Prehistoric Remains in Author(s): A. L. Lewis Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 35 (Jul. - Dec., 1905), pp. 427-434 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2843077 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 11:11

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This content downloaded from 195.34.78.245 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:11:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ( 427 )

PREHISTORIC REMAINS IN COPtNWALL.

PART 2.-WEST CORNWALL.

BY A. L. LEWIS,F.C.A.

So long ago as the year 1895 I was permittedto place beforethe Anthropologica Ilistitute a paper on "Prehistoric Remains in Cornwall, Part 1, East Cornlwall,"a title which certainlyimplied that -Part 2, West Cornwall,might be

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FIG. 1.-MAP OF WEST CORNWALL,SHOWING POSITIONS OF THE PREHISTORICREMAINS. expected to follow. The prehistoricremains of West Cornwall,being for the most part more easy of access than those of East Cornwall, are much better knownand have been morefrequently described, so that the remarksI shall have to make upon them will be principallyin referenceto pointswhich have be en VOL. XXXV. 2 F

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.245 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:11:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 428 A. L. LEWIS.-PrelhistoricRemains in Cornwall. passed over by previouswriters, but a certainamount of descriptionwill be necessaryeven for that purpose. The best known,though by no meansthe largest circle in Cornwall,is DANCE MAEN,or DAWNSMAEN, five miles west from Penzance. Its diameter is about 76 feet,and it consistsat presentof nineteen stones, but there is a gapin theeastern side,where another stone may have stood,or whichmay have been intended as a special entrance;the stonesvary from 3- to 41 feetin height,and theirwidth and thicknessare in approximateproportion. Mr. Edmondsin his Land's-End District,published in 1862,said that threeof the nineteenstones were fallen; these,however, were set up againbefore my first visit in 1869,and haveapparently remainedupright ever since,but, as the fieldin whichthe circle stands has been undercultivation for many years, it is notunlikely that some of thestones have been slightlyshifted from time to time,and that the irregularityof the intervalsbetween them, and some differencesbetween the measurementsof

FIG. 2.-"1DANCE, MAENq," LOOKING NoRTH, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY MR. J. B. PENGELLY.

Mr. Lukis, Mr. Tregelles, and myself may be accounted for in that way. This circleis also calledthe " MerryMaidens," oni account of a traditionthat the stones were girls who wereturned into stonepillars for dancingon Sunday,and two monoliths,15 anid13 feethigh, which stand 317 feetapart, the nearestbeinig 10050feet, and 40 degreeseast of northfrom the circle,are called the "Pipers." Accordingto the 6-inchordnance map a line drawnthrough these stones would pass outside the north-westernquarter of the circle,but Mr. Tregelles,after carefulexamination, thought they were in line withits centre,but, as it is not certainwhether either of themcould ever have been seein from the circle,it might be doubtedwhether there were any real connectionbetween them, but for the traditionwhich I have mentioned.Another stone 9 feethigh, called the Goon Rith or Longstone,is at verynearly the same distancefrom the circle as the "Pipers,"but is 9 degreessouth of westand plainlyvisible from it; 1961 feet

