Written by E Lydiatt
During the August of 1936 it was my privilege and pleasure to assist at the excavations at Castledore - a hilltop camp on the old trade road between the Padstow and Fowey estuaries, which was later proved to be the site of Mark's Palace. During the excavations it was discovered that there were three definite periods of occupation there.
The earliest consisted of a series of scattered huts of timber, wattle and daub and apparently circular. The pottery which was found associates it with Early Iron Age. I myself handled fragments of two bracelets, the one of cloudy green glass with an opaque yellow inlay, the other of clear cobalt with moulded projections on the exterior - these were Continental types.
The second stage succeeded the first without any interval. The remains of several circular huts could be traced. these were formed by wooden posts set in a circle between 20 feet and 25 feet in diameter. Outside these posts a paved ring about 6 feet wide formed the outer part of the hut, the whole being covered by a conical roof of thatch. This paved outer ring may be compared with the stone platforms in the hut circles on Dartmoor, which are thought to have been used as beds.
The pottery showed no traces of Roman influence, so we concluded it was deserted about AD100 or even earlier.
The final occupation succeded after a considerable interval. The absence of Romanised types of pottery suggested sometime after AD400.
Flanking both gates were guard-houses. I saw large stone slabs on which the guards built their fires - still showing the rust red marks left from the hot ashes. These guard houses defended Mark's Palace - a large building over 40 feet wide and 100 fet long, containing the chieftain's great hall. A trench cut right across the site revealed the post holes which held timber supports for the palace. I saw these post holes carefully lined with small stones and even then holding grafments of wood powder which were actually the remains of the posts.
Persisting through the legen of the West Country is the tradition that this Mark was the Western Ruler of the 5th Century and associated with Wagner's immortal music in the opera "Tristan & Isolda".
Near Castledore is "The Longstone" on which some epigraphists have read "Drugstagnus" (Tristan) and which certainly ends "Here lies the son of Conmore" - the name given to Tristan in early Breton versions of the romance. Also nearlys is "Kilmarth" a country house which means the place of Mark. Nearby is the valley of "Lampetho" which means "the valley of the dead" where it is believed King Mark and his followers were buried.
Finally to complete the history of Castledore. The Battle of Lostwithiel in the Civil War (1642) was fought on this site. I was intrigued to see a pile of what looked like newly scraped potatoes. On close inspection I found they were smooth pebbles, which I was told was ammunition used in this battle.
In Tywardreath Vicarage garden there is an iron cannon ball which was also fired in that battle - how it got there I do not know. Probably Bishop Gott put it there as he lived in a palace within a stone's throw of Castledore during the 19th Century. (Bishop Gott lived at Trenthyon - built for Colonel Peard - friend of Garibaldi.)