Chysauster Ancient Village (, meaning ''Sylvester's house'') is a late

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

and

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

village of

courtyard house A courtyard house is a type of house—often a large house—where the main part of the building is disposed around a central courtyard. Many houses that have courtyards are not courtyard houses of the type covered by this article. For example, ...

s in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, which is currently in the care of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. The village included eight to ten houses, each with its own internal courtyard. To the south east is the remains of a

fogou A fogou or fougou (pronounced "foo-goo") is an underground, dry-stone structure found on Iron Age or Romano-British-defended settlement sites in Cornwall. The original purpose of a fogou is uncertain today. Colloquially called , , , giant holts ...

, an underground structure of uncertain function. Chysauster Village Fossick

Location

Chysauster lies in southwest

in the

Penwith Penwith (; ) is an area of Cornwall, England, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former Non-metropolitan district, local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after one ...

District. It is located about 5 km north of

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

at 175 m above sea level. The site is open from March/April to early November, and it is in the care of

, who charge an admission fee.Chysauster, prices and opening times
English Heritage, retrieved 11 April 2011 The iron-age

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

of Castle An Dinas is just over 1 km to the east. Another similar Iron Age settlement is

Carn Euny Carn Euny (from )Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF)

about 10 km to the southwest and comparisons can be made with the contemporary Atlantic

Castro culture Castro culture (, , , , meaning "culture of the hillforts") is the archaeological term for the material culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian Peninsula (present-day northern and central Portugal together with the Spanish regions of ...

Settlement

Remains of doorway at Chysauster ancient village - geograph

Chysauster village is believed to have been inhabited from about 100 BC until the 3rd century AD;Chysauster Iron Age Village
Britain Express, retrieved 11 April 2011 it was primarily agricultural and unfortified and probably occupied by members of the

Dumnonii The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a Britons (historical), British List of ancient Celtic peoples and tribes, tribe who inhabited Dumnonia, the area now known as Cornwall and Devon (and some areas of present-day Dorset and Somerset) in the further pa ...

tribe. The village consists of the remains of around 10 courtyard houses, each around 30 metres in diameter.Chysauster Settlement
Pastscape, retrieved 11 April 2011 Eight of the houses form two distinct rows, and each house had an open central courtyard surrounded by a number of thatched rooms.Chysauster Ancient Village
English Heritage, retrieved 11 April 2011 The houses have a similar layout. The buildings are oriented on an east-west axis, with the entrance facing east. The walls survive to heights of up to 3 metres. A field system in the vicinity attests to the site's farming connections. Chysauster has been excavated several times, including a dig by the antiquarian

William Copeland Borlase William Copeland Borlase (5 April 1848 – 31 March 1899) was a British antiquarian and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 until 1887 when he was ruined by bankruptcy and scandal. Early life Borlase was born at Cas ...

in 1873. Reconstruction work has been carried out on several occasions.

Fogou

To the south of the settlement is an underground passage of a type known locally as

(from the permanently

lenited In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...

form of ''mogow'', Cornish for ''cave''). Fogous can be found in other places in the UK and Ireland, and are known more generally as

souterrain ''Souterrain'' (from French ', meaning "subterrain", is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the European Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northwards from Gaul d ...

s; their purpose is unclear. The fogou at Chysauster was originally recorded as running well over 16 metres in length but was blocked up in the late 20th century for safety reasons. It was recorded around 1847 by Henry Crozier who described it as a "voe or sepulchral chamber".

References

External links

Chysauster Ancient Village information at English Heritage

Teachers' resources for Chysauster Village: English Heritage

Hazard information for risk assessment for group leaders: English Heritage
{{Coord, 50, 9, 39.7, N, 5, 32, 24.8, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Cornwall English Heritage sites in Cornwall History of Cornwall Prehistoric sites in Cornwall Tourist attractions in Cornwall Iron Age sites in Cornwall Former populated places in Cornwall Roman sites in England Cornish courtyard houses Fogous

Location

Settlement

Fogou

References

Further reading

External links