ocifant

10th October 2003

There are apparently 8 tombs in total here. The main one is well signposted, and has been restored by EH. I managed to find two of the others in the thick heather, as well as a strangely sculpted rock that looked like two IKEA armchairs, before the rain finally started. The landscape is difficult to make out, the various lumps and bumps looking like a lunar landscape hidden in the plush heather.

9th October 2003

No problems here. Turn off the road just south of the Goonhilly Visitor Centre, into the old RAF centre, which is now in use as a car park. Take the path that leads back to the Earth Centre. And follow the path round to the left. When the fence disappears to the right, follow it around, keeping the fence on your left at all times. After a couple of corners, the Dry Tree is in front of you. Watch out for adders in season, apparently!

This is a big old stone, and as others have said before me, affords lots of photographic opportunities with the modern comms dishes in the background. It was re-raised early in the 20thC, supposedly not too far from its original position.

7th October 2003

The way this has been ‘restored’ onto the church boundary wall, makes it look like one with the large (probably originally standing) stone underneath it. I don’t think this is the case though. Andrew Langdon in ‘Stone Crosses of West Penwith’ states that “the shaft and base no longer exist”.

7th October 2003

Nice to see that Gun Rith has been re-erected, complete with original (or near as dammit) lean. The base has been placed into concrete this time, and the field wall has been reconstructed around it, so hopefully it won’t fall again in a hurry.

7th October 2003

I spent quite a while at the Maidens today, and had the place to myself for a change. The wind was blowing a gale, but at least the fog had lifted by the time we got here. I managed to take some nice photos, but nothing that isn’t on TMA already, though I may try to stitch a panorama together at a later date.

6th October 2003

The fogou is actually in sight of the road, opposite the entrance gate to Trewardreva House itself. A herd of cows in the adjoining field made me slightly nervous, as they all charged toward the gate as I entered the field. I wasn’t sure if they could get into the field containing the fogou…

Andy Norfolk described this as a “cosy, cuddly fogou” on the Stones Mailing List, and I’d have to agree with him. I didn’t descend all the way in, partly because of my bovine nerves, but it looks as if the main passageway may open out to the right at the end. Craig Wetherill in Cornovia refutes this stating that “it was once thought a branch passage may have run southwards…this is now considered unlikely”.

Daylight pervades the far end of the fogou, where the covering stones have shifted somewhat, but this didn’t detract from the cuddliness for me.

6th October 2003

There’s a car park right next to the church, and a 30yd or so gated path down to the church. The stone is just past the entrance door to the church.

I didn’t notice when I was there, but from the photos I took, it looks as if a smaller stone has been perched on top of the main stone, which stands on a slight mound next to the path.

An old cross stands on the opposite side of the path (W Cornwall 69). This cross was first recorded in the 1890s, located in the vicarage grounds. It had moved to its current location by the 1920s.