Easily located on waste land immediately to the left of the lane from St. Just to Carn Gluze.
It is placed above the highest cliffs on this part of the coast.
The entrance looks out to sea
One of the largest barrows in West Penwith
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Two small tombs on the hillside above the road from Treen to New Mill.
One chamber shows signs of having been designed for entry after completion, possibly for ritual purposes.
Similar tombs are found on the Scilly isles
This is the largest barrow in Cornwall.
A massive 33.5m diameter and 6.5 m high.
Marked on some maps as a “stone circle” but is more likely to be a cairn retainer. It is right next to a medieval village with prehistoric cairns and houses nearby
Today there are only 4 stumps, eleven or twelve fallen stones and on upright originally 1.43 metres high but now leaning.
Many stones have been removed the original total was said to be about 33-39.
The diameter was said to be at one time 45m making it one of the biggest in Cornwall
A restored circle with 22 uprights and a diameter of about 32 metres.
It gives a good idea of what a of what a typical Bodmin moor circle would have looked like.
you can reach the site by taking the steep hill up from Trezibbett Farm.
The site is said to have several alighnments.....
Mid-summer sunset lines up with Brown willy.
Candlemas sunrise is with Stowes hill.
Equinox sunrise is with Kilmar Tor.
Equinox sunset is with Hawks Tor.
In 1885 it was recorded in living memory that this stone was used for curing infirm children by passing them through the hole.
This stone is a Triangular 2.29 slab with a 4.44 m diameter hole placed 0.71 m from the ground.
The weirdest stone you will find in Cornwall!
It The stone is behind a cottage on a lane going due north from Gweek to Penryn. It happens to be in someone’s back garden so permission is needed to veiw
Less than a mile from Spettigue in field near Tregune farm.
It stands about 7 feet tall
This stone was once known as King Arthur’s tomb. It lies in a wooded area near the river Camel. It is a huge stonelaid on its side with 2 lines of inscription.
LATINI IC IACIT FILIVS MAGARI
Latinus lies here son of Mararus.
MEYN MAMVRO is the magazine of ancient stones and sacred sites in Cornwall. It has been published regularly 3 times a year since 1986, and, taken together, all the editions contain a wealth of original material about the prehistory and ancient customs of Cornwall.
EARTH ENERGIES * ANCIENT STONES * SACRED SITES * PAGANISM * LEYPATHS
CORNISH PRE-HISTORY & CULTURE * MEGALITHIC MYSTERIES * LEGENDS & FOLKLORE
This small entrance grave is situated on low lying ground near the hamlet of Brane, to the south of Carn Euny. William Copeland Borlase first recorded this monument in 1863. it is illustrated in his book Naenia Cornubiae. in 1865 it was referred to by J. T. Blight as a conical shapedbarrow with a diameter of 15 feetand a height of 9 feet.
ref:
Romance of the Stones by Robin Payne
The database includes every non-Runic inscription raised on a stone monument within Celtic-speaking areas (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Dumnonia, Brittany and the Isle of Man) in the early middle ages (AD 400-1000). There are over 1,200 such inscriptions.
Pear shaped stone just over 9 feet tall . Only discoved in 1968 by local farmer.
It is built into a stone hedge between Berry down and whitebarrow downs
Only discovered in 1983. Recorded in the Bodmin moor survey
3 uprights remain ubove the surface 12 others have been detected just beneath the peat.
Barely visable it seems to have virtually sunk in the peat!
Between 1978 and 1985 an intensive archaeological survey of Bodmin Moor took place using both air photographs and field survey. It was undertaken by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit and the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME).
Just over 8 feet tall.
Near the village of Trewint, close to the A3O.
Closeby is the Elephant Rock a former Logan stone.
The stone leans over slightly and is in danger of falling.
Easily approached by a public footpath from the lane between Pencarrow and Moorgate.
A tall (nearly 3 metres tall) granite stone stone with extensive views to west and south.
Just a couple of miles from Camelford.
This is the highest stone on the moor.
Two granite longstones , one standing one fallen.about 5 metres apart.
