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Chysauster Ancient Village (meaning Sylvester's house) is a late Iron Age and Romano-British village of courtyard houses in Cornwall, which is currently in the care of English Heritage. The village included eight to ten houses, each with its own internal courtyard. To the south east is the remains of a fogou, an underground structure of uncertain function.
Chysauster village is believed to have been inhabited from about 100 BC until the 3rd century AD. It was primarily agricultural and unfortified and probably occupied by members of the Dumnonii tribe. The village consists of the remains of around 10 courtyard houses, each around 30 metres in diameter. Eight of the houses form two distinct rows, and each house had an open central courtyard surrounded by a number of thatched rooms. The houses have a similar layout. The buildings are oriented on an east-west axis, with the entrance facing east. The walls survive to heights of up to 3 metres. A field system in the vicinity attests to the site's farming connections.
To the south of the settlement is an underground passage of a type known locally as fogou (from the permanently lenited form of mogow, Cornish for cave). Fogous can be found in other places in the UK and Ireland, and are known more generally as souterrains; their purpose is unclear. The fogou at Chysauster was originally recorded as running well over 16 metres in length but was blocked up in the late 20th century for safety reasons.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.
