Kynance Gate hut circle settlement

Overview

A large settlement of circular huts can be found on the open moorland overlooking Kynance Cove. There are two groups of the remains of stone dwellings, and also stone walls indicating their associated small fields. The north-eastern group includes possibly eight circular or slightly oval-shaped buildings measuring an average 9m diameter, with walls of up to 0.4m high, and which have various attached enclosures. The south-western group are constructed on a raised, terraced platform featuring at least nine circular or oval stone dwellings defined by thick double-faced walls and all linked together by boundaries to form two enclosures.

The settlement was first recorded on the Ordnance Survey map around 1880, with the first excavation taking place after a heath fire in 1896 when members of the Royal Institution of Cornwall spent an afternoon excavating two hut circles down ‘to floor level’.  The site was then largely forgotten until a schoolboy in the early 1950s discovered some pottery there. His headmaster from Lizard School, Ivor Thomas, initiated the Lizard Field Club excavations which lasted from 1953 to 1964, mainly concentrating 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.

These excavations revealed over 2000 sherds of pottery, stone artefacts, flints and fragments of clay moulds used for producing bronze axes dating to the Middle Bronze Age (c 1400 – 1000BC). Layers of occupation debris, post holes, paving and hearths were found from this period of settlement, but no structures survived. Following an apparent period of abandonment, the settlement was re-used and extended during two phases of Iron Age and Romano-British occupation represented by the two contrasting groups of circular and oval buildings (Thomas 1956). It is thought likely that Kynance Gate was occupied during the summer months by farmers grazing their herds on Predannack and Lizard Downs before returning to more sheltered settlements for the winter. The excavation has been published only as a series of notes, and the finds are located in Helston Museum of Cornish Life.

Kynance Gate hut circle settlement was part of Cornwall National Landscape’s A Monumental Improvement Project, which aimed to ensure that 40 scheduled monuments across Cornwall National Landscape were better protected, identified and enjoyed by a wider range of people. Between 2022 – 2025, the Project delivered conservation repairs, installed new heritage interpretation signage, ran a range of community volunteering events and developed new website resources. The Project was primarily funded thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with support from our other partners – Cornwall Council, Historic England, The National Trust, Cornwall Heritage Trust and Cornwall Archaeological Society.

Historical Significance

This complete settlement, spanning several periods of prehistory, has provided much important information regarding the life of our ancestors and will contain many more features and artefacts to further our knowledge, should the opportunity for modern excavation arise. Modern research and analysis of the existing archive will provide updated information on how people lived and worked at Kynance Gate settlement during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British periods.

The site is prone to dense scrub overgrowth , which can obscure the site from view and make it difficult to understand. Maintenance of the vegetation across the site is carried out by the landowner and supported by volunteer groups as part of the legacy of the Monumental Improvement Project.