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Federation of Old Cornwall Societies
Registered Charity No. 247283 |
The comprehensive gazetteer of the medieval fortifications and castles of CornwallWith thanks to Philip Davis |
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Federation of Old Cornwall Societies
Registered Charity No. 247283 |
The comprehensive gazetteer of the medieval fortifications and castles of CornwallWith thanks to Philip Davis |
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KemijackAlso known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Kenidjack; Karnjek In the
civil parish of St Just in Penwith. Kemijack is a castle listed by Harvey as known to exist but with no remains. There is a Kenidjack Castle which is various described as a Neolithic site, a Bronze Age settlement and an Iron Age fort. PastScape report is 'The earthwork remains of an Iron Age cliff castle or hillfort. The monument has three ramparts and ditches on the north east side and two on the south west side. The interior contains some hollows which may be hut circles or evidence of quarrying.'This site has been described as a Timber Castle. These are the earthwork and timber castles of the motte and bailey or ringwork form which where the vast majority of castles of the early conquest period, of the Marches in the 11th and 12th centuries and of the period during the reign of Stephen known as the Anarchy. They were generally fairly short lived, although some such castles survived for centuries, with the timber buildings and defences being replaced on occasions sometimes in timber and sometimes in Masonry (Alderton Castle in Northamptonshire was shown in a Time Team excavation to have been built about 1070 and to still have been having high status visitors in the C15-a fine piece of enamels horse harness being found in the gatehouse). Some of the smaller low mottes may have been adapted into moated manor houses, whilst others where abandoned and replaced by manor houses of a more comfortable and domestic nature. Timber castles varied greatly in size with some being massive constructions clearly deserving the term castle, whilst other were small mounds of minor knights and had a similar size, function and social status as the later pele towers. These small mottes are called 'castle' but this could be considered a rather loose use of the term.
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SW35453263
Sources of information, references and further reading
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"Cuntelleugh an brewyon us gesys na vo kellys travyth"
(Gather up the fragments that are left that nothing be lost.)
The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies is a Registered Charity No. 247283
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