A semi circle of recumbent stones lies on the edge of the clitter.
ref: Parish of Northhill checklist
the grid ref given here is 24537730
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Apparently it was originally an Iron Age/Romano-British enclosed farmstead it was converted in the medieval period to a Playing Place where miracle plays were performed. The depression in the middle (The Devil's Spoon) was the place where the Devil sprang from during the performances.
There are several "Playing places" in Cornwall.
In Cornish they are called "plen-an-gwarry"
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The site is very near Carne barrow a.k.a. Veryan barrow.
Veryan is a pretty little village also worth a visit .
It has several unusual Round houses. It is said the houses were built round so that the Devil couldn't hide in the corners.
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This site is largely overgrown and little visited.
Has 12 kerb stones. the inner chamber consists of 4 side slabs per side and 2 capstones.
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Pronounced bos-PREN-is
Comes from Cornish "bos-porth-enys"
roughly translates as
"dwelling at the entrance to an isolated place"
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This site was once part of an Iron age village. The passage of this one is about 8 metres long.
It can be found about half a mile north of Constantine on the B3291 in a field opposite Trewardreva House.
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This site is also known locally as the Piskey hall
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Hurling is an ancient Cornish game played by 2 teams with a silver ball. The practise once took place all over Cornwall but now it is only continued at St. Columb Major and St. Ives. Don't confuse Cornish Hurling with Irish Hurling. The Cornish versions are played without the use of sticks.
At St. Columb the game is always played on Shrove Tuesday and 11 days later on a Saturday.
People say the sport originates from some kind of pagan sun worship, the ball is said to represent the rising sun in the early spring and it is a well known as a fertility/ good luck symbol.
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The site of a fogou at Boden Vean, Cornwall, has been known for some time and was rediscovered in 1991 following the digging of a water pipe trench by the landowner (Mr Christopher Hosken).
The site was then planned and drawn by the Cornwall Archaeology Unit who concluded that it was the remains of a partially collapsed fogou.
Below is the info from http://www.rlaha.ox.ac.uk/archy/abst401.html
(this link now dead) but from a cache search on google it is possible to read the following....
Archaeometry 40, 1 (1998), 187-216
A geophysical survey was conducted at Boden Vean, St. Anthony Meneage, Cornwall, over the site of a buried chamber thought to be the remains of a souterrain or fogou. A combination of geophysical techniques was successfully applied including an experimental microgravity survey over the location of the buried chamber itself. Magnetometer survey revealed a complex palimpsest of archaeological activity extending throughout the surrounding landscape, centred on a rectangular ditched enclosure containing the fogou. A series of gravity anomalies were recorded in the vicinity of the latter which were consistent with the collapsed section of the feature recorded by the Cornish Archaeological Unit. Further gravity anomalies suggested the presence of additional void features, possibly related to the extended passages of the fogou.
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The hill-top at Eggardon is crowned with the impressive ramparts and ditches of one of Dorset's best preserved hill-forts.
Dating from the Iron Age over 2,000 years ago, this fort has not been excavated in modern times and much of its archaeology remains hidden.
The fort covers nearly 40 acres of the hill-top, its defences following the hill-slope on three sides and dramatically cutting off the fourth.
Half of the interior seems never to have been ploughed.
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To reach this site follow the lane running south from Week St. Mary to Poundstock road. 1 mile NW of week St. Mary.
Oval in shape with diameters of 150m by 210m.
The ramparts are about 3 metres high.
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Sometimes known as the Giant's Quoit.
Same type as the Trevethey Quoit but not as tall.
The capstone is a giant stone 15 feet long and 2 and a half feet thick.
It is estimated that thestone weighs about 14 tons making it the heavist of any standing Quoit in Cornwall.
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There are at least forty-four barrows in this Bronze Age cemetery.
The barrows of many types, sizes and date, straddle the A35, Bridport to Dorchester road.
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Highdown Hill is a small hill 226 feet high that stands just north of Ferring on the West Sussex coast and is seperated from the main bulk of the South Downs to the north.
It has had much use in Prehistoric times with a settlement in the Bronze age, fortification in the Iron age, a Roman bath house and a Saxon cemetary, allegedly the burial place of the Saxon King Ælla after the battle at Mount Badon with King Arthur in 516AD
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Cissbury Ring is one of the greatest of Britain's prehistoric hill forts.
The banks and ditches which you see are are the remains of a vast defensive wall enclosing an area of 65 acres. The inner band is over a mile around!
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Iron Age fortifications over-run by the Romans in 44AD. Hod Hill is the largest Iron Age fort in Dorset, running to 54 acres and accommodating up to 250 roundhouses.
It also offers a rare example of a Roman fort inside an Iron Age one. The Romans’ garrison housed 600 foot soldiers and over 200 cavalry, safe within palisade and ditch defences.
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An Iron Age hillfort which it is thought to have been abandoned after the Roman conquest like other hill-forts in Dorset.
Excavations have been carried out in the early '60s and from 1964 to 1971
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Situated just outside Dorchester, on the western side, Poundbury Hillfort overlooks the River Frome on the north side. Originally it had two ramparts and ditches on all sides.
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Sited on a hill, 807 feet above the sea level, Warbstow Barrows is one of the largest and best preserved earthworks in the County.
It has two ramparts, each with two entrances, the inner area being 370 by 450 feet. The outer rampart averages 15 feet in height, with an external ditch 15 feet wide.
In the middle is a barrow, called the 'Giants' grave, and sometimes 'King Arthur's grave'.
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Born in Cornwall 1966.
Main interests include Hillforts and barrows. I try to cover mainly Cornish sites but about five times a year get to visit Dorset where my wifes family live. Fairly keen on folklore and earth mysteries etc.
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