Chûn Castle

Chun Castle is an Iron Age Hill Fort and is located in the county of Cornwall in England. A colonization of the plant was carried out essentially by the third century BC to the first century AD A repopulation likely occurred in AD 5th and 6th centuries. Chun Castle occupies a central position within eight detectable systems in west Penwith, each of which is located on a well -defended hill.

Location

Chun Castle is located on the peninsula of Penwith in West Cornwall south of the road from Madron after Morvah. To the west and east, each offer views of the sea. 200 meters away is the Chun Quoit. Other Iron Age settlements nearby are Chysauster and Carn Euny.

In the surroundings there are also megalithic sites:

• Boskednan
• Boscawen -Un
• Lanyon Quoit
• Mên-an -Tol
• Merry Maidens
• Mulfra Quoit
• Tregeseal
• Tregiffian
• Zennor Quoit

Construction

The Hill Fort is comprised of two approximately circular massive walls, each surrounded by a moat. Within the complex are the remains of several round stonewalled houses that have been destroyed by later activities. One of these developments is oval in shape and may be associated with the later phase of the re-colonization in the post- Roman period after 400 AD. Traces of stone benches could be the remains of later animal enclosures.

The only entrance to the complex is a steinumfasster passage through the inner rampart on the west side. The output through the outer rampart is offset. In the intermediate transition to a stone wall, making this area could have served a defensive function is located.

Originally the entrance was through the outer wall directly opposite to the inner access, so both were aligned to the much older grave chamber of Chun Quoit out. The redesign of the entrance area could have been part of the later repopulation in the 5th century AD.

History of Research

Chun Castle was first mentioned in 1754 by the antiquarian William Borlase in his work Antiquities, historical and monumental, of the county of Cornwall. A first sketch plan made ​​Charles Knight in 1845 for his work Old England: A Pictorial Museum of. It shows the two circular walls and the mutually offset additions. In addition, you can see several stone walls between the two ramparts.

Between 1862 and 1930 held a total of five excavation campaigns. Recently extensive excavations were made in the late 1920s and early 1930s, which also provided evidence for the re-colonization in the 5th century AD. Found pottery and stone tools could be dated to a period from the third century BC to the first century AD. On the northern edge of the hillfort, a furnace was discovered traces of tin and iron slag contained, indicating that metal processing were carried out on site during the Iron Age. Evidence supporting a military resolution of the settlement could not be provided because all traces of organic materials such as wood, leather, bone, plaits and tissue had been destroyed by the acidic soils.