Cornwall's ancient village with underground tunnels that nobody can explain [View all]

The Roman-age tunnels lead to nowhere and archaeologists are not sure what they were for

ByLisa LetcherSenior Reporter
16:00, 28 AUG 2022



An aerial view of Carn Euny Village (Image: English Heritage)
In the depths of West Cornwall lie a number of mysterious caves, thousands of years old, that to this day remain very much an enigma. Known as fogous (pronounced foo-goos), these underground passages and caves lead to nowhere. But despite them leading to places unknown, there's no doubt they held a vital purpose thousands of years ago - even if we might never know what. And among the best-preserved ancient villages in the South West is Carn Euny, at Sancreed, near Penzance.

It was occupied from the Iron Age until late Roman times, and is home to one of these mystifying caves. The village includes the foundations of stone houses from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD, with walls up to a metre high in places that still look remarkable to this day.

At the heart of the village is its most intriguing feature – a stone-walled underground passage. Fogous – the Cornish word for cave - consist of a buried, usually corbelled stone wall, tapering at the top and capped by stone slabs.

This mysterious type of Iron Age monument is found only in the far west of Cornwall - although similar structures have been found elsewhere - and to this day very little is known about its origins. Despite being in situ for thousands of years it is believed that the foundations of the caves have changed very little and look much of the same as they would have as part of the original settlements surrounding them.

More:
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cornwalls-strange-underground-tunnels-lead-4916205