West Penwith has an astonishing amount of prehistoric monuments scattered all over the granite hilltops. From quoits, to tombs and even ancient settlements left behind by Cornwalls earliest settlers.
Little is known about the lives of these neolithic builders, however they predate stonehenge and avebury.
While cornwall's stone circles aren't quite on the same scale as stonehenge, they are still hugely atmospheric.
and what's better is that we had them all to ourselves
The merry maidens, a ring of 19 stones near Lamorna, a supposed to be the petrified remains of a group of local ladies turned to stone for dancing on a sunday.
Being a sunday, how could we resist dancing in the middle...
you'll be glad to know none of us were tuned to stone...
Most of the penwith monuments mark the location of ancient burial sights. The most dramatic being the quoits...
three or more upright stones topped by a capstone, built on top of a chamber tomb. most were probably once covered by a barrow of earth or stones, but over the centuries have been worn away to reveal the supporting structure.
the most impressive one we came across was called Lanyon Quoit.
the capstone alone is thought to weight 13 stone,
The area is also dotted with the remains of ancient hillforts, many reduced to piles of rubble, but many archaeologists have found all sorts of prehistoric relics including weapons, pottery, and evidence of tin smelting over time.
the most amazing ruins were of course at the Iron Age Village of Chysauster.. After visiting skara brae in scotland, i can say that this was definitely one of the best preserved ancient settlements i've seen.
it consisted of 8 stonewalled houses, each complete with it's own central courtyard.
it was fantastic to be able to wander about in the houses themselves, sit on what used to be chairs, wander around what would have been small garden areas...
it was eerily familiar to modern day life,
and yet we're talking houses from the 13th century... it's amazing.
W did go in search of one other sight the Men-an-tol, a weird formation consisting of two upright menhirs flanking a hollow stone. local legend states that squeezing through the stone will either cure you of rickets or get you pregnant.
however all we knew was that it was in an unmarked place and a 15-20min walk from a back road up an unmarked unused farm road...
we had the right road i'm sure, but try as we might we couldn't find it anywhere... after trying 3 different hills and unused farm tracks, and being shot at by some over excited farmer... we gave up...
mission not completed...
however i will be back, and i will find you!
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