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The Merry Maidens

Stone Circle

Miscellaneous

When do vandals help us discover that a ‘perfect‘ stone circle was not so perfect after all……

There is an important news item about the Merry Maidens stone circle in the Cornwall Archaeological Unit’s Review of 1995-6, which comments “The Merry Maidens (SW433245) is one of the best preserved and probably the best known stone circle in Cornwall. It came as a shock then, in June 1995, when Mike Rosendale of Penwith District Council reported that the circle had been vandalised; one of the stones had been uprooted and left prostrate on the ground. Before the stone was re-erected the stone hole was excavated by Charlie Johns and Andy Jones of the CAU. They made the surprising discovery that the stone had originally been set at right-angles to the circle and that when restored in the 19th Century it had been turned through 90degrees and placed in line with the circle. On this occasion the stone was set up again as it had been before vandalism. It was re-erected by Andrew Marment and Marcel Deigan, under the supervision of Mike Rosendale, on the occasion of a visit to Cornwall by English Heritage inspectors and Field Monument Wardens form southern England”.

If you fancy buying a copy of the Cornwall Archaeological Unit’s Review of 1995-6, called ‘Archaeology Alive No 4’, check out the CAU’s website, which I’ve added on the ‘Links’ page. It is currently being flogged off cheap at £1. No more info on the Merry Maidens, except for a picture or grubby men re-setting the stone, but a good read in general. The CAU also do lots of other interesting publications, and all in all they seem like real dudes.
pure joy Posted by pure joy
19th March 2003ce

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