Crane Godrevy

Has been described as a Questionable Fortified Manor House

There are earthwork remains

NameCrane Godrevy
Alternative NamesCastle Giver
Historic CountryCornwall
Modern AuthorityCornwall
1974 AuthorityCornwall
Civil ParishGwinear Gwithian

Crane Godrevy comprises the remains of an Iron Age/Romano-British round with traces of houses in the interior dated from the C1st BC to the C2nd or 3rd (or possibly C4th) AD. The site was reoccupied in the C11, when a small rectangular dwelling was constructed inside the round. A second similar house was built in the same period to be later replaced by a long rectangular structure in the C14, partly due to the drifting sand. The site was excavated by Thomas from 1955 onwards with a large scale resumption of the work in 1969. Iron Age and Romano-British pottery was recovered from the round, and Medieval and Post-Medieval sherds from the C12 to C17. Crane Godrevy was possibly a subordinate manor within the Manor of Tehidy, but was basically a farm surrounded by extensive field systems. (Cornwall and Scilly HER)

Gatehouse Comments

This close to the Bristol Channel, vulnerable from Irish and Barbary pirates, the reuse of a prehistoric fortification may have been defensive although stock control may have been the more important day to day function of the bank and ditches. A 'Castle Giver Cove' lie 500m to the east, and is directly linked to this site by a road and the castle name presumably relates then to this site. A site of modest social status but not a peasant holding. More a fortified semi-manor house rather than the more usual semi-fortified manor houses of the rest of England. St Gothian's chapel, dating back to the C6, lies 600m to the south and the area was probably more densely populated in the medieval period although settlement in Cornwall is often dispersed.

- Philip Davis

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSW589426
Latitude50.2347183227539
Longitude-5.38172006607056
Eastings158920
Northings42650
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.

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Books

  • Thomas, A.C., 1958, Gwithian: Ten Years Work, 1949-1958 p. 17, 26-30

Journals

  • Thomas, A.C., 1969, 'Excavations at Crane Godrevy' Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow Vol. 8 p. 84-88 online copy