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.245 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:11:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions A. L. LEWIs.-PrehistoricRemtains in Cornwvall. 429 and 8 degrees west of north fromthe neareststone of the circle is a stone 5 feet 4 inches high,with a hole 51 inchesin diameterthrough the upper part of it; this stone is now used as a gate-post,and may perhaps not now occupyits original position. On the otherside of the circle,slightly east of south,and about 49 feet away from its circumference,are two stones lying in the field,similar in size to those composingthe circle; these probablystood -uprightoriginally, and formed an entrance,or, it may be, part of an avenue leading up to the circle,as there are other stones furtheraway in nearly the same direction; these two stoneswere therein 1869, 1891, and in 1898, but have lnotbeen previouslynoticed, so far as I know,and I was informedin 1891 that,although the circle was protected,these stoneswere not; still,it can hardlybe doubtedthat theywere connectedwith the circle, as they lie in a well-proportionedposition-16 to 17 feetapart, and just three times that distance from the circle,so as to forma suitable entranceto it. In 1869 there was also a small stone lying against a wall about 120 feetnorth- east fromthe circle,in the directionof the "Pipers," which mighthave formed part of the system. Mr. Lukis says of the " Pipers " and " Goon Rith" stone that theyand five barrows in the imimlediateviciniity "imply a necropolis,"but that, although the groundround these stoneshas been dug into,no tracesof interment have been found, An old stonebreaker,who told me in 1898 that he had beelnin the place forseventy years, said he knew a man who had dug against one of the " Pipers " and found a potfull of ashes; this,if true,was evidentlynot known to Messrs. Borlase and Lukis, but one potfullof ashes does not make much of a " necropolis." The same old man said with regard to the holed stone,that it had been moved fromits original position,where it had stood in connectionwith another holed stone,and that when the sun shone throughthe holes in some particularway " theycalled it Midsummer"; this may be only a repetitionof somethingsaid by modernvisitors, but it may,on the otherhand, be an echo of an old tradition,so it is perhapsworth recording.' The "(NINE MAIDENS " circle at BOSCAWEN-UN is about four miles and a half from Penzance, to the south of the Land's-End road,and about three miles north-westfrom '-Dance Maen ' circle. It consistsof nineteenstones, at an averag,e distance of about 11 feet,with a gap on the west,which may or may not have been occupiedby anotherstone; its diametersare 82-83 feet fromnorth-west to south-east,and 71-72 feetfrom north-east to south-west. On a line runningfrom south-westto north-east,through the centre,there is within the circle a stone, south-westfrom the centre, but leaning 3 feet towards it, and pointingas it were to some fallen stones lying across the circumferenceof the circle at the north-east,which some have thoughtto be the remains of a ,but which

I Since this paper was read Sir Norman Lockyerhas published an account of some investigationsmade bv himat Dalice Maen (Nature, February15th, 1906). He was permitted to have a gap made in the wall betweenithe circleand the "Pipers," but foundthat although the " Pipers" werein line withthe circle,neither of themwas visiblefrom it. 2 F 2

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.245 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:11:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 4.30 A. L. LEWIS.-PrehistoricRemains in Cornwall. others,including myself, have thoughtto be the remains of another stone,which probably stood inside the circle at the north-east,matching that which still stands or leans at the south-west. "416 yards away on the north-east,"says Mr. Tregelles,'" is a ,8 feethigh, standing on the moor,imarked on the 6-inch ordnancemap as 'Stone cross,'it would,if the hedges were removed,be visible fromthe circle. In a lane leading fromthe farm to the road is another ineiihir, 10 feethigh, and 690 yardsnorth-east of the circle,but lnotvisible fromit. A line drawnthrough the two menhirswould pass to the lnorthof the circle." In a letter to me, dated October10th, 1893, he says:-" the menhirsthere, although ruinning in the rightdirection, are not in line with the circle; there is another menhir on the east-south-eastof the circle,which I-omitted to mention,and this is plainly visible fromthe circle." I may point out,however, that in this circlethe reference to the north-eastis made by the leaning stone and possiblyby the fallen stone inside the rinig,and does not depend upon the inenhirsoutside mentionedby Mr. Tregelles. Miss Elizabeth Carne,the ownerof thiscircle, caused a trenchto be dug throughit in or about 1862, but nothinigwas found-a not uncommon experience,which tends to show that these circles were not sepulchral. Someone who has examinedthe foundationsof the leaning stone has stated that its slope is not accidental,but was speciallyarranged. One of the stones of the circle is a mass of whitequartz; it is at the south-west. LANYONQUOIT (41 miles north-westfrom Penzance) is popularlybetter known than any other Cornish antiquity, because it is a favourite object for photographers,but, as it was blown down in 1815, and set up againi in 1824, withoultany attempt to place its stones in their original position,it cannot be regardedas a representativeof any type of monument,or of any value from a purelyarchaeological point of view. It consists of a capstone161 feetby 9 feet, supportedby threestones about 5 feet high; these howeverwere originally7 feet high; threeother stones lie flaton the ground,which may have formedwith the others,part of the walls of a chamber. Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt says an interment was foundin the groundunderneath this monumentin the middleof the eighteenth century(Long Ago, March, 1874). A little way fromthis monumentare three stones known as West Lanyon Quoit. Up to 1790 these were buriedin a mound,from which nearly one hundred cart-loadsof earthwere removedbefore the stones were discovered: under them were foundan urn and some bones broken. Of the threestones, one, 131 feetlong, and from7 to 92 feetwide, leans againsta standingstone 52 feethigh and broad,the thirdis a stump 18 inches high,which however helps to supportthe leaning stone. Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt says in the article already mentionedthat the standing stone was the southend of a chamberof whichthe two side stones IO2 and 9 feet long,with another to make the second up to -10, were there,but that the northend

