Salakee Down

Nearest town:
Newlyn (57km ENE)
OS reference:
SV924104
OS sheet:
203
Latitude:
49° 54' 49.94 N
Longitude:
6° 17' 7.87 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Weathered granite of Stone A, marking the SE point of Borlase’s plan of the “stone circle”.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 15, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Two more of the large stones depicted by Borlase in his engraving of Salakee Down “stone circle”. Stone A (left) is at the SE of the site, Stone E (foreground) is within the southern arc in Borlase’s plan. Porth Hellick Point and Newfoundland Point beyond.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 15, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Another view of probable Stone C, with the Great Stone beyond. This would be looking approximately towards the Autumn equinox sunset.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 15, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Recumbent stone inside the area of the “stone circle” depicted by William Borlase in 1754. This would probably be Stone C in his engraving of the circle.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 15, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

The “Great stone” drawn by William Borlase and shown on the western arc of the circle he depicted on Salakee Down.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 15, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

NE entrance grave in the foreground, with SW entrance grave behind.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 13, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Looking across the chamber of the NE entrance grave to Porth Hellick Down where there are loads more chambered cairns.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 13, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Remains of exposed central chamber in the NE entrance grave.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 13, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Remaining slabs of the roof of the SW entrance grave. Drum Rock can just be seen far left – on the green knoll behind it are two further chambered cairns, although difficult to find in summer.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 13, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

The SW of a pair of entrance graves on Salakee Down, less overgrown than on our previous visit.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 13, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Drum Rock, a weathered granite boulder on Salakee Down, between the northern and southern pairs of chambered cairns, overlooking Porth Hellick.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 13, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

The EH scheduling shows two chambered cairns north of Salakee Down at SV 92258 10732. The area is overgrown and it’s difficult to tell what are natural stones and what are parts of the cairns.

Image credit: A. Brookes (20.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 13, 2014
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Heavily overgrown tomb, looking NE towards Porth Hellick Downs.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.6.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 25, 2010
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by Moth

The second Salakee grave we found – the chamber was trashed but many of the kerbstones remained

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Apr 13, 2004
Image of Salakee Down (Chambered Cairn) by Jane

Fire had torn through the undergrowth up here to reveal this unexpected delight – a very trashed cairn but with its ring of kerbstones almost intact!

Image credit: Jane Tomlinson
Jane
Jane Mar 18, 2004

Articles

Salakee Down

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 5, 2010

Next up we reach Salakee Down. The tombs here are much harder to see, being covered in deep bracken. I bumble about on top of one, finding a very long capstone still roughly in place, together with a decent kerb. G/F doesn’t share my enthusiasm and carries on along the coast path – very wise. What I do get from here is a great view of Giant’s Castle, with its concentric lines of ramparts. We head there next.

Salakee Down

Jane
Jane Mar 14, 2004

Along the southern end of St Mary’s, Salakee Downs is peppered with chambered cairns, but the gorse and bramble was impenetrable at times. Fortunately for us, there had been a bit of fire which revealed some of the cairns marked on the map. We found one about 7ms in diameter with a virtually complete kerb, with maybe only two of the stones now fallen.

Miscellaneous

Salakee Down
Chambered Cairn
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 13, 2014

Salakee Down Stone Circle (SV9250 1032)

Vivien and Robert Seaney, writing in Meyn Mamvro 84 (Summer 2014), refer to a book they found in the Archives at St Mary’s library: “Antiquities Historical and Monumental of the County of Cornwall” (1754) by William Borlase and its reference to a lost stone circle on Salakee Down, together with a plan of the site.

Part of the circle is formed by a “Great Stone” with “13 basons” on its top. Borlase depicts the stone in an engraving and describes it as over 7 feet tall, with a girth of 40 feet. The Seaneys located this stone and next to it found a flat area of exposed rock, which they believe is the location of the lost stone circle. They commented that the smaller stones shown in Borlase’s plan have disappeared, leaving only larger earthfast stones.

Full details of their findings are set out in Meyn Mamvro 84. Meyn Mamvro

Sites within 20km of Salakee Down

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