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<< Our Photo Pages >> St Dennis Hill Fort - Hillfort in England in Cornwall

Submitted by AngieLake on Tuesday, 19 July 2005  Page Views: 23802

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: St Dennis Hill Fort Alternative Name: Dimilioc, St Dennis churchyard, St Denis, St Denys, St Dionysius
Country: England County: Cornwall Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: St Austell  Nearest Village: St Dennis
Map Ref: SW951583
Latitude: 50.388796N  Longitude: 4.883861W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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I have visited· I would like to visit

ChasDrown visited on 1st Jan 1974 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 5 Access: 5 On a fine day the views are extensive and castle an Dinnas for example is easily visible. This was the year I first visited St Dennis, I have been back many times since. A considerable number of the graves in St Dennis churchyard (completely within the old hillfort) are ancestors of mine.

lucasn visited - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4

BodMoor mikeaitch AngieLake have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 5 Access: 4.5

St Dennis Hill Fort
St Dennis Hill Fort submitted by AngieLake : The old well-used entrance to the churchyard through the current walls that stand on the site of the original circular banks of the ancient Iron Age fort at St Dennis Dinas. (Pretty sure this is looking west). (Vote or comment on this photo)
Hillfort in Cornwall

St Dennis church stands within an ancient dynas (dinas) or fort on a prominent hilltop south of the A30 and Goss Moor. The village of St Dennis, home to many workers in the local industry - china clay - covers the hillside below it to the south and east. Due north is Castle-an-Dinas, well marked from the A30, and sited about the same distance north from that trunk road as St Dennis dinas is south of it.
According to Craig Weatherhill in his excellent guide, Cornovia:
"St Dennis church (named not after the saint, but the dynas - fort) stands in the centre of this site. This strikingly conical hill was formerly surmounted by two Iron Age ramparts defending an area 113m in diameter. The line of the inner bank, which may have been stone-built, is followed by the churchyard wall. Only faint traces of the outer rampart can be seen, on the north and east sides, about 18m beyond the churchyard wall."
On the Genuki.org.uk website:
"It is named after St Denys the Martyr, although as the church is on a hill top, the name may be a corruption of the Cornish word Dinas, meaning 'Hill Fort'. Dimilioc represents a smaller hillfort inland 20 miles south of Tintagel now occupied by the parish church of St Dennis - it is within an estate listed as Dimelihoc in the Domesday Book of 1086. In the reign of Henry VIII, St Denys was the only parish in Cornwall with the prefix 'Saint'."
There is a farm in the valley to the southwest called Carsella. According to http://homepages.tesco.net/~k.wasley/Dennis.htm:
"Carsella:
This is also mentioned in the doomsday book as Karsalan. It originated as a fortress, the only other Caer or Kar mentioned being Carworgie in St Columb Major Parish. [to the NW]. Carsella protected the dinas in the south, its most vulnerable point. Charles Henderson found traces of a very ancient village dating back to between 100 BC and 11 AD. Carsella farm house is the oldest house in St Dennis almost 500 years old. The Doomsday records that Carsella was a Manor under the same Baron as Domelihoc. The Count of Martair."
Before that paragraph, the author gives an excerpt from 'Chronicles of British Kings' by Geoffrey of Gloucester:
"King Arther, (sic) king of the Britons took refuge in the South west from the Angles, a Turkonic (sic) race who invaded Britain during the 5th century. Demelihoc was a secondary fortress of Gorlios, King of Cornwall. We assume Dimelhoc was a dinas of dennis on which the church is built. During the fight with Arther, Gorlios put his wife Igeme in his strongest fort, Castle an Dinas, and he commanded Demelihoc hoping that he would survive. He was slain and his wife captured. She afterwards married Uther of round table fame."
"Domellick Farm: This is the modern name for the estate of Domelihoc which was recorded in the doomsday book."
(Domellick Farm lies a short distance to the west of the hillfort.)


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St Dennis Hill Fort
St Dennis Hill Fort submitted by mikeaitch : North Side of St Dennis (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

St Dennis Hill Fort
St Dennis Hill Fort submitted by AngieLake : The interior of St Dennis Dinas, or Dynas, meaning Hill fort. Today it is the churchyard of St Dennis church. Here the path leads off to a break in the west side of the rugged wall where two old well-worn steps lead into the area. Craig Weatherall, in his book Cornovia, tells us that the line of the inner bank of the fort, which may have been stone-built, is followed by the current churchyard w... (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Dennis Hill Fort
St Dennis Hill Fort submitted by mikeaitch : View North accross Goss Moor to Castle an Dinas. Photo shows how the Iron Age people were able to effectively control the landscape and ancient trade route through Cornwall from the two vantage points. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Dennis Hill Fort
St Dennis Hill Fort submitted by Bladup : Inside St Dennis Hill Fort. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Dennis Hill Fort
St Dennis Hill Fort submitted by mikeaitch : View North to Castle an Dinas from lower slopes of St Denis (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Dennis Hill Fort
St Dennis Hill Fort submitted by mikeaitch : View West through church wall stile

