Mawgan Porth: A Settlement of the Late Saxon Period on the North Cornish Coast

Report on the excavations in 1950-52, 1954 and 1974 of the site at Mawgan Porth, remarkable as it is uniquely complete and possesses well-preserved houses, a closely associated cemetery and a large quantity of stratified pottery and other objects which make it possible to fill in details of the economy and community life. The excavations uncovered three distinct but similar groups of buildings known as courtyard houses containing evidence of a date of occupation between c. AD 850 and 1050. Each courtyard group comprised a long main room along one side, with a partitioned end for livestock, several smaller rooms around the remaining sides and a narrow entrance. The cemtery contained adult and child graves enclosed in slab graves. Pottery forms a homogenous group with distinctive forms and fabric which shows local and possible Continental influence. Other finds included simple stone tools, an abundance of perforated local slates and a silver penny of Aethelred the Unready which gives a fixed central date.