“Castle-an-Dinas consisted of two stone walls, one within the other, in a circular form, surrounding the area of the hill. The ruins are now fallen on each side of the walls, and show the work to have been of great height and thickness. There was also a third, or outer wall, built more than halfway round. Within the walls are many little inclosures of a circular form, about seven yards diameter, with little walls round them of two or three feet high; they appear to have been so many huts for the shelter of the garrison. The diameter of the whole fort from east to west is four hundred feet, and the principal ditch sixty feet. Towards the south, the sides of the hill are marked by two large
green paths, about ten feet wide. Near the middle of the area is a well, almost choked up with its own ruins, and at a little distance a narrow pit, its sides walled round, probably for water also, now filled up.”
On this account the following remarks have been made by a recent intelligent writer:[2]
“It is to be regretted that Borlase did not publish a plan to illustrate his description of this Castle, as it has been much dilapidated since his time. A tower was built on the site of the outer wall about forty years ago, by Mr. Rogers, of Penrose; and subsequent reparations have not contributed towards a restoration of the old walls. Nor are there any perceptible remains of the inclosures, two or three feet high, which formed the huts for the shelter of the garrison; but in this respect, Borlase’s description exactly corresponds with the remains I observed within the area of Chûn-Castle, as already mentioned. I could discover no traces of the ancient entrance, nor does Borlase notice it; if it was towards the west, as at Chûn-Castle, it has been blocked up, for the walls on that side seem to have been rebuilt or repaired; if on the southern side, where, Borlase says, there were two broad paths leading up the side of the hill, towards the Castle, it has been totally destroyed.
“I now proceed to a description of this ancient and curious fortress. The first inclosure is a mound of earth alone, seven or eight feet high, surrounded by a ditch. Within this, a second fosse, or ditch, encircled the outer wall, which was built as before described, and is about five feet in thickness, and four or five high, excepting towards the south-east, where it has been destroyed, and
the materials used in building the tower before mentioned.
“A vallum, or terrace, separates this wall from another of considerable strength and thickness, being thirteen feet across at the top. The circular area inclosed by this wall is two hundred and fifty-four feet in diameter. A third wall, of no great substance or height, like the others, appears to have made a circuit within this space, and reduced the diameter to one hundred and ninety feet. But what is most curious in this Castle, is the appearance of a certain wavy outline, slightly raised above the natural soil, but overgrown with turf. The singular form of these foundations, if they are supposed to be the inclosures noticed by Borlase, and their exact regularity, which I took some pains to ascertain, is perhaps deserving the attention of some more experienced antiquary.
“The area within is very uneven, and has, nearly in the centre, a small round inclosure, twenty-two feet in diameter, without an entrance. It is exactly similar in its construction to the remains in Caër-Brane and Bartìnè Castles. There is a well also within the circuit of the walls, and we were told it was never known to be without water. The diameter of the whole work, from ditch to ditch, north and south, is four hundred and thirty-six feet.”
Rosevithney was for ages a gentleman’s residence. The family of Larmer possessed it during a considerable time, till it passed by an heiress to a branch of the Davieses. The freehold has recently been sold three or four times.
Trowell, an adjoining farm, which belonged to the Godolphins, is remarkable for the extremely productive copper-mine, called Whele Fortune, which first launched Mr. Lemon on his splendid voyage through life.