For important guidance on the use of this record, please click here.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Courtyard House 2 at Chysauster, unexcavated.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument CO37: Chysauster ancient village

Other References/Statuses

• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW43NE 69
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 36008.08
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW43NE 150

Monument Type(s):

• COURTYARD HOUSE (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• COURTYARD HOUSE (Romano British - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

In 1861 when Blight recorded the whole village of Chysauster, this courtyard house, which lies at the perceived north end of the nucleated settlement, was in very poor condition (h1, b1). Blight's plan shows the fragmentary remains of structural walls which were clearly not solid enough to show as stone features (b1). This is also emphasised in Watkins' 1928 survey at 1:1536 where the remains are shown to be so fragmentary that it appears as though there must have been some doubt as to whether they represented a house (h2, b2). Hencken's work in the 1930s reaffirmed the case for this being a secure feature, since although it was not excavated, it was accorded a number (No 2) on his plan of the village (b3). The site was later resurveyed by the OS in 1960 where it was shown primarily to consist of curvilinear banks and unlike its neighbours, no stone masonry was visible at the surface (h3). No further comment from a revisit in 1975 (h4). Like its immediate downslope neighbour (36008.07) The most detail we have at present comes from Weatherhill's observations taken in 1982 (h5, b5). The overall size of the house appears to be 21m by 15m and Weatherhill states that the outlines of the courtyard, a round room and a long room can be seen, although it is unclear about the main entrance which he suggests lies on the south-western side and therefore would have faced onto the main village street (b5). Like other houses in the village it appears to have attached extra-mural enclosures (b5). The house is part of a Scheduled Monument (b4) and is partly grassed over.

--------------------------------
Site history:
1: 1861. BLIGHT, JT
2: 1928. WATKINS, DH
3: 1960. QUINNELL, NV / OS
4: 1975. FLETCHER, MJ / OS
5: 1982. WEATHERHILL, C / CCRA
--------------------------------

<1> BLIGHT, JT, 1861, UNKNOWN TITLE, VOL 38, 46, PLAN (Unedited Source). SCO6136.

<2> Hencken, HO, 1928, An Excavation at Chysauster 1928, VOL 34, 145-164 (Article in Journal). SCO3487.

<3> Hencken, HO'N, 1933, An Excavation by H.M. Office of Works at Chysauster, Cornwall, 1931 (Article in Journal). SCO7212.

<4> GORDON, MS, 1958, A M ENGLAND AND WALES, 21 (Unedited Source). SCO7674.

<5> Weatherhill, C, 1982, Courtyard Houses of West Penwith. A Survey, 49 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5029.

<6> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 198-, Drawing Archive, Hanging (GRH), GRH 68/1/27/5 (Cartographic materials). SCO5088.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

Related records

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.