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Trewardreva Fogou

Fogou

<b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by MothImage © Tim Clark
Also known as:
  • Piskey's Hall
  • Pixie's Hall

Nearest Town:Penryn (5km NNE)
OS Ref (GB):   SW728300 / Sheet: 204
Latitude:50° 7' 33.08" N
Longitude:   5° 10' 44.82" W

Added by phil


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<b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by texlahoma <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by texlahoma <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by postman <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by postman <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by postman <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by postman <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by postman <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by postman <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by postman <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by postman <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by Moth <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by Moth <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by Moth <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by Moth <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by ocifant <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by ocifant <b>Trewardreva Fogou</b>Posted by ocifant

Fieldnotes

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...a piece of cake to find, thank God. Isolated on the edge of a field, it's gorsey mound forcing the ground up slightly, we reached it as dusk fell and the hand of starvation threatened to force me to murder Moth and consume his flesh in some debauched food ritual.

A very impressive chamber about 8 metres long and high enough to force me to have to reach up to feel the stones overhead. I was intrigued by its isolation. Every other fogou we had visited had some sign of settlement very close or nearby. This has nothing now. Perhaps it once did.
Jane Posted by Jane
15th March 2004ce
Edited 15th March 2004ce

6th October 2003

The fogou is actually in sight of the road, opposite the entrance gate to Trewardreva House itself. A herd of cows in the adjoining field made me slightly nervous, as they all charged toward the gate as I entered the field. I wasn't sure if they could get into the field containing the fogou…

Andy Norfolk described this as a "cosy, cuddly fogou" on the Stones Mailing List, and I'd have to agree with him. I didn't descend all the way in, partly because of my bovine nerves, but it looks as if the main passageway may open out to the right at the end. Craig Wetherill in Cornovia refutes this stating that "it was once thought a branch passage may have run southwards…this is now considered unlikely".

Daylight pervades the far end of the fogou, where the covering stones have shifted somewhat, but this didn't detract from the cuddliness for me.
ocifant Posted by ocifant
13th October 2003ce
Edited 14th October 2003ce

Folklore

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John Wilmet, 78 years old, began by telling me the following tale about an allee couvert: "William Murphy, who married my sister, once went to the pisky-house at Bosahan with a surveyor and the two of them heard such unearthly noises in it that they came running home in great excitement, saying they had heard the piskies."
This is surely the place to which this anecdote (from Evans Wentz's 'Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries' 1911) refers, as if you look on the map it is between Bosahan farm and Bosahan quarry.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
8th October 2005ce
Edited 25th October 2005ce

Miscellaneous

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Note re location from Stones Mailing List:

Go through the field gate opposite the fancy gateway to Trewardreva.
The fogou is in a low mound by the edge of the field more or less directly in front of you, but slightly to the right. The entrance is in the brambles at the nearest end, but it's quite accessible.
ocifant Posted by ocifant
2nd June 2003ce

Craig Weatherhill’s ‘Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall and Scilly’ (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) calls this ‘Piskey Hall Fogou’ (the OS map calls it 'Pixie's Hall')and gives it a good mention, a photo, and one of his sexy little drawings. The text says “A semi-underground structure once associated with a now-destroyed Iron Age enclose settlement. It is a slightly curved passage, the roofed part of which is 8.2m long. Piskey Hall is unusual among fogous in that its walls are vertical, not corbelled inwards; as a result, the weight roof slabs are enormous. The fogou probably extended a little way further to the north-east where the present end wall is modern – as are the two jambstones at the present south-western entrance. It was once thought that a branch passage may have run southwards from the inner end of the fogou, but this is now considered unlikely. The structure was built against a low outcrop of granite, and its half-underground nature makes it a prominent object in the field" pure joy Posted by pure joy
13th March 2003ce
Edited 14th March 2003ce

This site was once part of an Iron age village. The passage of this one is about 8 metres long.

It can be found about half a mile north of Constantine on the B3291 in a field opposite Trewardreva House.
Posted by phil
9th February 2002ce
Edited 24th March 2013ce

This site is also known locally as the Piskey hall Posted by phil
9th February 2002ce