Winecove Cliff Castle

Overview

Today Winecove exists as three separate promontories, extending out into the sea. Experts have hinted that the monuments may once have been joined as one headland, however erosion has made this uncertain.

Each of the promontories is defended by steep cliffs and a complex arrangement of earth banks and ditches across the narrow neck of land connecting the site to the mainland.

The northern promontory has been the most eroded by the dramatic Cornish weather. It is defended by a rock cut ditch and inner bank which has suffered heavy erosion. The southern promontory has two possible hut circles and is defended by three rock cut ditches, one with an accompanying bank. The middle is better preserved, defended by a double ditch and narrow entrance. A possible hearth is visible in the cliffside and a spindle whorl was found in a small cave below. Local tales suggest a track for a steam engine was dug through the cliffside here to raise marble from a shipwreck in the cove below.

Winecove Cliff Castle was part of Cornwall National Landscape’s A Monumental Improvement Project, which aimed to ensure that 40 scheduled monuments across Cornwall National Landscape were better protected, identified and enjoyed by a wider range of people. Between 2022 – 2025, the Project delivered conservation repairs, installed new heritage interpretation signage, ran a range of community volunteering events and developed new website resources. The Project was primarily funded thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with support from our other partners – Cornwall Council, Historic England, The National Trust, Cornwall Heritage Trust and Cornwall Archaeological Society.

Historical Significance

Winecove like many other Cornish cliff castles has been the subject of comparatively little study, and as such evidence of its occupation is limited to the possible hearth in the cliff face and the single spindle whorl find. The complex nature of the defensive banks and ditches and size of the interior if the monument was once one promontory suggest a site of high status. Winecove is one of 65 possible (29 certain) cliff castles in Cornwall. Although cliff castles are present around the entire coast of Britain, Cornwall has the second highest concentration of cliff castles after Wales and almost all excavated examples have evidence of settlement on the interior, with roundhouses and associated building platforms identified.

Interpretations of cliff castles have traditionally focussed on militaristic functions and their construction has been attributed as a response to coastal threat. More recent interpretation of cliff castles have been much more varied, and recognised that their purpose and function could have changed over time.

Some popular suggested interpretations include:

• Control: Used as ‘watch towers’ to control valuable coastal pasture.
• Community: As meeting and trading places for surrounding inland communities.
• Trade: Prominent land marks to control cross-channel trade. Some cliff castles are built on headlands above safe harbours, which may have landed valuable cargo.
• Power: The construction of cliff castles would have been a significant show of power in the landscape, signalling the presence of a powerful tribal chief
• Ritual: Areas of ritual or cultural importance, at the transition between land and sea.

The most accurate interpretation could be a mix of several of the above suggestions, or something else entirely. It is possible that archaeologists will continue to debate their function for a long time to come and future excavations may yet shed light on how the sites were built and used.