"The Stone Circles of Cornwall,"by G. F. Tregelles,Penzance Natural Historyana AntiquarianSociety's Transactions, 1893-4.

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.245 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:11:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions A. L. LEWIS.-PrehistoricRemains in Cornwall. 431 was open; the sides of the chamberhad disappearedbefore my visit and it seems doubtfulwhether the greatstone was ever placed on the othersas a capstone. CHUNQUOIT is anothersepulchral chamber a little more than a mile from West Lanyon; it is still partlyburied in a cairn,and consistsof fourupright stones stupportinga cover, and is about 5 feethigh and square inside; the interioris half full of small loose stones,which appear to have formeda dry walling up of an entrancebetween two of the larger stones, after this wall was pushed into the chamberthe largerstones slipped a- little and closed up the entrance. On the top of a hill near is CHUN CASTLE, a double circular wall of loose stones,with the remains of some cross divisions between,which probablyfornmed dwellings and storehouses. Mr. Edrnondshas remarkedthat Chun Quoit and Castle and Lanyon and West Lanyon Quoits are nearlyin a line east and west,but I do notthink that any importanceis to be attachedto this. At Tregaseal,near St. Just,six miles west-north-westfromi Penzance. are the remains-of two circles,about due east and west from each other,called the Nine Maidens,"or, according to Dr. Borlase,the Tregaseal Dancing Stones,the centres of which are about 145 feet,and the circumferences70 feetapart from each other. The western circle is almost destroyed,and four stones of it are embedded in a fence which separates it from the eastern circle; its diameter, accordingto Mr. Lukis, was 724 feet,but, so far as I can judge fromilhis own plan, it seems more likely to have been between 77 and 78 feet. The easterncircle consisted,when I measured it in 1869, of nine upright and fourfallen stones; Mr. Lukis, who planned it in 1879, foundthe same numberof stones,but, during the interval,one stone that I found standing had fallen,and one that I found fallen had been set up again; Mr. Tregelles in 1893, found only eight stones standing and five fallen, which agrees with my own notes of a second visit in 1891, but on a third visit in 1898 one of the fallen stones had disappeared altogether,and, when Mr. Tregelles measured the circle again in 1902, the last stone left standing on its eastern side had fallen. These dilapidations and restorationsmake it difficultto ascertain the originaldiameter; Mr. Lukis said it was 65 feet,but it is in fact 69 feet,in at least one directionif not in all; in this case, as in some others,Mr. Lukis has stated his measurementsrightly on his plan, but has worked them out incorrectly; when properly put together his measurementof this circle, like my own, gives a diameter of 69 feet,which is exactly 33 cubits of 25-1 inches.. The original number of stones in the eastern circle was most likely lnot 25, as Mr. Lukis has suggested,but 21, with an average interval of 10 feet from centre to centre; the westernlcircle, judging fromthe spaces between the remainiingstones, may have possessedonly sixteen stones with an average interval of 142 feet fromcentre to centre; none of the stones are more than 41 feet high,and theirwidth varies from1 footto 2 feetin the easterncircle, and from2 feetto 3 feetin the other. Dr. Borlase,in 1738, said the eastern circle had seventeen stones standing(now only seven), two prostrate, and one broken off,and that its diameterwas 23 paces, which at 3 feet to the

