Our journey led us to Lands End today. We discovered Chysauster a prehistoric settlement approx. 100 b.C. away.
The plant was received well.

Dating

The courtyard house villages of West Penwith have traditionally been dated to the end of the prehistoric period, that is the later http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory, Iron Age, and thought to have continued in use during theRoman period.
They where believed to gave been built by people using local hand-made pottery decorated with raised bands or cordons (Cordoned Ware) dated to the first century BC and first century AD. Recently it has been shown that this type of decoration had a verry long life, starting within the local later Iron Age (400 BC - 43 AD) and continuing until the end of the Roman period. So cordons on pots can no longer be used as a satisfactory way of dating.
It is now being seem that where pottery can be associated with courtyard houses, as at Chysauster, it also shows the influence of Roman forms and may conventiently be described as "Romano-Cornish" ware. As a result, courtyard houses are thought to have been built entirely in the Roman period.
The bulk of the pottery from Chysauster is seen to belong to the second and third centuries AD: pottery from other courtyard-house villages such as Mulfra Vean, Goldherring and Portmoor belongs to the third and fourth centuries AD. Chysauster then becomes a Romano-Cornish village, contemporary with the later phases at Carn Euny, at which Phase IV, with its courtyard houses, is now thought to start in the second century AD.
The characteristic late Iron Age form of settlement throughout Cornwall, many examples of which have been identified in recent years, is the "round" - a circular or sub-rectangular earthwork varying in size and containing a varying number of houses within it. This type of enclosed village continued in use, with new ones being built, after the Roman Conquest.
In West Penwith, however, the evidence is less clear. It would seem that courtyard houses of various shapes and sizes became a popular house-form in this furthest tip of the south-western peninsula, while elsewhere in Cornwall oval or boat-shaped houses were built during the Roman period.
It is thought that an earllier phase of settlement must be present on the hillside at Chysauster, as already mentioned. No traces have been found directly beneath the houses so far examined, contrasting with Carn Euny where the new courtyard houses are known to have been built over the Iron Age ones. At Chysauster the earlier settlement could be associated with the fogou to the south and, to judge from some decorated portsherds found in House 7, it may date to the local Iron Age in the last centuries before the Roman Conquest.

Tour of houses

The houses may be visited in any order. However, since House 5 has the simplest plan and shows these common features most clearly, visitors may wish to see this first. Descriptions of the other houses follw in a clockwise sequence and end with a note on House 9 to the west and the Fogou to the south. A plan of each excavated house accompanies the next.


House 5

Excavated by Dr. H. O'Neill Hencken in 1931. The Entrance Passage into the Courtyard is flanked by big stones on each edge. Notice the two fallen stones at the inner end which may have been door jambs. A stone-lined and covered Water Channel ran through the entrance, appearently designed to bring water into the house and then to provide drainage out again under the south-east wall. Some of the stone covers can still be seen in place. These water channels in the courtyards may have related to the possible use of the Bay (here clearly seen on the left-hand side of the courtyard) as a cattle stall.

The Round Room faces the main entrance, the large blocks of stone which formed its doorway still in place. Also in place as found, just inside the doorway, is a large slab with a small regular hollow, a good example of a Stone with hallow.
Visitors may like to compare this with those to be seen in most of the other houses. A debris-filled gap found by Dr. Hencken in the south-west wall of the round room may possible have been a "back door" (see Houses 3 and 6 where similar gaps exist). The evidence here was not firm, however, and the loose debris has been replaced by modern walling. Standing in the round room one may look south over the lower garden terrace.

On the right of the courtyard, opposite the bay, is the doorway into the Long Room, its jambs formed of two large slabs of granite 2ft 10 ins (0,86m) high. A large slab found nearby and thought by Dr. Hencken to be a possible lintel, would indicate a doorway less then 3 ft (0,91 m) high, though the walling of the room itself still attained a height of 5 ft 6 in(1,68 m) in places. Similar low doorways appear to have been a commons feature of contemporary Cornish buildings. A short section of covered water channel was found in the long room.

