Chysauster Ancient Village TR20 8XA 
Entry: Free for EH members
Open: seasonal - check website
Dogs: on leads

About:
Chysauster is one of the best preserved ancient villages in Britain. A close-knit community lived and worked here between the late 1st century and the end of the 3rd century AD, a time when much of Britain was under Roman rule. The villagers lived in stone-walled houses, each with a number of rooms arranged round a courtyard – a unique house layout found only in late Iron Age and Romano-British settlements in western Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

Although the courtyard houses at Chysauster were built in the Romano-British period, the settlement probably has its origins in the middle Iron Age (from about 400 BC), and occupation in the surrounding area is likely to have begun much earlier. Aerial photography and field surveys have revealed the remnants of prehistoric field systems and associated small round houses in the landscape, probably dating from the Bronze Age (2300–800 BC).
In the Iron Age, the settlement pattern in West Penwith (the westernmost part of Cornwall) seems to have shifted from scattered, isolated houses to villages like Chysauster.

Parking:
Small car park located nearby (less than a mile).

Facilities:
Shop
Toilets
Picnic area 
Gardens


Notes:
All pathways and surfaces are grass, with one exception: the gravel pathway leading to the shop. No wheelchair access to the site
There are some sheer drops across the site.

Contact:
Website: www.english-heritage.org.uk
Tel: 0370 3331181