Launceston Castle, Cornwall - keep 1970s HMSO postcard

Postcard

 

• Picture / Image:  Launceston Castle, Cornwall
• Publisher:  Department of the Environment / HMSO
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes & Key words: 

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UK (incl. IOM, CI & BFPO): 99p

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NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information:

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Launceston Castle (Cornish: Kastell Lannstefan) is located in the town of Launceston, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.

The castle is a Norman motte and bailey earthwork castle raised by Robert, Count of Mortain, half-brother of William the Conqueror shortly after the Norman conquest, possibly as early as 1067. Others attribute its foundation to Brian of Brittany though he only stayed in England for about five years after the Conquest.^[1] It became the administrative headquarters for the powerful Earls of Cornwall where they could control the vast estates that they owned throughout the area. The castle remained with little development, apart from an inner keep added in the 12th century. During the 13th century, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, a younger brother of Henry III began to rebuild the castle in stone.

The tower was constructed from a darker stone than the rest of the castle, with two rooms. A new great hall was constructed within the confines of the 12th century bailey, which remained in use until the early 17th century as an Assize Hall. In the late 13th century, the administrative centre for Cornwall was moved from Launceston to Lostwithiel.

In 1548, before the Prayer Book Rebellion, 28 Cornishmen were rounded up and taken at gunpoint to Launceston Castle, (then known as Castle Terrible), where many were hanged, drawn and quartered following the killing of one of Thomas Cranmer's men, William Body. One of Body's many tasks, was to desecrate religious shrines at Helston which was part of a programme of cultural aggression designed to ensure political conformity.^[2]

The castle then fell into disrepair, despite still holding the local Assizes and the jail. George Fox, the founder of the Quakers was confined there for eight months in 1656.

During the Civil War, the castle's walls and defences were in such a poor state of repair that the Parliamentarian army did not bother to damage them when they gained control of the castle from the Royalists. In 1646 the castle was used as the base for the Cornish Royalist defence of Cornwall. Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet positioned Cornish troops along the River Tamar and issued instructions to keep "all foreign troops out of Cornwall". The Cornish were fighting for their Royalist privileges, notably the Duchy and Stannaries and he put a plan to the Prince which would, if introduced, have created a semi-independent Cornwall.^[3]