Lanyon Quoit, photograph taken on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Images
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the north-north-east on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the north-east on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the south on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the south on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the south-south-east on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the south-east on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the south-east on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the east on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the north-north-east on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the north-west on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Lanyon Quoit, photographed from the west on 8 May 2004. © Chris Bond.
Image credit: Chris Bond
Photographer unknown: a family outing to Lanyon Quoit. Photograph on display in Penlee House, Penzance. With apologies for reflections in the glass.
Image credit: Penlee House Museum and Gallery/A. Brookes (21.6.2023)
Ephemeral Midsummer offerings of flowers and a slice of peach left on the slab in front of the chamber. Carn Galva and Ding Dong engine house on the skyline.
Image credit: A. Brookes (21.6.2023)
‘Lanyon Cromleh’ by William Cotton, from “Illustrations of stone circles, cromlehs and other remains of the aboriginal Britons, in the West of Cornwall : from drawings made on the spot, in 1826.”
11 November 2021 CE
11 November 2021 CE
11 November 2021 CE
Image credit: A. Brookes (22.10.2020)
Image credit: A. Brookes (22.10.2020)
The stones at the southern end of the mound.
Image credit: A. Brookes (22.10.2020)
Visited 9th May 2021. This is the site I looked for back in 2010 and could not find. It is only visible from the road when travelling towards Madron – we missed it completely on the journey to Men-An-Tol but spotted it on the way back. What can I say except that finding it after all this time made me very happy indeed.
Image credit: tjj
Image credit: A. Brookes (26.6.2019)
Image credit: A. Brookes (26.6.2019)
Image credit: A. Brookes (26.6.2019)
Lanyon in its landscape, looking towards Carn Galva and Ding Dong mine. Traces of the mound can be seen surrounding the chamber.
Image credit: A. Brookes (8.10.2008)
From JT Blight’s ‘A week at the Land’s End’ (1876).
Image credit: .
Lanyon Quoit (from farm nr. The Mine)
Image credit: carol27
At Lanyon Quoit
Image credit: carol27
From ‘The Celtic and Other Antiquities of the Land’s End District of Cornwall’ by Richard Edmonds. In Archaeologia Cambrensis 3.12 (Oct 1857).
Image credit: Sketch by Pentreath, etched by LeKeux
From ‘Rodda’s Guide to Penzance...’ by the Rev W S Lach-Szyrma (6th edition 1894).
access.bl.uk/item/pdf/lsidyv365fcacb
Image credit: .
September 2015
Image credit: Michael Mitchell
September 2015
Image credit: Michael Mitchell
September 2015
Image credit: Michael Mitchell
Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image credit: Chris Bickerton
The foxgloves at Lanyon Quoit, summer has arrived at last.
Image credit: Moss
25/09/2012 – Lanyon Quoit
25/09/2012 – Lanyon Quoit
Image credit: tex
July 2012
Image credit: texlahoma
Stones on the mound.
Image credit: A. Brookes (18.6.2011)
The jumbled stones at the western end of the quoit mound.
Image credit: A. Brookes (18.6.2011)
Image credit: A. Brookes (18.6.2011)
A golden Lanyon Quoit... Bang On! Or perhaps Leslie Phillip’s ‘Ding Dong!’ is more apt, bearing in mind the engine house seen in the background, left.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image credit: earthstone
Image credit: earthstone
Light on Lanyon
Image credit: texlahoma
Image credit: texlahoma
Ding Dong seen from Lanyon Quoit.
Image credit: A.Brookes (8.10.2008)
Image credit: suave harv
I read somewhere there’s an enclosure or something similar very close to the quoit, the remains of which I think are on the right of the picture.
Also, according to the book “Belerion” by Craig weatherhill, it could be a cist.
From the road
Image credit: Chris bickerton
From “History of Cornwall” by CS Gilbert
Image credit: CS Gilbert
Image credit: Mike Rowland 15/06/2007.
Frontispiece to ‘Days in Cornwall’ C Lewis Hind 1907
Image credit: William Pascoe 1906
From ‘Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall’ 2nd Ed. (1769)
Image credit: William Borlase
Nice old postcard of the Quoit.
Lanyon Quoit – 10th May 2004
Image credit: Michael Mitchell
..and this one was taken during an unbelievable downpour...
Image credit: Photobabe
Image credit: Photobabe
Lanyon Quoit framing Ding Dong Mine. 8th May 2006 6:25pm.
Image credit: Ed Greenaway 2006
Sun setting behind Lanyon Quoit. 10th May 2006 8:43pm.
