Not to be confused with the other Willabury Cliff Castle, about 4 kilometres to the West, towards Tintagel.
There are three main ways to reach this. 1) Via the cliff side path from the West (from Tintagel way), 2) Via the cliff side path from the East side, which can be joined on the South side of Boscastle Harbour (and which unlike the suggestion on the OS map does not involve walking along the main road, which doesn’t have a footpath), and 3) via Forrabury Common. All are great but I would highly recommend a trip over the common, which can be reached via a footpath (approx SX098909) that begins from a small offshoot of the main road as it nears the top of the very steep hill south from Boscastle Harbour area. The common has one of the few remaining ‘stitch’ systems of agriculture in the country, and a pretty active one at that it seems. As I walked across a tractor was roughing up one of the ‘stitches’ (a long thin strip of land, separated from the next strip by a low bank); something which the seagulls loved! It also gives you a great view of the cliff castle.
The castle only had one line of defence which barely survives today. The ramparts are 110m long and are up to a height of 1.8m, fronted by a ditch of up to 0.8m deep. Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says that the position of the original entrance is uncertain and that it is probably where the footpath cuts through the bank today. Presumably they mean the more southerly path which seems to be the main path today (there is also a more northerly path - i.e. on the Boscastle Harbour side). As expected the views are stunning, and the strange white building on its summit (built in the early 19th Century as a summerhouse) will soon be re-opened as a Coast Guard Watch. The rampart is strongest at its northern edge - but don’t fall into the sea exploring it! Its easier to see from the cliff path back to Boscastle Harbour.
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Posted by pure joy
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