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Summary

A courtyard house in the east of the settlement at Chykembro.

Protected Status: None recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 293/30
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW43NW 50.1
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 30756.10
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW43NW 125

Monument Type(s):

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

Full description

A courtyard house on Chykembro Common is listed by Hirst (b3) and is mentioned by Hencken (b1). The OS who surveyed the remains at 1:2500 in 1961 record grass covered banks up to 1.5m high with dry stone walling visible in places. The north-east entrance and features of the courtyard house are well defined except for the round room destroyed by mining activity (h1). Russell in 1971 lists the extant remains of a courtyard house (b5) and the OS in 1975 record no change to survey of 1961 (h2). Weatherhill in 1982 records a courtyard house measuring 21m by 17m with the long axis running north-west to south-east. The well defined north-east facing entrance is lined with stone and leads into a large courtyard. On the north side of this is a large oval chamber with a slightly raised floor, and opposite the entrance is a long room which retains both entrance jambs. The southern side of the house has been robbed almost to ground level but two small stones may indicate a possible round room. On the south side of the house entrance is a battered oval room next to which is a tiny cell built into the thickness of the wall, but with no trace of an entrance. It is possible that the north-west oval room may have been the round room rather than the remains in the south (h3, b6). The first measured large scale plan (1:200) of the site was produced in 1985 by Sandy Gerrard for CAU (h4; Drawing Archive, GRH 68/2/9/1). This records a prospecting pit cut into the courtyard and further damage by prospecting in the south-west corner. By surveying the fields in which the house is set, Gerrard shows that it is secondary to a curving bank, part of the curvilinear field system (4204), and not primary in relation to it as Weatherhill's sketch survey suggested. The house may have had a small curvilinear enclosure attached to the north-east through which it may have attached to the field system; Gerrard records a very slight (0.1m to 0.3m high) scarp here. Herring's 1:200 plan of 1990 adds detail on the house's stonework. The long room appears to have been subdivided by an orthostat, probably after the house was abandoned, possibly to make a small field barn (h5, b7). The site is visible on air photographs (p1-p3) and was plotted for the NMP.

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Site history:
1: 1961. PITCHER, GH / OS
2: 1975. FLETCHER, MJ / OS
3: 1975. WEATHERHILL, C / CCRA
4: 1985. GERRARD, GAM / CAU
5: 1990. HERRING, PC / CAU
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Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 1985, GRH 68/2/9/1, Chykembro Courtyard House, Survey 1:200 Explanatory Overlay (Cartographic materials). SCO24177.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 1985, GRH 68/2/9/2, Chykembro Courtyard House, Survey 1:200 (Cartographic materials). SCO24178.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 1990, GRH 68/2/25/1, Pennance Courtyard House 1:200 Plan. Entrance Grave, 1:100 & 1:10 (Cartographic materials). SCO24682.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 1990, GRH 68/2/25/2, Pennance Courtyard House 1:200 Plan. Entrance Grave - Explanatory Overlay (Cartographic materials). SCO24723.

<1> Hencken, H O'N, 1932, The Archaeology of Cornwall and Scilly, 311 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3489.

RAF, 1951, 540/518/3152 (Photographic Record). SCO13262.

<2> Hirst, FC, 19--, Archaeological Notes on West Penwith (Unpublished document). SCO3593.

NMR, 1977, SW4437/1/35&6 (Photographic Record). SCO16273.

<3> Hirst, FC, 1937, Courtyard House Sites in West Cornwall, 96 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3594.

NMR, 1982, SW4437/3 (Photographic Record). SCO16795.

<4> HIRST, FC, 1937, UNKNOWN TITLE, 9 (Article in Journal). SCO7280.

<5> Russell, V, 1971, West Penwith Survey, 55 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4314.

<6> Weatherhill, C, 1982, Courtyard Houses of West Penwith. A Survey, 45-47 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5029.

<7> Herring, PC, 1990, Pennance, Zennor. Archaeological Survey (Cornwall Event Report). SCO3575.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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