Camps, Enclosures and Rounds - Ancient Penwith | Cornwall

Ancient Penwith
The prehistoric landscape of West Penwith, the Land's End peninsula, Cornwall
Ancient Penwith
Ancient Penwith
The prehistoric landscape of the Land's End Peninsula
Ancient Penwith
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Camps, Enclosures and Rounds

Hill Camps, Enclosures and Rounds


If you're a hillfort hunter, there aren't many here, and they weren't built primarily for defensive purposes. An Oxford Univ survey of hillforts demonstrates only about 10% of hillforts across Britain show signs of conflict. They could be defended, though in West Penwith there was little need since it was defended by its geography.

Hill camps were hot property in the Iron Age, rather like today's gated communities or the manors of medieval times. In the Bronze Age they were sacred and gathering places playing a part in a wider megalithic landscape, fulfilling the Bronze Age aim of enchanting the land and making a landscape temple out of Belerion.


Caer Brân, from Botrea Barrows
Caer BranHill camps and enclosures, misnamed hillforts, are prominent hilltop sites dating from the Bronze Age zenith (2300-1800 BCE) through the Late Bronze Age (1200ish-800ish) to the Iron Age (after 800 BCE), with a peak around the 400s-100s BCE.

Most hilltop earthworks were built in the Bronze and Iron Ages (such as at Castle an Dinas or Chûn Castle). But the importance of hilltop sites first arose in the Neolithic or even the Mesolithic - simply because prominent hills would naturally be important to anyone.
The view from Bartinney Castle
View from Bartinney CastleSome enclosures, with a social-religious purpose, started in the Bronze Age - Caer Brân, Bartinney Castle, Pordenack Point and Castle an Dinas. They served as sacred enclosures for magical-spiritual purposes and they were exactly circular in shape.

Some hill camps are genuine Iron Age hillforts, such as at Carnsew near the Hayle estuary, a secure trading and transit depot for tin and other goods, for shipping north over the Celtic and Severn Seas.

Trencrom Hill and St Michael's Mount would have served as forts if necessary, guarding the peninsula from the east, but in the Iron Age hill camps were more like chieftains' manors than forts. Chûn Castle was fortified in the Iron Age, but for security, not defensive reasons, since it was in the tin trade and metalcraft industry, with high-value goods made and kept there - so it was protected like a bank. In the Neolithic it had existed for different, social and magical purposes.
Hill camps, enclosures and cliff sanctuaries in the Bronze and Iron Ages
(2200ish BCE to CE 200ish)
Red Squares = hill camps | Red Circles = circular ceremonial enclosures | Blue circles = cliff sanctuaries
NB: Carn Naun, Tol Pedn and Kemyel Point are not usually accepted as cliff sanctuaries.
Map of Hill Camps and Cliff Sanctuaries in West Penwith, Cornwall
Hill Forts

Customarily hill camps, called 'forts', are seen as defensive positions. This idea was drummed in by an archaeological orthodoxy framed in the 18th and 19th Centuries, perpetuating until today. There were probably occasional feuds, duels and displays of male testosterone, yet there are no signs of conflict in Cornwall until the Saxons reached the river Tamar in the 900s CE.
Chûn Castle from Carn Eanes - with Neolithic Chûn Quoit visible below it
Hill camps and cliff sanctuaries were valued assets, not just as property but as special, sacred and ancient places. They were cherished and protected.

Had it been necessary to defend West Penwith from attack from the sea, there would have been a hillfort at Whitesands Bay at Sennen, or at Porthcurno, or around St Ives Bay, suitable landing places. But there are none at these places.
Trencrom Hill, with Carn Brea in the distance (near Camborne)
Trencrom HillMost hill and headland camps are located in beautiful, impressive, magical settings, making them desirable locations. Commanding places, in the Iron Age they were the gated communities of the powerful.

Iron Age people had stronger concepts of hierarchy, territory and property than their forebears. People drew lines around their key assets, staking out their patch, and population density increased, filling the marginal, emptier spaces. So these places were protected, though valued for a wider range of reasons than defence.
Gateway into Chûn Castle
Encircling hill camps are earth and stone banks, walls and ditches. Some camps had wooden stockades. You get a distinct feeling you're crossing a threshold into dedicated space when you enter.

