This is possibly the Hingston Down mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which says that in 835 (corrected by scholars to 838) Egbert king of the West Saxons defeated an army of Vikings and Cornish at Hengestdun = "Stallion Hill". A more likely site for this battle is now thought to be at Hingston Down near Moretonhampstead in Devon as mentioned in Cornish World Magazine in Oct 2007. This is thought to be the more likely location as it was nearly a full century later in 936 when King Athelstan fixed the east bank of the River Tamar as the boundary between Anglo-Saxon Wessex and Celtic Cornwall. Up until 927 the two peoples had lived together in Devon and Exeter "aequo jure" = "by equal law"..
There is a quarry there, and the Hingston Downs Consols mine is the type locality for the mineral Arthurite, which was discovered here.
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Last updated on Tuesday June 03, 2008 at 16:31:10 PDT (GMT -0700)
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