2021

SW4735 : Chysauster - House 5 - Circular end room

taken 2 years ago, near to Newmill, Cornwall, England

Chysauster - House 5 - Circular end room
Chysauster - House 5 - Circular end room
Entered via these two large stones flanking its entrance from the courtyard, this circular room is at the northern end of House 5.
See also SW4735 : Chysauster - House 5 - Entrance
Chysauster Ancient Village

Chysauster Ancient Village consists of the remains of a settlement of courtyard houses from the Romano-British period. The inhabitants lived in stone-walled houses, each with a number of rooms arranged round a courtyard. This unique layout is only found only in late Iron Age and Romano-British settlements in western Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Chysauster probably has its origins in the middle Iron Age (from about 400 BC). Occupation in the surrounding area is likely to have begun much earlier with the marks field systems and associated small round houses visible by aerial photography; these are believed to date from the Bronze Age (2300–800 BC).

Chysauster - Links & Information

Chysauster is considered to be a Romano-British village dating therefore from the early centuries AD, however it is surrounded by monuments that predate it by many centuries, from the Iron Age, Bronze Age and even the Neolithic. The Fogou on this site for example is thought to be from the late Iron Age. All around the core village are the remains of prehistoric field systems and surrounding these numerous Bronze Age cairns or barrows and the remains of prehistoric round houses.
The village site is owned and maintained by English Heritage - see visitor information here: LinkExternal link
Opening times & prices here: LinkExternal link
EH Scheduled Ancient Monument listing: LinkExternal link
Visit Cornwall: LinkExternal link
Cornwall Guide: LinkExternal link
Details of houses:
House 1: Not excavated. Obvious entrance with stone buttresses. Circular enclosure. Original shape distorted by subsequent building.
House 2: Not excavated. Scanty remains visible; no easily discernible plan.
House 3: Well preserved pair of 'semi-detached' dwellings. Double entrance on East side leads to two separate courtyards. Excavated in 1929 & 1931.
House 4: Well preserved with two small rooms, one large oval room and a long room all radiating from a central courtyard.
House 5: Centrally located small house, quite well preserved with large stones flanking the entrance passage. It has two external enclosures which may be remains of another adjoining house. These enclosures may latterly have been used as a garden.
House 6: Best preserved and most complete house on the site. The large central courtyard is reached by a lengthy passageway from the SE. A small circular room is linked from the courtyard to the east, with two long thin rooms to the NE. Another small room lies to the west, but the main feature is a large circular room to the NW. This room contains the remains of a hearth and also has a narrow passageway as a rear entrance to the house.
House 7: The internal walls of this house were largely removed around 1800 as it was used as a place for Methodist preaching (its historical importance not being recognized at the time). It also seems likely that it had been used as a rubbish dump by the inhabitants of the other houses as far more pottery shards (1,322 of them) were found here than in any of the other houses. Despite all these depredations there is still quite a lot remaining however.
House 8: This house is mostly a series of earthworks. It has never been excavated, but the walls and plan of the house are discernible.
House 9: Longer and thinner than the main circular houses, there are substantial remains though they have probably undergone subsequent alterations. It is the easternmost house on the site.
Fogou: This underground passageway is now blocked with a grille as it became unsafe for public access in 1986. It was first described in 1861 by the antiquary Richard Edmonds. He estimated that it was at least 15m (50') in length. However it has never been excavated [as of 2021] so its dimensions and shape are unknown.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Rob Farrow and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Village, Rural settlement Housing, Dwellings Place: Chysauster Primary Subject: Ancient Site other tags: Ancient Village Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Other Photos: · Chysauster - House 5 - Interior ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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Grid Square
SW4735, 63 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Rob Farrow   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 3 October, 2021   (more nearby)
Submitted
Thursday, 14 October, 2021
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SW 4723 3501 [10m precision]
WGS84: 50:9.6669N 5:32.4293W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SW 4723 3500
View Direction
NORTH (about 0 degrees)
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SW S SE
Image Type (about): geograph 
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