Chysauster Ancient Village - English Heritage - Penzance, Cornwall

Chysauster Ancient Village

New Mill, Gulval, Penzance, Cornwall

Map Ref: SW 472350

Location: Located 3 miles North of Penzance

How to get there: B3311, 2.5 miles north west of Gulval.

Rail: Penzance station.

Bus: Western National.

Chysauster Ancient Village - Heritage in Cornwall

Chysauster Ancient Village is an exceptionally well-preserved Late Iron Age settlement in Cornwall, England, dating to approximately 100 BC–300 AD. The site is managed by English Heritage and is accessible to visitors. The site at Chysauster is key to understanding how Celtic tribes adapted to their landscape prior to the arrivals of the Roman Empire. Chysauster demonstrates complex social organization and technical skill in Iron Age Britain - countering the "primitive barbarian" stereotype. Its isolation preserved a rare architectural blueprint and the minimal later occupation at the site, helped to preserve the original Iron Age layers. The importance of the site ranks it highly along with the other comparable sites of Carn Euny (Cornwall) and the older Neolithic site at Skara Brae (Orkney).

Courtyard houses are found 'only' in West Cornwall, offering insights into Pre-Roman Celtic life. Sophisticated drainage systems and stonework reflect advanced communal planning. Chysauster contains many of the hallmarks of the traditional Cornish village, right down to the street of neat stone cottages with terraced gardens. The remarkable thing is that the inhabitants lived here nearly 2000 years ago. Chycauster is an example of a courtyard village, consisting of Eight distinctive courtyard houses arranged in two parallel rows. Each house features a central open stone-paved courtyard surrounded by interconnected stone rooms and byres (for living, storage, workshops). Outside are the stone-walled fields belonging to the settlement.

Built from local granite without mortar, the Walls stand up to 1.5 meters high - remarkable for 2,000-year-old structures. Chysauster was a home to a farming community (population believed to be 50–60 individuals). This late Iron Age, village is believed to have been in use up until and during the Roman occupation. Coins and fragments found onsite provide evidence of tin trading with Romans.

The main rooms feature a central flat stone socket hole, for a wooden post to support the thatched roof. At the site, you can see the remains of open hearths, stone basins for grinding grain and covered drains. Each of the houses at Chysauster feature terraced gardens.

What makes Chysauster extraordinary is its ordinariness. This was a farming community. The inhabitants weren’t warriors or priests, but families tending small plots on the thin soil, herding sheep across the granite-studded hills. Evidence points to them processing tin – Cornwall’s ancient treasure – likely trading it with merchants connected to the wider Roman world. The layout speaks of communal living yet individual privacy; houses are distinct, separated by narrow alleyways, suggesting kinship groups living side-by-side, sharing resources but maintaining their own hearths. A sense of quiet industry pervades: the grind of quern stones for grain, the bleat of sheep, the rhythmic chipping of tin ore.

The village has signs of adaptation. Later modifications show Roman influence – perhaps a tile fragment reused, a slightly different building technique – but no grand Romanization. Life here remained stubbornly local, rooted in the rhythm of seasons and the demands of the land.

The site also has a fogou (Cornish for cave), an underground passage. The fogou at Chysauster is in a derelict state and not as spectacular as the one that can be seen at Carn Euny.

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Accommodation near Chysauster Ancient Village

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Mad Hatter Bed and Breakfast & Tea Rooms ~ Hayle

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Mad Hatter Bed and Breakfast & Tea Rooms - Bed & Breakfast

En-suite Bed and Breakfast Rooms Available - Prices from £50 per person per night.
updated 06 jul 25 E&OE

Bed and Breakfast at the Mad Hatter - all our rooms have beautiful views overlooking the Hayle Estuary Wildlife Reserve. Ideal location for the avid birdwatchers and ramblers. Close by to Hayle beach - 3 miles of golden sands. ROOMS: One Double/Twin En-Suite Room, | Family Room, Two Double Rooms and One Twin RoomThe Madhatter is a great stop-off point for catching the Scillonian ferry from penzance to the Isles of Scilly.

Chysauster Ancient Village - English Heritage - Penzance, Cornwall