Round called Lescudjack Castle

Reasons for Designation

Rounds are small embanked enclosures, one of a range of settlement types dating to between the later Iron Age and the early post-Roman period. Usually circular or oval, they have a single earth and rubble bank and an outer ditch, with one entrance breaking the circuit. Excavations have produced drystone supporting walls within the bank, paved or cobbled entrance ways, post built gate structures, and remains of timber, turf or stone built houses of oval or rectangular plan, often set around the inner edge of the enclosing bank. Other evidence includes hearths, drains, gullies, pits and rubbish middens. Evidence for industrial activities has been recovered from some sites, including small scale metal working and, among the domestic debris, items traded from distant sources. Some rounds are associated with secondary enclosures, either abutting the round as an annexe or forming an additional enclosure. Rounds are viewed primarily as agricultural settlements, the equivalents of farming hamlets. They were replaced by unenclosed settlement types by the 7th century AD. Over 750 rounds are recorded in the British Isles, occurring in areas bordering the Irish Seas, but confined in England to south west Devon and especially Cornwall, where many more examples may await discovery. Most recorded examples are sited on hillslopes and spurs. Rounds are important as one of the major sources of information on settlement and social organisation of the Iron Age and Roman periods in south west England. Despite intensive use of part of the interior for allotments and past cultivation in the other, the round called Lescudjack Castle survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, function, longevity, social organisation, trade, agricultural practices, domestic arrangements, subsequent re-use and overall landscape context.

Details

The monument includes a round, situated on the south eastern summit of a ridge with commanding views over Mounts Bay. The round survives as an oval enclosure differentially defined by a partially upstanding rampart which elsewhere takes the form of a scarp slope from 2m to 5.5m wide and up to 4m high with a buried outer ditch. In places the rampart is fossilised into later field boundaries. The interior is also crossed by field boundaries which are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these features is included. Known also as 'Lescaddock Castle' or 'The Giant's Round' this round was reputedly the site of the palace of a Cornish Princess.

Sources: HER:- PastScape Monument No:-423950

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

CO 537

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

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