The Heritage Trust

The Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) wound up the Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting yesterday (26 June 2014) in Portsmouth, England. The meeting was held jointly at Guildhall and the University of Portsmouth Park and King Henry Buildings, and was sponsored by the RAS, STFC, SEPnet and Winton Capital. Of interest to archaeologists and researchers of prehistoric monuments was a discussion of -

“…a developing field of research that merges astronomical techniques with the study of ancient man-made features and the surrounding landscapes… From the ‘Crystal Pathway’ that links stone circles on Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor to star-aligned megaliths in central Portugal, archaeo-astronomers are finding evidence that Neolithic and Bronze Age people were acute observers of the Sun, as well as the Moon and stars, and that they embedded astronomical references within their local landscapes.”

More here – theheritagetrust.wordpress.com/2014/06/27/archaeo-astronomy-steps-out-from-shadows-of-the-past/

World Heritage Day, and a film by Director Grant Wakefield in Devizes on Saturday, 19 April 2014.

A digitised copy of William Stukeley’s 1740 book, Stonehenge, a temple restor’d to the British Druids.

On the way to Stonehenge at the end of last year two of our members stopped off briefly at Avebury. There was only time for a quick walk over to the Cove where they took some photos. It was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Bright, low sunlight raked across the stones from the west. Later, when they looked at their photos, there was something on one of the Cove stones that they hadn’t noticed before.

Revisiting the Past. A guest feature by Roy Goutté.

“Standing on the edge of open moorland to the south of the Stannon china clay works, Stannon circle is easily accessed by the road that leads to the clay works from Harpur’s Downs to the west. Two other stone circles lie close by: Louden is some 800m to the south-east, while Fernacre is 2km away, due east of Stannon and south of the Roughtor summit. Stannon appears to have much in common with these other two circles which are all very large by Cornish standards and all are surprisingly made up of a large number of small upright stones. Stannon has around 70 stones laid out in an irregular ring but originally there may have been as many as 82+. Fernacre also has a large number of stones in its make-up, Louden fewer, yet the three circles are the largest in Cornwall and could have been amongst the first to be built possibly from the late Neolithic where many of the other smaller circles are regarded to be more likely to have been early Bronze-Age, although a lack of dating evidence in Cornish circles is a problem. All three are irregular in shape and may have been laid out by eye rather than using a central peg and rope to mark out an accurate circle.”

The Stripple Stones: Out of sight, out of mind

With just two more stone circles to visit on Bodmin’s moors (Leaze would be the last one) I set out on a beautiful Friday morning to search out the Stripple Stones on Hawks Tor Downs. This one was of special interest to me because it is a stone circle 47 yards in diameter set within a henge some 58 yards in diameter and the only such one in Cornwall, so I was really looking forward to that moment when you cast your eyes on a new circle for the first time, especially one so special.

Cornwall’s Historic Trippet Stones: Under siege by cattle…

On the 5th of July 2013 this was the astonishing scene filmed at 2pm when, as the video shows, cattle were purposely driven across Manor Common causing them, on the whole, to enter and pass through the circle thus creating a situation where a Scheduled Monument was seriously put in danger.

The new Cornwall Heritage Trust website is now up and running -

“Cornwall Heritage Trust was founded in 1985 to help preserve important sites in Cornwall and to protect and promote the Duchy’s rich heritage. We own or manage some of the most iconic and important historic places in Cornwall.”