Carn Euny

        

 Carn Euny - The remains of an Iron Age Courtyard house settlement on the south facing side of Sancreed, below the hill forts of Bartinney and Caer Bran and surrounded by fertile farmland. The walls of several stone built roundhouses are clearly visible,topped with mosses and short grasses and with clumps of fern at their feet. Sprinkle the whole site with wildflowers and you have the perfect place for an afternoon of sketching, musing and dreamily watching buzzards wheeling on the high thermals above.          

           

      

In the middle of the settlement is the very curious 'Fougou' or cave built below ground and originally reached via a long passageway lined with stone and topped by huge flat slabs of granite.        

          

 Nobody knows what fogous were used for but they occur in ancient villages like this one and are built along similar alignments and plans. This one has been made safely accessable and gives rise to much conjecture and a fair amount  of nonsense regarding the ways of the ancestors!            

         

As I write, in mid-July, the site has a fantastic crop of Betony in flower. Betony was regarded as a precious herb by the ancients and it was much prized . A herb of Jupiter, Culpepper also places it under the sign of Aries for it was thought to have a great protective quality.  The juice is a fine healer of wounds, it is astringent and draws splinters and thorns; The leaves make a good yellow dye for wool and the flowers,dried with the greatest care, make a pleasant and comforting  tea which is good for digestive and nervous afflictions and especially headaches. It blends well with Coltsfoot to make a smoking  mixture, helpful against respiratory troubles.  Betony was also thought to protect against epidemics - a tonic for the immune system perhaps . 

Such an important herb was planted in physic gardens and is often found where medicinal herbs would have been grown. I like to fancy that the Betony at Carn Euny descends from such a garden but in truth the stuff grows abundantly all over the area but usually is confined to hedgerows.

         

This is where I like to sit and dream about the days when this was a busy and bustling place and I conjured up Magrid one melancholy October afternoon, this is her story:                 

       

Have a nice week!    

All text and photos © L.J. Foyle 2011