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Summary

The remains of a round with a smaller annexe to the east. Recent encroachment of farm buildings has made the extent of the enclosures less clear.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument CO117: Castle Kayle (earthwork), Phillack

Other References/Statuses

• Heritage at Risk (National): English Heritage, South West
• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 352.20.1&.2
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW53NE 17
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 31787
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW53NE 192-192.1

Monument Type(s):

• ROUND (Early Iron Age to Romano British - 800 BC to 409 AD)

Full description

Castle Kayle is marked on current OS map editions (b13). It is first recorded by William Worcester, who referred to it as the ruined 'Castellum Treclysten' (b8). Leland calls it 'Cayl Castelle' in the early C16 (b11). The Tithe Award records the field-names of 'Little Rounds' and 'Round Moor' for enclosures at Castle Kayle (b2). The author of b3 says "at Castle Cayle there are two circular enclosures, each consisting of a rampart and outer ditch. The little round is some 40 yards in diameter, and the great round about 60. The latter lies to the west of the former and is on somewhat higher ground. These rounds are so close to one another that at one point the ditches unite". Edmonds recorded that by 1861 the ditch between the enclosures (to the east) had been infilled, as had the ditch nearest the road (on the west side). Much of the earthwork was levelled to make a garden for a newly erected cottage at the roadside (b5). Henderson appears to have originally thought that Castle Kayle was a medieval work (b7) but he described it as two ovate camps. He also mentions a third camp to the west of the road that was destroyed in the 1870s (b6). He is probably wrong on the final point as other sources (e.g.. Edmonds) do not mention a third camp. Carr describes the site as a single earthwork but with "irregularities on the east side". He suggests that the entrance originally lay on the north-west side where a cottage had been built (this is probably the cottage mentioned by Edmonds) (h1). Survey by the OS in 1965 indicates that the major earthwork has a well preserved rampart on the west and on the south-west, where it is augmented by an outer ditch, now used as a fieldway. Elsewhere the rampart has been entirely destroyed although the ditch survives on the south and east sides. The lesser enclosure is represented by a scarp centred at SW 5843 3547. Its defensive situation, size, and shape are more typical of an Iron Age round than a hillfort. The smaller enclosure is simply annexed to the larger one. Recent OS maps (b10, b13) and field visits (h4, h5) indicate that although this is a scheduled site, there has been considerably encroachment of the earthwork by farm buildings and some removal of field boundaries has rendered the prehistoric enclosures less clear. The round is visible on air photographs (p1-p3) as a curvilinear bank, whilst the appended enclosure, with south-east facing entrance, is visible only as a crop mark (p2, p3). Both enclosures were plotted as part of the NMP.

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Site history:
1: 1929. CARR / IAM
2: 1965. QUINNELL, NV / OS
3: 1975. WELLS, A / ICS
4: 1980. SHEPPARD, PA / DOE
5: 1987. WESTON, SM / HBMC
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<1> Lysons, D & S, 1814, Magna Britannia, VOL III, CORNWALL, 266 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3885.

RAF, 1946, 3G/TUD/209/5287 (Photographic Record). SCO10953.

<2> Tithe Award, 1840s, Phillack, FIELD NOS 74, 79, 138 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4839.

CCC, 1988, JAS 3188/157 (Photographic Record). SCO17301.

<3> UNKNOWN, 1849, UNKNOWN TITLE, VOL I, 345, 1849 (Unedited Source). SCO6029.

CCC, 1996, BKS 9612/036 (Photographic Record). SCO18709.

<4> Thomas, R, 1851, Letters to the West Briton (Article in newspaper). SCO4699.

<5> Edmonds, R, 1862, The Land's End District, 39, 214 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3302.

<6> Henderson, C, 1914, Notebooks of Parochial Antiquities, VOL II, 128-170 (Unpublished document). SCO3503.

<7> Henderson, C, 1955-60, Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the 109 parishes of West Cornwall & Ecclesiastical History of the 4 Western Hundreds, (NS) VOL I, 496 (Article in Journal). SCO3499.

<8> Institute Of Cornish Studies, 1987, Place-Names Index (Bibliographic reference). SCO3621.

<9> UNKNOWN, 1960, Document at RIC, (NS) VOL III, 406, 1960 (Unedited Source). SCO7800.

<10> Ordnance Survey, 1970s, 1:10,000 OS Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4045.

<11> Leland, 1967, Early Tours in Devon and Cornwall, 21 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3860.

<12> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 South West (Bibliographic reference). SCO24113.

<13> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 South West (Bibliographic reference). SCO24114.

<14> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South West (Bibliographic reference). SCO24115.

<14> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 South West (Bibliographic reference). SCO25275.

<14> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 South West (Bibliographic reference). SCO26037.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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