Promontory forts of Cornwall
Similar coastal forts are found on the north–west European seaboard, in Normandy, Brittany and around the coastlines of the British Isles, especially in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
British promontory forts were constructed during the Iron Age, and remained in more-or-less continuous use into the early Roman period.
Inland hillforts show signs of human habitation and other uses before and after the Roman era, but cliff castles were occupied sparsely, if at all.
Archaeologists believe it might have been developed from a Bronze Age site of ceremonial, religious or social significance to the surrounding community.
[3] Possible ancient contexts and uses of Cornish cliff castles have been a subject for study and speculation by antiquarians such as William Borlase.
Modern sources agree that cliff castles may have served principally as prestigious sites for religious ceremonies, trade and administration, and that their defensive capacity may have been a secondary function.
[1][2][3] The following cliff castles in Cornwall are listed by geographical location from the border with Devon at the Marsland Valley, west to Land's End and east via The Lizard to Cremyll overlooking Plymouth Sound.
[4] Castle Point (grid reference SX144978) is claimed as a possible site by the West Cornwall Field Club.
[11] An archaeological excavation of the site in 1939 by C. K. Croft Andrew was discontinued on the outbreak of war, and the findings were not published until many years later.
The narrow area between the ditches and steepness of the bands was thought to suggest a ″killing zone″, where attackers who overran the outer rampart, could be entrapped.
[19] Bosigran Castle (grid reference SW415371) is an Ancient Monument within the parish of Zennor and owned by the National Trust.
[20] Henry Jenner suggested Bosigran may mean 'the Dwelling of Igerna', the mother of King Arthur in Arthurian legend.
Jenner also noted its proximity to Bosworlas (in St Just parish) 'the Dwelling of Gorlois', Igraine's husband in the Historia Regum Britanniae,[21] who he believed was a real petty-chief in fifth or sixth century Dumnonia.
[23] William Borlase, in the 1870s, recorded the traces of a bank and ditch of what he identified as a likely cliff castle on Cape Cornwall (grid reference SW349319).
[26] Carn Les Boel (grid reference SW357232) is an Ancient Monument situated between Nanjizal and Gwennap Head in the parish of St Levan.
[29][30] Its landward side has widely spaced defensive earthworks; the innermost rampart, which crosses the narrowest part of the peninsula neck, is up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) high.
[29][30][31] A complex of earthworks on St Michael's Mount (grid reference SW514298) are considered to be the ramparts of a cliff castle.
[32] Lankidden (grid reference SW755168) is a univallate cliff castle between Coverack and Kennack Sands on the Lizard peninsula.
[33] Rame Head (grid reference SX41794828) is a promontory fort defined by steep cliffs on three sides and at the northeast, a narrow neck of land connects it to the mainland.
