In 2022, historic skeletal remains dating from 1700 of a man, were found in Section 04 of Cornwall National Landscape at Trevone. Join us and our partners Cornwall Council, Cornwall...
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About the Monument Kynance Gate is a Prehistoric settlement site consisting of 2 discreet groups of Roundhouses. Located on the Lizard Peninsula, this monument sits within Section 8 of Cornwall...
Kynance Gate is a Prehistoric settlement site consisting of 2 discreet groups of Roundhouses. Located on the Lizard Peninsula, this monument sits within Section 8 of Cornwall National Landscape.
The northeast group includes seven circular or slightly oval-shaped stone hut circles measuring 9m in diameter on average and surrounded by walls of up to 0.4m high, with various attached enclosures.
The southwest group includes at least nine circular or oval stone hut circles defined by thick double-faced walls, all linked together by boundaries to form at least three enclosures. All the buildings in the southern group are constructed on a raised, terraced platform.
Its archaeological history begins in 1896 when, following a heath fire, members of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC) on an excursion to the Lizard spent an afternoon excavating two hut circles down to floor level.
The settlement was then largely forgotten until the discovery of pottery by a schoolboy in the early 1950s, which led his headmaster, Ivor Thomas, to initiate investigation of the site.
From 1953 to 1964, Ivor Thomas led a series of partial excavations by the Lizard Field Club, mainly concentrated on the huts in the southern group and their immediate surrounding areas, with a single excavation in one of the northern group huts in 1954.
The site is designated by Historic England as vulnerable due to livestock erosion and vegetation (mainly gorse and bramble) with a stable trend. Although the site has been cleared by volunteers in recent years, the archaeological features are still partially masked by scrub vegetation, which requires regular cutting to keep it at bay.
The site is accessed by grazing cattle from the neighbouring paddocks, which, although causing little damage to the hut circles themselves, create poaching along the main access ways and around the existing interpretation panel. The path into the complex from the south regularly floods and can turn to deep, impassable mud as a result of cattle trampling, particularly where it passes through the gap in the Cornish hedge, before leading up to the interpretation panel.
Across 2 Days, the project carried out vegetation clearance works at the site. On Day 1, volunteers focused on widening the entranceway into the southern group which will help reduce the pressure of erosion and livestock poaching to the pathway leading up to the interpretation.
On Day 2, volunteers focused on one of the roundhouses in the southern group which has now meant it’s a more distinguishable feature within the landscape. The vegetation cleared was predominantly Blackthorn and Gorse which encroached on the rock outcrops and dominated the river valleys, shading out other species such as Solenopsora liparina, a lichen found only on The Lizard.
A new public access gate was installed to the south of the monument on the edge of the scheduled area, covering a gap along the hedgerow. This will prevent livestock funnelling into the site and churning up the path along this route and improve public access.
The already existing interpretation panel has now been updated, which will present information about the entire settlement site, including the results from a total station survey carried out by Cornwall Archaeological Unit (CAU) and a reconstruction illustration commissioned through the Monumental Improvement project (MI)
As well as this, there will be a scannable QR code which will take you through to a site specific page about Kynance Gate. This page is currently in production and will be accessible by the end of the project in March 2025
Furthermore, MI has installed 6 new way-markers leading sustainable levels of footfall from the nearby National Trust car park as well as additional information on the already existing signage at the car park.
Monitoring is key to the success of the conservation and interpretation works. Volunteers will continue to monitor the condition of the monument in the future, feeding back any concerns or issues to Historic England’s HAR Officer.
We have worked with Natural England, who manage the site as well as Historic England, to develop a conservation management plan to conserve both the archaeology and ecology. This will involve Light controlled burns of heathland areas to restore the mix of heathland, grassland, bare ground and rock outcrops.
As a result, it will increase the diversity of plants, lichens and liverworts, supporting other species such as the Grayling Hipparchia semele and Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurinia butterflies. The burning of these areas will be followed by trialling goats and no-fence collars as well as grazing by Dartmoor ponies.
We have also been supporting local Archaeologist Charlie Johns with research into the site which involved assistance from a work experience student through the MI project who helped catalogue the finds from the site, which are held at the Museum of Cornish Life in Helston. Many of these finds have since been sent off for expert analysis
The MI project will be creating a site-specific page for Kynance Gate, Which will become one of 40 site specific pages as part of the digital interpretation of the project. This will be created by the end of the project and give visitors a better understanding of the importance of the monument.