Although generally typical in form, House 5 has one unusual feature: this is the thick stone wall which branches away from the east side of the house, acting as a retaining wall for an upper garden terrace. Built into this wall is a small kidney-shaped Oval Room, (5a on site plan) in which Dr. Hencken found a hearth with a wide scatter of charcoal and areas of burned floor, indicatiing continual use. Since no hearth had come to light on the excavation on House 5, he wondered if this "annexe" might have served as a kitchen. It is also possible that it is all that remains of the round room of another small house. In support of this are the races of walling and other building activity close by on the "upper" garden terrace. If this was the case, then House 5 may once have followed the "semi-detached" layout of nearby House 3.
Close by is House 9, which it may be convenient to visit before House 3.


House 3

This lies immediately west of House 5 and was the first to be excavated by Dr. Hencken in 1928, further work being done in 1931. He noted that the excavations involved the mouvíng of some 50 tons of stone, an indication of the scale of work. Unlike any of the other houses so far excavated, with the possible exception of House 5 above, it takes the form of two "semi-detached" houses, House 3A to the south and 3B to the north. It is interesting to consider whether they were built together or if one was added to the other. Constructional evidence shows that at the point where the wall of round room 3B, the walls are not bonded together. In fact round room 3A, with a vertical break. This implies that round room 3A (and it can be assumed House 3A as a whole) was bult first. However Dr. Hencken found no evidence to show any great interval between the two, nor that the whole structure was not planned and built at one time.

The Entrances to both houses are side by side, and face almost due east. It will be seen that Houses3 A consists of an Entrance Passage, Courtyard and Round Room only;there is no long room. Notice the left door jamb of the round room, still in place and the usual Stone with Hollow, also in place; a section of covered Water Channel ran between them.

In House 3 B the partly reconstructed outer entrance leads into a Entrance Passage flanked by the usual large stones, still in place. On the south side the excavator found cupmarks, now very instinct, on one of these stones. Two long stones lie where found and many have been lintels, though the entrance in its present form appears too wide to have been spanned by them. On entering the courtyard, the usual Bay is seen on the left; the Round Room lies directly ahead, with a well-paved entrance and the lefthand door jamb still in place. A Stone with hallow was found in the courtyard but not in its original position. Within the round room, note the paving and curious stone structure at first thought to be a hearth. Excavation revealed no signs of charcoal or burning, however, and its purpose remains obscure. It may have been built or altered in historic times, possibly as a platform at the time of the Methodist "preachings". The "back door" seen in this room was not particularly convincing and may well be due to later wall damage. A covered Water Channel outside on the north was probably designed to divert surface water from the walls of the round room.
On the north side of the courtyard the usual long room at first appears to have been converted into two Small Round Rooms. However, the dividing wall, the two good doorways and the step up into the left-hand room seem to have been part of the original structure. so these rooms may have been planned to replace a long room from the start. A triangular Garden Terrace runs from the walls of House 3 A towards the south and there is a small terrace outside the round room of House 3 B.
Before leaving House 3 the visitor may like to consider the proposition that, when 3 B was added, its courtyard bay may have replaced a previously-built long room in House 3 A. Against this, no evidence was found of a blocked long room entrance in what became the dividing wall. A complete rebuilding of this wall, including the removal of door jambs and lintel, is of course possible. The sequence of planning and building of this house thus remains an interesting puzzle.


House 1

This site, immediately north-west of House 3, is only partly cleared and has not been excavated. However the general outline is recognisable as a house, though the stone hedge running in from the north-west partly overlies the original house-wall on the north. The cleared east wall can be seen, curving round to the entrance, with its two door jamb stones in place. Inside the outline of a Courtyard and Round Room can be traced. A Garden Terrace lies to the south.


House 2

Immediately to the north-east of House 1 the low outlines of House 2 can be seen, also unexcavated and only superficially cleared. By reffering to the site plan, the usual layout of a Courtyard, Round Room and Long Room can just be distinguished, with a Garden Terrace to the south and east.


House 4

Immediately to the north of House 3 lies House 4, excavated by Cornish and Holman, two members of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society, in 1897. Like House 6 next to it, it was built on an artificial platform of earth and stones, banked up on the south to counteract the slope of the hill. After excavation, its condition then deteriorated for over 30 years, until Chysauster was taken into guardianship. Following preliminary clearing and consolidation work in 1928 and 1931 under Dr. Hencken, further excavation of the interior and repair work were undertaken by the Ministry of Works in 1938 under the direction of C K Croft Andrew.