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.245 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:11:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 432 A. L. LEWms.-PrehistoricRemains in Cornwall. pace gives 69 feet; in the western circle he foundten stonesstanding and four prostrate,and he estimatedthe diameterat 26 paces, or 78 feet; these diameters it will be observedare the same as I have deduced fromindependent observations. The remarkableand picturesquegranite masses of are 10 degrees east of northfrom these circles,and half a mile away; on LongstoneDown, rather less than a mile off,in a direction27 degrees northof east, is a menhir,of which Mr. Tregellessays the top is niowjust visible fromthe easterncircle over a hedge, but if that were removedit could be plainly seen,and, allowing for the heightof the ridge,would be near the point of midsummersunrise, though rather too fareast; it would howeverfit the Beltane sunrise. A quarterof a imiilefrom the circles,in a directionnorth-east by north,there is also a row, 53 feet long,of fourholed stones,running north-east and south-west; theyare all fallen,and, as I have not seen themall myself,I do notknow whether, when they wereupright, as theydoubtless originiallywere, they were visible fromithe circles or not,but, as theywould have been about 4 feethiigh, I slhouldthiink they could have been seen fromthem. The MEN-AN-TOLis on the moors,north of Lanyon Quoit. It is a stone about 3i feethiglh and wide,and 1 footthick, through the -middle of whichis a circular hole, 18 inches in diameter; about 8 feet from each side of this stone, in a line throughthe hole, 57 to 58 degreeseast of north and west of south,is an uprightstone 3 to 4 feethigh, and there are two similarstones each about 38 feet west from the holed stone,one of which has fallen,and one on the east at about the same distance; this last stone is omittedin Mr. Lukis' plan, dated 1879, but was noted by me in 1869, by Mr. Dymond in 1876,and again by me in 1891. Mr. Dymond also found two other stones to the north-west,nearly buried, which neitherMr. Lukis nor I observed; it seems likely that all these formedpart of a circlesurrounding the holed stone and the two uprightstones equidistant from it; a fallenstone whichis lyinigby the westernof these latterstones may have belonged to such a circleand have been removedto its presentposition. It has been suggested that therewere here formerlytwo chambers,with the holed stone as a communica- tionibetween them, and that the side stones,capstones, and earthencovering have all been removed,leaving only the middle and two end stones; thereis po evidence in favourof this supposition,and the probabilitiesare greatlyagainst it, especially as the two uprightsare not at all like the usual endingsof chambers,but are very like the pillar stonesof the circles. With regardto the hole Mr. Lukis says that it has been made by pickingaway the oppositesides, but not equally,that this was obviously intentional,and that the deeper of the two sinkings being on the east suggests that its use, whateverit may have been, was fromthat side, and, if so, that " sun worshiphad nothingto do with the cerenmonyfor the actor would have had to turn his back upon that luminary." Mr. RobertHunt, however,says (in Popular Romances of the West of ,p. 415)--" the Holed Stone-Men- an-Tol-in Lanyon is commonlycalled by the peasantrythe crickstone; through this the sufferer(from rickets or a crickin the back) was drawn nine times against the sun, or if a maim,he was to crawl throughthe hole nine times." It

