Bartinney Castle

Bartinney Castle is an Iron Age enclosure on a hill in the Penwith Peninsula of Cornwall. It stands within a circular earthwork surrounded by prehistoric remains. Nearby are Carn Brea, Carn Euny village with its fogou, and Caer Bran hillfort. The site includes a circular bank about 75 metres across and an outer ditch. Inside are three smaller stone circles arranged in a triangle, the largest forty feet wide. The enclosure may have been a sacred site or Plen an Gwarry, an amphitheatre for fire festivals honouring the Celtic god Belenos. Local records link it to Celtic harvest or Samhain celebrations. The name Bartinney comes from Cornish words meaning ‘hill of fires’. Druids lit fires here on the eve of November, from which household fires were rekindled. On Midsummer’s Day, rocks filled with powder were exploded in sequence. The name may also come from the Druid word for holly, Tinne, burned at Samhain to mark the old year’s end. Holly’s burning signalled the coming of winter. In recent times, bonfires blazed on the hills on Midsummer’s night. Every mine displayed a new flag and noisy festivities followed the explosions. The site remains a place where the past’s fire festivals still echo.