More than a pile of stones: The archaeological quest at a burial chamber in Neolithic Cornwall
Jacky Nowakowski, the Lead Archaeologist with the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, on the amazing restoration of the Carwynnen Quoit megalith... continues...
1920s picnic picture recreated at ancient monument
A photograph of picnickers enjoying lunch at an ancient monument in Cornwall has been re-enacted almost a century after the original party packed up their hampers... continues...
Carwynnen Quoit is standing proud again for the first time in half a century thanks to the efforts of a community group. Eminent Cornish archaeologist Professor Charles Thomas explains the ancient monument’s significance... continues...
Archaeologists to reconstruct 5000 year old monument near Camborne
Archaelogists are to finally start work on reconstructing Giant’s Quoit, a Stonehenge-like structure built 5,000 years ago by early man living near Camborne... continues...
Preparations for our big dig at Carwynnen Quoit went into full swing on Monday September 10th when a large crane arrived on site to dismantle the pile of stones and temporarily remove them to a safe place... continues...
I have received this email today from a group called the Sustainable Trust...the third paragraph is the interesting bit...
Crenver Grove, the 14Hectare woodland we manage for the Dandelion Trust, now entertains local children as part of Forest School activities... continues...
Magic faeries at Carwynnen quoit.
Drove down a one horse track, knackered jalopy rattling alarmingly. My first quoit, stood on its lonesome at the bottom of the field. Lovely, lovely.
Great old photo of 1925 Cornish society picnickers, fascinating - one of them looked like a bohemian.
Quite tastefully done circular benches with saplings planted around them as a viewing area.
Huge capstone, (hadn't yet seen Trethevy Quoit); sparkling quartz stone. As others have mentioned odd mysterious little pits with stones in them dotted around the field.
It was very windy, with sunshine breaking through. As we wandered around we were accompanied by a whistling tune borne on the air , coming & going with each gust. We were enthralled & became increasingly excited, this tune could not be denied. We investigated the whole field boundary hedges & peered into the surrounding woodland; no lone flautist to be seen! At last evidence of the supernatural! Don't accept any food or drink from the faeries Nick says.
It's following me around says the limping one & indeed it was, or rather his metal walking stick, through the holes of which the gale was blowing scales! NOT faeries then! Bugger!
A bit magical all the same.
No fieldnotes since the re-erection, how very odd.
I parked at the gate by the big fancy "look what we did" information board, and took a slow walk down to the dolmen, we had the place to ourselves but the roar of many children playing in the woods drowned out all but the most steadfast of thoughts.
It was a gorgeous evening and we would soon be treated to another jaw dropping Cornish sunset so I decided we would stay until the glorious end, the show would not be over til the fat lady had sung her song.
The stones looked lovely in the setting sunshine, and definitely look better standing up, they did a pretty good job, it's doubtful I'd have come to see a pile of stones half covered in nettles, but this is very good, natures helping out though.
By all accounts, well just one really, this dolmen has a complicated floor, other smaller stones still lie around unexplained, the curve of angled pebbles at the front? of the dolmen are remnants of the paving, or so I'm left to presume, over 2000 finds from the dig and now there's a time capsule down there too.
Almost unbelievably the archaeologists say that the stones were never covered in a mound of any sort, but that you could walk under it even in the neolithic, I cant believe that, an open air burial chamber ?, burial chambers are supposed to keep the remains of the illustrious departed safe, it would be like building a car with no wheels, a plane with no wings, an interstellar mission with no murderous robot. Nope.
We're interrupted a couple of times by photographic opportunists from what looks to be a caravan site in the adjacent trees, but we're sitting at the front on the purpose made sitting stone, out of the way.
Here it comes, the sun is going down, (photo) going, (photo) going (photo) gone.
There are three clumps of nettles that seem not to have been mentioned by the sustainable trust, each clump has a squarish pit dug into the ground and in each pit is a large stone. The only thing I can come up with is Sweetcheat mentioned a nearby stone circle once, I think, maybe it was a dream.
Just like my whole time in Cornwall.
Visited 14.4.10.
Situated on the left of the lane running from Praze-An-Beeble to Troon off the B3303. Very easy to access. Park in front of field gate. There is a large information board giving details of the Quoit and I noticed that someone had built a D.I.Y. model of the quoit on the grass behind the information board. The quoit is still ajumble of stones although the capstone is clearly evident. The stones are visible from the field gate although it is only an easy 2 minute stroll if you want to get up close and personal.
Went here on a very hot day in June. Was pleasantly surprised to see that work has started. There are two field gates with space for a couple of cars and easy access to the field.It is nice to see the meadow flowers starting to grow.I await now eagerly for something to happen to the Stones, it is quite a jigsaw puzzel.
After being re-erected for a brief period in the mid-20th century, this chamber tomb had collapsed again by 1983. Currently still lying in a sorry state; no plans to re-erect it. Last visited in August 2001, nevertheless impressive and atmospheric.
There're the stirrings of a local campaign to get this re-erected according to a recent correspondence in the West Briton newspaper. I for one would like to see it happen, it being the only quoit in the Kerrier area.