There were practical reasons for building enclosing banks - protection against wolves, keeping children and livestock contained, providing wind-protection and serving defensive purposes if necessary - also pride, wealth and status. This concerned drawing a magic circle around a dedicated space and making the space inside feel special.
Mounts Bay from Caer Brân - Godolphin Hill back right
A visit to Trencrom Hill, Chûn Castle, Bartinney or Caer Brân shows that they were hot properties with a panoramic view. Their owners drew lines around themselves: this is ours and our rules hold here.

Since the Bronze Age heyday around 2000 BCE, during the Late Bronze and the Iron Age Britons became more territorial, tribal and hierarchical - but they still had good cause to love and care for the land they occupied. Territory and resources represented a clan's collective wealth and wellbeing.
Bronze Age Sacred Enclosures


Caer Brân, with its smaller satellite enclosure
Caer BranIn the Bronze Age, from around 2000, a new kind of site emerged: the circular sacred enclosure. There are four in Penwith: Bartinney Castle, Caer Brân, Pordenack Point and Castle an Dinas.
These sacred enclosures were big and exactly circular. Their circularity betrays their sacred purpose. All contain cairns and other features. All have impressive panoramas - Caer Brân and Castle an Dinas over Mount's Bay and Bartinney and Pordenack Point over the Atlantic and the Scillies.
Castle an Dinas. Courtesy Bing Maps.
Castle an DinasCaer Brân and Castle an Dinas had social gathering purposes, though this is less likely with Bartinney.
Caer Brân could have been a kind of parliament site for the whole of Penwith, located between its upland and lowland areas, connected to the rest of the peninsula by tracks and paired as a sister site with Bartinney Castle and the Botrea Barrows nearby. It contains four cairns and two roundhuts.
Castle an Dinas is today being encroached by a china clay quarry, but in the Bronze Age it was far more of an attractive magnet and pleasant environment than now. It had four concentric circular banks and an outer ditch. If this had been for defence it was not ideal for it, and it would have demanded a lot of people to defend it. The banks are circular. It sits on a plateau, suggesting a social, ceremonial and geomantic purpose.
Bartinney Castle
These enclosures were social and ceremonial sites, hosting fairs where there would be bartering and gifting, celebration, discussions, arbitrations, socialising and ceremonies, perhaps lasting a few days under fullmoon skies, perhaps twice a year.

Castle an Dinas and Caer Brân could each host hundreds of people, being a half-day's walk from most parts of Penwith.

The evidence of alignments suggests that Caer Brân was used at the solstices and Castle an Dinas at Beltane and Lughnasad.
Bartinney Castle seems distinctly ceremonial, perhaps for initiates only. It has a remarkable panorama, topping the big, rounded hulk that is Bartinney. It has a hilltop well and eight cairns inside, three of them kerbed. There's an air of mystery to it. It's a great place to visit around sunset at the fullmoon closest to summer solstice.
The Hill Camps of Belerion

Caer Brân on top of the opposite hill, as seen from Botrea Hill
Caer Bran from Botrea BarrowsCaer Brân (SW 4075 2903) served as a central hub for Penwith. It might have been a kind of parliament and gathering place for Penwith - a kind of neutral space located in the centre of Penwith, between the northerly highlands and the lowlands.

It had a track leading to it from Zennor and Chûn toward Boscawen-ûn, then curving down to the Merry Maidens. There was also a trackway from Sennen, serving the Isles of Scilly, passing just below it, on its way eastward and upcountry.

Inside, one is visually insulated from the surrounding landscape, even though Caer Brân sits in a panoramic location. This makes it like a kind of a Faraday Cage, sealed-off from the world around, where one's attention goes inward or upward but not outward. It could host at least 200 people - good for seasonal fairs. It is reachable from all parts of the peninsula, yet out of this world.

It had three Bronze Age ring cairns inside, which could have served as platforms for public address or ritual enactment. Or they were burial places for special personages, empowering and protecting the site. If you visit, there isn't a lot to see (except an inspiring view of Mount's Bay and surrounding hills), but in Bronze and Iron Age times it probably hosted impressive events.

Castle an Dinas (SW 485 350) had a similar insulated character, since it lies on a flattish plateau overlooking Mount's Bay, with a wonderful view. It has a slightly forbidding feeling today - perhaps an unhappy place-memory - but its circularity suggests esoteric, magical and ceremonial purposes. It was a place of power, and likely a fair and moot site for big gatherings.

It was likely to be involved in the tin trade - lying roughly between the Ding Dong mine area and St Michael's Mount. Militarily it would not be a good place to defend - Trencrom Hill or Lescudjak Castle would be better. There are no archaeological signs of military activity here, though there are signs of trading.

