More information : [SW 51783620] Trencrom Castle [O.E.]
(Hill Castle) [O.E.] ['A' SW 51773624 & 'B' SW 51803621] Stones
[T.I.] (1)
"Trencrom: Iron Age fort"
Upon the steep flat-topped hill of Trencrom in Lelant parish is
a smaller contour fort.... defended by a single dilapidated
masonry wall which surrounds the comparatively level summit of
the hill. Here fragments of Iron Age pottery have recently been
picked up".
(2 & 2a)
Scheduled (3)
The rocky hill is very steep on all sides but the north, where
it is comparatively gentle.
The rampart originally consisted of a double line of large
rocks set on edge, with the space between filled with earth and
small stones. Natural rock is incorporated in and forms an
integral part of the defences, particularly on the south, north
and north-west sides.
There is a well defined entrance on the east, and the inner
corners are marked by upright stones. There are traces of what
was probably a later blocking of this entrance. A sunken track
is visible for a short distance leading down the slope from the
entrance.
There is a similar entrance on the west.
The northern entrance consists of a simple breach in the
rampart. A slight 'bump' in the gap may indicate that the
rampart was once continuous. The trackway which passes through
it from the north is nowhere below ground level. It seems
probable that this is not the original entrance, and that both it and the track are comparatively modern.
The most northerly of the two features ('A') marked as
'stones' on the O.S. 6 inch 1908, is a circular depression,
1.3m. deep, surrounded by a circle of large stones including
some set on edge in a bank of earth with a maximum external
height of 0.5m. This is possibly a hut circle deepened by
modern digging but could be the upcast of a pit.
The other 'stones' ('B') comprise the remains of a double
circle of stones, set on edge in a fragmentary grass covered
bank 0.3m. high. This seems to be a large hut circle.
There are five other probable or possible hut circles within
the fort. 'C' is a shallow depression 7.0m. in diameter with
traces of a bank. 'D' & 'E' are confluent circles 6.0m. and
9.0m. in diameter, divided by two large slabs on edge. The
circles themselves are very faint consisting of vague
depressions with vestiges of a bank. 'F' and 'G' are slight
depressions 7.0m. in diameter, 'scooped' in a slight western
slope with low banks on the downhill side.
Except for 'B' none of these features could be certainly
identified as hut circles.
To the south west of the eastern entrance are five pits with associated upcast, apparently the results of modern digging.
There is a similar pit on the inside of the rampart to the north west. (4)
Contour fort with stone wall incorporating natural rock. There are huts inside. (5)
Trencrom Hill is now owned by the National Trust. (6)
Trencrom Castle has been suggested to be a Neolithic enclosure comparable to excavated examples at Carn Brea and Helman Tor. (7)
SW 518 362. Trecrom Castle [sic]. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate hillfort covering 1.0ha. (8)
(SW 5178 3620) In January 1996, RCHME carried out an analytical earthwork survey of Trencrom Castle as part of the project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Period (9).
The site was first mentioned by Borlase following a visit on 18th December 1750 (9a). The site was surveyed at large scale and described as a 'Neolithic city' by Charles Henderson between 1914 and 1917. This excellent work was never published, but a manuscript of c.1917 is held in the Royal Institution of Cornwall (9b). It was also surveyed by Weatherhill, who mentions finds of late Iron Age and possible Saxon material (9c).
Trencrom Castle is as described by Source 4: an irregular trapezoidal enclosure, 0.92 ha in area, with heavily robbed stone faced ramparts. The hilltop is heavily overgrown and interpretation is difficult. A brush fire in 1995 and subsequent erosion have revealed the structure of a length of the walling on the south west side extremely clearly. At the centre of the bank is a closely set double line of large (up to 2.0m x 1.4m), flattish, weathered stones set on edge so as to overlap. This may be of Neolithic date. This possible early phase was then enlarged by the addition of facade-like walls of smaller quarried stones, on average 3.0m apart, the remainder of the internal space being filled with earth and fist sized stones. On the west side of the enclosure, some 30m south of the gateway, at least four courses of similar walling survive.
The house platforms in the interior are as described by Source 4. 'B' is well-preserved but 'A' is not convincing. Henderson suggested several more, but most are unconvincing, while at least one is demonstrably the result of later quarrying (9b). The west and east gateways are well-preserved, and are both approached by hollow ways. The alleged blocking of the east gateway is unconvincing, but source 4 is almost certainly correct in suggesting that the northern gap is later damage, probably associated with a paved trackway apparently serving the Post-Medieval quarries (SW 53 NW 137); it seems likely that the tors around which the enclosure runs were formerly much more impressive natural features. Three large weathered stones to the east of this break may have been re-erected, since they are anomalous in form and one stands beneath an overhang created by quarrying. Robbing has also removed much of the wall material elsewhere.
A possible hill-slope annexe enclosure occupies the more gentle eastern shoulder of the hill, running in a fairly regular semi-circle from one natural outcrop at the northern end of the hill to another at the south. This survives mainly as a scarp, but there are occasional small orthostats. It is most massive, up to 0.8m high, on either side of a hollow way which enters from the north east, and is probably contemporary.
The hollow way is on average 6m wide and extends for 15m inside the enclosure and 60m outside it.
For further details, see RCHME client report and plan at 1:1000 scale, held in archive (9).
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