Local legend says that if the stones were ever removed then they would return overnight
In Cornish ‘HYR’ means ‘Long’ and ‘Ven’ means stone.
The stone once marked the boundary of Predannick moor.
It has since been encompassed by a housing estate. It now sits nicely in a shrubbery in someones back garden.
Can be viewed from the roadside.
Nearly 10 feet tall this stone stands in a farmers field near St. Keverne..
First recorded in 1851 by R. Thomas.
This 9.8 foot menhir first recorded in 1906.
It stands just over a mile south west of Carmenellis.
It was re-erected in the early seventies and unsimpathetically set in a base of concrete.
Rare sunny day in December
Image credit: Phil Ellery
taken 2 dec 2001
A huge quartz menhir
Image credit: Phil Ellery
Nearly 8 feet tallstands on Siblyback moor by a trackway that runs alongside Withey brook.
There are remains of prehistoric fields and huts nearby. there is also a post medieval settlement in the vicinity
This small menhir (4.25 feet tall) is said to resemble a small mischievious hooded piskey!
This row of low lying stones is about 244 metres longand is aligned NE/SW.
The heights range from 12 inches to 36 inches
2 standing stones 130 yards WSW of the Hurlers
First noted in 1869 by W.C Borlase
On the road from St. Clear to the Hurlers. A Christianised menhir?
The most phallic of all Cornish menhirs!
The large unworked stone was shown as a boundary marker on the 1840 tithe map. It was erected in it’s present position in 1932 by the Royal Cornwall Society in 1932.
Easy access. Can be found to the south of the airfield. It stands in a side road, slow down as you drive along because you may easily miss this one.
Beside the road leading to Fowey in Cornwall stands an ancient, weathered stone measuring some 7 feet in height and set in a millstone base.
It was once much closer to Castle Dore and may have been the origin of the association of this site with the story of the tragic love of Tristan and Iseult.
There is a Latin inscription on the stone, now much worn, which can be restored with only a little judicial guesswork to read:
Drustans hic iacet Cunomori filius
This means, “Drustanus lies here, the son of Cunomorus”.
It has been suggested, plausibly, that the characters referred to are Tristan, the nephew of Mark – Drustan being a recognized variant of the hero’s name and Cunomorus being a Latinization of Cynvawr.
stands in a small field over looking St. Austell.
first recorded in1525
Stands in the school playing field of Mount Charles School.
10.7 feet tall and weighs about 7 tons. this is the largest standing stone outside of Penwith.
This stone once stood at Longstone downs at SW984561.
uk.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?grid=SW984561&scale=25,000&title=Menevagar+Longstone
It had been here for about 3000 years but was moved in August 1970, due to China Clay workings in the area.
The whole area known as Longstone downs is now entirely under clay workings. The stone was moved to the village of Roche and is now in a garden outside some sheltered homes.
Before the stone was moved an excavation was carried out in the area.
A pit was found large enough for a burial but no remains were found, only nine quartz pebbles.
The top of the stone is very pointed and was unfortunately snapped off during it’s move to Roche.
The remains of the quoit consist of a single upright about 6 feet tall with the former capstonelying on its side against it at an angle of about 40degrees.
the capstone is made of granite and is said to weigh about 12.5 tonnes this makes it the same size as the Lanyon and Zennor capstones
A contemporary theory, first advanced by E. M. R. Ditmas in her study of the topography of the Tristan legend, suggests that this may have been the site of the hermit Ogrin’s chapel, where the lovers, having escaped from King Mark, found temporary refuge. The medieval poet Beroul, who wrote one of the earliest versions of the story, appears to display an intimate knowledge of the Cornish landscape, and his description of Ogrin’s chapel certainly bears a more than passing resemblance to Roche Rock.
Two burial mounds on Porth Island were excavated in 1872 by William Copeland Borlase. One contained brown mould and a skull; the other contained a skeleton and a small beautifully, perforated axe head containing felspar & quartz. The skeleton was replaced. Other finds on the island included coins, glass beads, rings, ceramics, and spindle whorls (small stone discs with a central hole, used for wool spinning). Remains of Iron age houses were also found which suggest that the Island was occupied between 250 – 200 B.C.