It would work as a trading place where Penwithians could meet outsiders from upcountry and landing at Mount's Bay or Scilly. But it was most likely first built as a ceremonial place, coming into more mixed use later. Likely it was a mixture over time of all of these - with a life-span of over a millennium, a lot can happen in such a time.
The path up to Chûn Castle from Chûn Quoit
Chun CastleChûn Castle (SW 4051 3395) was a security-oriented stronghold. It was a tin-industry centre, with stores, forges and workshops. High-value metals, jewels and specialist tools were kept here, crafted and stored for dispatch. It's a prominent eyrie with a 360° panorama, perhaps for a grandiose lord whom everyone knew was boss. Even in iron age times it had a long heritage, having been a neolithic hill enclosure from at least the 3600s BCE, with its neolithic quoit just downhill.

Downhill the other way is Bosullow Trehyllis, an iron age settlement that serviced the hill camp. The castle, the quoit and the village are well worth a visit, and their history spans 4,000 years.
On top of Trencrom Hill
Trencrom HillTrencrom Hill (SW 5172 3625) is a delightful and desirable residence - at least, in good weather. It's defensible, with steep slopes, remarkable panoramas and its own hilltop springwater source. With Chûn Castle, it's the only hill camp in Penwith where you can see both the north and south coasts. You can also see the uplands of mid-Cornwall and the Lizard.

In the Iron Age it was probably a residence for a chief and his or her extended family, with a fine view of the domain. With St Michael's Mount it guards Penwith. It was a beacon hill, in sight of Carn Brea eastwards and, westwards, Castle an Dinas, southwards St Michael's Mount and SE to Godolphin Hill - well connected on the signalling internet. You can see the remains of roundhuts on top. If you visit, don't go on a windy day!

Faugan Round (SW 4517 2821) near Paul is more a camp than a round. It had two banks around it (not very high) and a magnificent view over Mount's Bay. Not good for defence, it was the gathering place for the local area, with a fine vista and a nice feeling to it. It is simply a convex brow on the edge of a plateau, with a view over Mount's Bay, so it would be a lovely place to live. It could also have been a fine venue for summertime fairs.

Lescudjak Castle (SW 475 310) also looks over Mount's Bay. It is now incorporated into Penzance, a home to gardeners' allotments and surrounded by a housing estate. Lescudjak was probably a trading place. Faugan Round and Lescudjak Castle were prime properties more than forts. But Lescudjak did have defensive merits, being on top of a steepish hill, overlooking a strategic valley and with a panorama of Mount's Bay and the Lizard. It could be older than Iron Age - its neighbour, Lesingey, with which it was probably paired, is one of the oldest sites on the peninsula.

Lesingey RoundLesingey Round (SW 454 304) is ancient, with found artefacts going back to the Mesolithic 4000s BCE, and reoccupied over different periods up to the Iron Age. Today it is wooded, surrounded by open fields, but in ancient times it would itself have been clear and surrounded with woodland or fields. It would have been a lovely living or gathering place, situated between Mount's Bay and the Penwith highlands and possibly housing sixty people. It's not a classic round, more a hill camp. It's worth visiting in spring at bluebell time! It is a considerable alignment centre.

Carnsew, near Hayle (SW 5564 3713), is hardly visible today, with a railway cutting slicing through it and houses built on and around it. It was probably a trading site and storage place for tin ingots, crafts and other imports and exports, just above the Hayle river estuary. Together with St Ives, it was ideal for trading boats coming from the Celtic and Severn Seas. There would have been passenger traffic too, for people travelling from northwards: they would have walked down to St Michael's Mount to continue their journeys southwards.
Circular Enclosures
Bronze age circular enclosures built for ceremonial purposes or as moot places, built around 1800ish BCE.

BARTINNEY CASTLE Hilltop  circular sacred enclosure with cairns and well. Panorama over the sea  and the Scillies. SW 3944 2932. 50.106715 -5.6453807. 'The Hill of  Fires' - Lake, 1868. Legend has it that evil cannot reach you within the  enclosing ring.
CAER BRÂN Sacred  enclosure with three Bronze Age ring cairns and an exactly round  enclosing bank. Probably a moot and parliament site for Penwith, located  at a major trackway crossroad. SW 4075 2903. 50.104642 -5.6269622.
CASTLE AN DINAS Circular  hilltop enclosure (officially an Iron Age multivallate hillfort),  probably ceremonial or serving social gathering purposes as a moot and  market place. SW 485 350. 50.161584 -5.5229297.
PORDENACK POINT Clifftop  ceremonial place. Remains of circular enclosure 90m in diameter, with  barrows inside. Probably Bronze Age. Many rock simulacra nearby. | SW  346 241. 50.058426 -5.7091432.

