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Summary

Fogou at Lower Boscaswell, once known as the 'Giant's Holt', associated with a round and possible courtyard house settlement.

Protected Status

• Conservation Area: BOSCASWELL
• Scheduled Monument CO740: Lower Boscaswell Fogou

Other References/Statuses

• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 324.3.1
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW33SE 43
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 29700
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW33SE 3

Monument Type(s):

• FOGOU (Early Iron Age to Romano British - 800 BC to 409 AD)
• Folklore Site (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

A fogou at Lower Boscaswell is associated with a Late Iron Age/Romano British round and possible courtyard house settlement (MCO51546).

The history of the site is summarised by McNeil Cooke and by Sturgess (1-2) and has been widely discussed (3-4).

It was noted in the 1842 by Reverend Buller, vicar of St Just, and in the later 19th century by the antiquarian JT Blight, when it was locally known as the ‘Giant’s Holt’. Blight noted that parts of the fogou had been destroyed since Buller’s visit (5-6).

Blight recorded the fogou as a main passage roofed with large granite slabs leading into an oval enclosure (see MCO51546). Off the main passage was a creep passage blocked at its southern end. It was thought to continue in a southerly direction, surviving as a stony bank. Blight also made an association between the fogou and a possible courtyard house settlement.

The fogou was investigated and planned by Charles Henderson in 1916 who noted that it had been adapted as an animal shelter (7).

Archaeological excavation in the 1950s revealed details of the structure and recorded pottery and worked stones (MCO909; 8-12). The excavation showed that the main passage of the fogou sloped up to the oval enclosure where there was a step in the ground level.

To the west of the fogou, and outside the area of the round (MCO51546), is a linear stony earthwork which marks the former position of a substantial wall. This ‘great wall’ was 12-feet (3.6m) wide and continued for approximately 96 feet (29m) where it narrowed. It is likely that this was a continuation of the fogou; Clark et al noted a possible entrance, then collapsed, on the northern face of this wall within its widest section but did not investigate further.

Between the late 1950s and the early 1980s the 'great wall' was removed. Geophysical survey of the area around the former wall did not reveal any significant archaeological features; however, this could have been a result of the groundworks undertaken in the late 20th century (13).

In 1992 the fogou was visited by McNeil Cooke who summarised the history of the investigations. He reported that during the 18th century, work near to the fogou, uncovered a Roman hoard. The hoard consisted of a hundred coins of Antonius Pius (Emperor from 138 to 161 AD), all of which have since been lost (see 1-2).

McNeil Cooke suggested that the main passage originally terminated within the oval enclosure and was entered from the creep to the south-west, the line of the passage continuing either west, or north-east.

<1> McNeil Cooke, I, 1993, Mother and Sun: the Cornish Fogou (Bibliographic reference). SCO25014.

<2> Sturgess, J, 2003, Lower Boscaswell, West Penwith, Cornwall (Cornwall Event Report). SCO1888.

<3> Clark, EV, 1961, Cornish Fogous, 12-20, 143-145, PLS 1, FRONT (Bibliographic reference). SCO3076.

<4> Smart. D, 1994, Fogous and hulls in south and west Cornwall (Unpublished document). SCO27443.

<5> Buller, J, 1842, A Statistical Account of the Parish of St Just-In-Penwith, 81-82 (Bibliographic reference). SCO2969.

<6> UNKNOWN, 1864, UNKNOWN TITLE, VOL I, 2, 6-7 (Unedited Source). SCO6185.

<7> Henderson, C, 1914, Notebooks of Parochial Antiquities, VOL II, 97-98, PL 112 (Unpublished document). SCO3503.

<7> CLARK, EV, FORD, EB & THOMAS, AC, 1957, UNKNOWN TITLE, VOL XXIII, 213-219, PLAN & FIGS (Unedited Source). SCO7638.

<8> UNKNOWN, 1954, UNKNOWN TITLE, 10/6/1954 (Unedited Source). SCO7572.

<9> Russell, V, 1971, West Penwith Survey, 62 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4314.

<10> West Cornwall Field Club, 195-, Untitled Source, VOL I, 2, 70 (Article in Journal). SCO7459.

<11> Russell, V, 1958, Check-list of the antiquities of West Penwith: 1, Parish of St Just-in-Penwith, VOL II, 3, 100 (Article in Journal). SCO7694.

<13> South West Archaeology Ltd, 2019, Lower Boscaswell Fogou (Report). SCO28785.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO5343 - Lower Boscaswell Fogou (Ref: 191029)
• ECO6097 - Lower Boscaswell Fogou
• ECO6104 - Ancient Penwith Site Assessment Form
• ECO6165 - Ancient Penwith: an archaeological assessment of sites in West Penwith for the PLP (Ref: 2016R069)

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Associated Images

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