St Michael's Mount was crowned with a castle and a church. The oldest portion is the central tower, of the fourteenth or fifteenth century; other portions are later additions, and much very bad modern work has tended to its sad disfigurement. Edward the Confessor planted a monastery on the rock, and granted it to Mont S. Michel in Normandy; at the Conquest it was made over to Robert Earl of Mortain, but the Benedictines of Mont S. Michel continued to have a cell there with a prior. It was consequently at once a religious house and a military post.
Restormel, near Lostwithiel, consists of a keep crowning a hill, with a gatehouse on the west, a projecting tower on the E.N.E., and a chapel. It is not older than the reign of Henry III and was the stronghold of the Cardinhams and then of the Traceys, from whom it passed to the Earls of Cornwall. The circular keep is only 30 ft. high. The castle was already ruinous in the time of the Civil War, but it was put in repair and held by the Parliamentary forces till taken by Grenville.
St Mawes is a small but perfect castle, erected by Henry VIII.
St Mawes Castle
Pendennis Castle was another erection of Henry VIII, on the site of earlier fortifications. The circular tower dates from his time, but it was added to considerably in the reign of Elizabeth. In 1644 Pendennis afforded shelter to Queen Henrietta Maria, when embarking for France, and hither came Prince Charles in 1646 on his way to Scilly.
Helsborough, near Michaelstow, was a fortress belonging to the Earls of Cornwall, but it shows no tokens of having ever been walled with masonry. The only structural remains to be seen are the ruins in the midst of a Perpendicular chapel.
On Carn Brea is a tower, another on Roche rock; and St Catherine's Castle, erected by order of Henry VIII, defended the entrance to the harbour of Fowey.