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Summary

A courtyard house situated in the north of the settlement to the west of Bosigran.

Protected Status: None recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 290.23
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW43NW 8.2
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 30696.20
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW43NW 61.2

Monument Type(s):

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

Full description

The OS survey at 1:2500 in 1961 records a courtyard house situated in the north of the settlement at Bosigran (30696). The remains are incorporated into a modern field wall on the east side, and the remainder is stone faced walling up to 1.6m high, tumbled and overgrown in places. The entrance now blocked, is to the south and is flanked by large jambstones. At least three chambers open off the courtyard, and round room to the north, another circular chamber to the south-west and a long room to the east, although the chamber in the north-west appears to have access only from the outside (h1). Pool and Weatherhll in 1979 record a definite courtyard house with apparently recent enclosures built against its west and north sides. They describe three side rooms and one round room, with walling up to 1.1m high. The adjoining enclosure displays good walling throughout (b6). Weatherhill in 1982 gives the measurements of the courtyard house as 28m by 20m, with entrance jambs 1.2 high. The oval room (south-west) is clearly divided into two by a line of earthfast stones up to 0.7m high, with internal facing of upright slabs 1.2m high, forming the greater part of a perfect circle 6.0m in diameter. The wall which surrounds the cove is extremely thick and is infilled with rubble (h3, b7). Planned at 1:200 in 1982 by CCRA/NT (h4, b8-b10) and shown to have developed in three clear phases. In the first there were two freestanding round houses, that to the north (30696.21) being perfectly circular and that to the south-west (30696.22) being egg-shaped. These were linked in the second phase as they were incorporated into a courtyard house which also had a new long room (north-east) 3.0m by 2.8m internally, immediately east of the entrance to the courtyard. This was 1.8m wide and defined by two jambs 1.1m and 1.3m high. In the third phase another round room of approx 3.8m diameter, reached via the main round room, was added to the north and a sub-rectangular enclosure (30692.23) was attached to the north-west. This house is a good example of an organic courtyard house (b11). The site is visible on air photographs (p1, p2) and was plotted for the NMP.

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Site history:
1: 1961. PITCHER, GH / OS
2: 1975. QUINNELL, NV / OS
3: 1975. WEATHERHILL, C / CCRA
4: 1982. NDJ ET AL / CCRA, NT
5: 1986. HERRING, PC / CAU
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<1> Hirst, FC, 19--, Archaeological Notes on West Penwith (Unpublished document). SCO3593.

NMR, 1979, SW4237/7/472 (Photographic Record). SCO16584.

<2> UNKNOWN, 1937, UNKNOWN TITLE, APPENDIX (Article in Journal). SCO7286.

CAU, 1988, F15/117-121 (Photographic Record). SCO17159.

<3> Hirst, FC, 1937, Courtyard House Sites in West Cornwall, 84N, 97 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3594.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1970s, 1:10,000 OS Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4045.

<5> Russell, V, 1971, West Penwith Survey, 54 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4314.

<6> Pool, PAS & Weatherhill, C, 1979, A Report to the National Trust: Iron Age Sites at Bosigran (Bibliographic reference). SCO5141.

<7> Weatherhill, C, 1982, Courtyard Houses of West Penwith. A Survey, 22-24 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5029.

<8> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Field Drawing (GRE), GRE 212, 26, 30 (Cartographic materials). SCO5089.

<9> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 198-, Drawing Archive, Hanging (GRH), GRH 683, SW 4236 NW, 4236SW; 68249-11 (Cartographic materials). SCO5088.

<10> CAU, 1984, Field Survey Context Card, 253 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5175.

<11> Herring, PC, 1987, Bosigran, Zennor, 102-108 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3569.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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