Tudor and Stuart History
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.
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 slight 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.
Read more about this topic: Launceston Castle
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