower and stood atop its ruins to look out over Launceston (it was very high!), then we stood where the prisoners would have lived which gave us an unsettled vibe for sure. The damp conditions in here and claustrophobic walls certainly gave an air of troubled spirits, whether that be our own or external entities we cant be sure, but we were not comfortable in here at all. The giftshop was the entry point and had a lovely little museum with coins on display and fallen stone and weaponry found in the area. The lady running it was lovely and another person who fell in love with Yogi. We had a good chat, got Lauren's keyring and went off to explore.
Once we had had our fill of the castle we then wandered the grounds which was a nice walk as it seemed like the ideal picnic area. When we'd finished we then wandered off through the other gate structure and explored the town of Launceston.
The town itself was bustling and yet had the historical vibe we love. It reminded us of Canterbury, just bigger. It was almost something plucked from Harry Potter but with more coffee shops. We bought some fresh fruit from a farm shop, cheese from a farmers market housed in the church, and looked in at the abundance of jewellers selling their wares.
Aside from the general feel of uneasiness we didn't see any ghosts. The castle itself looks aesthetically haunted, and it felt it, but in terms of evidence there was none. Would we visit this one again? Absolutely! Although it would be another one of those visits where we would need to bring people with us to share the experience as otherwise we'd already seen in all and the joy is taken out a little.
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