Image credit: Ed Greenaway 2006
From Antiquities of England and Wales by Francis Grose (1783).
This rather rough looking sketch was drawn before that fateful night in 1815.
Image credit: Francis Grose
Image credit: suave harv
from some angles it looks almost impossibly balanced
Image credit: Rhiannon
As you walk round, not only does the appearance of the dolmen change from long and pointy to compact and short, the holes between the stones change too (I thought it was interesting)
Image credit: Rhiannon
Approaching Lanyon on path from Bosiliack Barrow
Image credit: Tim Clark
Lanyon Quoit May 2004. A glorious week in Cornwall.
Image credit: Big Al
Wherever you go round here, the beacon that is the old engine house of Ding Dong tin mine provides a useful reference point in the landscape
Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
Gratifying close to the road and signposted
Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
15 mins after sunset
Image credit: Tim Clark
Image credit: Tim Clark
Image credit: Tim Clark
Lanyon Quoit. August 2001
Image credit: Andrew Hart
The view of the mine through the legs of Lanyon Quoit :-)
Image credit: notjamesbond
Lanyon Quoit – getting dark – 27.12.2002
Image credit: Martin Bull
Lanyon Quoit – getting dark – there was a lovely red sunset going on (one time when I wish I didn’t use balck and white!) – 27.12.2002
Image credit: Martin Bull
A panoramic version (looks nice at full size)
Lanyon Quoit Sunday 9th September
Image credit: Al Davies
Lanyon Quoit August 2000
Image credit: Al Davies
May 2002
July 2001
Image credit: Rob Evans
May 2002
May 2002
September 1981
Image credit: Denis Ellery
06/11/01CE
06/11/01CE
Lanyon Quoit with Carn Kenidjack and Ding Dong Mine on the horizon. 06/11/01CE.
How Sad Are We? But it had to be done! Sundown was fast approaching and the mood was right. Realise now we were totally wrong with the setup, but what the hell – it kept us out of mischief
The Sonic Chronicler & Mickstonecirclesandu
Image credit: Ian Mantripp
Image credit: Ian Mantripp
Articles
I visited Lanyon Quoit on 7th December 2013 (apologies this isn’t a recent visit) as part of a look around the Penwith area with my Father.
This was the first site we took a look at and I was blown away, all the pictures I had seen of it previously had left me expecting a site roughly as high as a kitchen table (why?)
It was a grey morning and the mist had not long lifted. Access to the site is very easy indeed and we spent a good bit of time hanging around this one checking it out from different angles, speculating on how it would have looked before being ‘repaired’ all those years ago.
Along with Merry Maidens and Men-an-Tol, Lanyon Quoit is the most visited and most picture postcard perfect of West Penwith’s many ancient sites, despite being the least authentic of the four upstanding Quoits that the area boasts. Not much remains of its original mound and the capstone’s supports are rather shorter than they used to be. But so what? This is still a great spot and what’s not to like about a giant stone table?
At the western end of the mound, a cluster of stones may mark the position of a cist or small chamber that was built into the mound. But there’s too little left to really get any sense of what there might have been.
Visited 11.4.10.
Very easy to access. There is a small layby about 10 metres from the stone stile which gives access to the field in which the quoit sits. The quoit is only about 30 metres into the field – and a cracking thing it is too!!
Witnessing the sun set over Carn Gluze, I was aware that tonight the moon would be full. Moth suggested we witness the moon rise at Lanyon Quoit, as its so easy to get to.
En route, as we drove past Porthmeor standing stone, the moon jumped out at us, dazzling and low, and we knew we were in for a special treat. We were not to be disappointed.
Clouds scudded past the moon in the east illuminating the quoit with an eery light, and the last vestiges of the sunset silhouetted the site in the west. What a light show! What a quoit!
We returned here in the daylight twice, but neither time was the weather kind enough for me to paint it.
A great first call, apart from the pub, on an epic trip round the Lands End peninsula. No-one there at all, it was early morning and myself and my brother had hang-overs after 1 too many Scrumpies at the Newbridge Inn. Great shade and great setting as we watched the storm gathering a pace over Lands End. Although not a area of country where you want to be caught in a storm to see black clouds on one side of you and sunshine on the other is quite dramatic.
A wonderful site, worthy of the attention it gets. The re-positioning of the stones is quite obvious, but doesn’t in any way spoil it. We sat here for a while as the midday sun burnt away what was left of the cloud cover, and the day took a lighter turn.