The Entrance Passage is unusual, being shaped a little an hour-glass. Note the fine paving of the entrance extending into the "street". Continuning into the courtyard, the visitor will see the usual Bay on the left with a covered Water Channel running across it. To the left of the bay is a small room which seems to be original though its shape has been modified by exposure and repair. The excavators did not record any evidence to suggest its use, but it may have served the same purpose as a similar small chamber in House 6 which appears to be sump for the storage of rainwater.

The wall between the courtyard and the Round Room has been much disturbed and reconstructed. Note, however, the fine paving and the usual Stone with hollow, though it may not be any longer in its oroginal place, and the stone-lined pit.

The stonework of the Long Room has also suffered a great deal of deterioration and subsequent reconstruction. It may have been divided into two at some stage, with a second entrance beside the original doorway, but the evidence for this is not now clear. The interior walls of the Small Round Room next to it have also been considerably modified though the two big stones forming the door jambs are still in running out into the courtyard and another small stone-lined pit.


House 6

This lies south-west of House 4 and was excavated by Borlase in 1873. Like House 4, it had seriously deteriorated by the time Hencken strated work in 1928. He founf time to clear the exterior and to examine and strenghten the walls, noting that some of them appeared to have been reconstructed and heightened in relatively recent times. House 6 was furhter re-examined in 1937 - 38 by C K Croft Andrew who carried out some qiuet extensive excavation which has never been published. Like House 4, this house was built on a specially constructed platform, banked up from the south to make a level site. Its layout appears to be more elaborate than the other houses s far excavated.
The long Entrance Passage now narrows towards the inner end, but the original line of the walls is not certain owing to subsequent modification and reconstruction. The passage leads into the Courtyard and the usual Bay will be seen on the left. The Stone with hollow is not in its original position.

The long Entrance Passage now narrows towards the inner end, but the original line of the walls is not certain owing to subsequent modification and reconstruction. The passage leads into the Courtyard and the usual Bay will be seen on the left. The Stone with hollow is not in its original position.

Immediately inside the courtyard, on the left, notice the unusual Small Chamber. Its construction, with the dividing wall bonded into the main outer wall, shows that it was part of the original plan. Excavation revealed a Sump sunk in the floor against the outer wall, with provision for overflow through the wall. Several Water Channels were found to run towards this sump from the courtyard. Because of dammage the connection to the sump was not complete, but it seems likely that it was intended to store rain water. A raised platform found along the left-hand side of this little chamber may have provided a convenient access for dipping water. As with House 4, this supply system may have been an alternative to the water channels running through house entrances found in House 5 and 7, here made impossible by the slope of the ground. Hencken found a small Stone with hallow at the entrance to this room, but it was upside down, so its original position is unknown. During the 1873 excavations, Borlase noted some evidence which suggested that this small chamber had been roofed with stone.
The Round Room, as usual directly across the courtyard from the entrance, suffered considerable reconstruction by Borlase. Hencken's examination showed that the south wall may have been rebuilt on the wrong line. Excavation revealed a horseshoe-shaped platform round the north side of the room, thought possibly to have been used as a sleeping bench. The flat, upright stone, still in place, marks a hearth area. The usual Stone with hollow was found, but is not on place. The "Back door" is original and was discovered by Croft Andrew in 1937.
The slightly raised Long Room is unusual and presents an interesting problem.The two good entrances, both of which appear to be original, suggest that the intention was to construct two rooms with a dividing wall (compare the two small rooms in House 3 B). However, the stones that remain in place, which are not structural, suggest a "room-divider" rather than a permanent partition. A section of covered water channel and pit were found by Croft Andrew in the left-hand section the small Circular chamber recessed into the outside wall may have been used for storage, the raised floor perhaps intended to keep its contents dry. Note the Corbel stones discovered by Borlase and still in place, indicating that this small chamber was originally roofed with stone.

Between the long room and the entrance passage is a Small Round Room with paved floor, on a considerably higher level than the courtyard. Remains of a fire and pottery were found by Borlase in this room.
Outside the walls of House 6 is a roughly circular structure showing traces of stone facing. Since its entrance faces towards House 6, its seems likely to relate to this house, and may have been an annexe (Shown as 6A on ther site plan between House 6 and House 8). There is a large Garden Terrace relating to House 6, extending uphill to the north.

