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Porthmeor

Standing Stone / Menhir

<b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by thesweetcheatImage © A. Brookes (18.6.2011)
Nearest Town:Penzance (7km SE)
OS Ref (GB):   SW432372 / Sheet: 203
Latitude:50° 10' 42.32" N
Longitude:   5° 35' 50.41" W

Added by pure joy


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<b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by Meic <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by Meic <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by thesweetcheat <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by thesweetcheat <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by texlahoma <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by thesweetcheat <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by thesweetcheat <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by thesweetcheat <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by thesweetcheat <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by thesweetcheat <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by formicaant <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by postman <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by Jane <b>Porthmeor</b>Posted by IronMan

Fieldnotes

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The stone at Porthmeor is one that we've seen dozens of times, as the bus ride from St Ives round the coast goes straight past its field. Despite that, we've never once gone in for a closer look. Animals usually surround it – cows, horses, chickens, geese, dogs, cats and a fox have all been seen in its company over the years. But today there's nothing, just us. A footpath runs across the field, right past the stone, so access is as easy as can be.

From the road, the stone presents a chunky, but gently curving aspect. Once closer at hand though it becomes apparent that this is one of those great standing stones that changes its appearance from each direction (not as markedly as Boswens Croft, but nevertheless). The close proximity of the houses and farm buildings does detract somewhat from the setting and atmosphere, but this is still a fine stone, worthy of your attention. Looking inland, the craggy northern edges of the moors form the backdrop, and over from that direction the sky takes on an angry complexion, promising that rain is not far away.
thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
14th July 2011ce

On an old farm map we had when we owned that land, that field was named as 'Maen Scryfes'. Posted by Giles Browne
12th September 2010ce
Edited 13th September 2010ce

Visited 11.4.10.
Easily seen in the field opposite Porthmeor farm house on the B3306. Every time I passed the field it was full of cows - and the odd chicken! In fact the road which runs through the farm always seemed to have plenty of animals happily wandering across the road - drive slowly!
Posted by CARL
20th April 2010ce

This stands in the middle of a field which had cattle in it when I visited it. As it stands at seven feet in height it's probably too tall to be a lately erected rubbing post, anyway I've seen cows scratching themselves on the Men Scryfa and no one seems to doubt it's age, well some do, but I don't. formicaant Posted by formicaant
16th June 2007ce
Edited 18th June 2007ce

The moondogchickengoosestone, as we preferred to call it, stands in a field opposite Porthmeor farmhouse and whenever we happened to pass it, morning, noon or night, some kind of Old MacDonald thing was going on.... dogs, horses, geese, chooks, cows...

On the way to see the fullmoon rise over Lanyon Quoit, we passed this stone and as the car swung round the corner by this stone, the full moon appeared in the sky straight in front, almost dazzling us, huge and low and bright. And in the corner of my eye I saw a sheepdog at the roadside, spinning round and round and round chasing its tail in the moonlight.

This stone does crazy things to animals.
Jane Posted by Jane
23rd March 2004ce
Edited 24th March 2004ce

Miscellaneous

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Porthmeor menhir

SW432372 - Ian McNeil Cooke's 'Standing Stones of the Land's End' (1998 - Men-an-Tol Studio) says "stands in mid-field by footpath; excavated in 1879 but no finds. There are confused records indicating that the present stone may be a replacement for one broken up for
road building about two centuries ago". 2.1m tall.
pure joy Posted by pure joy
15th January 2003ce