The hill-top at Eggardon is crowned with the impressive ramparts and ditches of one of Dorset’s best preserved hill-forts.
Dating from the Iron Age over 2,000 years ago, this fort has not been excavated in modern times and much of its archaeology remains hidden.
The fort covers nearly 40 acres of the hill-top, its defences following the hill-slope on three sides and dramatically cutting off the fourth.
Half of the interior seems never to have been ploughed.
To reach this site follow the lane running south from Week St. Mary to Poundstock road. 1 mile NW of week St. Mary.
Oval in shape with diameters of 150m by 210m.
The ramparts are about 3 metres high.
Sometimes known as the Giant’s Quoit.
Same type as the Trevethey Quoit but not as tall.
The capstone is a giant stone 15 feet long and 2 and a half feet thick.
It is estimated that thestone weighs about 14 tons making it the heavist of any standing Quoit in Cornwall.
There are at least forty-four barrows in this Bronze Age cemetery.
The barrows of many types, sizes and date, straddle the A35, Bridport to Dorchester road.
Highdown Hill is a small hill 226 feet high that stands just north of Ferring on the West Sussex coast and is seperated from the main bulk of the South Downs to the north.
It has had much use in Prehistoric times with a settlement in the Bronze age, fortification in the Iron age, a Roman bath house and a Saxon cemetary, allegedly the burial place of the Saxon King Ælla after the battle at Mount Badon with King Arthur in 516AD
Cissbury Ring is one of the greatest of Britain’s prehistoric hill forts.
The banks and ditches which you see are are the remains of a vast defensive wall enclosing an area of 65 acres. The inner band is over a mile around!
Iron Age fortifications over-run by the Romans in 44AD. Hod Hill is the largest Iron Age fort in Dorset, running to 54 acres and accommodating up to 250 roundhouses.
It also offers a rare example of a Roman fort inside an Iron Age one. The Romans’ garrison housed 600 foot soldiers and over 200 cavalry, safe within palisade and ditch defences.
An Iron Age hillfort which it is thought to have been abandoned after the Roman conquest like other hill-forts in Dorset.
Excavations have been carried out in the early ‘60s and from 1964 to 1971
Situated just outside Dorchester, on the western side, Poundbury Hillfort overlooks the River Frome on the north side. Originally it had two ramparts and ditches on all sides.
Sited on a hill, 807 feet above the sea level, Warbstow Barrows is one of the largest and best preserved earthworks in the County.
It has two ramparts, each with two entrances, the inner area being 370 by 450 feet. The outer rampart averages 15 feet in height, with an external ditch 15 feet wide.
In the middle is a barrow, called the ‘Giants’ grave, and sometimes ‘King Arthur’s grave’.
Impressive earthwork known as Tregeare Rounds near Pendoggett. this great encampment, with its three concentric ramparts and ditches, is less than 10 km from Tintagel.
Mousehole, Cornwall
At the southern end of Mousehole (pronounced “Mouzel”) quay, rising from the water, is Merlin’s Rock.
Here Merlin is said to have prophesied:
There shall land on the Rock of Merlin
Those who shall burn Paul, Penzance and Newlyn.
In 1595 four Spanish galleys fulfilled this “prophesy.”
Killibury Castle could be the legendary site mentioned in Welsh Triads as Kelliwic (Celliwig) a possible site of King Arthur’s court.
It has a small double-banked, concentric hillfort dating back to the Iron Age.
Fragments of Mediterranean pottery found in the topsoil suggest occupation in the fifth or sixth century AD.
This Iron Age hillfort is associated with the figures of King Mark and Tristan.
(the so-called Tristan’s Stone is located nearby). The archaeologist C.A. Ralegh Radford believed that within the circular earthen ramparts lay a fifth/sixth century settlement
This site has strong Arthurian connections.
A bivallate Iron Age fort located on the outskirts of Bodmin is a candidate for Kelliwic (Celliwig), Arthur’s court in Culhwch and Olwen and the Welsh Triads.
The placename Callywith occurs just over a mile to the north.
