East Facade

This is the entrance to the castle, the face seen by visitors. When the castle was occupied visitors would have used a well tended approach road from Carew Cross, through the outer gate, and passing the castle gardens in the outer ward to the inner gate. We can only imagine how this might have looked. Today the various towers and walls, dating to different centuries, show a chronological cross section of the castle's architectural history. The oldest stone structure can just barely be seen behind the gate in the center. The top of the original Norman tower, constructed around 1200, is defined by the lowest of the high walls. The last addition, built by Sir John Perrot in the 1500s, is on the right.