The Shell Keep

The Shell Keep. Totnes Castle. The man-made earth mound was one of the earliest parts of the castle, raised in the 11th century, but the stone wall around its summit was one of the final structures to be built., Excavations from 1950 to 1953 showed that the mound was first crowned with a timber watchtower, standing on stone foundations; these foundations can still be seen today. The tower was probably surrounded by a timber enclosure, but in the 12th or early 13th century, this was replaced with a stone wall. The present structure comes from a further rebuilding probably in the early 14th century., The structure on the mound is now described as a 'shell keep', inside which buildings stood against the inner face of the curtain wall, with an open courtyard in the centre. Only slight traces of buildings survive: stone corbels (supports) for a roof, and a narrow passage in the thickness of the wall, leading to a latrine. But the wall is capped with a wall-walk for crossbowmen who could shoot outwards through narrow loopholes in the battlements. As a place of strength and security, the shell keep continued to be maintained after the rest of the castle had become ruinous.