The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies
The Organisation for those who love Cornwall.
"Cuntelleugh an brewyon us gesys na vo kellys travyth"
(Gather up the fragments that are left that nothing be lost.)
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The comprehensive gazetteer of the medieval fortifications and castles of CornwallLesingey Round, PenzanceAlso known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Castle Horneck In the
civil parish of Penzance. Earthwork remains of an Iron Age hillfort, possibly reoccupied in the medieval period. The rampart is 12 to 15ft high from the bottom of the ditch. The ditch has not been encroached upon. This site is about 400m west of Castle Horneck and it is possible that this is the site of the C12 castle report and that the place name has been utilised by a later building on a nearby but different site.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.
Earthworks remains. This site
is a scheduled
monument protected by law. The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SW45343035
Sources of information, references and further reading
Registered Charity No. 247283 “Safeguarding the past for the future”
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