Bodrifty

Cornwall Information & Accommodation Guide

Bodrifty is an Iron Age settlement of round houses on high ground near Mulfra Hill.

The settlement consists of eight structures surrounded by a stone wall enclosing about three acres. The structures themselves have internal diameters of between three and eight metres. The earlier houses have south-west facing doorways, and the later ones are facing south east.

Believed to have been occupied for more than 1000 years, there is some disagreement as to when the village was first constructed.

Professor Tim Darvill believes Bodrifty dates from as far back as the seventh century BC while James Dyer claims that the village began as an open settlement in the fourth century BC. An analysis of the styles of pottery suggests that Bodrifty was inhabited from the fifth century BC to the first or second century AD.

The West Cornwall Field Club, forerunner of the Cornwall Archaeological Society, excavated Bodrifty between 1950 and 1954 finding more than 3,000 shards of pottery. Some of these can be seen in the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro.

The Iron Age inhabitants who lived here in their round huts, would have cultivated small fields in the area.

The settlement thrived between the fifth and second centuries BC, The Greek geographer and explorer, Pytheas, is believed to have visited Bodrifty in the 320s BC.

This area is rich in ancient stone monuments.

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