ancient trackway. carnstabba

ancient trackway. this stone is part of a wall that makes up this section of an ancient trackway leading originally up the the crest of carnstabba hill and beyond. carnstabba holds some extraordinary stone features – giant stones, logan stones

trevalgan hill cave.

trevalgan hill. cave. this is a place which holds the imagination _ where the cover stone is held upright to announce its entrance such that one questions its status as a natural formation. could it not be be formed and

neolithic long carn or barrow. chaple carn brea west penwith.

neolithic long carn or barrow. chaple carn brea west penwith. the last high point before the western sea board and the site of much prehistory – heavily populated by a range of neolithic and bronze age long and round barrows entrance graves and carns. it is an important ceremonial site in view of the atlantic with many of its sites unexcavated. comprises an elongated stony mound, oriented NNW to SSE, situated on a crest above a slight southern slope. It is 26m long and varies between 5.0m and 6.0m wide. within this width comprises a flattened mound of small tightly packed stones, which at the northern end broadens to 3.2m. seven earthfast stones occur at irregular intervals by the edge of the flat mound and again towards the perimeter of the mound. these average between 0.1m to 0.3m but one of two leaning stones is 0.9m high. there are at least seventeen displaced blocks or slabs averaging 1.0m long and 0.7m wide on the mound and around its perimeter, but with no obvious sockets to confirm that they are part of a displaced kerb. one of the most interesting features is the way it incorporates a large 15m horizontal outcrop. initially level with the stone mound, this now rises 1.7m above it and at the southern end is 3.0m above the present ground level. along its axis small stones have been packed against and into its crevices. probably important before the carn was built, these outcrops have had their meaning and myths transferred to the barrow to enhance its status and presence in this ceremonial landscape

merry maidens and stone rings.

merry maidens stone circle. these stone rings seem closely related to the round houses which are contemporary with them. the tradition of circular monuments is long standing, from henges to stone circles, round barrows to round houses and that they share the same ground plans suggest an overarching cosmology. ‘the geometric form of the circle provided a template for understanding the world’ (bradley 1998). that on ‘bodmin moor and in west penwith and elsewhere we find circles within circles within circles, in the form of rings of cairns on the hills, stone circles, circular houses, and circular post rings within these houses. (bradley 1998). here again, form and content are intimately related and provide a further interdependence between the house as a practical entity and its symbolic value, its importance in the material provision of life and in which daily ritual becomes imbedded