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.245 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:11:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions A. L. LEWIS.-PrehistoricRemains in Cornwall. 433 seems thereforethat Mr. Lukis was wrongboth as to the directionfrom which the hole was used and in hiisconsequent assumption that worshipor ratherobservance of the suinhad no place in the ceremony. Mr. W. C. Borlase cut a trenchbetween these stonesbuit discovered nothing but a fracturedflint. Near the Men-an-Tolis the MEN SCRYFFYS,a stone 61 feethigh by 11 broad, and thick,on whichis inscribed" Rialobran Cunoval Fil." Not far fromthis is the BOSKEDNANcircle called, like so many others, the "Nine Maideiis," though it consisted originallyof not less than nineteen and perhapsof as many as thirtystones; its diameteris about 70 feet. There are now eight stones standing or leaning and three fallen, but Dr. Borlase figured thirteenstanding and six fallenin 1769. Those remainingare from4 to 6l feet high,the tallest being about 300 west of northfrom the centre,and appearing to have formedone side of a special entrance. In nearly the same directionthe summitof Carn Galva, a remarkablemass of granite,rises above and a short distancebeyond the ridgewhich forms the horizon,this is the same directionas that of Skiddaw fromthe circle near Keswick in Cumberland,and, just as that circle has to the north-eastthe apparently triple summit of Blencathra,so the Boskedilancircle has in the same directiona group of three little hills. At the south-eastof the circle is a barrowabout 33 feetin diameterand 3 feethigh; it containeda cist,the contentsof wvhichhad been scatteredat an earlyaind unknown period,but Mr. W. C. Borlase found near it the fragmentsof a sepulchral urn, provided with small cleats or handles, and ornamentedwith the usual twisted cord pattern; the edge of this barrowtouched the south-easternedge of the circle and perhapseven infringedupon it. Two hundredyards or more to the north-westare the remains of a -barrow about 34 feetin diameter,with two small stonesnear the centre,which may have formedpart of a cist or chamber,and fourmore standing round the edge of the barrow,three at the south,21 to 3 feethigh, and one at the north,5 feet high; fourothers about 5 feetlong are piled togetherat the west,probably removed from theiroriginal position with a view to takingthem away altogether,for Mr. Blight describedthis circle in the Gentleman'siiagazine for March, 1868, as possessing twelve stones. Some distance north-eastfrom this circle is ZENNOR QUOIT, returningfrom whichto Penzance QUOIT may also be seen. Both these were probably sepulchralchambers, but the capstones have slipped off,and lean against some of the supportingstones. Not far fromMulfra Quioit are the retmainsof a remarkable groupof " beehive" chambersat CHRYSOISTEt?, Gulval; these have lost their roofs and some of the largerenclosures may not have been coveredat all, thoughsome of the smallerones are kniownto have had ' beehive" roofs formerly;in one of tlle chambersor enclosuresis a peculiar stone basin. In plan thereis a certain slight resemblancebetween these remainsand those of Hagiar Kim in Malta, but it is probablyonly that kind of likenesswhich obtains betweenmonuments belonging to a similarphase of culture. Hagiar Kim is forthe nmostpart constructedof upright

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.245 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:11:22 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 434 A. L. LEwIS.-Preh7nstoricBiemains in Cornwall.

stones set closely together. Chrysoisteris made of dry masonryand its real connectionis with similarremains in the Hebrides. Comingeastward from Penzance a stop may be made at St. Erth Railway Station,from which the Trencromor Trecrobbenhill fort may easily be reached. It is situated on a high detached hill, and commands an extensive view fromSt. Michael's Mount or one side to St. Ives' Bay on the other; there are massesof -natural rock on and aroundthe top whichare joined tooetherby double walls of drymasonry, the space betweenthe walls being filled in with earth and small stonesand so formedinto a continuousrampart. A friendhad told me that he thoughthe had founda circle of thirteenstones in the centre of the interior quite perfectexcept that all but one had fallen; this seemedto me to be very important as establishinga more complete connectionbetween the circles and camps than has as yet been shownto have existed,but the only circlesthat I could findupon the hill appeared to me to have been hut circles. Another formof ancient dwelling, of which some examples are found in West Cornwall,is a long undergroundpassage with littlechambers opening out in it or fromit; one of these,called the FOGOU,iS not far from Dance Maen. No account of prehistoricremains in West Cornwallshould omit to mentionthose on Carnbrae,near ,but any descriptionof them would be too long for the presentoccasion; full particularswith illustrations are, however,to be foundin the Journalof theRoyal Institutionof Cornwall.

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