Cromwells Castle
CROMWELLS CASTLE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1141198
- Date first listed:
- 14-Dec-1992
- List Entry Name:
- Cromwells Castle
- Statutory Address:
- CROMWELLS CASTLE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-09-20
- Reference:
- IOE01/05602/02
- Rights:
- © Mr Bernard Stradling. Source: Historic England Archive
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Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1141198
- Date first listed:
- 14-Dec-1992
- List Entry Name:
- Cromwells Castle
- Statutory Address 1:
- CROMWELLS CASTLE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CROMWELLS CASTLE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Isles of Scilly (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Tresco
- National Grid Reference:
- SV 88181 15968
Details
TRESCO
SVB1NE Cromwell's Castle 1358-0/1/114
II*
Gun tower. 1651-2 with gun platform added c1740 by Abraham Tovey, Master Gunner. Randomly coursed granite rubble; granite platform roofs; stone stacks. Circular-plan tower with rectangular C18 gun platform addition on seaward side with external staircase. Tower has original entrance high up on south side, which had platform on stone corbels (still remaining) outside it; rectangular gunports, that to east in raised ovolo-moulded surround. Granite steps to chamfered arched doorway and winder stairs to C18 platform, which has 6 gun embrasures with segmental arches and inserted entrance to tower flanked by lean-tos consisting of a guardroom with fireplace and a latrine. Interior: tower built with unlighted basement below two accommodation floors, now with holes for missing floor joists and vaulted roof with ribs to upper room, which has chamfered surround to fireplace with chamfered segmental-arched relieving arch and simply moulded bases and capitals to piers dividing window embrasures. Spiral staircase and rebated doorways to platform. Shouldered chamfered segmental-arched entrance to winder stair rising through chamfered arched doorway to tower platform. Built following a threat to the islands by the Dutch, replacing the poorly sited King Charles Castle (q.v.). Scheduled as an Ancient Monument. (P Laws: The Buildings of Scilly: Redruth: 1980-: 8; B.H. St.J.O'Neil: Isles of Scilly: London (HMSO): 1950-: 18-19; Buildings of England: Pevsner, N and Ratcliffe, E: Cornwall: London: 1951-1970: 211; Saunders A: Fortress Britain: Liphook: 1989-: 28-30).
Listing NGR: SV8818115968
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 62549
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, (1970), 211
Laws, P, The Buildings of Scilly, (1980), 8
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cornwall, (1951), 211
O'Neil, BH St J, Isles of Scilly, (1950), 18-19
Saunders, A D, Fortress Britain, (1989), 28-30
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 23:49:14.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.