Was Iron or Defence the most important factor for making the Celts settle on Trevelgue Head? - page 1
Keywords: History Celts Iron Age Settlements Defence
By Jenny on 02/07/2009
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 1 of 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
History Coursework
Was Iron or Defence the most important factor for making the Celts settle on Trevelgue Head
Trevelgue Head is just north of Newquay on Cornwall’s north coast. The Headland has an Iron Age fortification that is thought to be one of the finest examples of a Celtic Iron Age fortified living site in Europe and is the most heavily defended prehistoric site in Cornwall.
It is believed to have been continuously inhabited from about 300 B.C. to the 6th Century A.D.
The settlement on Trevelgue Head is a promontory cliff castle but is unusual in the fact that it was also where the Celts lived usually. In that sense it is more like an oppida but with far more defences.
The Celts at Trevelgue Head were from the La Tene culture, which was more sophisticated than the earlier Hallstadt culture. The first evidence of this culture was found at a lake in Switzerland - where the name comes from. The La Tene Celts were around during the ‘Iron Age B’.
The La Tene Celts were a warrior elite - the warriors were the most important members of the tribe. Their leader was known as a Chief. They had no written language but the history of the tribe was kept by Druids and Bards through songs and stories.
They were fairly sophisticated. They worked with metal to create weapons and art. They travelled by land and sea and we know they traded with other cultures. For example, coins of Vespasian and Trojan (Roman Empire) were found when the site was excavated by C.K. Croft Andrews in 1939. Source - Interim account of Excavation by C.A.
There are a large number of defensive Iron Age sites in Cornwall, which must have been in use (you don’t expend that sort of labour ‘just in case’) so we can guess that by the Iron Age population pressures had increased to the extent that they had to defend themselves and their possessions.
Trevelgue Head would have made a good defensive position as on 3 sides it is defended by high cliffs and sea, which would have stopped any attackers.
The fourth side was defended by six lines of ramparts and ditches with palisade (fences) on top.
When an enemy attacked they would have had to climb over the ramparts to reach the village. This would have been hard and taken a long time using up their energy before they got to the
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