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Summary

An above-ground fogou now in poor condition, recorded in the C19 and excavated in the 1950s.

Protected Status

• Conservation Area: BOSCASWELL
• Scheduled Monument CO740: Fogou at Lower Boscawell

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)

Full description

An above-ground fogou at Lower Boscaswell was recorded in the C19 (b1, b2) and by Henderson (b3). Excavations in the 1950s (h1) revealed details of the structure and in addition, a quantity of pottery was recovered (29700.01). The excavation report (b6) gives further details. Survey by the OS in 1960 revealed that the fogou is in poor condition. It consists of a small chamber averaging 0.6m high with two apertures on the west and south-west sides. One represents the commencement of a passage in a westerly direction towards a very thick field wall. The south-west aperture with jambs and lintel (0.7m square) is probably an original entrance. The chamber is enclosed within a thick drystone wall, which forms the west side of an oval enclosure (possibly part of a courtyard house, reconstructed in the course of agricultural field wall repairs. The entrance is not discernible. A raised platform of stone and earth extends south from the enclosure, bounded by a thick field wall on the east side. It is 1.0m thick at the north end and the crescentic shape of its west side is suggestive of another contiguous oval enclosure, part of the courtyard house complex. A slight depression running north-south on this platform probably represents a collapsed passage leading to the north enclosure (h2). The remains of the fogou are visible on aerial photographs (p1) and were plotted as part of the NMP.

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Site history:
2: 1960. QUINNELL,NV/OS
3: 1969. MERCER,RJ/DOE
4: 1975. FLETCHER, MJ/OS
5: 1979. SHEPPARD,PA/DOE
6: 1985. SHEPPARD,PA/HBMC
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Smart. D, 1994, Fogous and hulls in south and west Cornwall (Unpublished document). SCO27443.

<1> Buller, J, 1842, A Statistical Account of the Parish of St Just-In-Penwith, 81-82 (Bibliographic reference). SCO2969.

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

<3> Henderson, C, 1914, Notebooks of Parochial Antiquities, VOL II, 97-98, PL 112 (Unpublished document). SCO3503.

<4> West Cornwall Field Club, 195-, Proceedings of the West Cornwall Field Club, VOL I, 2, 70 (Article in serial). SCO7459.

<5> UNKNOWN, 1954, UNKNOWN TITLE, 10/6/1954 (Unedited Source). SCO7572.

<6> CLARK, EV, FORD, EB & THOMAS, AC, 1957, UNKNOWN TITLE, VOL XXIII, 213-219, PLAN & FIGS (Unedited Source). SCO7638.

<7> RUSSELL, V, 1958, UNKNOWN TITLE, VOL II, 3, 100 (Unedited Source). SCO7694.

<8> Clark, EV, 1961, Cornish Fogous, 12-20, 143-145, PLS 1, FRONT (Bibliographic reference). SCO3076.

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

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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