House 8

This lies south-east of House 6 and although, like House 1 and House 2, it has not been excavated, its plan is reasonably clear. The remains of a Courtyard, Round Room, Long Room and Small Round Room can all be traced. There is a small Garden Terrace to the north, part of a large terraced area enclosed by a low bank.


House 7

South-west of House 8 is House 7, excavated by Dr. Hencken in 1931. He found it very badly ruined, with little internal wall-facing remaining. There were als signs of considerable alterantions and the original plan was much more difficult to trace than in other houses excavated. The cause of this degree of destruction, unusual at Chysauster though more evident at Carn Euny, may be stone-robbing: a number of relatively modern stone hedges run nearby. Some clearing and rebuilding may also have been done at the time of the Methodist "preachings". The tenant at Chysauster farm in 1931 told Dr. Hencken he remembered being taken to hear a sermon in the ruins of the house in 1862. The two antiquaries, Edmonds (1861) and Blight (1855), mentioned recent damage to the village in this area.

The entrance to House 7 raises an interesting problem. There was at one time an Entrance Passage in the normal position on the east side. Not the large upright stone similar to other "door jambs" still in place in the outer wall at this point, and a large stone lying outside which may have been the opposite jamb stone. This entrance as at some time blocked with rough stone walling. However both the Long Room and the Bay in the courtyard are in the usual position in relation to this entrance (now unblocked). The paved entrance on the north can certainly be shown to be ancient also, and the fact that there is the usual Water Channel running in though it, connected to sump found in the courtyard, suggest that it, too, may have been part of the original house. Its unusual position on the north and the blocking of the east entrance implies that the house was modified at some point during its occupation and this entrance added at that time. To make matters even more complicated there appears to be a third entrance on the south side. However Dr. Hencken traced modern cart or sledge ruts running through this gap, cross the courtyard and over the water channel in the paved entrance and came to the conclusion that this breach in the wall was quite recent.

The remains of the Round Room are to be seen in the ususal place opposite the east entrance, which again tends to confirm this as the "planned" entrance. Notice the stone paving and the Stone with hollow ("a" on the plan) still in place. The remains of two hearths ("b" and "C" on the plan) were found in this room, and a short section of covered Water Channel. The recess in the wall between two large jamb stones is thought to be original, but it has also been suggested that it served as a pulpit for Methodist preachers and may have been partly rebuilt. The modern cart-gap entrance leads out to the south on to a small Garden Terrace. Beyond this is a further banked and terraced area.

House 9

This house, close to the western site boundary, appears to be on a smaller scale than the other houses, but this may be partly due to the intrusive modern stone hedge. It was partly excavated in 1931 and further clearance and excavation were carried out in 1938 - 39.
The house differs from most of the others in the village in having its main axis north and south instead of east and west, but what remains of its plan conforms to the usual layout. An Entrance Passage from the north leads into the Courtyard with the Bay on the left. On the right are the Long Room and a Small Round Room - the only one in the village to contain a Hearth. One jamb stone of the doorway into the round room survives, but the rest of this room seems to have been destroyed in the building of the stone hedge, which overlies the position of the east wall in the room, and of the main east wall of the house.

It is interesting to note that in 1861 Richard Edmonds reported that the stone-lined underground structure then ran up the hill for at least 50ft. He added that so much of the village had recently been removed that the fogou, once within the village, now lay outside it, thus confirming that the settlement was once much larger than it appears today.

We then drove to Lands End
Lands End we were itself disappointed since it has pulled a little like Disney World up.
The landscape however is wonderful.
Small village nearby in one with Lands End we made our Picnic.

Then we drove on into the proximity from Portcurno and went to the marvellous Minack Theatre this was set up by Rowena Cade.
Ii is located in the rocks marvellously over the sea.


The Minack Theatre

Rowena Cade and the Minack Theatre

Many a visitor arrives imagining that the Minack Theatre was built by invading Romans. If Caesar's legions had come this far they might have been beguiled by the beauty of the place, but the truth is as remarkable as this enduring fiction.
"Minack" in Cornish means a rocky place and the black headed crag below the Theatre has always drawn local fishermen. Until the 1930s they had this gorse filled gully to themselves and the cliffs echoed to the cries of gulls not actors.From 1931 until she died in 1983 the Minack Theatre was planned, built and financed by one determined woman; Rowena Cade. This booklet attempts to tell her story and that of the thearre she created.