Lanyon Quoit ? 27.12.2002
As this is right next to the main road and in the care of the National Trust I expected a huge neon signs above it and a pay and display car park. But actually it is very subtle and very low key (and very fitting), with just a make shift lay-by next to it and small plaque set in the field wall near a stone stile that leads into the field. The plaque reads “Lanyon Quoit – Given to the National Trust by Sir Edward Bolitho of Tiengwainion in 1952”. After the enormity of Trethevy Quoit this looks positively tiny, like it?s from the model village at Polperro, or Legoland in Windsor. Strange.
What a great place to visit.
I’m going back soon and I’ll post some more. Chill out here look at the tin mine in the distance and dance around for a bit.
Fantastic.
Lanyon Quoit
Another vist from our September 2000 Cornwal trip. It is a bloody cartoon Cromlech...yer right Julian ya know!! Not much more to say about such a famous MEGAlith.
Loads of tourist there at the time...including Herr & soon to be Frau Schlager. Gonna make sure i’am there for early morning next time.
Is this not one of the coolest places? Had such a top morning sat staring at this last summer.
Frosty morning, no one around – kind of misty too in that Cornish fashion.
Great to clamber under the top stone too and sit under it’s huge mass – thinking...
Visited the quoit in an autumn gale, the capstone poised ready to launch itself onto the surf of swelling grass.
Felt like I could ride that board to Men an Tol and out into the Atlantic!
Driving north from Penzance the quoite became visible on the skyline to the left after a number of bends we parked and had to ask an American for directions. It was over the fence on the right hand side of the road about 30 yards away. Took the postcard photos and on to Men-an-Tol
I travelled to Lanyon on a horrible,
rainy day to take away the dullness
of staying in Camborne for a week.
When i got there the whole place was shrouded in mist and i couldn’t see the quoit at all. After stepping in some horrible puddles i finally arrived – what a place, the atmosphere was amazing! After that i tried to find Men-an-tol, but as
i carried on up the path i heard a wild animal or something so i shit myself and ran back to the car!
wahwah
watch out for the ocean-like puddle! take your wellies if you’re going to go Quoit-squatting
that’s crouching under Quoit’s, like a little troll ...
The dimensions of the cap-stone are thus given by Borlase: – “This quoit is more than forty-seven feet in girt, and nineteen feet long; its thickness in the middle on the eastern edge is sixteen inches, at each end not so much, but at the western edge it is two feet thick.”
The cromlech is sometimes called by the country people the Giant’s Quoit, and occasionally the Giant’s Table. My measurement made the covering-stone forty-six feet in circumference, with a thickness varying from ten to eighteen inches. It is not improbable that the stone has been chipped off at one or two of the corners since the time of Borlase. Between the cromlech and the road are the remains of a stone and earth circular barrow about eighteen feet in diameter.There is an odd tradition that the first battle fought in England was decided in the locality of Lanyon Quoit.
From Rambles in Western Cornwall by the Footsteps of the Giants by J O Halliwell-Phillips (1861).
Many Cornish tourist sites on the internet point out that the quoit was where King Arthur stopped for a bite to eat before his last battle. Perhaps he was in his larger-than-life giant guise and used it as a table.
On the 10th instant, this celebrated stone, which weighs about thirteen tons, and which fell from its ancient situation on the night of the 19th October, 1815, during one of the most violent and destructive storms of wind ever remembered in that part of the country, was replaced by the united and indefatigable exertions of Lieut. GOLDSMITH and Capt. GIDDY, with the aid of the materials and machinery employed about the Logan Rock, and which the Honourable Navy Board consented to grant them for so laudable a purpose.
From ‘The Morning Post’, December 16th, 1824. Goldsmith and Giddy must have been on a roll and thought they might as well sort out the quoit after their success at the superb Treryn Dinas. I suppose Goldsmith thought people might then let him off for toppling the logan stone in the first place?!
Much reconstructed and abused by treasure hunters and mineral prospectors, the capstone was recorded as becoming dislodged during a violent thunderstorm in the early 19th century, when one of the supporting stones was broken. (Must’ve been one HELLUVA lightening strike!) The whole structure had already been weakened by soil removal during successive ‘explorations’.
The capstone was replaced in 1824, but a piece broke apparently broke off during reconstruction. The capstone was replaced upon repositioned uprights, buried to a deeper level for more stability.
Prior to the reconstruction, it is said that a man on horseback could pass with ease beneath the capstone.
