[Could be making a mountain out of a molehill if the stones are just sooty? There's no mention of them being cracked. It's surely likely the heather has been managed with fire for centuries.... continues...
16.6.09: Our first visit since the decision to fence and graze the common (see West Penwith news item and forum discussion). Approaching from Tregeseal village, the first signs of the new policy was an ugly looking barbed wire fence crossing the landscape. However, once past that, there was no other signs until we reached the circle itself.
At the circle there were a few cow pats around the stones, but no cows. It was ironic to note that the cows had obviously cropped the grass around the circle, but had left the bracken in the centre - the whole reason for the grazing policy!
Oh well, at least we weren't knee deep in dung or trampled.
I love this circle, along with Nine Maidens of Boskednan this is my favourite of all the ones I have visited.
For the first time I sought out the remains of the detroyed western circle - the high bracken growing all over the hedge made it difficule to see anything, but I did find one of the remaining stones of this circle (see photo). Obviously something to look for in the autumn.
All the photos of the circle after the fire made me quite worried about the possible state of these stones. Thankfully all seems to be well, indeed any signs of there having been a fire are gone. There don't seem to be any cracks in the stones nor does there seem to be any shifting of them.
Yet another fabulous Cornish setting, fairly easy to get to, but remote enough not to be a casual place to visit.
Carn Kenidjack stands on the hill to the north of the site and the Scilly islands can be seen to the south west on a clear day, which it was when I was there.
22.10.05
Drove up through village to the end of the tarmac. parked and followed sign up track rather than cross fields on footpath. Passed the farm and hit the mud! Once out onto the open moor it is a short walk to the right to find the stones. There is now no sign of the burning from a year or so ago, infact the stones are now surrounded by a good covering of bracken. The sky over Keninjack was ever changing from gray to blue as the sun threatened to come out...I waited patiently and finally got my rewards. Behind me from atop of the wall the Scilly Isles stood out proud whilst St Just church tower gleamed in the sunlight...I would have loved to have walked up to the carn but time was against me...perhaps next time.
It's a stiff old walk up from the bottom of the village, but just over a year on from the unintentional scorching the stones received (see News), they appear to be healing well. Most of the burnt lichen has been removed, and the stones look in good condition. I didn't notice any obvious cracking on the stones I inspected closely.
I parked in the lane below Hailglower farm,it was a lovely day and the walk was most enjoyable.I was wondering how to find the circle but just past the farm on the right is a plaque with an arrow pointing the way.It is a beautiful place,the air was humming with insects and swallows and martins were swooping ,I found it very difficult to leave.
"I should not choose to walk the moor at night; but a neurotic modern would have had nothing to fear on that sunny September morning. Nevertheless, it was with a sensation, not entirely pleasant, of passing from the land of humans to the land of shades that I left the last farm behind and crossed the moor, near the barrow where the famous Tregeseal urn was found, now in the British Museum, in search of the Tregeseal stone circles - two circles seventy-five feet apart. In one, sixty-nine feet in diameter, eight stones are erect and five prostrate; in the other only two are standing, but three more may be found upright in the hedge.
The outlying landmarks or sighting-lines from the eastern Tregeseal circle, probably used by the astronomer priests, are, Sir Norman Lockyer suggests, the Longstone, a monolith ten feet high, on a hillside one and a half miles to the north-east, the apex of Carn Kenidzhek, barrows and holed stones.
He gives the following table as "the meanings of the various alignments":-
Decl. N. Star
Apex of Carn...42d.33'0" Arcturus 2330B.C.
Barrow 800' dist..40d.29'0" Arcturus 1970B.C.
Two Barrows 900' dist. 25d. 20'21" Solstitial?
Holed Stones..23d. 2'20" Solstitial?
Longstone......16d.2'0" May Sun
Stone.............9d. 15'0" Pleiades 1270B.C."
After going to see Discover Odin on 4th/ 5th Oct 2001, British Museum there's another state of affairs. The king stone is the World Tree and the nine stones either side represent the nine moons that Odin hangs on the World Tree looking for answers/ powers.
A note on the 19 stone type scenario that is so common in Penwith. I've heard tell that each one of these circles has a 'sun' stone or 'king' stone (quartz and set in the West it seems to me). Two crecents of nine stones representing waxing and waning moon and triple goddess type scenarios (virgin, mother, crone) advance on the sun/king stone. Some kind of ceremony. Hmmmm.
It is interesting to note that in Cornish the circles are known as Dauns Mein or stone dance, or as in the case of Trgaseal ,Daunsiow Mein -dancing stones.
This is an excellent circle to visit, nineteen of the evenly spaced stones stand upright, one has fallen. All the stones are about 1m high, the tallest of which stands 1.3m. There is a vantage point on a large stone which makes up part of a wall about 15m to the south west. From here the white stones of the circle can be seen more clearly, even in the dense bracken. Also known as 'The Dancing Stones', Tregeseal is part of a double circle, it's partner, Tregeseal (West) was set on an east-west alignment but the later has now been destroyed and no longer visible.
TREGESEAL STONE CIRCLE, ST. JUST
(6 photos, & 1 diag.)
This is the Eastern of two circles, much restored. A Western circle recorded by 19th century writers has been lost, although a stone by the hedge leading to the site is thought to be a lone survivor of it. The circle lies at the edge of moorland, and is marked on the Ordnance Survey "Explorer" Map 102 between Hailglower Farm and Truthwall Common. It is best approached from Tregeseal, and on foot.
Overgrown in midsummer, these barrows are still worth a quick visit on a walk between Tregeseal stone circle and Tregeseal holed stones. Three stand prominently next to the path - the SW is larger and has some remains of a kerb, the middle one is the best preserved, with visible capstones covering a chamber or cist of some sort. The NE barrow of the three is badly damaged, with a large excavation crater in the centre and no obvious megaliths (it is very overgrown in the summer though).