Timeteam info snipped from
Recording Date: 25th, 26th & 27th July 2001
Broadcast Date: TBA
A three day dig in a field on the Lizard peninsula may have unearthed one of the most exciting finds ever for the Channel 4’s Time Team explorers. For the carefully excavated trenches which appeared over those days in the 18 acre field at Gear Farm, St. Martin, has revealed not only evidence, of a defended Iron Age village, but clues that date the earliest settlers right back to Neolithic times. This means that the field was being farmed by people as long ago as 3,500BC – even possibly longer ago then that. “One of the first discoveries the TV team made was evidence of an Iron Age hut circle with the remains of a cooking pot besides the fire – a total of eight Iron Age circles were believed to have been found.” Oh and Phil does get to play! He gets to play with a leather sling shot this time. DUCK!
Over the 25th-27th July 2001 Channel 4’s Time Team carried out archaeological fieldwork at Caer Vallack and Gear, two well-preserved later prehistoric enclosure sites, and filmed an episode for their next series.
Caer Vallack has the plan and size of a typical round but is on a ridge-top and has a very substantial ditch and a pear-shaped annexe on its south east side.
StoweÕs Pound is an early hillfort set on the top of StoweÕs Hill with spectacular views over most of East Cornwall.
There is no firm dating evidence although it is considered to be Pre-Ironage and possibly Neolithic.
Impressive Hillfort
Viewed from above looks like the share of an eye. (oval)
275m long X 170m wide
It sits on a hilltop 1/2 mile south-east of Newbridge. You can reach it from the road running south from the A390 at Newbridge towards Crift.
This must rank as one of the largest ancient earth banks in the British Isles. It is thought to represent the boundary of a petty Kingdom.
The best preserved bits of the earthwork are found at Willake wood (SX153569)
The longest surviving stretch is 5 1/2 miles long at SX141572 – SX217566
Parts of the bank are stone faced.
It measures upto 15 feet high and 8 yards wide in some places.
Circular enclosure 90 m in diameter
Has been damaged by ploughing.
Dates from IronAge/ Romano Brit period.
The inscription on the stone reads..
CONETOCI FILI TEGERNOMALI
(Conetocus, son of Tergernomalus)
Tigernos = King
The stone dates from the Dark Ages but it is possibly an older standing stone that has been re-used.
The stone is horizontally built into the base of Cubert Church.
The finest surviving linear barrow cemetry in Cornwall.
7 barrows following a flat ridge top in a ESE/WNW line 750 m long.
The largest barrow is 25.5 m in diameter
The smallest is 13.5 across
The north east menhir is the tallest standing stone in Cornwall (5.05 metres)
Near Callington. First indentified in 1952.
The ditch is between 9 and 13 metres wide!
Castlewich henge is noted as a source of greenstone used for making axes.
This site was first noted by Borlase in 1871 as a “Plain an Gwarry” (a medieval open air theatre.)
An excavation showed the site was dug into weathered slate.
Features suggest it was much earlier than medieval and it seems reasonable to assume it is a henge.
5 or more barrows are recorded nearby.
Easily located on waste land immediately to the left of the lane from St. Just to Carn Gluze.
It is placed above the highest cliffs on this part of the coast.
The entrance looks out to sea
One of the largest barrows in West Penwith
Two small tombs on the hillside above the road from Treen to New Mill.
One chamber shows signs of having been designed for entry after completion, possibly for ritual purposes.
Similar tombs are found on the Scilly isles
This is the largest barrow in Cornwall.
A massive 33.5m diameter and 6.5 m high.
Marked on some maps as a “stone circle” but is more likely to be a cairn retainer. It is right next to a medieval village with prehistoric cairns and houses nearby
Today there are only 4 stumps, eleven or twelve fallen stones and on upright originally 1.43 metres high but now leaning.
Many stones have been removed the original total was said to be about 33-39.
The diameter was said to be at one time 45m making it one of the biggest in Cornwall
A restored circle with 22 uprights and a diameter of about 32 metres.
It gives a good idea of what a of what a typical Bodmin moor circle would have looked like.
you can reach the site by taking the steep hill up from Trezibbett Farm.
