Stones of England - Chysauster settlement

Chysauster
Settlement
Cornwall
Nearest town: Penzance Nearest village: Zennor Map reference: SW 472350

A view of house 6. In the corner on the left is a stone with a hollow; it probably held the wooden post supporting a thatched roof

(65Kb)

Dated to the later Iron Age, this ancient village is thought to have continued in use during the Roman period. The settlement contains nine large oval houses, some of which are well preserved.
The basic house plan is an open courtyard with a round living room opposite the entrance and a long narrow room along one side wall, but most houses have extra rooms and some are very complex. The main room contains a flat stone in the ground with a socket hole, which presumably held the wooden post supporting a thatched roof. Also visible are open hearths, stone basins for grinding grain, and covered drains. All the houses had terraced gardens.
At Chysauster there is also a fogou (Cornish for cave), a rather mysterious underground passage, but it is in a ruined state and far less impressive than the Carn Euny one. In the early nineteenth century, people came to Chysauster to listen to Methodist preachers who liked to use the village as an open-air pulpit. Now the site is maintained by English Heritage.

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