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Summary

Chun Castle hillfort is roughly circular in plan with outer and inner walls, each with an external ditch, and with the entrance on the west overlooking Chun Quoit.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument CO1088: Chun Downs prehistoric landscape complex, incorporating Chun Cromlech, Chun Castle, and barrow 200yds (180m) SW of Chun Farm

Other References/Statuses

• Heritage at Risk (National): HE, South West
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW43SW 30
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 30514
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW43SW 117

Monument Type(s):

• HILLFORT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

Chun Castle is situated on a hill summit at 215m above OD. It is roughly circular in plan with outer and inner walls (1.6m and 0.9m to 1.2m respectively), each with an external ditch. The entrance is on the west overlooking Chun Quoit (30518). The interior is divided into a ring of buildings around an open space but very little of the walls remain (b5).

Until the mid-C19 the ramparts stood up to 4.7m high (b12). The site is recorded by Borlase (b1) and was excavated in 1895 by JB Cornish, but not published except for a short note in the Victoria County History (b4). It was excavated again in 1925 by ET Leeds (b5) and finally in 1927 (b6) and 1930 (b6) again by Leeds. Scheduled prior to 1930 and surveyed by the OS in 1961 and 1975 (h4, h5).

The 1925 excavation revealed a large furnace (30514.2) on the northern side of the enclosure, a well (30514.3) 3.6m deep which had been cleared out some twenty five years previously, a house of elliptical form (30514.1) east of the well and another in the south-east quarter, of two chambers. In 1927 and 1930, excavations proved that the septa first shown on Borlase's plan (b1), and still extant, are later than the original construction of the hillfort and may be cattle pens (305144) erected at an unknown date. Four earlier buildings were identified between the north side of the inner gate and the east side of the well (30514.3). Leeds considers the occupation of the site to have lasted from the C3 BC until probably just before the Roman conquest (b6). Thomas re-examined some of the pottery from the excavations and classified one pot as post-Roman native pottery, possibly circa AD 500-700 (30514.52) (b11).

The OS who surveyed the site at 1:2500 in 1961 (h4) record that it is generally as described by Leeds. The outer ditch is in poor condition and the fragmentary traces are confined to the western half of the fort. There is no real inner ditch, the space between the ramparts being above or below ground level. The walling of the outer rampart is clearly visible on the outer face, but that of the inner rampart has mostly collapsed into a tumbled bank of stone. The inner and outer entrances remain intact with walling up to 2.2m high (see OS card for full description by OS). When they revisited the site in 1975 the OS found no change from the survey of 1961 (h5).

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Site history:
h4: 1961. QUINNELL, NV / OS
h5: 1975. FLETCHER, MJ / OS
h6: 1979. SHEPPARD, PA / DOE
h7: 1982. SHEPPARD, PA / DOE
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MILES, H, 1978, HILLFORT STUDY GROUP CORNWALL (Unedited Source). SCO8443.

Borlase, W, 1769, Antiquities Historical and Monumental of the County of Cornwall, 346-347, PL 346 (Bibliographic reference). SCO2878.

Cotton, W, 1829, Account of certain Hill Castles, situated near the Land's End, in Cornwall, 301-303, PL 29 (Article in Journal). SCO5677.

Blight, JT, 1861, A Week at the Land's End, 21 (Bibliographic reference). SCO2860.

Page, W (Editor), 1906, Victoria History of the County of Cornwall, VOL I, 461 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4068.

Leeds, ET, 1927, Excavations at Chun Castle, in Penwith, Cornwall (Article in Journal). SCO7133.

Leeds, ET, 1931, Excavations at Chun Castle in Penwith, Cornwall (Second Report) (Article in Journal). SCO7186.

Hencken, H O'N, 1932, The Archaeology of Cornwall and Scilly, 116-314 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3489.

Crawford, OGS, Undated, Annotated 6-Inch Map (Cartographic materials). SCO5176.

THOMAS, AC, 1956, Untitled Source, VOL II, 2, 50, 65, 71-72 (Article in Journal). SCO7619.

THOMAS, AC, 1956, Untitled Source, VOL II, 4, 160 (Article in Journal). SCO7619.

Thomas, AC, 1956, Evidence for post-Roman occupation of Chun Castle, Cornwall, VOL 36, 75-78 (Article in Journal). SCO7618.

Hutchinson, G, 1979, Bar-Lug Pottery of Cornwall, VOL 18, 91 (Article in Journal). SCO3617.

Jackson, M. & Jackson, A., 2006, Ancient Stones of Kernow (Booklet). SCO27463.

Lefort Geophysics, 2015, Chun Downs, near Pendeen, Cornwall (Report). SCO27139.

Gossip, J., 1999, Chun Downs, Cornwall: Archaeological and Historical Assessment (Cornwall Event Report). SCO936.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO253 - Chun Downs (CWT)
• ECO4309 - Chun Downs, near Pendeen, Cornwall (Ref: 12-0001.01)
• ECO6128 - Ancient Penwith Site Assessment Form
• ECO6129 - Ancient Penwith Site Assessment Form
• ECO6165 - Ancient Penwith: an archaeological assessment of sites in West Penwith for the PLP (Ref: 2016R069)

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