Ince Castle

Has been described as a Questionable Fortified Manor House

There are major building remains

NameInce Castle
Alternative NamesInnis
Historic CountryCornwall
Modern AuthorityCornwall
1974 AuthorityCornwall
Civil ParishSaltash

Ince Castle 1653 according to documents, but circa 1630 in style. Remarkable in plan, style and in use of brick. English bond brick with stone dressings and hipped slate roof. Rectangular with 4 storey projecting towers at corners with pyramidal roofs above modillion eaves cornices. Embattled parapet. 2 storey continuous moulded cornice. with bund over ground floor. Glazing bar sash windows, mostly C18 and reproduction main entrance to west, approached by a long flight of steps to first floor level. Segment headed granite doorway, disused, flanked by pairs of mullion windows under commondrip, pediment over and cornice raised over it. Ground floor windows are C19 tripartite variety (see others on ground floor). 2 windows (on ground floor of flanking towers) retain plain stone mullion casements under segmented arch. Interior: modern Chinese Chippendale staircase in front. South-east tower contains a mid C17 staircase. The plan may relate to 'toy forts' like the nearby Mont Edyecumbe House. The style with corner hursts may relate to current court fashion (see Wilton). The first floor entry (as in the earlier castle keeps) is quite anachronistic and idiosyneratic. For full appreciation and for discussion of rival building dates and builders see Christopher Hussey's articles in Country Life 16 March 1967 and 23 March 1967. (Listed Building Report)

Gatehouse Comments

Rejected by King and Spreadbury. Salter says dates from 1640 and mainly domestic but had some small cannon found after Civil War siege. This C17 house, with some decorative battlements and called a castle does seem to have got mentioned by a lot of castle gazetteers but there were many similar house. This is one of those situations where once a building gets in a listing of medieval castles it stays there as all subsequent authors then have to reject it. This is rejected as a medieval building but wider definitions of the castle, such as that used by John Goodall in The English Castle 1066-1650, do include such buildings of the early modern period.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSX401565
Latitude50.3866996765137
Longitude-4.25017023086548
Eastings240130
Northings56500
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink
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Books

  • Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 21
  • Cooper, Nicholas, 1999, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680 (Yale University Press) p. 157-8, 168, 225, 245
  • Spreadbury, I. D., 1984, Castles in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (Redruth) (reject)
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 78 (reject)
  • Pevsner, N. revised by Enid Radcliffe, 1970, Buildings of England: Cornwall (Harmondsworth) p. 83
  • Jope, E. (ed), 1961, Studies in Building History (Odhams) p. 212-4
  • Oman, Charles W.C., 1926, Castles (1978 edn Beetham House: New York) p. 108-9
  • Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 2 p. 4 online copy
  • Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 360 online copy

Journals

  • Hussey, Christopher, 1967 16 March, Country Life
  • Hussey, Christopher, 1967 23 March, Country Life