Towednack is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the
north the Irish Sea, east St. Ive’s and Lelant, south Ludgvan, west
Zennor.
In the Domesday Book this district was taxed under the jurisdiction of
Amall, now Amall Veor or Trenwith. In the inquisition of the Bishops
of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, into the value of Cornish Benefices,
Ecclesia de Tywidnick, in decanatu de Penwith, is rated at
cxiii_s._ iiii_d._ vicar’ ibidem, xxvi_s._ viii_d._ In Wolsey’s
Inquisition 1521, it goes in value, consolidation, and presentation,
with Lelant and St. Ive’s, £22. 11_s._ 10½_d._ The patronage in the
Bishops of Exeter, who endowed it; the incumbent ―――― Hawkins; the
rectory in Pitz; and the parish rated to the four shillings per pound
Land Tax, for one year, 1696, £51. 3_s._ 2_d._
In this parish are two notable camps, castles, or intrenchments of our
ancestors the Britons, wherein they fortified themselves against their
enemies in former ages, the ruins and downfalls of which are yet to be
seen, the one called Castle-an-Dunes,[3] or Denis (See St. Colomb.);
the other Tre-crag-an, the ragged rock town, situate upon Tre-crag-an
hill or mountain, as I take it.