This ruined stone circle lies just over half a mile to the WNW of the Hurlers.
V. diff to find.
Ring consists of 16 fallen stones and possibly a stump
From Prehistoric Cornwall The ceremononial Monuments by John Barratt
Turnstone press1982
The Story Of Tregeagle
Tregeagle, the Cornish Bluebeard, was popularly supposed to have sold his soul to the devil that his wishes might be granted for a certain number of years. He is supposed to have married and murdered several heiresses for their money. One day, just before his death, Tregeagle was present when one man lent another a large sum of money without receipt or security on the behalf of Tregeagle. Soon after Tregeagle’s death the borrower denied he ever had the money. He was taken to court and there said “If Tregeagle ever saw it I wish to God that Tregeagle may come into court and declare it.” As soon as the words were spoken Tregeagle appeared and gave witness for the plaintiff against the man saying that he could not speak falsely “but he who had found it so easy to raise him would find it difficult to lay him.” The money was paid, but Tregeagle’s spirit followed the man day and night. Finally the Parson was able to exorcise the spirit from the man with great difficulty. There are variations on this story, including that Tregeagle himself received the money but failed to enter it in his books. His ghost was doomed to do many impossible things, such as to empty Dosmery Pool, near Bodmin Moor, with a shell with a hole in the bottom. This pool had the reputation of being bottomless.
Strange tales are told of Tregeagle appearance to people and his dismal howls at not being able to fulfill his tasks. Mothers say in Cornwall of their crying children “He is wailing louder than Tregeagle!” Other stories have ghosts on the shore of this lonely pool trying to bind sand into bundles with bands of sand. Tregeagle had to remove sand from one cove to another only to have the sea return it. On one of these sand hauling expeditions he is supposed to have dropped a bag of sand at the mouth of Loe-pool, near Helston. Now, in the wet seasons, the waters of this pool rise and obstruct the workings of the mills on its banks and heavy seas silt up the mouth of the pool. At these times the mayor of Helston by ancient custom presents two leather purses with three halfpence each as his dues to the Lord of Penrose who owns the pool and asks for permission to cut a path through the sand to the sea. Another task for Tregeagle is to make and carry away a bundle of sand tied with a rope of sand near a cove at Land’s End. But the spirit never rests with these never-ending tasks and the devil haunts the spirit until it hides for refuge in a hermit’s ruined chapel on St. Roche’s rocks. Near Land’s End, when the sea roars before a storm, people say “Tregeagle is calling!” and his voice can be heard around Loe-pool.
Popular Romances of the West of England
by Robert Hunt
Hunt, Robert, editor (1807-1887). Popular Romances of the West of England: Or the Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall. 2nd Ed. 1871. London: John Camden Hotten, 1865.
To reach the top of the ruins, two steel ladders have to be climbed.
If you wish to copy any of the photographs, please do so but please credit Charles Winpenny as the photographer, or if they are for use on your Web site, please add a link to his site.
All photographs Copyright © 2001 Charles Winpenny. All rights reserved.
Image credit: Charles Winpenny http://www.cornwallcam.co.uk
The ruins are those of a 15th century chapel and hermitage where the legend tells that the leper, St. Gonand lived.
Image credit: Charles Winpenny
The ruins are those of a 15th century chapel and hermitage where the legend tells that the leper, St. Gonand lived.
You may regonise the site from the Omen film “The Final conflict”
If you wish to copy any of the photographs, please do so but please credit Charles Winpenny as the photographer, or if they are for use on your Web site, please add a link to his site.
Image credit: Charles Winpenny http://www.cornwallcam.co.uk
The dramatic granite outcrop of Roche Rock is on the south side of the village of Roche, which itself lies on the north side of the St. Austell china clay area.
Copied with permission from
cornwallcam.co.uk
If you wish to copy any of the photographs, please do so but please credit Charles Winpenny as the photographer, or if they are for use on your Web site, please add a link to this site.
Image credit: © 2001 Charles Winpenny