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Penwith: Open day at Lescudjack Castle

Open day at Lescudjack Castle, Penzance's Iron Age Hillfort, with a performance of Celtic dance and music by Newlyn School


On Wednesday 21 June the public are invited to an Open Day at Lescudjack Castle, Penzance's Iron Age Hillfort, to see what is being planned for the site and to have a say in its future management by Penwith District Council. The Hillfort will be open to the public from 11am to 3pm as part of the Golowan Festival.

On the day, there will also be archaeologists from Cornwall County Council's Historic Environment Service who have offered to run an identification service – have you found anything interesting in your garden, allotment or out walking? We'd be very interested to see anything that has come out of local gardens that might help us build a better picture of the history of this area of Penzance.

Come and enjoy a performance of Celtic music and dance at 2pm by Newlyn School at the Hillfort; Lesley Allen, the project's education officer, has created a series of school loans boxes about the Hillfort and life in the Iron Age and, working with Simon Moore from the Newlyn School, the children have created this celebratory performance.

In 2005, Penwith District Council purchased Lescudjack Hillfort when it was put on the open market and have since then been raising funds to undertake an archaeological investigation of the site and to landscape it sensitively, creating an open space that can be enjoyed by one and all. This project has been funded by Penwith District Council, Penzance Town Council, the Liveability Fund, Cornwall Heritage Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Notes to editors:
Lescudjack Hillfort is Penwith's largest Iron Age settlement and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (number 537). In 2006, Cornwall County Council's Historic Environment Service (Projects) was commissioned to provide an archaeological assessment of the hillfort, with the aid of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Investigations have included desktop research, walkover, measured and geophysical surveys and excavations of two 1m square test pits. The assessment concludes that Lescudjack is one of a number of hillforts in Penwith, all probably dating from the Iron Age (c. 700 BE – 43 AD), but here is possibly some earlier activity. The assessment also traces the mediaeval and post-mediaeval history of the wider Lescudjack area and records an intriguing post-mediaeval history of the hillfort, including associations with the Rogers family (major landholders, mining magnates and antiquarians), evidence of copper mining in the immediate vicinity and as the proposed site for a monument to Penzance-born Sir Humphry Davy. It was also one of the most favoured viewpoints from which drawings and photographs were taken of Penzance and Mount's Bay during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Further information, including images, contact:

Tamsin Daniel, Culture Officer (Museums &Heritage) Team Leader
Penwith District Council

phone: 01736 336818
mobile: 07879 461208
email: tamsin.daniel@penwith.gov.uk