Carn Euny
Peering into the Fogou that lies beneath Carn Euny.
Carn Euny is an Ancient Village hidden away on the most South Westerly toe of Britain, the Penwith Peninsula in Cornwall. A secret site reached by a labyrinth of winding country lanes near Sancreed Village and the hamlet of Brane.
The current village is what remains of an Iron Age settlement, inhabited from around 500 BC until 400 AD. Although at first glance it looks to be only a collection of collapsed stone walls and paving stones, the layout of what once stood there is easy to imagine, with graphics on site to help you see what once could have been. Archaeologists have found the remains of prehistoric houses and fields, suggesting that a Bronze Age settlement with traditional wooden ‘roundhouses’ existed here prior to the Iron Age structures there today. Flint tools have also been found in the area, so people may have been living there from as early as the Mesolithic Period (the Middle Stone Age).
The Ancient Village of Carn Euny as it stands today.
The majority of the walls left at Carn Euny are from buildings called ‘courtyard houses’, a design unique to West Penwith. Although each is slightly different they all follow a similar blueprint. A round house with stone walls and a thatched or turfed roof, within an oval shaped courtyard, surrounded by a very large drystone wall. The wall itself also making up one side of the house, as the structure was built into the wall. Entrance ways seem to have had doors and paved doorsteps, and to have been oriented to avoid the prevailing South-West winds of the region. Courtyards even had drainage, as many contain stone covered drains, either to channel away excess water or to provide their inhabitants with fresh water. There were also lean-tos running along the insides of the courtyard walls on either side of each house. In all likelihood these were used to shelter livestock, for storage, or to act as workshops.
An Artist’s reimagining of what the Iron Age village may have looked like in its heyday. (Image : Cornwall Heritage Trust - Found on an information board at Carn Euny)
Tools used for spinning, weaving, and grinding corn were found here but because of the acidity of the soil in the region all organic evidence has dissolved! Although destructive to archaeological remains, this soil acidity is also essential for sustaining the species that dwell in the magnificent heathland habitat found in the most Southerly parts of Cornwall. Even without organic evidence, it is reasonable to assume that the community here would have been keeping sheep, goats or cattle, and farming crops such as wheat, barley and rye. The village is also directly above a valley that would have been perfectly suited to act as a tin streamworks.
Although the Ancient Village is fascinating and picturesque enough in itself, I was drawn to this place because of what lies beneath it, the ever mysterious ‘fogou’. An unusual word that means ‘cave’ in Cornish. Fogous are underground chambers carved down into the bedrock then roofed and carefully lined with slabs of stone . They are novel to Western Cornwall and the Lizard Peninsula, but are a form of ‘souterrain’, subterranean structures that are scattered all over Britain, Ireland, and Brittany. The purpose of fogous is unknown. They may have simply acted as storage, serving as massive larders that kept food cool and protected from the elements. They could have been hidden sanctuaries to retreat to when under attack or to hunker down in during particularly harsh weather. Or most intriguingly, they may have been used for religious rituals and celebrations, serving as underground temples devoted to an enigmatic Earth Goddess. The imagination runs wild.
The fogou certainly provided me with a sense of serenity, the silent stillness of the chamber only gently interrupted by the echo of rainwater dripping from its moss laden walls. And the act of crouching and shuffling through a tunnel into darkness before stepping into the fogou, lit by a single beam of sunlight, filtered down from a hole above onto a large stone in the pool below, made the atmosphere of the place all the more dramatic.
The ceiling of the main chamber has been replaced with a steel cover, but I personally enjoyed the grating across the circular opening up above. It made the experience even more surreal. When my family looked down at me through it we laughed as it was like gazing up at my captors from an underground prison. Secure in my pit beneath!
The curved side passage extension to the original circular fogou chamber.
Carn Euny appears to have been abandoned around 400 AD and lay empty for over a thousand years before a cottage was built there in the 18th Century, the remains of which are still visible (look out for the square window in a wall). The fogou was rediscovered in 1840 by prospective tin miners but it was not until the 1960s that the rest of the site was explored and excavated. Leaving us with what we can see today. Carn Euny is a truly awe inspiring place. The site left such an impression on me that I am now on a quest to seek out the rest of the fogous of Cornwall. And I encourage you to do so too!
Directions
For detailed directions visit the English Heritage page here. Carn Euny is clearly signposted and there is a small car park near Brane from which there is a neatly maintained footpath, surrounded by trees and flowers before you cross a field to reach the main site. It is an easy walk of less than ten minutes (with friendly local dogs that helped guide the way when I visited!) Just be aware that there are no facilities on site.
