Helsbury Park is located near the ruins of an Iron Age hill fort known as Helsbury Castle, it has a single rampart and
ditch with a rectangular annexe. The fort and annexe entrance faces east and is approached by a sunken track which may be of the same date. The main
rampart of the fort reaches a height of 4.0m and a square enclosure in the centre of the fort contains the foundations of St. Syth's Chapel. Helsbury
Wood was also once part of the Black Prince's deer park, so the history lesson begins right on our doorstep.
Stone Circles
Bodmin Moor is one of the most ancient inhabited areas of the country, and within easy reach of Helsbury Park you can see stone circles at Leaze,
Stannon and Fernacre to name a few. They include Bronze Age hut circles, cairns and fascinating henges: some even dating from Neolithic times. Many
of these circles have legends attached such as the Hurlers at Minions with their attendant Pipers who, according to legend, were all turned to stone
for playing on the Sabbath.
King Arthur
The whole area is steeped in Arthurian myth: most notably nearby Tintagel, with its castle, where the discovery of a 6th century slate inscribed ARTOGNOV (the Latin version of the ancient British ARTHNOU) has fuelled the
belief that this was Arthur's palace.
You can follow the Arthur trail from the visitor centres at Tintagel and Slaughterbridge, where Arthur fought Mordred, to Dozmary Pool high on the
moor. It is into the depths of this, supposedly bottomless, pool that Sir Bedivere threw Arthur's sword Excalibur to be seized by the Lady of the Lake.