St Dennis Hill Fort
St Dennis Hill Fort submitted by mikeaitch : View to West

St Dennis Hill Fort
St Dennis Hill Fort submitted by mikeaitch : View to South West

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 71m NE 43° St Dennis Churchyard Cross* Ancient Cross (SW95155835)
 2.5km NNW 339° Deep Tye Farm Henge (SW943607)
 3.5km NW 309° St Columba Holy Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SW925606)
 3.6km W 281° Indian Queens inscribed stone* Early Christian Sculptured Stone (SW91625912)
 3.9km SSE 166° St Stephens Beacon* Hillfort (SW959545)
 3.9km ESE 118° Cocksbarrow Timber Circle (SW985563)
 4.0km ENE 66° Roche Cross* Ancient Cross (SW98795978)
 4.0km ENE 61° Menevegar Menhir* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SW98676011)
 4.1km N 350° Castle an Dinas (St Columb)* Hillfort (SW94556236)
 4.2km ENE 69° Roche Rock* Rock Outcrop (SW99105962)
 4.6km NW 321° Devil's Quoit (St Columb Major)* Burial Chamber or Dolmen (SW9234161952)
 4.6km E 97° Hensbarrow* Round Barrow(s) (SW99685754)
 4.7km NNE 23° Belowda Beacon tumuli* Barrow Cemetery (SW97136254)
 4.8km NE 43° St Gundred's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SW985617)
 5.7km SSE 164° Langerth Round* Ancient Village or Settlement (SW96515277)
 5.9km NNE 24° Demelza Castle* Ancient Village or Settlement (SW977636)
 5.9km N 1° St. Wenna's well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SW954642)
 6.0km WSW 254° St Enoder Cross* Ancient Cross (SW892569)
 6.8km ESE 104° Caerloggas Down Circle* Modern Stone Circle etc (SX01635635)
 6.8km ESE 103° Caerloggas Barrow III Timber Circle (SX017565)
 6.8km ESE 103° Caerloggas Barrow I Timber Circle (SX017565)
 6.9km ESE 103° Caerloggas Down longstone* Modern Stone Circle etc (SX0174756485)
 7.4km S 186° Resugga Castle* Ancient Village or Settlement (SW940510)
 7.8km SE 143° St Mewan's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SW995519)
 7.9km SE 127° Menacuddle* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SX0118753260)
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Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall and Scilly, Craig Weatherhill

Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall and Scilly, Craig Weatherhill

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"St Dennis Hill Fort" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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St Dennis Hill Fort by Andy B on Friday, 15 July 2011
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SquirrelSqueaky writes:

I went there for some soul searching finding quite a special vibe and impressed with the view. I felt instantly that there must be something to this and bought the historical book as a souvenir, discovering that the impressive hill with the church looks as if it is a "camp" from the 1908 Ordnance Survey Map. On site it also has an ancient stone cross. Really nice Warden Alan if I remember correctly, came and opened up for me. Locally mined china clay souvenirs available.
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Street View by MikeAitch on Friday, 19 March 2010
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Street View
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Re: St Dennis Hill Fort by MikeAitch on Friday, 07 August 2009
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Nice article Angie, went here last night (photos to follow) was well worth the visit, really helped my understanding of how the Iron Age people controlled the landscape from St Dennis and Castle an Dinas. i found it quite an atmospheric site, especially as the sun was setting.
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Re: St Dennis Hill Fort by AngieLake on Monday, 11 May 2009
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This is an excerpt from the excellent http://www.oliverscornwall.co.uk website:

"St. Dennis
Driving along the A30, past Goss Moor to the west of Bodmin, if you look south towards china clay country, you will see a hill topped by a tight circle of deciduous trees, a church tower protruding above them. This is St. Dennis church, oddly well north of the village of St. Dennis, one of the largest china clay villages. In July 2008 I had finished a walk from Goss Moor and decided to take a look at the church. A very rural route took me through Tregoss, Enniscsaven, Gothers and Carne to climb the hill to the church. The church itself is of little interest, restored after a recent fire - and locked anyway. What is special about it is that it is said to stand within an iron age hill fort. It is a very strange site. The churchyard is surrounded by a massive stone wall, 10 feet high in places and up to 6 feet wide. Another wall creates a courtyard to its south. Inside the wall the land on the north and west sides is higher than the wall, yet the church is set down in a hollow. Trees completely surround it. Some suggest that the wall follows the course of the hill fort wall. If so, why is the land inside higher? And if it was a hill fort, why so small. Perhaps it was an outlier of Castle-an-Dinas, clearly visible 3 miles to the north. Entertainingly, like St. Juliot church, you can approach the churchyard by a massive stile from the field to the west. Views from the site are superb and panoramic.
St. Dennis is signed from the A30 at Indian Queens"
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