The keep appears to lie on the highest ground in the area, although this is actually located to the south, within in the deer park. Visitors would have been funnelled around the edge of the park and by the town wall towards the south gate of the castle, a route dominated by the views of the keep and tower. The addition of the high tower had made the castle visible to anyone entering from Devon, framing it strikingly against the hills. The keep, park and town walls probably symbolised Richard's authority as earl, and the historian Andrew Saunders has argued that the keep and high tower were also intended to resemble Richard of Cornwall's crown in his role as the King of the Romans.