XII.—An Excavation by H.M. Office of Works at Chysauster, Cornwall, 1931

H. O'Neill Hencken

doi:10.1017/S0261340900005439

XII.—An Excavation by H.M. Office of Works at Chysauster, Cornwall, 1931

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2011

H. O'Neill Hencken

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In 1930 Col. C. R. R. Malone, J.P., of Trevaylor, generously placed in the custody of H.M. Office of Works the remains of an extensive Celtic village of the Romano-British period and possibly earlier. The site, commonly called Chysauster, lies upon a gentle south-western slope between the farms of Chysauster and Carnaquidden in the parish of Gulval about three miles north of Penzance and ten and a half miles from Land's End. It is in the granite area that forms the greater part of the Hundred of Pen with. The site is not fortified, but on the summit of the hill above it about 1,400 yards away is a hill-top fort called Castle-an-Dinas. This consists of three stone ramparts, and resembles very closely the neighbouring Chun Castle recently excavated by Mr. E. T. Leeds, F.S.A. Below the site is the valley of the Rosemorran stream which once yielded alluvial tin ore. The name Chysauster, though Cornish, is unfortunately of little value from the archaeological point of view, for its earliest form, which appears in a document of 1313, is Chysalvestre, Sylvester's house.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 83 , 1933 , pp. 237 - 284

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900005439 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1933

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^{page 237 note 1} Archaeologia, lxxvi, p. 205 f.

^{page 237 note 2} For this information the writer is indebted to the late Mr. Charles Henderson.

^{page 239 note 1} Journal of British Archaeological Association, 1928, pp. 149–50.

^{page 239 note 2} Archaeological Journal, vol. xviii, p. 39 f.

^{page 239 note 3} 43rd Report of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (1861), p. 49.

^{page 239 note 4} Archaeological Journal, vol. xxx, p. 366 f.

^{page 239 note 5} H. O'Neill Hencken, Archaeology of Cornwall, p. 135, fig. 39 c.

^{page 239 note 6} Transactions of the Penzance Society, N.S., vol. iv (1893–8), pp. 106–7; V. C. H., Cornwall, vol. i, p. 370.

^{page 239 note 7} H. O'Neill Hencken, Archaeology of Cornwall, p. 135, fig. 39 D.

^{page 239 note 8} Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1928, pp. 145 ff.

^{page 240 note 1} Beside the writer the following were also present: Miss Gertrude Balliet, Rev. Arthur Boscawen, Mr. Donald Brown, Dr. R. Vernon Favell, F.S.A., Miss Harriet Hammond, Mrs. H. O'Neill Hencken, Lt.-Col. F. C. Hirst, Mrs. Arthur Holbrook, Mr. S. A. Opie, and Miss A. Welsford. During the greater part of the time a foreman and eleven workmen were employed. Most of the photography was done by Mr. Herbert Gibson of Penzance who paid frequent visits to the site, and the plans have been prepared by Mr. T. S. Copplestone and Mr. G. Singleman of the Dept. of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings of H.M. Office of Works. All these and especially Lt.-Col. Hirst rendered much invaluable service.

^{page 241 note 1} Much of the stone from it was added to the inside of the boundary hedge near no. 5. For original position of the hedge, see Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1928, pp. 149 and 151.

^{page 242 note 1} Brooks, C. E. P., Climate through the Ages (London, 1926), esp. p. 343Google Scholar; Antiquity, vol. i, p. 412.

^{page 243 note 1} H. O'Neill Hencken, op. cit., pp. 138, 141–50.

^{page 244 note 1} Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1928, p. 147.

^{page 244 note 2} This plan will be sent to H.M. Office of Works to be kept with the material found at the site.

^{page 247 note 1} These letters and numbers are those by which objects were recorded as found. They were subsequently written upon the objects themselves.

^{page 248 note 1} It is also quite possible that this stone formed a threshold to the hut D and was placed across the doorway to keep back the earth from the upper terrace, the top of which was at a somewhat higher level than the floor of D.

^{page 252 note 1} In all matters of dating pottery the writer is indebted for much assistance to Mr. Reginald Smith, F.S.A., Keeper of British and Mediaeval Antiquities at the British Museum and to Mr. Christopher Hawkes, F.S.A., of the same Department.

^{page 257 note 1} See W. C. Borlase, Age of Saints (Truro, 1893), p. 52.

