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Summary

Settlement with at least four phases of occupation activity spanning 1st century BC to 12th and 13th centuries AD.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument CO263: Goldherring British village

Other References/Statuses

• Heritage at Risk (National): English Heritage, South West
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW42NW 38
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 16046
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW42NW 22

Monument Type(s):

• SETTLEMENT (Early Iron Age to Romano British - 800 BC to 409 AD)
• SETTLEMENT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Full description

Above 500m near the top of an east facing valley slope lie, under dense moorland vegetation, the remains of an enclosed Romano-British settlement. Sketched by Blight in the 1850s (h1, b1) and shown on 1908 OS 6-inch map as 'British village' (h2, b2). Roman coins found on site in the earlier part of the century (b3, b4) date to 3rd century AD (Posthumous AD 258-67 and Tetricus AD 267-77). Their discovery led to detailed investigations by Guthrie for the West Cornwall Field Club, who carried out a series of excavations of the site from 1958 to 1962 (h3, b6, b7, b9-b11, b13). Guthrie demonstrated that the site had witnessed at least four phases of occupation activity spanning 1st century BC to 12th and 13th centuries AD. (b13). Site recorded and surveyed by the OS in 1960 at both 1:1250 and 1:2500 (h4) and recently sketch surveyed by Sharpe for CAU in 1985 (h5, b17, b18). Field visit by OS in 1985 (h7). Extant remains are very overgrown and detail is difficult to obtain with such dense vegetation cover (b17). Remains comprise a single courtyard house (16046.01), a partly ditched circular bank with an entrance way (16046.02) and four hut circles (16046.03) of which only one is extant. Traces of a terraced, lynchetted field system (16046.04) lies on the hillside immediately south of the settlement. Later use of the site for industrial activity was in the 12th and 13th centuries (b13), see 16047. The monument is included in the Schedule.

John Wooton worked on the 1958 excavation led by A Guthrie. His family joined him for a picnic there one day and his wife, Brenda Wooton painted a picture of the entrance (see below image). Her daughter, Sue Ellery Hill gave permission for it to be added to the HER. The entrance is now invisible, having been refilled after the excavation. The archaeological report describes the gateway as follows "The orthostats of the gateway were massive slabs set on end, three on the south side, two on the north, with horizontally laid walling filling gaps in both walls (PI. I,B). They represent a major exercise in manipulation, and nothing as large had been used elsewhere on the site." This is as shown in the painting, which is a valuable record of the otherwise invisible gateway (20).

--------------------------------
Site history:
1: 1850. BLIGHT, JT
2: 1908. OS
4: 1960. PITCHER, GH / OS
5: 1975. ROSE, PG / CAU
6: 1985. SHARPE, A / CAU
7: 1985. FLETCHER, MJ / OS
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<1> BLIGHT, JT, 1850, UNKNOWN TITLE (Unedited Source). SCO6036.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1900s, 2nd Edition 6 Inch Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4051.

<3> Page, W (Editor), 1906, Victoria History of the County of Cornwall, VOL V, 40 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4068.

<4> Hencken, H O'N, 1932, The Archaeology of Cornwall and Scilly, 139, 307 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3489.

<5> Dudley, D, 1957, The Early Iron Age in Cornwall, VOL 2, NO 2, 53 (Article in Journal). SCO5095.

<6> Guthrie, A, 1958, The 1958 Excavations at Goldherring, Sancreed (Article in Journal). SCO7675.

<7> Guthrie, A, 1959, Goldherring, 1959 (Article in Journal). SCO7725.

<8> GUTHRIE, A, 1959, THE RB NATIVE SETTLEMENT PLAN AT GOLDHERRING, SANCREED, FIELD GUIDE NO 5 (Booklet). SCO7726.

<9> GUTHRIE, A, 1960, SETTLEMENT AT GOLDHERRING, SANCREED, FIELD GUIDE NO 5 (Unedited Source). SCO7771.

<10> Guthrie, A, 1961, Excavations at Goldherring, 1960 (Article in Journal). SCO7770.

<11> Guthrie, A, 1963, Interim Report 1961-62 Goldherring, VOL 2, 56 (Article in Journal). SCO3419.

<12> Fox, A, 1964, South West England, 126, 150, 155 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3332.

<13> Guthrie, A, 1969, Excavation of a Settlement at Goldherring, Sancreed, 1958-1961, VOL 8 (Article in Journal). SCO3418.

<14> Russell, V, 1971, West Penwith Survey, 53 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4314.

<15> Caseldine, CJ, 1980, Environmental Change in Cornwall During the Last 13000 Years (Article in Journal). SCO3054.

<16> Weatherhill, C, 1981, Belerion: Ancient Sites of Land's End, 49 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5027.

<17> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Field Drawing (GRE), GRE 2/16 (Cartographic materials). SCO5089.

<18> Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 198-, Drawing Archive, Hanging (GRH), GRH 68/4/SW4128 (Cartographic materials). SCO5088.

<19> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South West (Bibliographic reference). SCO24115.

<19> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 South West (Bibliographic reference). SCO25275.

<19> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 South West (Bibliographic reference). SCO26037.

<20> Strategic Historic Environment Service, Condition Monitoring Report, 15/11/2023 (Report). SCO29981.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds

• FCO1749 - BOWL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO3423 - BROOCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO1751 - COIN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO3424 - POLISHER (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO4245 - RING (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO1750 - ROTARY QUERN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO4122 - SADDLE QUERN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO3422 - SHERD (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO1747 - SLAG (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO1746 - SPINDLE WHORL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO3425 - SPINDLE WHORL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO1748 - UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FCO4246 - WHETSTONE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Events

• ECO2224 - Goldherring, Sancreed

Related records

Associated Images

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