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Summary

Treryn Dinas cliff castle has three main lines of defence on the landward side.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument CO45: Treryn Dinas fort

Other References/Statuses

• Heritage at Risk (National)
• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 334.8.1
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW32SE 46
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 28291
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW32SE 34

Monument Type(s):

• CLIFF CASTLE (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

Treryn Dinas cliff castle is recorded by Borlase (b1) and Blight (b2); it is mentioned by the Penzance Antiquarian Society (b3) and the Victoria County History (b4) and is listed by Russell in 1971 (b9). It appears on OS 25" maps from 1880 onwards. It was added to the Schedule of Ancient Monuments in 1958 (b6).
The cliff castle is sited on a south facing rocky promontory with a fairly flat grassy summit that slopes away very steeply to the sea on three sides. The north is the only side not strongly protected naturally and has three main lines of ramparts. The most northerly of these is a high, well preserved rbank with an outer ditch which fades and disappears towards the extremities. The second defensive earthwork is about 80m south of the first and comsists of two main ramparts, the inner of these extensively robbed. A stone wall supplemented protection of this inner bank on the east and west sides. The outer work consists of an inner quarry ditch, a rampart and an outer ditch with a very slight counterscarp bank, all forming a crescent shape. A further 200m to the south of the second line of defence, is a saddle where the promontory becomes very narrow and the ground slopes down steeply. The third line of defence consists of a simple bank with outer retaining wall and ditch to the north. The entrances in the north and south lines are central and well defined, but that through the central defence is not now clear but was probably just to the west of its centre where all the ramparts are much lower.
Just east of the entrance, constructed against the south side of the rampart, is a small rectilinear enclosure, scraped into the slope on the west and south and bounded by a bank on the east. Another rectangular feature of similar construction lies to the west of the entrance, but only the eastern and southern sides remain. These structures are annotated "watch houses" on the OS map of 1908.
A good example of an Iron Age promontory fort, Treryn Dinas is the property of the National Trust, and was surveyed at 1:2500 by the OS in 1960 (h1). At the end of the promontory is a great mass of rock which includes the famous Logan Stone (b6). Sheppard in 1980 notes that the northern ditch is the largest with an inner bank rising to approx 6.0m, and the central banks and ditch are up to 1.8m high. The southern ditch may be natural and almost covers the end of the promontory. The pathway regions are denuded by visitors (b10), and in 1983 he reports the installation of an emergency telephone box with a 6.0m diameter gravel platform and scatter of rubble near the old coastguard look-out site, and deep tyre marks en route (b11). The cliff castle is visible on aerial photographs (p1) and was plotted as part of the NMP.

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Site history:
1: 1960. PITCHER, GH/OS
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Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 1993, GRH 68/2/28/1, Treryn Dinas Castle, 1:100 (Cartographic materials). SCO24730.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 1993, GRH 68/2/28/2, Treryn Dinas Castle Overlay, 1:100 (Cartographic materials). SCO24731.

Riley, H, 2015, Treryn Dinas Cliff Castle (Report). SCO27564.

<1> Borlase, W, 1769, Antiquities Historical and Monumental of the County of Cornwall, 180, 344, 351, PL 297 (Bibliographic reference). SCO2878.

PMB, 1973, FSL 7330/1/367 (Photographic Record). SCO15713.

<2> Blight, JT, 1862, List of Antiquities in the Hundreds of Kerrier and Penwith (Bibliographic reference). SCO2868.

<3> UNKNOWN, 1---, UNKNOWN TITLE, VOL I, 343-344 (Unedited Source). SCO5355.

<4> Page, W (Editor), 1906, Victoria History of the County of Cornwall, 460, PL 454 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4068.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1900s, 2nd Edition 6 Inch Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4051.

<6> MOW, 1958, OW 819 (Unedited Source). SCO7685.

<7> West Cornwall Field Club, 1935-1961, Proceedings of the West Cornwall Field Club, 1961, VOL II, 3, 116-117 (Article in Journal). SCO5360.

<8> Ordnance Survey, 1970s, 1:10,000 OS Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4045.

<9> Russell, V, 1971, West Penwith Survey, 39 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4314.

<10> Sheppard, PA (for DOE), 19--, Scheduled Monument Description (Bibliographic reference). SCO5181.

<11> Sheppard, PA (for DOE), 19--, Scheduled Monument Description (Bibliographic reference). SCO5181.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO1269 - Maen Castle & Treryn Dinas, Penwith
• ECO4698 - Treryn Dinas Cliff Castle
• ECO6161 - 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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Associated Images

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