HeritageGateway - Home
Site Map
Text size: A A A
You are here: Home > > > > The National Heritage List for England Result

List Entry Summary

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Name: Resugga Castle later prehistoric univallate hillfort

List Entry Number: 1017685

Location

The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County: 
District: Cornwall
District Type: Unitary Authority
Parish: St. Stephen-in-Brannel

National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.

Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.

Date first scheduled: 06-Jul-1959

Date of most recent amendment: 27-Feb-1992


Legacy System Information

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System: RSM

UID: 15007


Asset Groupings

This List entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.


List Entry Description

Summary of Monument

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Reasons for Designation

Slight univallate hill forts are defended enclosures situated towards or on the top of a hill and defined by a single line of earthworks, usually enclosing an area under 10ha. They form one of a range of known types of fortified enclosure dating to the later Bronze Age and Iron Age periods. They present a considerable variety of enclosure shapes and entrance forms, and have been viewed in various roles including permanent settlements, centres for trade and exchange, refuges in times of crisis, and stock enclosures. Where excavated, structures within the enclosures have included round, square or rectangular houses, usually post-built but sometimes of stone, storage pits, hearths, and scatters of post and stake holes and gullies. The material recovered from these excavations has included human burials, domestic debris and evidence for small-scale industrial activities such as bronze and iron working. Ramparts may be formed simply from dumped earth or rubble, or a dry- stone wall, or they may have a more complex structure with timber or stone retaining walls, or various types of timber internal reinforcements. Most excavated examples have also revealed post-holes for gate structures in the rampart entrances. About 150 slight univallate hillforts are recorded nationally, commonest in central southern England, the Chilterns, south-west England, the Cotswolds and the Welsh Marches, with lesser numbers in central and northern England. They are important as nationally rare monuments which contribute significantly to our knowledge of settlement types, and economic and social developments in the late Bronze Age and Iron Age. Consequently all such monuments which show good evidence typical of the known types and their regional variations would normally be considered of national importance. Resugga Castle is a particularly well-preserved hillfort, showing several features common to a number of south-western hillforts, notably the small size of the enclosure, its location overlooking a steep river valley, its limited outworks crossing the line of approach, and the embanked approach beyond those outworks. Its prominence and preservation have attracted antiquarian comment since the early 19th century and it recurs as a quoted example of its class in major discussions of the Iron Age in south-west England.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument includes a small, singly-embanked hillfort, sub-circular, flattened to the SE side, and with a single entrance to the NW. The entrance faces an outer enclosure also with an entrance to the NW and defined on the NW side by outworks comprising two banks and ditches. A ditch and double bank projects NW from the entrance to the outer enclosure. The hillfort encloses a sub-circular area 70m by 60m, markedly flattened along its SE side where it follows the crest of a steep scarp down to the St Stephens River. The interior, which is featureless, is enclosed by a single well-preserved earth and rubble rampart, standing 2m high and 10m wide along the NW side, with slightly expanded terminals bordering the entrance gap, and reduced to 0.5m high along the SE side. The outer ditch remains l - 1.5m deep, with a rock- cut outer face visible in places; a recent dry-stone supporting wall is also visible in some parts of the ditch outer face, notably in the S and W sectors. Beyond the NW sector of the enclosure, an outer enclosure has been defined by two portions of rampart c.45m long, each parallel with, and 35-40m from, the main enclosure, and separated by an entrance gap in line with that of the main hillfort enclosure. These ramparts each survive to 2m high and 10m wide, and have an outer ditch 1-1.5m deep. Beyond their ditches, a hollowed route-way formed by a double bank and central ditch extends in a straight line NW from the enclosure entrance for c.55m, continued beyond that point by the course of a single recent hedge bank extending the line of the northern bank. The monument straddles the summit of Crow Hill, its main enclosure lying on the gentle SE slope bordering a steep scarp down to the St Stephens River close to its confluence with the River Fal. The site lies on Devonian slates SW of the Hensbarrow Downs granite mass, in a hilly terrain deeply dissected by small rivers. It has excellent long-distance views over the surrounding countryside, especially to the west. As a result of its prominent position and good preservation this monument has attracted antiquarian interest since the early 19th century, but it has not been subject to any recorded excavation. The granite gatepost lying at the N side of the main enclosure entrance, and the post-and-wire fence crossing the S sector of the outer enclosure are excluded from the scheduling but the land beneath them is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.


Selected Sources

Other
copy of management agreement documtn, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 20898, Resugga Castle (managemnt agr),
copy of the 1988 AM 107 for this site, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 20898, Resugga Castle,
Fox, A., South-West England, (1964)
Title: Ordnance Survey 6": 1 mile Map Source Date: 1963 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:

Map

National Grid Reference: SW 93961 51064


© Crown Copyright and database right 2018. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.
© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2018. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.

This copy shows the entry on 25-Apr-2024 at 02:06:21.