Castle an Dinas St Columb Major Digital Terrain Model

Castle an Dinas is an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

at the summit of Castle Downs near

St Columb Major St Columb Major is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Often referred to locally as ''St Columb'', it is approximately southwest of Wadebridge and east of Newquay Ordnance Survey: Landran ...

in Cornwall, UK () and is considered one of the most important hillforts in the southwest of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. It dates from around the 3rd to 2nd century BCE and consists of three ditch and rampart concentric rings, above sea level. During the early 1960s it was excavated by a team led by Dr Bernard Wailes of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

during two seasons of excavation.

Arthurian legend

Traditionally, Castle an Dinas is the hunting lodge (hunting seat) of

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

, from which he rode in the Tregoss Moor hunt. A stone near St Columb (now lost) allegedly bore the four footprints of his horse made whilst hunting. The earliest written history was written by William of Worcester during his visit to Cornwall in 1478, who described it as ruined, and said "it lies on a high hill and a spring rises in the midst of the castle". He also recorded a legend associated with it, that "Tador Duke of Cornwall, husband of the mother of Arthur was slain" at Castle an Dinas. This is generally interpreted as a conflation of Cador and

Gorlois In Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, Gorlois () of Tintagel was the List of legendary rulers of Cornwall, Duke of Cornwall. He was the first husband of King Arthur's mother Igraine and the father of her daughters, King Arthur's family, Arthu ...

(

Igraine In the Matter of Britain, Igraine () is the mother of King Arthur. Igraine is also known in Latin as Igerna, in Welsh as Eigr (Middle Welsh Eigyr), in French as Ygraine (Old French Ygerne or Igerne), in ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' as Ygrayne—ofte ...

's husband, who dies at Dimilioc in the ''

Historia Regum Britanniae (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a fictitious account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the List of legendary kings o ...

''), but may reflect a local tradition instead, since the ''Historia'' is the only authority that specifies Igraine's husband as Gorlois. The 1504 Cornish play '' Beunans Meriasek'' () also describes Castle an Dinas as a dwelling place of the

Duke of Cornwall Duke of Cornwall () is a title in the Peerage of England, traditionally held by the eldest son of the reigning Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch, previously the English monarch. The Duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created i ...

, who defeated King Teudar. As a result, it has been seen as a centre of royal power in Cornish lore.

Civil War

In March 1646, during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, Sir Ralph Hopton's

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

troops camped for two nights within the rings of the fort. Here they held a

Council of War A council of warParliamentarians. Only Hopton and Major-General Webb voted against. A few days later Hopton surrendered at Tresillian Bridge near Truro.

Other notable occurrences

''Ghost army'' An extraordinary event that took place at the site was recorded by Cornish historian Samuel Drew, a ghost army was seen in the sky above Castle an Dinas around the end of the 18th century : (if true, a most unusual but documented form of

mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', mean ...

.) In 1867,

Henry Jenner Henry Jenner (8 August 1848 – 8 May 1934) was a British scholar of the Celtic languages, a Cornwall, Cornish cultural activist, and the chief originator of the Cornish language revival. Jenner was born at St Columb Major on 8 August 1848. H ...

heard a story from an old man at Quoit, near Castle an Dinas, who had seen the ghosts of King Arthur's soldiers drilling there, and remembered the glancing of the moonbeams on their muskets! ''Murder'' In 1904 a young woman, by the name Jessie Rickard, was murdered on the site by a jealous lover, he then killed himself. ''Midsummer'' The Old Cornwall Society hold their traditional annual

midsummer Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest Daytime, day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of Eu ...

bonfires here on the highest point of the fort. This ceremony dates back to pre-Christian times to when Pagans would mark the

Summer Solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest peri ...

The execution of John Trehenban

In 1671, a man called John Trehenban (pronounced TREM-on) (1650–1671) of

, murdered two young girls and was sentenced to imprisonment in a

cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayi ...

on Castle an Dinas, and starved to death. The murder of the two young girls is recorded in the Parish Register. ''23 June 1671'' ''Anne daughter of John Pollard of this Parish and Loveday Rosevear (aged 17), daughter of Thomas Rosevear of St Enoder were barbarously murdered on the day before in the home of Captain Peter Pollard at the bridge by one John Trehenban the son of Humphrey and Cissily Trehenban of this Parish at about 11 O' clock in the forenoon upon a market day.'' *Trehenban pretended to help in finding the murderer riding on horseback following the bloodhounds. His hat blew off and the dogs wouldn't leave it. Eventually he confessed. *The lane where the

bloodhound The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar, rabbits, and since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is ...

s picked up the scent is still known as 'Tremmons lane'. *He was placed in a cage which sat on a large rock. This rock can still be seen and local people used to say that if you ran around this rock fifty times you would hear his chains rattle. *Tremmon begged a passing woman for some food. All she had were a few

tallow Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton suet, primarily made up of triglycerides. In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton suet. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, inc ...

candles which he ate ravenously. * According to local historian Marshel Arthur, local people used to refer to a no-gooder as 'a right Tremmon'.

Castle-an-Dinas mine

From 1916 to 1957 it was the site of Cornwall's largest wolfram mine. Many of the old buildings and workings remain standing. The mine is the type locality for the mineral Russellite. Other minerals found here include:

Arsenopyrite Arsenopyrite ( IMA symbol: Apy) is an iron arsenic sulfide (FeAsS). It is a hard ( Mohs 5.5–6) metallic, opaque, steel grey to silver white mineral with a relatively high specific gravity of 6.1. When dissolved in nitric acid, it releases el ...

, Cacoxenite, Löllingite,

Phlogopite Phlogopite is a yellow, greenish, or reddish-brown member of the mica family of phyllosilicates. It is also known as magnesium mica. Phlogopite is the magnesium endmember of the biotite solid solution series, with the chemical formula KMg3AlSi3 ...

Topaz Topaz is a silicate mineral made of aluminium, aluminum and fluorine with the chemical formula aluminium, Alsilicon, Sioxygen, O(fluorine, F, hydroxide, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural ...

Turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone for millennia due to its hue. The robi ...

Castle-an-Dinas Mine, St Columb Major, Belowda Area, St Austell District, Cornwall, UK
mindat.org; accessed 26 November 2017.

Cornish wrestling

Castle an Dinas hosted a

Cornish wrestling Cornish wrestling () is a form of wrestling that has been established in Cornwall for many centuries and possibly longer. It is similar to the Breton people, Breton Gouren wrestling style. It is colloquially known as "wrasslin’"Phillipps, K C: ...

tournament in 2023 where the heavyweight, featherweight, middleweight and ladies championships were decided.

References

*2nd season of excavations in summer 1963 (article in ''The Times'', 13 Aug 1963)

External links

''The Modern Antiquarian website''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castle An Dinas, St Columb Major Military history of Cornwall Tourist attractions in Cornwall Hill forts in Cornwall Iron Age sites in Cornwall Locations associated with Arthurian legend Geology of Cornwall Mining in Cornwall St Columb Major