zennor quoit. neolithic dolmen. the movie part one.

dolmen are amongst the earliest monuments to appear on the penwith peninsular and were carefully positioning within the landscape. placed on the plateau below and east of zennor hill and adjacent to the sperris outcrops and quoit. zennor hill contains

tabletop dolmen. from beach stones.

tabletop dolmen. from beach stones.
many of the quoits in west cornwall have their capstones supported by four main stones making up the opposing sides with a blocking and back stone completing the enclosure. some now have stones fallen or removed and some have been rebuilt in relatively recent times. the earliest megaliths in cornwall announcing the transition to farming or the hearding of cattle and the onset of neolithic practices. the capstones are seemingly carefully chosen to resemble the tors that surround and are intervisible with them. interestingly many have had beach pepples found within or near them
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tabletop quoit. dolmen. cromlech.

tabletop quoit. dolmen. cromlech. amongst the earliest megalithic monuments to appear in britain, dolmen or cromlech become part of prehistoric landscape. possible dates are between 5800-6300BP. portable versions available from pebble beaches near you

zennor quoit. neolithic chambered tomb.

zennor quoit. neolithic chambered tomb. w borlase the antiquarian drew a plan of the site in the mid-c18 when the capstone was roughly horizontal and the chamber was set into a low stony mound approx 12.8m in diameter. by the time his great-great grandson visited the site in the middle of the c19, the capstone had slipped and the western upright supporting it had snapped.
the site today comprises two chambers set into a low stony mound. the main chamber is trapezoidal with its long axis running off NNE by 75 degrees. the western end is 0.83m wide, reducing to 1.9m. the total length being 3.16m. the capstone now tilted and following the line of the supporting stones is 5.33m by 2.9m and weighs about 9.45 tonnes. it has an antechamber at the eastern end formed by two impressive portal stones.
quoits are among the oldest megalithic architecture on the west penwith peninsula and would have represented a local variation of a tradition which had travelled from the levant up the west coast of spain to brittany, to arrive in cornwall in the late neolithic, around 3300 bce on route to wales, anglesea and ireland