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Gun Rith Menhir

Standing Stone / Menhir

<b>Gun Rith Menhir</b>Posted by texlahomaImage © texlahoma
Nearest Town:Newlyn (5km NNE)
OS Ref (GB):   SW429245 / Sheet: 203
Latitude:50° 3' 51.44" N
Longitude:   5° 35' 34.71" W

Added by phil

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News

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Gun Rith retains its lean


Cornish newspaper "The West Briton" expands on the recent news about Gun Rith Menhir

The restoration process has been carefully planned to ensure that the area is safe for visitors and to make it look exactly as it did before the accident - even down to replacing it with a lean... continues...
Posted by phil
4th July 2003ce
Edited 10th January 2007ce

Bronze Age Stone Set Back In Place


From an article on the thisisDevon Web site, published 27th June 2003:
A prehistoric standing stone - one of the vital features of Cornwall's Bronze Age landscape - was returned to its original site yesterday after being restored... continues...
Kammer Posted by Kammer
30th June 2003ce
Edited 4th August 2003ce

Gun Rith to be re-erected next month?

According to a post from Andy Norfolk on the Stones Mailing List, Gun Rith is to be re-erected sometime at the end of May.

Good News.
ocifant Posted by ocifant
10th April 2003ce

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Fieldnotes

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Visited 12.4.10.
Very easy to access.
Park in layby directly opposite sign posted lane to Tregiffian Farm. The stone is in the hedgerow behind the layby. Access to field is via a handy stone stile. From Rith Menhir you get a superb view of The Merry Maidens stone circle.
Posted by CARL
21st April 2010ce

7th October 2003

Nice to see that Gun Rith has been re-erected, complete with original (or near as dammit) lean. The base has been placed into concrete this time, and the field wall has been reconstructed around it, so hopefully it won't fall again in a hurry.
ocifant Posted by ocifant
13th October 2003ce

We had been to Tregiffian Burial Chamber a few years ago, but as newbies to Cornwall, stopped there, took some photos, went home. Didn't know Gun Rith was here, and didn't even know Merry Maidens or The Pipers were close by!

So, armed with our spangly OS maps, we thought we'd return. What a pleasant surprise! Apart from being so wet we could have been wading through water (very rainy May 2003), and the poor thing had fallen, there was still a subdued atmosphere here. Felt like we were seeing something rather special. Just had to touch it. Was I wrong to feel the urge to stand in the hole it fell from? I did it any way and felt good about it. ;o)

We stayed a while then returned, via Tregiffian Burial Chamber and a final glance at Merry Maidens. Bless em all!

Still - now it's back standing, I'll have to go and have another look - hard life, innit?
goffik Posted by goffik
3rd July 2003ce
Edited 3rd July 2003ce

Bad news I'm afraid. This 'sexy stone' is no more. I passed here today (I'll post a fuller weblog on my return home next week), and the Gun Rith menhir is down.

I wondered why I couldn't see it from the Merry Maidens, and it was only when I went into the field that I realised the stone was down. It's fallen across the cart tracks into the adjoining field, so no doubt the farmer will be moving it soon. I've tried to get a message to Andy Norfolk in the hope that the restoration can be done sensitively.

I've taken a few photos of the fallen stone, but can't upload them on this connection. More to follow next week.... ...Pictures now uploaded, and the stone hadn't yet been moved when I paid a return visit a couple of days later.
ocifant Posted by ocifant
11th March 2003ce
Edited 16th March 2003ce

Gun Rith Menhir - 23.12.2002

This sexy stone is clearly visible from the Merry Maidens and Tregiffian and is probably an outlier for the stone circle. Also know as 'The Fiddler' it's found lurking in a hedge, just off a public footpath that leads from opposite the lay-by for the Merry Maidens. This strangely phallic and leaning monster measures 285cm (H) x 55 (W) x 55 (D).

W.C.Borlase excavated the foot of the stone in 1871 but found only a beach pebble. Craig Weatherhill suggests that Gun Rith (Gun Ruth) means 'Red Downs'.
pure joy Posted by pure joy
7th January 2003ce
Edited 7th January 2003ce

When I was looking at the tregiffian burial chamber I glanced over the road and saw this grand stone. hamish Posted by hamish
11th August 2002ce

Miscellaneous

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In the article below, A. L. Lewis calls this stone 'the Goon Rith or Longstone'.

Prehistoric Remains in Cornwall
The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 35. (Jul. - Dec., 1905), pp. 427-434.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
16th October 2006ce