Childhood in Derbyshire

Rowena Cade was born on 2nd August 1893 in Spondon, Derbyshire where her father owned a cotton mill. Her ancestors had lived thereabouts for 300 years. Joseph Wright, famous painter of the Industrial Revolution was her great-great-grandfather. Though Spondon was still a country village, Derby was already sprawling out towards it.The second of four children, Rowena represented the fifth generation of her family to live at "The Homestead". She spent a happy and secure childhood in that lovely old house. As a tomboy of seven she remembered climbing from her bedroom window onto the spreading branches of a cedar tree and thence down to the ground
In January 1902, aged 8, Rowena took the title role in her mother's production of "Alice Through the Looking Class". There was a cast of eleven local children. Fifteen guests and ten servants watched the dress rehearsal. The two performances had audiences of 27 and 43 respectively. None of those present could have guessed at the impact Rowena Cade would later make on the English theatre..
The Minack theatre comes alive

While Rowena Cade did think of offering her garden to stage "The Tempest", there really was nowhere to seat an audience. Always resourceful, she prospected alternatives, one of which was on the opposite side of the bay. Then looking into the gully above the Minack Rock she said, "I wonder if we could make a stage here?" With the benefit of decades of hindsight and with her remarkable Theatre spread out below, the answer was clearly "Yes!" But that first winter was harsh. lt took six months for Rowena and two Cornish craftsmen to build a simple stage and some rough seating.

The first performance of "The Tempest" in the summer of 1932 was lit by batteries, car headlights and the feeble power brought down from Minack House. Everyone collected their tickets at a table in the garden before clambering down the gorse lined path. Then as the moon shone across the bay, the magic that is The Minack Theatre touched its first audience.Shakespeare's great poetry complemented by live music in this idyllic setting prompted an article in "The Times". Rowena Cade realised that she had started something that just had to continue.

Cornwall in the 1920's

With the War over, her husband dead and the family scattered, Rowena's mother sold their home in Cheltenham. The two women did not settle permanently for some years. They then rented a house at Lamorna. Nearby, Rowena discovered the Minack headland and bought it for £100. There she built a house for herself and her mother using granite from a St. Levan quarry. lt was hurriedly extended to make a home for her sister and family returning from Australia.
Cornwall was invariably self-made. Minack between the Wars.House and its garden provided the setting for
many such productions. Rowena found that she had a talent for designing and making the costumes needed by her family and friends. Then in 1928, a more ambitious project was organised. Just a mile or so inland, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was to be staged in the open air.
The master builder

Rowena Cade was already thirty eight when she undertook to provide a stage for "The Tempest". Until that moment the nearest she had come to manual work was sewing and mucking out horses. During that first winter of 1931-32, she laboured as apprentice to her gardener Billy Rawlings and Thomas Angove.

Using the skills of the two men, granite was cut by hand from a pile of tumbled boulders. Stones were inched into place. The terraces were in-filled with earth and small stones shovelled down from the higher ledges. All this work took Place on the slope above a sheer drop into the Atlantic. Luckily the only "men overboard" were a few stones and one wheelbarrow. Thus the Minack Theatre grew from Rowena's commitment that one show should go on.
Over the next seven years there were improvements and extensions. Then, with the coming of World War II, it seemed as though all the back-breaking work might have been wasted. When peace returned, Rowena looked out over a ravaged Theatre. The Army, Gainsborough's film unit and prisoners of war sent in to clear the coastal defences had reduced it to what it had been in 1932. Yet, determined as ever, Rowena slowly brought the Minack back to life.
As its reputation spread, Rowena realised that she would have to separate the Theatre from her garden. Through the early fifties she and Billy Rawlings completed this huge task with granite walls, an access road, a car park and a flight of 90 steps up from the beach. When Billy died in 1966 Rowena inscribed the one granite seat in the whole auditorium as his memorial.

Rowena Cade hadbecome "The Master Builder". Unable to afford of granite, she had developed her own technique for working with cement. Using the tip of an old screwdriver she decorated the surfaces with lettering and intricate Celtic designs before they hardened. lt was not just the artistic work that she did. Rowena fetched sand from Porthcurno beach: to start with in bags on her back and latterly in her cars, soon rusted out by the sea salt.

At the conclusion of today there were coffee and cake in Penzance.

Temperature: circa 21°C - mixed but warm weather

Driven miles: 86 = 138 km