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Watergate Menhir

Standing Stone / Menhir

<b>Watergate Menhir</b>Posted by Mr HamheadImage © Mr Hamhead
Nearest Town:Looe (2km ESE)
OS Ref (GB):   SX234544 / Sheet: 201
Latitude:50° 21' 44.39" N
Longitude:   4° 28' 59.76" W

Added by Mr Hamhead


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<b>Watergate Menhir</b>Posted by markj99 <b>Watergate Menhir</b>Posted by Mr Hamhead <b>Watergate Menhir</b>Posted by Mr Hamhead

Fieldnotes

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Visited 13.04.18

Watergate Stone is a recumbent stone which lies 1 mile WNW of Looe. It measures c. 6 feet long, tapering from c. 2.5 feet wide at the base to 1.5 feet wide at the top. There is a 30 degree angle on the base indicating a possible fracture plane. There are no other large stones close to Watergate Stone and no field clearance stones nearby. It would appear to be a broken Standing Stone or Boundary Marker.

I found Watergate Menhir by parking in West Looe Car Park then taking the footpath W into Kilminorth Woods. This path follows the line of the Giant's Hedge. After c. 1 mile my GPS told me I had reached my target. Unfortunately I was still on the woodland path and no large stone was visible. I knew the stone was in a grass field so I turned L into the woods heading uphill. After c. 100 yards I reached a grass field. I did a visual search of the field, finding the recumbent six footer at SX 23454 54356 on the slope of a hill.
Posted by markj99
25th March 2021ce
Edited 25th March 2021ce

To find this stone requires a bit of hedge hopping..and is on private land. Please make sure no fences are damaged as it allows sheep and cattle from the fields to get into Kilminorth Woods where they have caused great damage in the past.

This stone is mentioned in Paynes 'Romance of the Stones' as having been standing 5ft high when seen by OS inspectors in 1962. There is some thought that it might only have been a rubbing post...and who am I to say otherwise, but...

It sits (lies) on a north facing slope that drops steeply into the West Looe river valley. Woodland now hides the landscape and the view up river towards Bodmin Moor. Just behind it is an earth bank that I believe is part of the Giants Hedge or a Iron Age hillfort that was later turned into a rabbit warren. (viewing said hilltop from above the modern wall looks as if the field is circular, it isn't but if it went right out to the earth bank it might be)

Naturally shaped stones like this do not occur in the Looe area and rubbing stones tend to be made of granite, brought down from the moor.

The stone features on the EH list of sites (hence me seeking it out). A similar but smaller stone lies hidden in the woods just to the south.
Mr Hamhead Posted by Mr Hamhead
3rd July 2007ce