Castle Dore
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Castle Dore — or Castle Dôr — is an Iron Age hill fort (ringfort) near Golant in Cornwall, in the United Kingdom located at grid reference Script error: No such module "Ordnance Survey coordinates".. It was probably occupied from the 5th or 4th centuries BC until the 1st century BC. It consists of two ditches surrounding a circular area Script error: No such module "convert". in diameter. Excavated in the 1930s, it is one of the most intensively investigated Iron Age hillforts in Cornwall.
Description and history
The perimeter of Castle Dore consists of two ditches (bivallate). The inner ditch is circular, measuring Script error: No such module "convert". in diameter internally, and the outer ditch arced round it from the north to the south-east before widening in the north east to form an entrance. The ramparts (earth banks just inside the ditch) were raised later in the fort's history – from Script error: No such module "convert". – the layout remained mostly the same aside from the entrance which was made more complex.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Archaeologist Ralegh Radford led excavations at Castle Dore in 1936 and '37. Five decades later, the work still represented the most intensive investigation of a hillfort in Cornwall.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". At the time of Radford's work, archaeologists tended to concentrate on the defences in the course of examining hillforts; Radford, however, investigated the interior and found postholes belonging to huts of at least two distinct phases of occupation.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Radford's initial interpretation was that the fort had been reoccupied in the 5th and 6th centuries AD; however, later reinterpretation based on a greater understanding of post-Roman archaeology concluded that the occupation at Castle Dore was restricted to the Iron Age.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". The use of radiocarbon dating at other sites lead to greater understanding of the contexts within which Iron Age pottery was found. The dating of the first phase of activity at Castle Dore was revised from the 2nd century BC to the 5th or 4th centuries BC.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
During the English Civil War, the final defeat of Essex's army was witnessed at the site. On 31 August 1644, whilst attempting a retreat from Lostwithiel to Fowey, Essex was forced to draw up his baggage train and remaining guns within the fort. Just before nightfall one regiment disbanded in disorder signalling impending surrender or death. By morning it was clear that his demoralised soldiers could not be trusted and Essex chose to flee.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Legend
In tradition Castle Dore is the seat of the legendary Dark Age King Mark and is featured as such in the 2006 film Tristan & Isolde. This association derives from an inscribed 6th century granite pillar found near the Castle and known as the Tristan Stone. (This pillar was removed and re-erected about 2 miles away.)[1]
See also
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- Castle Dor, a 1942 historical novel by Daphne du Maurier (1961)
- Castle an Dinas, St. Columb Major
- Prideaux Castle
References
Notes
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- ↑ L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, Ancient Ruins and Archaeology (1964); Doubleday, pp 146-147. (Page numbers refer to the British edition of Fantana/Collins (1965) retitled Citadels of Mystery.)
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Bibliography
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Further reading
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