Taken from Ian Cooke’s ‘Antiquities of West Cornwall’, 1990
A 360° panoramic tour of Lanyon Quoit
Topics
Sites within 20km of Lanyon Quoit
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Bosiliack Barrow
photo 44description 5 -
West Lanyon Quoit
photo 4description 5 -
Lanyon
photo 6description 1 -
Ding Dong Lane
photo 11description 1 -
Carfury
photo 15description 5 -
Men-An-Tol
photo 97forum 3description 43link 3 -
Burnt Downs Holed Stone
photo 2description 1 -
Boskednan Southern Cairn
photo 15description 2 -
Venton Bebibell
photo 4description 1 -
Nine Maidens of Boskednan
photo 113forum 4description 19 -
Men Scryfa
photo 48description 13link 1 -
Kerrow Bosullow
photo 1description 1 -
Boskednan Cairn
photo 33description 4 -
The Four Parish Stone
photo 7description 3 -
Trewern
photo 4description 2 -
Trewern Round
photo 7description 2link 2 -
Little Galva
photo 4description 1 -
Madron Holy Well
photo 18description 13 -
Bosullow Trehyllys Courtyard House Settlement
photo 16description 4 -
Watch Croft
photo 35forum 1description 5 -
Watch Croft
photo 28description 2 -
Trevean Round
photo 7description 1 -
Bodrifty Iron Age Settlement
photo 22description 2link 1 -
Bodrifty Reconstruction
photo 2forum 1description 1link 1 -
Higher Bodinnar Fogou
description 3 -
Bosporthennis 'Beehive Hut'
photo 42forum 2description 8link 1 -
Trevowhan
description 1 -
Chûn Castle
photo 47description 4 -
Tremayne
photo 4description 3 -
Hannibal’s Carn
photo 3description 1 -
Trevean North
photo 5 -
Carn Galva
photo 23description 6 -
Bodrifty Barrows
photo 9description 2 -
Chûn
photo 2 -
Mulfra courtyard houses
photo 13description 1link 1 -
Chûn Quoit
photo 84forum 2description 16link 1 -
Mulfra Hill
photo 3description 1 -
Mulfra Hill round barrows
photo 19description 2 -
Higher Downs
photo 2 -
Crofto
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Bosporthennis Quoit
photo 21forum 2description 3link 1 -
Mulfra Quoit
photo 78forum 1description 16 -
Bosvenning Common
photo 10description 1 -
Boswens Croft
photo 35description 2 -
Chy-Gwidden Round
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The Beacon (Zennor)
photo 4description 1 -
The Giant’s Grave (Morvah)
photo 1description 1 -
Porthmeor (Treen Common)
photo 17description 2 -
Crankan courtyard settlement
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Try
photo 3description 3link 1 -
Bosigran Cliff
photo 30description 2 -
Porthmeor Fogou
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Bosigran Settlement
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Wheal Buller Menhir
photo 10description 3 -
Porthmeor
photo 20description 6 -
Treen Entrance Graves
photo 23forum 1description 6 -
Porthmeor Roundhouses
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Botrea Barrows
photo 18description 1 -
Portheras Common Barrow
photo 28description 3 -
Boslow Stone
photo 17description 2 -
Trye
photo 1description 1 -
Chypraze
photo 14forum 1description 1 -
Kerrow
photo 1description 1 -
Carn Kenidjack
photo 14description 4link 2 -
Tregeseal Holed Stones
photo 56description 2 -
Lesingey Round
photo 12description 1 -
Pennance
photo 13description 3 -
Truthwall Common
photo 42description 2 -
Chysauster Village
photo 78description 6link 1 -
Tregeseal
photo 104forum 3description 19link 2 -
Sancreed Beacon
photo 24description 2 -
Conquer Downs
photo 10description 2 -
Carn Bean barrow
photo 4description 2 -
Sancreed Holy Well
photo 18description 13 -
Kerrowe Menhir
photo 4description 2 -
Hailglower Farm
photo 1description 1 -
Gurnard’s Head
photo 40description 6 -
Rosemorran
photo 3description 1 -
Higher Botallack
photo 3description 2 -
Rosemorran Fogou
description 1 -
Boswarthen Holed Stone
photo 3description 1 -
Pendeen Vau
photo 26forum 1description 9 -
Tregeseal Entrance Grave
photo 10description 1 -
Caer Bran
photo 24forum 1description 3 -
Lower Boscaswell Fogou
photo 15description 4 -
Tonkins Downs
photo 9 -
Lescudjack Castle
photo 10forum 1description 4 -
Drift Stones
photo 44description 10link 1 -
Giant’s Rock
photo 7description 3 -
Bartinne Castle Enclosure
photo 11description 4 -
Foage
photo 5 -
Carn Euny Fogou & Village
photo 113ondemand_video 1forum 2description 21link 4 -
Castle-an-Dinas (Nancledra)
photo 26description 4 -
The Blind Fiddler
photo 51description 9 -
St Euny’s Well
photo 22description 5 -
Zennor Quoit
photo 74forum 3description 14 -
Noon Digery banjo enclosure
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Ennis Farm
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Goldherring
