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Summary

Terraced field system surrounding the courtyard house settlement of Chysauster.

Protected Status: None recorded

Other References/Statuses

• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW43NE 69
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 36008.12
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW43NE 118-148

Monument Type(s):

• FIELD SYSTEM (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• FIELD SYSTEM (Romano British - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

Centred at SW 4720 3523 on south-west facing slopes lie the exant remains of an impressive terraced field system surrounding the courtyard house village of Chysauster (36008). This system extends towards Carnaquidden tenement to the north and is probably the southern part of the larger system; the Carnaquidden area having been arbitrally classified as 36001.02. In extent it would cover at least 6ha (150 acres) and is contour aligned rising up from the valley bottom to at least 185m (b7). This system was recognised in 1959-60 (b1) and observed by the OS in air photos in 1960 (h1, p1, p2). The first detailed survey of the system was not however carried out until the 1960s when part of it was surveyed first by CEU and by CAU in 1982 (h3), and then later at 1:1000 by CAU in 1985 (h4, b5, b6). A detailed field report by CAU in 1986 records that it comprises long, linear terraced boundaries and ploughed out lynchets which hug the natural contours of the valley slopes. Some boundaries were fossilised and absorbed into later historic farming landscape and interestingly the system itself appears formal and fairly rigid in design, perhaps suggesting that it was largely imposed in one chronological phase (b7). It is possible that at its very northern and southern edges, it incorporated earlier pre-Iron Age boundaries (see 36000.08). This field system is clearly part of a Romano-British settlement in this area as field evidence suggests very strongly an association and probably contemporaniety (b7). Small artificial platforms within areas closer to known courtyard house sites may not necessarily represent subdivided enclosures and may possibly be the sites for further courtyard houses, although this hypothesis would need testing by small scale excavation (b7). The system is presently under improved pasture and has been ploughed regularly in recent years (b7). It is recommended for Scheduling.
(b3) - CCRA, 19--, Pers Comm, ,

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Site history:
1: 1960. QUINNELL, NV / OS
2: 1975. FLETCHER, MJ / OS
3: 1983. SMITH, G AND ROSE, P / CEU AND CAU
4: 1985. NOWAKOWSKI, JA AND SHARPE, A / CAU
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<1> Pool, PAS & Russell, V, 1959, Antiquities in the North-East Part of the Parish of Gulval, 149 (Article in Journal). SCO5140.

<2> Russell, V, 1971, West Penwith Survey, 65 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4314.

<4> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 198-, Drawing Archive, Hanging (GRH), GRH 68/4/SW 4734 & SW 4735 (Cartographic materials). SCO5088.

<5> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 198-, Drawing Archive, Hanging (GRH), GRH 68/3/ SW 4734 NW, SW 4735 SW, SW 4635 SE (Cartographic materials). SCO5088.

<6> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Field Drawing (GRE), GRE 5 (Cartographic materials). SCO5089.

<7> Nowakowski, JA & Sharpe, A, 1986, Chysauster and Carnaquidden, Survey, Protection and Management (Cornwall Event Report). SCO4028.

<8> 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

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