Tor Enclosures
Neolithic hilltop tor enclosures built around 3700-3500 BCE.

CARN GALVA Prominent two-peaked granite outcrop and Neolithic hilltop enclosure (c3700 BCE), aka Carn Galver. With rock platforms and placed and propped stones. SW 4256 3639. 50.171456 -5.6067374.
CARN KENIDJACK Carn Kenidjack, aka the Hooting Tor. Neolithic tor enclosure and the oldest site in the Tregeseal complex. SW 3879 3297. 50.139141 -5.6569923.
TRENCROM HILL Neolithic tor enclosure and Iron Age hill camp, with holy well. SW 5172 3625. 50.174144 -5.478555.
Hill Camps Hill camps (hillforts) serving as gathering places or granges with defensive or security qualities.
ST MICHAEL'S MOUNT An island since around 1700 BCE  – before that it was a mile or so inland from the coast. Major node on  the Michael and Apollo lines, and a remarkable place. Neolithic tor and  cliff sanctuary, with multiple historic layers. Managed by the National  Trust. Type Three. SW 5143 2984. 50.117048 -5.477489.

Hill Camps
Neolithic and Bronze Age hilltop enclosures.

CHÛN CASTLE Hill  camp and stronghold, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age. Involved in the  tin trade and crafts. A well is inside the camp. SW 4051 3395. 50.148671  -5.6337195.
LESINGEY ROUND Hill  camp (not a round). More interesting than reported in archaeological  records. Earliest finds go back to the Mesolithic. This is a major  alignment node. SW 454 304. 50.118951 -5.56298.
FAUGAN ROUND Faugan Round, enclosure or hill camp (hillfort) with double banks and  two enclosures within the main enclosure. Likely to be a site for social  gatherings. There is a suggestion it might have been a henge, but this  would be unusual for this area. SW 4517 2821. 50.099230 -5.5647009.
LESCUDJACK CASTLE Lescudjack hillfort. Hill camp in a strategic defensive position.  Reputedly the stronghold of a Cornish princess. Possibly a trading  place. SW 475 310. 50.125645 -5.5334616.
TREEN CIRCLE Large camp and settlement or 'promontory  fort', certainly Iron Age and possibly Neolithic, protecting the cliff  sanctuary of Treryn Dinas. SW 397 222 50.042879 -5.63696
Rounds

Rounds are circular banked enclosures, often but not always containing the remains of settlements. Their main use seems to have been for homesteading and as enclosed farming hamlets or granges. Some had other purposes, and some are called rounds but they are not - they were camps or enclosures for other purposes. Nowadays many have been ploughed over, appearing as a slightly raised circular bank or as crop marks, though many have curved field hedges following the boundaries of a round.

Faugan RoundSome are located on quite strong alignments (such as Caergwydden Round and Faugan Round) and are definitely round in shape, suggesting geomantic thinking behind their design.

Kaer Round near St Erth Praze in East Penwith is on two significant alignments connected with West Penwith, suggesting it is more than a customary round, and probably older.

Several churches sit on rounds, including Gulval, St Erth and St Buryan, adopting iron age sites for later Christian purposes. In St Just, the medieval Plein an Gwarry in the centre of town near the square, a site for public performances and gatherings, was originally an Iron Age round.

Lesingey Round and Faughan Round are hill camps more than rounds. Most rounds were only mildly defensible, offering some protection to a hamlet or farm, keeping stock in and wild animals out. It's the 'magic circle' idea, staking out 'our world'. Wind protection was one reason for the building of their banks - these could have been winter residences.

Most rounds were built between 200 BCE and CE 100, though some have earlier origins. A few might be recycled Bronze Age sites. The position of some rounds on alignments connecting with much older sites suggests either that these rounds might be older than we think, or that their builders decided to plug into older alignment systems.

There was something deliberate in the circularity of some rounds which is frequently forgotten - there's a feng shui aspect to it, even for quite functional rounds. The principles of Bronze Age geomancy seemed to be alive and well in the Iron Age, even if applied differently from before.

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