photo 9description 1 -
Tresvennack Pillar
photo 12description 1 -
Faugan Round
photo 8forum 1description 1link 1 -
Bosworlas Lehau
description 2 -
Sperris Quoit
photo 24description 3 -
Brane
photo 30description 9 -
Boscawen-Un hedge
photo 10description 6 -
Botallack
photo 1forum 1description 1 -
The Selus Stone
photo 5description 1 -
Sperris Croft
photo 12description 3 -
Boscawen Menhir
photo 11description 2 -
Creeg Tol
photo 7description 5 -
Brane Long Barrow
photo 7description 3 -
Numphra
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Tredinney Barrow
photo 19description 1 -
Wicca Round
photo 1description 1 -
Kerris
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Boscawen-Un (footpath)
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Boscawen-Ûn
photo 113ondemand_video 2forum 6description 33link 4 -
Chyenhal
photo 5description 2 -
Changwens Menhir
photo 3description 1 -
Tom Thumb Rock
photo 3description 2link 1 -
Sheffield Menhir
photo 3description 1 -
Trelew Menhir
photo 12description 3 -
Trendrine Hill
photo 18description 3 -
Little Brea
photo 2 -
Toldavas
photo 6description 2link 1 -
Chapel Carn Brea North
photo 13 -
Chapel Carn Brea
photo 57ondemand_video 1description 9 -
Chapel Carn Brea long cairn
photo 13description 2 -
Towednack Double Armed Cross
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Pridden
photo 2description 2 -
Redhouse
photo 5description 2 -
Kenidjack Castle
photo 29description 4 -
Paul Celtic Cross
photo 2description 1 -
Kenidjack Cairn Circle
photo 11description 1 -
Carn Gluze
photo 70forum 2description 9 -
Trevelloe Carn
photo 1description 2link 1 -
Trevorgans Menhir
photo 17forum 1description 3 -
Letcha
photo 9 -
Cape Cornwall
photo 14description 2 -
Boscregan
photo 26description 2 -
Trink Hill
photo 5description 4 -
Tregiffian Vean
photo 14forum 1description 3 -
Nanjulian
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Castallack Round
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Castallack Carn
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Boleigh Fogou
photo 47forum 4description 16link 2 -
Castallack
photo 7description 2 -
Castallack 2
photo 6description 2 -
Rosewall Hill
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Merlin’s Rock and the Mousehole
description 1 -
The Pipers (Boleigh)
photo 87description 9 -
Swingate
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Trencrom Hill Well
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Trencrom Hill
photo 42ondemand_video 1description 13 -
The Merry Maidens
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Gûn Rith Menhir
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Tregiffian
photo 66description 14 -
St. Michael’s Mount
photo 18forum 1description 10 -
Escalls Cliff
photo 11description 2 -
Alsia Holy Well
photo 7description 5 -
Giant’s Well
photo 1description 1 -
Choone
photo 8description 4 -
Kemyel
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Kemyel 2
photo 3description 1 -
The Bowl Rock
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Trevear
description 1 -
Boscawen-Ros
photo 31ondemand_video 1description 4 -
Treverven
photo 24description 3 -
Beersheba
photo 9description 5 -
Table Mên
photo 2description 2 -
Mayon Standing Stone
photo 3description 1 -
Carbis Bay Longstone
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Sennen
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Mayon Cliff
photo 28description 4 -
Maen Castle
photo 42ondemand_video 1description 3 -
The Fairy Well
photo 6description 3 -
Treryn Dinas
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Treveneague Fogou
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St. Levan’s Stone
photo 8description 5 -
Pordenack Point
photo 18description 2 -
St. Levan’s Well
photo 7description 1 -
St Erth Round
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Carn Les Boel
photo 25ondemand_video 1description 3 -
Carnsew
photo 9 -
Roskestal West Cliff
description 1 -
Cudden Point
photo 1description 1 -
Phillack Towans
photo 4description 1 -
Castle Kayle
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Godolphin Hill
photo 6description 1link 1 -
Castle Pencaire
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Tregonning Hill
photo 11 -
Godrevy Barrow
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Connor Downs
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Trewavas Cliff
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Camel Rock
photo 5description 1 -
Gear Round
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Drym Round