The site is said to have several alighnments.....
Mid-summer sunset lines up with Brown willy.
Candlemas sunrise is with Stowes hill.
Equinox sunrise is with Kilmar Tor.
Equinox sunset is with Hawks Tor.
This stone is a Triangular 2.29 slab with a 4.44 m diameter hole placed 0.71 m from the ground.
The weirdest stone you will find in Cornwall!
It The stone is behind a cottage on a lane going due north from Gweek to Penryn. It happens to be in someone’s back garden so permission is needed to veiw
Less than a mile from Spettigue in field near Tregune farm.
It stands about 7 feet tall
This stone was once known as King Arthur’s tomb. It lies in a wooded area near the river Camel. It is a huge stonelaid on its side with 2 lines of inscription.
LATINI IC IACIT FILIVS MAGARI
Latinus lies here son of Mararus.
This small entrance grave is situated on low lying ground near the hamlet of Brane, to the south of Carn Euny. William Copeland Borlase first recorded this monument in 1863. it is illustrated in his book Naenia Cornubiae. in 1865 it was referred to by J. T. Blight as a conical shapedbarrow with a diameter of 15 feetand a height of 9 feet.
ref:
Romance of the Stones by Robin Payne
Pear shaped stone just over 9 feet tall . Only discoved in 1968 by local farmer.
It is built into a stone hedge between Berry down and whitebarrow downs
Only discovered in 1983. Recorded in the Bodmin moor survey
3 uprights remain ubove the surface 12 others have been detected just beneath the peat.
Just over 8 feet tall.
Near the village of Trewint, close to the A3O.
Closeby is the Elephant Rock a former Logan stone.
The stone leans over slightly and is in danger of falling.
Two granite longstones , one standing one fallen.about 5 metres apart.
Local legend says that if the stones were ever removed then they would return overnight
Nearly 10 feet tall this stone stands in a farmers field near St. Keverne..
First recorded in 1851 by R. Thomas.
This 9.8 foot menhir first recorded in 1906.
It stands just over a mile south west of Carmenellis.
It was re-erected in the early seventies and unsimpathetically set in a base of concrete.
Nearly 8 feet tallstands on Siblyback moor by a trackway that runs alongside Withey brook.
There are remains of prehistoric fields and huts nearby. there is also a post medieval settlement in the vicinity
This small menhir (4.25 feet tall) is said to resemble a small mischievious hooded piskey!
This row of low lying stones is about 244 metres longand is aligned NE/SW.
The heights range from 12 inches to 36 inches
2 standing stones 130 yards WSW of the Hurlers
First noted in 1869 by W.C Borlase
Beside the road leading to Fowey in Cornwall stands an ancient, weathered stone measuring some 7 feet in height and set in a millstone base.
It was once much closer to Castle Dore and may have been the origin of the association of this site with the story of the tragic love of Tristan and Iseult.
There is a Latin inscription on the stone, now much worn, which can be restored with only a little judicial guesswork to read:
Drustans hic iacet Cunomori filius
This means, “Drustanus lies here, the son of Cunomorus”.
It has been suggested, plausibly, that the characters referred to are Tristan, the nephew of Mark – Drustan being a recognized variant of the hero’s name and Cunomorus being a Latinization of Cynvawr.
stands in a small field over looking St. Austell.
first recorded in1525
Stands in the school playing field of Mount Charles School.
10.7 feet tall and weighs about 7 tons. this is the largest standing stone outside of Penwith.
This stone once stood at Longstone downs at SW984561.
uk.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?grid=SW984561&scale=25,000&title=Menevagar+Longstone
It had been here for about 3000 years but was moved in August 1970, due to China Clay workings in the area.
The whole area known as Longstone downs is now entirely under clay workings. The stone was moved to the village of Roche and is now in a garden outside some sheltered homes.
Before the stone was moved an excavation was carried out in the area.
A pit was found large enough for a burial but no remains were found, only nine quartz pebbles.
The top of the stone is very pointed and was unfortunately snapped off during it’s move to Roche.