Carn Euny:
Visit date: September 3rd 2012
Aside from Zennor Quoit, this surprisingly made my short break in Penwith that bit special. Not normally being an IA Settlement person I nevertheless went to see Carn Euny while I was close by. Boy oh boy what a surprise I got because I got to see my first Fogou (pronounced Foo Goo I am informed) and it blew me away. It was like entering a Neolithic Long Barrow but without any side chambers and you went in one end and came out the other! In other words it was a tunnel but so much more which you’ll understand when you see it for yourself. To the right of the main entrance of the fogou was another smaller entrance which lead to a circular ‘room’ with a circular roof ventilator/light. It was this chamber that is the WOW factor and as I was filming it with my camcorder I couldn’t stop talking into its mic. Both the circular walls of the chamber and the straight walls of the main fogou were neatly constructed to their lower sections and had a breen/blue tinge to them but above that the quality of the stone laying became less ‘skilfull’ I felt. This is probably down to the reconstruction work that has taken place which in itself was disappointing because it appeared like modern construction workers hadn’t either the skill or not taken the time to equal our great ancestors quality of work. Prior to visiting a fogou I had understood them to have been a product of the Bronze Age (so I’d read) but it seems they are more from the Early IA. The construction of the stonework is probably a good indication of that compared to the Bronze or Late Neolithic.
I reached the site easily enough. Take the Sancreed turning off the A30 and simply follow the plentiful signs to Carn Euny. The parking space is on a firm standing and would be large enough for around 6 or seven vehicles. There are two paths on offer to reach the site from there although the one off to the right alongside the house can be wet and muddy as it goes across a field and a couple of stiles.
But I loved it here and had the benefit of a lovely sunny day which was such a bonus after the poor summer we have had in 2012. The layout of the round houses in the village is quite a charming sight and it was obviously a very close-knit community in its heyday. Loved it!
I took loads of pix but haven’t uploaded any as there are plenty of the same already on display.
Oh and one last thing...access to the site is FREE!
Great notes, I don't think there's anywhere in the country that has such blurred lines between the neolithic, bronze and iron age [ and after if i'm honest ] as west penwith, they seem to live fairly peaceful and unchanged lives all the way though, even some cairns and standing stones have been found to have iron age dates, so it's not unusual to fall in love with an iron age place here, most of us do, the incomers for the tin and bronze [ and later iron ] seem to settle in seamlessly and bring a rich way of life for the times they were living in, the iron age forts are more defensive than the bronze age enclosures like bartinney, but not as defensive as a lot of them in the rest of the country, and a lot of the bank and ditches seem quite symbolic to my eyes, the cliff castles were full of people living on the slopes like the birds in their nests and they would then follow the same birds out to sea to let them help find the fish for them to live on [ and eggs ], this is a true totam animal of the cliff castle people, and i can imagine them wearing lots and lots of feathers themselves, all this adds up to an ancient peaceful feeling that reverberates down though the ages for us to feel even now.