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Standing Stone / Menhir
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Harry's Walls is a 16th century (unfinished) artillery castle on the summit of Mount Flagon, overlooking St Mary's Pool. The castle is to the south east of a standing stone. (Do you like that? I thought I'd put it deliberately that way round. After all, the Stone Was There First). Seven standing stones are known on the Isles of Scilly, all of which are considered by EH to be 'of national importance.'
The following information is taken from the MAGIC.gov website:
The prehistoric standing stone is situated near the summit of the hill, just half a metre beyond the castle's rock cut ditch. It's a granite slab 2.75m high, set in concreted rubble. It's 80cm by 30cm at the bottom, tapering to about half that at the top. It's heavily weathered and each face bears a little pit, the relatively recent result of an attempt to perforate the slab.
The stone is situated on a slight rise, which EH's schedule calls a 'sub-circular cairn' - it's believed to be artificial. A modern navigation post also stands on the cairn to the NW of the standing stone. The stone's situation on a small cairn is rare and the antiquity of this association receives unusually early confirmation in its mention by the antiquary Borlase in 1756, as `on a little tumulus near Harry's Battery'.
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Posted by Rhiannon
6th August 2003ce
Edited 6th August 2003ce
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