En un regard
Le château en bref
Gunwalloe Cliff Castle, Kastel Als Gwynnwalow in Cornish, occupies a narrow headland on the south coast of Cornwall, on the Lizard peninsula. It separates two coves, Church Cove and Dollar Cove, right next to Gunwalloe church. The site is a "cliff castle", a type of promontory fort typical of Cornwall. Steep cliffs protect it on three sides, and the only accessible side, facing inland, was closed off by a bank backed by a ditch. This line of defence dates from the Iron Age. Excavations carried out in 2012 confirmed that the bank is a built rampart rather than a natural feature. The excavations also produced finds from several periods: a Middle Bronze Age burial cist, an Iron Age shale bracelet and Roman pottery that points to long-distance trade. Radiocarbon dates place a final phase of occupation in the 4th–5th centuries AD. Bronze Age barrows and possibly Iron Age roundhouses lie in the surrounding area. The spot later had an unexpected use: from 1906 to 1956, part of the site belonged to the Mullion golf course. Today the bank and ditch can still be traced across the headland. Coastal erosion nevertheless remains the main threat: it has already carried away part of the site, probably including the original entrance. The site is owned and managed by the National Trust and is a Scheduled Monument.
