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Summary

The well preserved remains of a courtyard settlement.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument CO349: Ancient village 400yds (370m) SSE of Treen

Other References/Statuses

• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 293.48
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW43NW 12
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 30725
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW43NW 79

Monument Type(s):

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

Full description

The courtyard house settlement at Treen is marked as 'British Village' on the OS map of 1908 (b1) and is described by Henderson (b2) and by Hirst in 1937 as consisting of two courtyard houses and terraces in fields (b5). The OS who surveyed the site at 1:2500 in 1961 record the remains of three very ruined courtyard houses. The two houses in the north are almost touching (30725.1 and 30725.3) whilst the western sides of the north-west (30725.3) and south-west (30725.2) houses are incorporated into the modern field wall. The two northern houses are probably those mentioned by Hirst but do not, as he records, lie in OS field 831, but in the field to the south (h2). The settlement is marked on the OS map of 1963 (b7) and the OS who revisited the site in 1975 record no change from the survey of 1961 (h3). Russell in 1971 lists the extant remains of two, possibly three, courtyard houses (b8). Weatherhill in 1982 records a settlement on a gentle north facing slope at 145m above OD, with the Porthmeor courtyard house settlement (30724) just 270m to the west. The closely knit settlement contains three houses, one of which is semi-detached, with all three having west facing entrances. Some stone accumulation is present in modern field walls to the north and a well preserved field system (30725.4) surrounds the site. A structure to the south-east, thought by Hirst to be a mutilated fogou, is in fact a neolithic Scillonian chambered tomb, the northernmost of the group at Treen (30726.1). The settlement is in surprisingly good condition, and although now overgrown with long grass and brambles, is one of the best preserved courtyard house sites (h4, b10). The monument is included in the Schedule. The site is visible on air photographs (p1-p6) and was plotted for the NMP.

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Site history:
1: 1956. SAUNDERS, AD / MOW
2: 1961. PITCHER, GH / OS
3: 1975. QUINNELL, NV / OS
4: 1975. WEATHERHILL, C / CCRA
5: 1980. SHEPPARD, PA / DOE
6: 1984. SHEPPARD, PA / DOE
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<1> Ordnance Survey, 1900s, 2nd Edition 6 Inch Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4051.

RAF, 1946, 3G/TUD/209/5043&5111 (Photographic Record). SCO10842.

<2> Henderson, C, 1914, Notebooks of Parochial Antiquities, VOL II, 187, PL 197 (Unpublished document). SCO3503.

NMR, 1977, SW4337/1/47-49 (Photographic Record). SCO16257.

<3> Hirst, FC, 19--, Archaeological Notes on West Penwith (Unpublished document). SCO3593.

NMR, 1979, SW4436/1/1&2 (Photographic Record). SCO16607.

<4> HIRST, FC, 1937, UNKNOWN TITLE, VOL 10, 4, APP (Article in Journal). SCO7280.

NMR, 1979, SW4437/2/482 (Photographic Record). SCO16619.

<5> Hirst, FC, 1937, Courtyard House Sites in West Cornwall, VOL II, 96 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3594.

NMR, 1979, SW4337/4 (Photographic Record). SCO16605.

<6> Saunders, A (for DOE), 1956, Scheduled Monument Description (Bibliographic reference). SCO5179.

NMR, 1982, SW4436/6/1 (Photographic Record). SCO16792.

<7> Ordnance Survey, 1970s, 1:10,000 OS Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4045.

<8> Russell, V, 1971, West Penwith Survey, 54 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4314.

<9> Sheppard, PA (for DOE), 19--, Scheduled Monument Description (Bibliographic reference). SCO5181.

<10> Weatherhill, C, 1982, Courtyard Houses of West Penwith. A Survey, 82, 84-85 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5029.

<11> Sheppard, PA (for DOE), 19--, Scheduled Monument Description (Bibliographic reference). SCO5181.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO6153 - Ancient Penwith Site Assessment Form
• ECO6165 - Ancient Penwith: an archaeological assessment of sites in West Penwith for the PLP (Ref: 2016R069)

Related records

Associated Images

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