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

Sculptors Cave

Cave / Rock Shelter

Miscellaneous

Sculptors Cave.

"On the beach below, (Hopeman Golf Course), is a proper wonder. Access is tricky, a hazardous descent on steep slopes and bare rock; or a slippery scramble around headlands on the shore at low tide. But we feel that a little danger adds spice to our wonder. More than two thousand years ago, spiritual Celts sought out this gloomy cavern for a grizzly cult: a pagan veneration of the human head as a source, symbol and esoteric power. The cavern roof was hung with severed heads: criminals executed for unspeakable crimes; warrior heroes decapitated in battle; apostates beheaded in bloody auto da fe; wise forebears exhibited for their posterity's veneration. And later Celtic people - Picts on the cusp of Christianity - came here to chisel their arcane symbols into the soft sandstone of the cave walls. We have to search to find the sculptures - small and rudely carved among a gallery of subsequent graffiti."

John R. Barrett

Walks and Wonders - Knock News No. 30
August 09
drewbhoy Posted by drewbhoy
28th August 2009ce
Edited 28th August 2009ce

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