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Castle Pencaire
Breage |
Kerrier
NGR: SW 5994 3000 |
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Godolphin Hill and Tregonning Hill are the two high points of the small granitic intrusion which meets the coast at Trewavas Head to the
west of Porthleven. Whilst Godolphin Hill has a rounded profile,
Tregonning Hill forms a ridge running south-eastwards. Apart from
its outstanding views, Tregonning Hill is remarkable for its diverse
archaeological landscape, which includes Bronze Age burial mounds,
the Iron Age hillfort of Castle Pencaire, two Iron Age or
Romano-British defended settlements or Rounds, a well preserved
mediæval field system, a late 18th century watch house, and a quarry
where John Wesley is alleged to have preached. In addition, this is the
place where china clay was first extracted by William Cookworthy in
the middle of the 18th century.
Castle Pencaire, on the summit of Tregonning Hill, by tradition an
abode of giants, is a hillfort of Iron Age date, oval in shape and
defined by a pair of ramparts and ditches with entrances on both the
east and west sides. A number of hut circles have been identified in
the interior, but this has been heavily disturbed by later activity
including mining and prospecting and these features are by no means
clear. The site is bisected by a modern boundary, and a 20th Century
War Memorial, constructed of stone from the ramparts, has been built
atop the ramparts on the western side.
Strategically sited on lofty hilltops commanding wide views over the
surrounding landscape, hillforts were not necessarily intended
primarily for defence, although they may have sometimes served that
purpose. More likely they were centres of trade and served as a
focal point for community gatherings and ceremonies, the impressive
banks and ditches being a means of displaying status and power. It
is not known whether the round houses in the interior represent
evidence for a permanent settlement - occupation may have been
sporadic or seasonal, or associated with specific activities taking
place at the site.
On the north-eastern slopes of the hill are two smaller defended
farmsteads or rounds; the rampart of the western one has been
partially removed and the remainder survives, fossilised into the
modern field pattern, whilst the better preserved eastern enclosure
lies in moorland and is complete, with traces of several hut circles
in the interior and a causewayed track leading to the entrance on
its south-eastern side. These two settlement sites may be broadly
contemporary with the hillfort, but Rounds were constructed and
occupied for over a thousand years and they may equally represent a
later phase of occupation when the hillfort had been abandoned.
A system of strip fields and ridge and furrow extending over the
northern slopes of the hill is probably the result of mediæval
rather than prehistoric farming. On the ridge to the south of Castle
Pencaire is a Bronze Age barrow in which was discovered a Roman coin
hoard indicating activity in the area both before and after the
period during which the hillfort would have been at its height.
Tregonning Hill is protected as an Scheduled Monument. Public
footpaths from Balwest and Tresowes Hill give access to the hill,
and much of the ground here is Access Land. |
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Ground & Aerial photographs |
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