Commons

Barbarian settlements were just as carefully laid out as any Roman or Greek city. They had clearly defined streets, areas for craftsmen to work, cattle pens and common land for use by the whole tribe. One of the best preserved examples of a Celtic village can be found In Chysauster in Cornwall, England. Here, the homesteads are built around an internal courtyard that has given them the name 'courtyard houses'. This particular style of homestead is only found on the Land's End peninsular and the Isles of Scilly. The eight remaining structures are clearly clustered along a street, and the paving stones survive to this day. As well as the houses, this settlement has an incredibly well preserved 'fogou', or 'souterrain', an underground chamber used for food storage.