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Summary

A possible proto-courtyard house in the south-west of the settlement at Bosporthennis.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument CO48: Hut circles, Bosporthennis

Other References/Statuses

• Cornwall SURVEY NAME (temporary): NT 91147
• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 291.5
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 30733.20

Monument Type(s):

• COURTYARD HOUSE? (Early Iron Age to Romano British - 800 BC to 409 AD)

Full description

A possible proto-courtyard house sketch planned as hut circle No 2 by Henderson in 1914. He shows two contiguous circular chambers; the smallest to the east connected by a western door to the larger western one. Overlain to the south by a modern hedge (b2). Weatherhill in 1982 considered the battered banks with some protruding stones were part of an enclosure attached to the rear of the courtyard house (30733.1) immediately to the north (h5, b9). The site was planned at 1:200 by CCRA in 1983 and interpreted by Nowakowski as a poorly preserved courtyard house. Low stony banks up to approx 0.4m high define "at least three sub-ovoid features arranged around a courtyard area". Each feature, or room has an entrance defined by in situ doorjambs. A modern hedge cuts across a possible long room approx 6.7m by approx 1.6m. The site is in very poor condition and has presumably been robbed for material to build the modern hedge (h7, b10-b12, b14). The monument is included in the Schedule. The structure is visible on air photographs (p1) and was plotted for the NMP.

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Site history:
1: 1956. SAUNDERS, AD / MOW
2: 1961. PITCHER, GH / OS
3: 1969. MERCER, RJ / MOW
4: 1975. QUINNELL, NV / OS
5: 1975. WEATHERHILL, C / CCRA
6: 1981. SHEPPARD, PA / DOE
7: 1983. NDJ, APJ, CT / CCRA
8: 1985. SHEPPARD, PA / DOE
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<1> Ordnance Survey, 1900s, 2nd Edition 6 Inch Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4051.

NMR, 1979, SW4335/2/448 (Photographic Record). SCO16598.

<2> Henderson, C, 1914, Notebooks of Parochial Antiquities, VOL II, 192, 198, PLS 191, 200 (Unpublished document). SCO3503.

<3> Hirst, FC, 1937, Courtyard House Sites in West Cornwall, 82-83 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3594.

<4> Saunders, A (for DOE), 1956, Scheduled Monument Description (Bibliographic reference). SCO5179.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1970s, 1:10,000 OS Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4045.

<6> Mercer, RJ (for DOE), 19--, Scheduled Monument Description (Bibliographic reference). SCO5178.

<7> Russell, V, 1971, West Penwith Survey, 54 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4314.

<8> Sheppard, PA (for DOE), 19--, Scheduled Monument Description (Bibliographic reference). SCO5181.

<9> Weatherhill, C, 1982, Courtyard Houses of West Penwith. A Survey, 25-28 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5029.

<10> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Field Drawing (GRE), GRE 1035, 1044 (Cartographic materials). SCO5089.

<11> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 198-, Drawing Archive, Hanging (GRH), GRH 68211 & 12 (Cartographic materials). SCO5088.

<12> CAU, 1984, Field Survey Context Card (Bibliographic reference). SCO5175.

<13> Sheppard, PA (for DOE), 19--, Scheduled Monument Description (Bibliographic reference). SCO5181.

<14> Nowakowski, JA, 1987, Bosporthennis, West Penwith, Zennor, 34-37, 42-44, FIGS, 16 & 17 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4015.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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