Penhale Point Cliff Castle

Nearest town:
Newquay (6km ENE)
OS reference:
SW758591
OS sheet:
200
Latitude:
50° 23' 18.01 N
Longitude:
5° 9' 15.96 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Penhale Point Cliff Castle (Cliff Fort) by juamei

Open Source Environment agency LIDAR

Image credit: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2015.
juamei
juamei Jan 24, 2016
Image of Penhale Point Cliff Castle (Cliff Fort) by thesweetcheat

At their southern end the ramparts (foreground) are all but vanished.

Image credit: A. Brookes (19.6.2013)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 11, 2013
Image of Penhale Point Cliff Castle (Cliff Fort) by thesweetcheat

The ramparts are covered in succulent plants, producing pretty yellow flowers in summer.

Image credit: A. Brookes (19.6.2013)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 11, 2013
Image of Penhale Point Cliff Castle (Cliff Fort) by thesweetcheat

The central section of rampart, looking westwards into the fort.

Image credit: A. Brookes (19.6.2013)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 11, 2013
Image of Penhale Point Cliff Castle (Cliff Fort) by thesweetcheat

Looking across Holywell Bay towards Kelsey Head, the next cliff fort along the Cornish coast.

Image credit: A. Brookes (19.6.2013)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 11, 2013
Image of Penhale Point Cliff Castle (Cliff Fort) by thesweetcheat

Looking from the fort to the neighbouring island of Carter’s Rocks.

Image credit: A. Brookes (19.6.2013)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 11, 2013
Image of Penhale Point Cliff Castle (Cliff Fort) by Mr Hamhead

Strange radio things sit inside the earthworks...thick mist and an MOD escort made getting a decent photo difficult.

Mr Hamhead
Mr Hamhead Jun 6, 2006
Image of Penhale Point Cliff Castle (Cliff Fort) by pure joy

Penhale Point Cliff Castle – 28th September 2003 – The Northern defences of the Cliff castle, looking north west down to the sea.

Image credit: Martin Bull
pure joy
pure joy Oct 23, 2003

Articles

Penhale Point Cliff Castle

Mr Hamhead
Mr Hamhead Jun 6, 2006

26.5.06

You wait nearly 30 years to get back into a site...and you are met by thick mist!

As a young army cadet I spent several weekends at the MOD camp at Penhale...with no interest in history. Now that I am a big boy I finaly get to go back in on a fieldtrip to look at landscape (sand dunes).

Walking down through the radio station at the north end the low banks of the Iron Age cliff castle were pointed out to us...through the mist...I was not allowed to go too close so the only photo is the best I could get.

Who knows what the strange hoops are that sit inside the banks...the MOD guy had no idea!

The SWCP runs the other side as far as I know but they were keen to stress that trespassers are not tolerated!

Mr H

Penhale Point Cliff Castle

pure joy
pure joy Oct 5, 2003

Penhale Point Cliff Castle – 28th September 2003

Easily reached via Holywell, although the interior of the headland is littered with old mining activity, and modern god knows what (not marked on the map – seem to be some sort of telecom / electrical stuff) and signs tell you to stick to the coast path. It’s worth the effort because the view in all directions is stunning, be it out to sea and Carter’s Rocks, to Ligger Point to the south or towards Holywell Beach and Kelsey Head to the north. And the defences of the cliff castle are still quite impressive.

Miscellaneous

Penhale Point Cliff Castle
Cliff Fort
pure joy
pure joy Sep 6, 2003

Mentioned by Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books – 1985, revised 1997 & 2000). “Past mining activity has damaged and buried the southern part of these Iron Age defences, but the headland still displays two impressive banks and ditches. Today these ramparts are 2.5m high and the outer ditch is 0.8m deep. A number of breaches occur in the defences, and it is not certain which was the original entrance. Recent surveys have discovered at least one hut site within the defences, and, at the time of writing, excavation of the site is projected”.

Note – the grid ref in Cornovia is wrong – it should be the grid ref as given on this site (i.e. SW758591)

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