England · Restored
Carn Brea Castle
Carn Brea Castle is a small granite folly on the Carn Brea outcrop in Cornwall, originally built as a chapel in the 14th century and remodelled in the 18th century as a hunting lodge. The compact, embattled stone building is built into huge natural boulders and is privately used as a restaurant. It is a grade II listed structure notable for its crenellated roofline and four rectangular turrets surrounding a central block.
Its prime
1780
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1780
The shape it held in its prime.
A compact, elongated granite block with four rectangular turrets set at its corners and an embattled parapet running around the flat roof; walls of rough grey granite with tall narrow arched window openings and small slit windows. The building is closely built into and overhangs massive uncut boulders that form part of its foundations, with a steep drop at the rear. The main façade features a simple doorway beneath paired arched windows.
Its story
The story of Carn Brea Castle.
Carn Brea Castle began as a 14th-century chapel on the granite outcrop of Carn Brea in Cornwall, and was extensively remodelled in the 18th century as a hunting lodge in the style of a castle for the Basset family. Built into huge natural boulders with a steep drop at the rear, the building measures just 60 by 10 feet.
Decorated in the romantic ideal of a medieval Gothic castle, the folly has an irregular layout of four rectangular turrets around a core of the same height, finished with an embattled parapet. Designed as a lodge rather than a dwelling, the Grade II listed building is today in private use as a restaurant.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1780.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Carn Brea Castle — including 1 interior: former chapel / main chamber. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Carn Brea Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1780 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Carn Brea Castle.
The families that held Carn Brea Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Basset
The Basset family remodelled the 14th-century building as a castellated hunting lodge in the 18th century.
