Pencarrow Rings

Mentioned by Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books – 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) as “a bivallate Iron Age fort with a small central enclosure 90m in overall diameter. It is closely surrounded on the south-east side by an ovoid outer work which bulges away on the north–west side so that the gap between them is as much as 24m. On the west side there is an incomplete annexe formed by a single bank and ditch. The inner rampart, up to 3.4m high, is encircled by a ditch 1.1m deep. The outer bank reaches a height of 3.0m and its ditch survives to a depth of 1.4m. The annexe is unusually strong, with an outer ditch 1.6m deep fronting a bank 3.1m high. The original entrance probably faced west, and is now utilized by the drive to Pencarrow House which penetrates to the centre of the fort and bends to pierce the southern defences. The fort has extensive outworks on all except the north-east side; these are set at a minimum distance of 200m from the outer rampart.”