The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Stannon

Stone Circle

Fieldnotes

Not really much to add what others have said about this circle save to observe that for once the TMA 'needs an OS map' direction couldn't be more appropriate, not because you have to trek across miles of trackless moorland but because getting to it involves driving down seemingly-endless miles of twisty Cornish single-track roads with high hedges, erratic signposting at junctions and lots of potential for wrong turns. Leaving the A30 behind at Bodmin I found myself almost literally driving back into the past, St Breward the nearest and biggest settlement presenting as a village from my 1930s Shell Guide. I was very relieved at finally emerging on to the moor and spotting the abandoned china clay works.
I loved it, blessed as I was by sunshine and lack of wind but wasn't tempted to venture on to Louden Hill or Fernacre, suspecting that neither of them could add to what I was seeing and experiencing at this site. Noticing the number of fallen stones did prompt some reflection on that old chestnut of mine, namely the extent to which some restoration work could tastefully be carried out, reminding myself again of how the careful re-erection of three fallen uprights at Boskednan transformed that site. There were a few of the fallen stones equivalent in size to the larger ones in the circle and I wondered at how the aspect of the monument might be 'enhanced' (for want of a better word) by them being stood up again. I know that this is a hoary old subject probably already debated to death before I started contributing to TMA but I wonder if the same thought has struck anyone else who's visited this splendid ring.
ironstone Posted by ironstone
28th August 2016ce

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