More information : [SW 4534 3035] Lesingey Round [O.E.]
(Hill Castle) [O.E.] (1)
Castle Horneck, (commonly called Lezingy Round) on the hill top... about a mile west of Penzance, is a circular inclosure of nearly an acre and a half..formed by a broad and high annular mound of earth, still in good preservation'. (2)
Lesingey Round is a 'small univallate earthwork of a type common in Cornwall. Rampart 12ft. - 15ft. high from bottom of ditch, c. 6ft. high in interior. Ditch remains without encroachment. Almost undisturbed.
'Wooded. Visited March 1958'.
Scheduled as an Ancient Monument. (3)
The earthwork is as described by the M.O.W. Inspect. of Anc. Mons. It is situated on the summit of a hill with a good all round view but the natural slopes are not very steep. The entrance could not be identified; the inner slope of the rampart is absent in places but the outer slope is continuous. A field wall has been erected round the outer perimeter of the ditch, and the whole of the area enclosed is wooded. There are no traces of occupation on the near level intrior of the earthwork.
A 25 inch survey has been made.
No conclusions could be made regarding the date of this feature. Its situation and the strength of the bank indicates a defensive purpose. It seems possible that a mediaeval occupation of an earlier fortification may have taken place,and that it may have been the Castle Horneck referred to by Norden (auth. 7). In 1696 the field
name was 'Castle Close' (see 6"). The present house called 'Castle Horneck' is 400.0m to the ESE (see Corn. 74 NW 55). (4)
Norden refers to Castle Horneck as an ancient ruined castle standing on a mount near Penzance. [Norden's survey of Cornwall took place c.1584.] (5)
SW 453 304. Lesingey Round. Listed in gazetteer as a "dun" [a term more usually found in a Scottish context and used to describe a fortified enclosure of a size appropriate to a single family] and as a univallate hillfort covering <0.1ha. (6)
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