Launceston Castle The keep of Launceston Castle rules the city and surrounding countryside. Most Saxon burghs had forts forced upon them inside a couple of many years of the Norman Conquest, and also the castle of "Dunhevet" is recorded within the Domesday Book. In those days it had been held by William the Conqueror's half-brother Robert. Initially the castle undergone a number of hands, and also the only Norman masonry may be the spend continue the motte. In 1227 Henry III granted the Earldom of Cornwall to his brother Richard, and that he should have been accountable for the majority of the existing masonry. Eventually, the castle fell in to the common rut to be used like a courthouse and gaol for that duchy, and also the protection corroded. Through the finish from the Civil War, throughout so it transformed hands several occasions, it had been a complete ruin. Earl Richard built a stone wall on the top from the bailey rampart, only the low courses survive. It had been a strangely enough plain curtain for that thirteenth century, without towers aside from the drums flanking the southern gatehouse. The second continue to be quite impressive and also the simple gate tower in the far finish from the bailey has additionally made it destruction. Otherwise it's the keep that instructions our attention. The only real approach is by the stretch of curtain climbing along side it from the motte, controlled at its feet with a ruinous tower. Launceston's unique "triple crown" keep is caused by three phases - a stone reverment round the upper area of the motte, the late Norman spend keep on the top and Richard of Cornwall's round tower rising up there. This arrangement seems to constitute an earlier illustration of concentric planning, although it is obvious in the joint holes within the walls the narrow space between your tower and also the spend were roofed over.