Carn Euny, Cornwall: The baffling ruin with a tunnel dating back to the Iron Age
Annie Elwes investigates the ruins of Carn Euny.


This is a strange place, particularly when viewed from the air, because we’re so used to seeing ruins in squares or rectangles, but ancient man had no such love of angles.
Higgledy-piggledy foundations of 2nd- to 4th-century stone huts can be seen at Carn Euny, near Sancreed on the Penwith peninsula, abandoned in the late-Roman period.
The settlement boasts an Iron Age underground tunnel, 65ft long, called a ‘fogou’ and particular to far-west Cornwall.
Above all, Carn Euny is a mystery. No one knows what it was for, but the care that went into its construction reveals its importance.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.
-
An eight-bedroom wonder in East Sussex where the outdoors are an adventure
The interiors of Old Middleton are pretty good too.
By Arabella Youens Published
-
Seeing you seeing me: How did British artists portray eachother in the 20th and 21st centuries?
The 'Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists' exhibitions comprises paintings, prints, drawings, photography, sculpture and installation spanning 125 years.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
St Patrick’s Chapel ruins, Heysham: The mythical Lancashire ruins with a heavenly view
Annunciata Elwes takes a look at St Patrick’s Chapel ruins, a Morecambe Bay landmark.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
10 of Scotland’s most magical white sand beaches
What better day to celebrate some of Scotland's most stunning locations than St Andrew's Day? Here's our pick of 10 of the finest white sand beaches in the country.
By Country Life Published
-
Curious Questions: Who dislodged Britain's most famous balancing rock?
A recent trip to Cornwall inspires Martin Fone to tell the rather sad story of the ruin and restoration of one of Cornwall's great 19th century tourist attractions: Logan Rock at Treen, near Land's End.
By Martin Fone Published
-
Henley Festival: 13 things you'll see at the 'posh Glastonbury'
Revellers in ball gowns and dinner jackets, turning up on board £200,000 boats to dance and party while knocking back magnums of vintage champagne? It can only be the extraordinary Henley Festival, the high-end musical extravaganza that's a sort of Glastonbury-on-Thames for the (very) well heeled. We sent Emma Earnshaw along to see what it was like.
By Emma Earnshaw Published
-
The best open air theatres in Britain
Amid the sweet chestnuts, walnuts and cobnuts of a Suffolk farm, a natural amphitheatre has been transformed into a glorious sylvan venue for touring companies to tread Nature’s boards. Jo Cairdv pays a visit to the mesmerising Thorington Theatre, and picks out three more of the finest outdoor performance venues in Britain.
By Toby Keel Published
-
Alexandra Palace: How it's survived fires, bankruptcy and even gang warfare in 150 years as London's 'palace of the people'
Alexandra Palace has suffered every imaginable disaster, yet remains enduringly popular even a century and a half after its official grand opening. Martin Fone takes a look at the history of one of Britain's great public buildings.
By Martin Fone Published
-
Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland: The spectacular border town with a castle that changed hands 13 times
Berwick-upon-Tweed spent centuries as a pawn in Anglo-Scottish conflict; today, it's a charming border town with spectacular sights. Clive Aslet takes a look.
By Clive Aslet Published
-
Ewelme, Oxfordshire: The medieval almshouses set up by Chaucer's grand-daughter and still running today
Country Life's 21st century Grand Tour of Britain stops off at the remarkable church and almshouses at Ewelme, Oxfordshire.
By Toby Keel Published