Fowey Town Defences

Has been described as a Possible Urban Defence

There are no visible remains

NameFowey Town Defences
Alternative Names
Historic CountryCornwall
Modern AuthorityCornwall
1974 AuthorityCornwall
Civil ParishFowey

The town of Fowey ys a market yown walled defensably to the se cost, and hath gates also. (Leland - Toulmin Smith 1907)

no other evidence for this "exceptionally difficult labour of fortification." (King 1983)

Chandler transcribes Leland as "Fowey is a market town defended on the seaward side by a wall, and it also has gates."

Gatehouse Comments

It is unclear as to why David King would consider this so difficult unless he read this as an entire circuit rather than just a sea wall but even then it is not such a difficult exercise. The gates would, presumably, be required to ensure tolls and taxes. Leland, writing for the martial King Henry VIII, tended to emphasis the military aspects of what he saw. Actually this sea wall must have been a sea defence in practice. Higham records the Fowey Blockhouse as the town defence. Map reference for parish church.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSX125517
Latitude50.3353309631348
Longitude-4.63581991195679
Eastings212530
Northings51700
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 157 (slight)
  • Higham, Robert A., 1999, 'Castles, Fortified Houses and Fortified Towns in the Middle Ages' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p. 136-43
  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 203, 257
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 78

Antiquarian

  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England  (Sutton Publishing) p. 86
  • Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 323 online copy

Journals

  • Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86