Carnmenellis Hill (or just Carnmenellis) gives its name to the area of west

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

in England, between

Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also includes Carn Brea, Illogan ...

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map ...

and Penryn. The hill itself is situated approximately three miles (5 km) south of Redruth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' It is one of five Marilyns in Cornwall; the others being

Brown Willy Brown Willy (possibly meaning "hill of swallows" or meaning "highest hill") is a hill in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The summit, at above sea level, is the highest point of Bodmin Moor and of Cornwall as a whole. It is about northwest ...

(420 m),

Kit Hill 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 ...

(334 m),

Hensbarrow Beacon Hensbarrow Beacon is a hill in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated a mile north-west of Stenalees village at . It is the highest natural point of the Hensbarrow uplands, a natural region and national character area. The natural ...

(312 m) and Watch Croft (252 m). The

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora an ...

of Carnmenellis has been designated as national character area 155 by

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

. Penmarth, a nearby village, is sometimes referred to locally as Carnmenellis. The term 'Carnmenellis Granite' refers to the

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

of high ground in this area, one of five

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

pluton In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

s in Cornwall that make up part of the

Cornubian batholith The Cornubian batholith is a large mass of granite rock, formed about 280 million years ago, which lies beneath much of Devon and Cornwall, the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. The main exposed masses of granite are seen at Dartmoor, Bo ...

(see also

Geology of Cornwall The geology of Cornwall, England, is dominated by its granite backbone, part of the Cornubian batholith, formed during the Variscan orogeny. Around this is an extensive metamorphic aureole (known locally as killas) formed in the mainly Devon ...

). Carnmenellis was also the name of a former

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

created in 1846 from part of Wendron parish. Initially, the parish included the area which later became the parish of

Pencoys Four Lanes ( kw, Peder Bownder) is a village in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom approximately south of Redruth at in the civil parish of Carn Brea. Pencoys is a smaller settlement which adjoins Four Lanes immediately to the south. St A ...

. Today, most of the Carmenellis area is in Stithians

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

. The summit of Carnmenellis Hill is located at OS grid reference:) and is 252 metres (828 feet) above sea level. A

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ra ...

transmitting and receiving tower on the summit is used for

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

and

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...

connections as well as other data and television and radio

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

links. It is maintained by BT. A number of

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

fortifications A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''face ...

surround the hill, but little

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

research has been done on the site. There is no public right of way across the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

, and the surrounding land is private

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bo ...

, though about half of the fields are Open Access land.

References

{{authority control Villages in Cornwall Moorlands of Cornwall Geology of Cornwall Hills of Cornwall Marilyns of Cornwall Natural regions of England