^{page 257 note 2} Archaeologia, lxxvi, 215.

^{page 260 note 1} As noted on p. 266, however, Mr. C. A. Ralegh Radford, F.S.A., believes that with the exception of a few stray sherds all the pottery from House 7 is of the first century A.D. or later, and he suggests that the very few early fragments may not really date the house. The possible reasons, stated above, for the preponderance of late pottery should not be overlooked, however.

^{page 261 note 1} For a recent find of somewhat similar rims, see E. Thurlow Leeds, Antiquaries Journal, vol. xi, p. 399.

^{page 261 note 2} H. O'Neill Hencken, op.cit., p. 145.

^{page 261 note 3} E. Thurlow Leeds, Archaeologia, vol. lxxvi, p. 230 f.; H. O'Neill Hencken, op. cit., pp. 127, 156–7.

^{page 267 note 1} Each sherd from House 5 was given a number and each other find one or more letters. These are given in parentheses whenever necessary. All finds are marked on a map of the house which will be kept with the finds.

^{page 267 note 2} This list includes the finds from the adjacent terrace trenches, and 3 sherds found on the north side of the lower terrace, but not the few objects from the small hut D, which are listed separately on pp. 267–9.

^{page 270 note 1} H. O'Neill Hencken, op. cit., p. 107.

^{page 270 note 2} Archaeological Journal, vol. xxx, p. 339.

^{page 270 note 3} Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1928, p. 160.

^{page 271 note 1} Borlase, William, Natural History of Cornwall (Oxford, 1758), p. 106Google Scholar.

^{page 272 note 1} H. O'Neill Hencken, op.cit, pp. 133–6; Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1928, pp. 146–9. Note that in the latter publication the houses are numbered differently.

^{page 272 note 2} For an account of their work see Transactions of the Penzance Society, New Series, vol. iv, (1893–8), pp. 106–7.

^{page 274 note 1} For his excavation, Archaeological Journal, vol. xxx, pp. 336 f.

^{page 275 note 1} Borlase, , Age of Saints (Truro, 1893), p. 53Google Scholar. This reference the writer owes to Mr. S. A. Opie.

^{page 275 note 2} Lt.-Col. F. C. Hirst has, however, found similar basins of other types of granite associated with analogous sites in Zennor parish.

^{page 277 note 1} In Mr. Radford's opinion, however, the absence of pottery which he would assign to the first century b.c. (see p. 266) would make the few sherds that are according to his view earlier still mere strays. Mr. Radford suggests that they do not date this house, but might be evidence of still earlier occupation upon its site. He believes that none of the excavated houses on this site was built before the first century a.d.

^{page 278 note 1} H. O'Neill Hencken, op. cit., p. 174.

^{page 278 note 2} Ibid., p. 199.

^{page 278 note 3} Ibid., pp. 132–43.

^{page 279 note 1} Ibid., pp. 138–9 and p. 152; fig. 44 D.

^{page 280 note 1} Archaeologia Cambrensis, 3rd Series, vol. xii, pp. 215–28, 4th Series, vol. vi, p. 220 f.

^{page 280 note 2} Wheeler, R. E. M., Prehistoric and Roman Wales (Oxford, 1925), pp. 260–2Google Scholar.

^{page 280 note 2} A. O. Curle, Antiquity, vol. i, p. 299; Anderson, J., Scotland: Iron Age (Edinburgh, 1883), p. 174 f.Google Scholar; Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. 1, p. 51 f.

^{page 280 note 4} Archaeologia, vol. lxxvii, p. 103.

^{page 281 note 1} H. O'Neill Hencken, op. cit, p. 170.

^{page 281 note 2} Ibid., p. 164 f.

^{page 281 note 3} A local evolution toward the courtyard house seems to be observable on some of these sites, but no very satisfactory chronology has yet been established for them. Also, unless one is prepared to believe that the courtyard type originated in Cornwall, the history of this wide-spread house plan elsewhere must be considered.

^{page 281 note 4} Childe, V. Gordon, Skara Brae (London, 1931)Google Scholar.

^{page 282 note 1} Curle, A. O., Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. lxvi, p. 113 fGoogle Scholar.

^{page 283 note 1} H. O'Neill Hencken, op. cit., pp. 215–17, 226, 230–1.

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XII.—An Excavation by H.M. Office of Works at Chysauster, Cornwall, 1931

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