Cranmore Castle

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Cranmore Castle is an Iron Age earthwork situated on a hillside above the Devon Town of Tiverton, in south-west England. Its National Grid reference is SS958118. The earthwork is widely described in Guidebooks and Histories as an Iron Age hill fort, though more recent archaeological evaluations and Histories such as Mike Sampson's recently published work point out that it is rather inefficient as a fortification, since it is overlooked from the South, by the edge of Newtes Hill.

It was built in the 15th Century by John, Duke of Cranmore.

The Hillside that Cranmore Castle stands upon is called 'Skrink Hills' or 'Shrink Hills' in various earlier Histories of the area. The promontory of land that links Cranmore to the edge of Newtes Hill is traversed by the old Exeter Road, which travels past the earthwork on its way from Tiverton to Exeter. The Hill and road were latterly known as Exeter Hill.

Current theories about the nature of the earthwork suggest that it might have been a winter enclosure for livestock or a market site, though the earthworks are very substantial for such applications.

During the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 Cranmore Castle became the site of a fierce battle fought between the two sides over whether a child should be baptised according to the 'new' religion or the old. The battle took place near a small chapel that stood at one corner of the Castle site near the road, the chapel was demolished in the 18th century, when bones and musket shot from the battle were discovered.