The Chysauster fogou lies within the Iron Age and Romano British courtyard house settlement at Chysauster, on the Land’s End peninsula. The settlement is one of the best preserved examples of its type in Cornwall, but the fogou itself is now in poor condition. It is sealed and access is blocked by English Heritage because the structure is considered unsafe to enter. Earlier photographs show more of the passage when it was still open. The fogou formed part of the wider settlement rather than standing as an isolated monument. Chysauster lies about a mile west of Castle an Dinas hillfort and contains a group of courtyard houses that were occupied during the Iron Age and Romano British periods. Like other Cornish fogous, the Chysauster example was probably connected with settlement life, although the exact purpose of fogous remains uncertain. They may have served practical, social, or ritual roles. William Borlase partially excavated the fogou and found that the original floor lay about six feet below the ground level visible in his time. By then, most of the capstones had already been removed, although two remained in place and a third had fallen. Later records from 1861 suggested that the passage may once have extended uphill for at least 50 feet. By 1982, two roofing stones were still visible, and the structure may originally have measured around 11 metres in length. Today, only part of a single roofing lintel is clearly visible, measuring about 1.65 metres long. The passage below has been filled in, and the open approach trench has been backfilled and grassed over. The result is a sloping bank beneath the remaining stonework rather than an accessible underground passage. Much of the original structure is now collapsed, buried, or hidden, making interpretation difficult without reference to earlier excavation records. A possible second fogou was recorded by Henry Crozier near a hedge on the north west edge of the settlement, close to granite stiles and a sunken, partly paved trackway. Later interpretation suggests that this feature was probably not a fogou, but an old sunken approach road into the settlement.