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Hingston Down is a hill not far from
Hingston Down is a hill not far from Gunnislake
Gunnislake ( kw, Dowrgonna) is a large village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the Tamar Valley approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Plymouth
Gunnislake is in the civil parish of Calstock and is close to C ...
in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the subject of an old rhyme, due to the prolific tin mining that formerly took place in the area:
This Hingston Down should not be confused with the Hingston Down at , a hill spur about a mile east of the town of Moretonhampstead
Moretonhampstead (anciently ''Moreton Hampstead'') is a market town, parish and ancient manor in Devon, situated on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor, within the Dartmoor National Park. The parish now includes the hamlet of Doccombe (), and i ...
in the neighbouring county of Devon.
History
The hill is usually accepted as the place mentioned in an entry in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'' for 835 (corrected by scholars to 838) which says that Egbert
Egbert is a name that derives from old Germanic words meaning "bright edge", such as that of a blade. Anglo-Saxon variant spellings include Ecgberht () and Ecgbert. German variant spellings include Ekbert and Ecbert.
People with the first name Mid ...
king of the West Saxon
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
s defeated an army of Vikings and Cornish at the Battle of Hingston Down
The Battle of Hingston Down took place in 838, probably at Hingston Down in Cornwall between a combined force of Cornish and Vikings on the one side, and West Saxons led by Ecgberht, King of Wessex on the other. The result was a West Saxon ...
(''Hengestdūn'' = "Stallion Hill").
Geology
The Hingston Down Consols mine on the hill is the type locality for the mineralArthurite
Arthurite is a mineral composed of divalent copper and iron ions in combination with trivalent arsenate, phosphate and sulfate ions with hydrogen and oxygen.Frost R. L., Duong L., Martens W. (2003) Molecular assembly in secondary minerals - Raman ...
, which was discovered here. There is also a quarry on the hill, which forms the Hingston Down Quarry & Consols Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle o ...
, noted for its mineralisation.
See also
*Kit Hill Country Park
Kit Hill ( kw, Bre Skowl), at 334 metres high, dominates the area between Callington and the River Tamar in southeast Cornwall, England, UK. The word 'Kit' comes from Old English for kite, a reference to birds of prey (and not specifically the ...
References
{{SSSIs Cornwall geological Battles involving the Cornish Hills of Cornwall Military history of Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1995