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HistorySince 1929, the Old Cornwall Society has lit an annual Midsummer's Eve Bonfire at the summit. As the highest and most distinctive hill in the vicinity, Kit Hill may have had religious significance in prehistoric times. At least 18 burial mounds occur on its slopes, including one beneath the summit chimney, and traces of early field systems can be seen on aerial photographs. Prehistoric people left their mark with a Neolithic long barrow (approx. 3000 BC) on the lower eastern slope and Bronze Age round barrows (2000-1500 BC), forming part of a line of barrows along Hingston Down. In more recent times, Kit Hill was an important strategic point above the natural boundary of the Tamar River. In the 9th Century, the battle of Hingston Down was fought on the lower slopes, when combined forces of the Cornish and the Danes were defeated by the invading Saxons, bringing an end to Cornish independence. In the 18th Century, in commemoration of this ancient battle, Sir John Call of Whiteford, near Stoke Climsland built a folly - a five- sided enclosure intended to imitate a Saxon or Danish fort. The remains of the folly can be seen as the boundaries to the grassed area at the summit. |
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