More information : Promontory Fort with single bank and ditch at SW 35702327 (1)
This rocky promontory ends in cliff on its three seaward sides. The fourth side, the east, is joined to the mainland by a narrow saddle of land.
It is across the east facing slope of this saddle that the artificial defences are constructed. They are confined to the northern side, and consist of a single bank and outer ditch. The bank curves in towards two stones in the centre of the ridge - one upright, the other recumbent. The upright stone, the most southerly, is 2.0 m by 1.0 m. in section and 2.1 m. high. It is raised on a packing of small stones on its eastern edge. The other stone is 0.8 m by 0.7 m. in section and 2.1 m. long. These stones may have demarcated the original entrance. The ditch is not continued south of the stones, but here the ground falls away sharply to the cliff top. There is no trace of any occupation within the defence. A 25 inch survey has been made of the ditch which is at SW 35692326. (2)
Cliff Castle (NR) (3)
A cliff castle with two ramparts on the north side and possibly
one on the south side. (4)
Scheduled (5).
Cliff Castle, Carn Les Boel.
Dilapidated Iron Age cliff castle. Headland accessible by a high
ridge with steep coastal slope on either side. On the northern
slope are two ramparts and ditches. The inner rampart is 27m in length, 8m thick at its base and from 1.2m to 2.0m in height.
A ditch 0.9m deep and from 4.5m to 5.4m wide separates it from a smaller outer rampart. This is 24m long, 3.6m thick at the base
and 0.7m high. This is fronted by a ditch 0.6m deep and 2.4m
wide. These ramparts are constructed of earth and stone. On the southern coastal slope is a stony, unditched bank that may be
natural or it may be an artificial line of defence.
The central ridge displays two bulky stones that may have formed the original gateway. The southern stone is 1.0m tall; the other is recumbent and of the same length. Approximately 30m east of the northern defences is a bank 0.3m high and 1.8m wide fronted by a ditch 0.4m deep and 1.8m wide running from the eastern side of Zarn Peggy to the top of the coastal sope, thereby cutting off the northern half of the headland. This may possibly be the remains of a third and outermost line of defence.
Condtion of monument. Delapidated, but has suffered no damage in the past five years.
Survey. Undertaken in September 1986.
Photographs. Ground colour photographs taken in August 1974 and September 1976. (6)
Carn Les Boel is centrally defended by a rock spine, north
of which are two ramparts and ditches, the inner rampart
reaching 8ft. in height. On the south side an unditched
rocky bank may be a natural feature. Two stones on the spine, one standing and one fallen, may have been the entrance gate posts. No huts have been found within. (7)
Carn Les Boel is granite headland at 50m OD about 100m wide and extending to the SW for 200m. An inlet on the NW reduces the landward neck of the promontory to a width of 60m. A funnel
approach 40m wide quickly narrows to a flattish spinal strip
12m wide and 50m long. To each side and beyond there are simply steep slopes and masses of outcrop leading to vertical
cliffs.
The landward end of the spinal strip is turf covered, with
two stone blocks 2.5m apart where the neck is temporarily only
6m. wide. The stone on the N is 2m long, recumbent and partly turf covered but at least 1m wide and 0.4m thick on the exposed side. The stone on the S is a vertical block, 2m by 1.2m in
section, and 2.1m high. To the SW of these the remaining 40m of the flattish top consists of surface bedrock with a few
naturally disposed blocks, and recumbent stones protruding
from the surface. To the N of the stones an earthwork extends down a 25 degree slope for 27m, with a scooped end at the cliff edge. It consists of a flat topped bank 3m to 6m wide overall and 0.4m high, created by scarping the slopes to each side, cutting back 2m to 3m to a depth of 0.2m to 0.5m. The finished effect is that of a low bank with a shallow ditch on either side, though on the W the ground rises as a natural slope a further 1.2m to 2m.There is no corresponding work to the S of the stones, only
some irregular protrusions of rock on a rather steeper slope.
About 60m to the NE the promontory it travessed obliquely from NW to SE by a bank with a ditch on its NE side. At the SE end it rises from the cliff edge at SW 35822315 to fairly level ground at the base of a gentle SW slope and, after 100m, drops down the cliff slopes to the cliff of Zawn Peggy inlet, at SW 35702329.
The bank is of earth, flat topped, with a consistent width of 1.8m and height verying from 0.2m to 0.4m. The ditch is of similar width and from 0.1m to 0.3m deep. At one point, 57m from the SE end, two stones 0.8m long 0.2m thick and 0.3m high are set lengthways in the outer face of the bank. Both were probably exposed during the digging of the ditch.
Although the work has been suggested to be an outer defence (6 & 7) it is non defensive in nature and potentially illogical. Moreover, apart from a 5m gap at Zawn Peggy, where the cliff has fallen, bank and ditch continue northwards for a further 300m, following the general line of the cliff top. It is most likely that earthwork demarcates the enclosure of Higher Bosistow Cliff, probably in the 19th century.
The Cliff Castle is also anomalous. There is no evidence of any defence other than on the N side of the promontory, and this a minimal bank paralleling the foot of a small natural slope. (The height of 8ft referred to by Authy. 7 can only refer to this scarp). It is turfcovered and, being in a slight declivity may have a reasonable depth of top soil; on the spine of the promontory and the S. side there is very little. Unless there has been an extraordinary amount of erosion, eradicating traces of earthwork, stone walling could be expected.
The two stones said to possibly indicate the entrance are also problematical. The northern one, of unknown size since it is partly overgrown with turf, could be a natural protrusion of rock. The southern one with over 2cu. metres in volume seems excessive in size, and in weight if it has been raised into its vertical state. It could be discounted as, perhaps, a naturally positioned block but underneath and flush with its northern edge are small flat trig type stones. They are 0.2m to 0.4m long, 0.1m high and extend 0.3m back under the stone. At each corner there are two stones, one on the other, resting on growan.
Without these stones the block would simply lean slightly forward.It this was an entrance stone, either the fortification is unfinished or all walling has been removed. There is no evidence of habitation which by the nature of the terrain would be confined to the top strip. Alternatively this is not an IA structure and had some purpose unconnected with fortification. (8)
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