Bearscove Castle
Bearscove Castle, Bayards Cove
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1208168
- Date first listed:
- 14-Sept-1949
- List Entry Name:
- Bearscove Castle
- Statutory Address:
- Bearscove Castle, Bayards Cove
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-09-04
- Reference:
- IOE01/05408/27
- Rights:
- © Mr Brian Head. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1208168
- Date first listed:
- 14-Sept-1949
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 23-Feb-1994
- List Entry Name:
- Bearscove Castle
- Statutory Address 1:
- Bearscove Castle, Bayards Cove
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:
- Bearscove Castle, Bayards Cove
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Devon
- District:
- South Hams (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Dartmouth
- National Grid Reference:
- SX 87865 50965
Details
SX8750
673-1/6/38
DARTMOUTH
BAYARDS COVE(West side)
Bearscove Castle
(Formerly Listed as: BAYARDS COVE Bearscove Castle (or Bayard's Cove Castle)
14/09/49
GV
I
Small artillery castle, built to protect the town quay. Possibly 1509-10 on documentary evidence, it was certainly in existence by 1537. Local limestone rubble.
PLAN: A platform cut into the rock enclosed by a thick curving wall projecting into the estuary.
EXTERIOR: Thick rubble wall with a regular series of putlog holes. Doorway on northern side onto the quay (although, according to Freeman, the quay did not extend this far until 1839). It is a plain doorway with an irregular two-centred arch head under a hoodmould. Eleven splayed gunports externally rebated for shutters; they are designed for guns mounted on flat beds. Parapet mostly collapsed but the bottom courses remain, projecting slightly on a row of small corbels.
INTERIOR:Unroofed. Remains of stone steps to wallwalk. Sockets for timbers in cliff to rear from old lean-to structures - the place was apparently used for storage in times of peace.
Bearscove Castle is sited at the end of a fine and picturesque row of listed buildings on the old town quay.
Listing NGR: SX8786550965
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 387168
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Saunders, A D, Dartmouth Castle Devon, (1986)
Freeman, R, Dartmouth and its Neighbours, (1990), 54
Archaeologia in Archaeologia , (1935), 129-157
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 09-Jun-2026 at 18:38:02.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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