Hillfort
Iron Age 800 BC - AD 43
At the top end of the hierarchy of later Iron Age settlement are the hillforts. Defined by one or, more usually, two or three imposing ramparts, these sites are interpreted as central places overseeing large tribal territories.
The ramparts may have been intended to impress rather than to have functioned as a defensive barrier as few signs of warfare ever come from excavation. They were constructed from around 500 BC and appear to go out of fashion in the years following the Roman Conquest.
Examples to visit
Bishops Wood Hillfort
Castle-an-Dinas
Castle Dore
Castle Pencaire
Chûn Castle
Helsbury
Round Wood
Round Wood is a complex site that has revealed evidence of occupation and settlement through the later centuries of prehistory, as well as for its much more recent industrial heritage. Now part of the Trelissick Estate, it is situated at the tip of an east-facing promontory between Cowlands and Lamouth Creeks.
Warbstow Bury
Iron Age 800 BC - AD 43
At the top end of the hierarchy of later Iron Age settlement are the hillforts. Defined by one or, more usually, two or three imposing ramparts, these sites are interpreted as central places overseeing large tribal territories.
Continue readingThe ramparts may have been intended to impress rather than to have functioned as a defensive barrier as few signs of warfare ever come from excavation. They were constructed from around 500 BC and appear to go out of fashion in the years following the Roman Conquest.
Examples to visit
Bishops Wood Hillfort
Castle-an-Dinas
Castle Dore
Castle Pencaire
Chûn Castle
Helsbury
Round Wood
Round Wood is a complex site that has revealed evidence of occupation and settlement through the later centuries of prehistory, as well as for its much more recent industrial heritage. Now part of the Trelissick Estate, it is situated at the tip of an east-facing promontory between Cowlands and Lamouth Creeks.