Megalith, Megalaugh, Megalove

Hedgewin, xe/xem, megalithomaniac

[cornishculture]

Pen Mor 'Oss Parade, Summer Solstice 2025, Aberfal, Kernow

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1st August 2023

Silbury Hill is a frankly astounding artificial mound to the southwest of Avebury.

It’s base covers about 5 ¼ acres and is 130ft high, with close to 9 million cubic feet of material – making it the largest manmade mound in Europe! The top is flattened (probably as a lookout long after it’s original construction) and it’s original surface would’ve looked stepped. It’s circled by a 100ft wide moat that’s obscured by long grass and the landscapes undulations and in the winter or particularly bad weather it fills with water and reflects the hill perfectly – it’s built close to Swallowhead spring & the river Kennet.

The building took place over 50-100 years roughly starting at 2470BC and ending around 2350BC with 3 stages of construction, well after West Kennet Barrow had been constructed and not long after the Avebury complex had been completed. It’s predominantly chalk & clay, built on a spur meaning it’s bottom is 25ft-ish of undisturbed chalk. The 3 stages of building would’ve started with a small gravel mound which was added to over time with chalk, clay, and sarsen stones, and then further clay and the excavation ditches that were repeatedly filled and backfilled as the Hill grew, and completed with the of the huge ditch (now the moat).

No burials have been found within the hill, ruling out it’s usage as a burial site (indeed, with West Kennet Barrow so close by it wouldn’t make sense to split burials and the veneration of ancestral remains over such a small distance). Local folklore does tell of a King Sil buried beneath the mound though. Other theories include the Hill as part of sight lines in the landscape, a place of seasonal rites, to even it’s constructed around a sacred pillar or pole. It’s the focus of many ley lines, dragon lines, energy pools, and more according to various pamphlets and books sold within Avebury’s Henge Shop too.

Whatever it’s original purpose, Silbury Hill is a stunning part of the landscape around Avebury. It’s scale is hard to figure when at the viewing site, but walking up the path to West Kennet Barrow & looking back really contextualises it’s size and prominence. A stunning place to visit on the way into Avebury or on the way to any number of other ritual sites in the locale.

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21st June 2023

Boskenna Cross is a lovely wayside cross perched on a modern base made of a granite roller with a milstone as it's base. It was rescued from the hedge in 1869 and has been moved a few times thanks to modern traffic finding it quite a fun target. It has carvings of a cross & Jesus on it's faces (common in wayside markers in Kernow).

megalithic.co.uk

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21st June 2023

Tregiffian Barrow (Hirvedh Treguhyon in Kernewek), also called Cruk Tregyffian, is a stunning Scillonian chamber tomb located a stones throw from the Merry Maiden’s circle, just past Nansmornow. It’s been cut in half by the road right beside it, but 4.3 meter long & 1.2 meter wide chamber survived, while half the kerbstones did not. There are three massive capstones still in place while their fourth fellow has fallen. The most visually exciting part of the tomb is now kept safe in Cornwall Museum over in Truru – a cupmarked stone. There’s a cast in situ at the tomb as part of the entry so the impression is not lost.

Archaeological study has found both bone fragments from cremation & urns along side flints, as well as the potential for the tomb to have been used at least twice by a community – if not more. The contents have been dated to 1900 BC and there are some light theories that it formed a ritual or religious complex along with the surrounding stones.

megalithic.co.uk

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21st June 2023

Nun Careg stone cross is quite the little thing tucked into a hedge. It's technically a wayside cross with a wheel-head, sitting at just under 4ft tall. It has quite faded carvings on the front & back (or perhaps they're softened by the lichen), and has apparently almost been stolen.

megalithic.co.uk

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21st June 2023

The Merry Maiden's Holed Stone, named for it's proximity to the Merry Maidens stone circle and also the fact it has a hole. It is a pretty well tucked away menhir & is currently being used as a gatepost. It's about 5ft 6" tall and it's hole is a 6" diameter. The surrounding hedge makes it look decepitively small.

megalithic.co.uk

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21st June 2023

The Merry Maidens Stone Circle (also known as Rosemodress Circle, Boleigh Circle, Dawns Men, and Danse Maen/Dans Maen/Dons Meyn - 'Stone Dance') is a stunning restored stone circle just past Pennsans near the small village of Nansmornow.

The stones of the true circle are at least bronze age but more likely Neolithic, but it was restored with the righting of a few fallen stones in the 1860s. It is reportedly complete, but there is a space facing the east that could either have been a ritual entrance or the site of a missing stone.

The tallest of the stones are in the south west, and the smallest directly opposite in the south east. The circle lays on a path that includes Gun Rith & Barnatt's Stone.

There are a handful of myths about the stones, primary being that the Merry Maidens were 19 women dancing on the Sabbath and were turned to stone (this tale also implicates the Pipers stones not far away). Legends of naughty dancers turning to stone are common with stone circles the country over, and well into England & the other Celtic Nations.

megalithic.co.uk

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30th May 2023

Old graffiti in the doorway of Mylor Church, including some potential makers & trade marks, as well as some graffiti from the 1600s.

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30th May 2023

St Mylor cross is a massive stone cross located right outside the doors to St Mylor Church. It may have previously been a regular menhir without the cross design at the top - it would have been one of the largest in this part of Kernow at 17' 6".

The pamphlet in the church shop reckons the cross might have once stood as a disc-and-boss monolith. It has a carving on each side below the cross - one side has three concentric circles and the other has a spiral. Beneath that there are further carvings but it's hard to make out exact patterns.

megalithic.co.uk

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30th May 2023

A quiet well nestled in St Mylor churchyard, with a small gully running down to the wall and presumably out into the harbour just beyond it. The well water continues to be used in baptisms - a deliberate choice to link the current congregation with the ancient history of the church & the possible site of very early baptisms.

megalithic.co.uk

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27th May 2023

Tucked away in St Mary's churchyard, this sad little destroyed cross has also been relocated a few times in it's life. Apparently one of it's former homes was St Athony's Chapel in Barbican lane, and how it came to be damaged isn't known - or at least I couldn't find any.

megalithic.co.uk

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27th May 2023

A big & very lovely looking stone cross. It's now situated just outside of the Penlee House Gallery & Museum, but has moved around quite a bit in it's 1000~ year life. Originally carved on all four sides, a lot of the detail has worn down over time and with it's repeated relocation.

Two inscriptions that can be faintly read have been claimed to be "Procumbent in foris – Quicumque pace venit hic" (They lie here in the open whosoever comes hither in peace, let him pray for their souls) & "Regis ricati crux" (Cross of King Ricatus). The first carving might be related to it's original location in a cemetery, and the second potentially a reference to a Cornish king.

megalithic.co.uk

[theecstaticleaves]

So this is super cool

[theecstaticleaves]

[sisterofiris]

Here’s the article (with extra pictures) for those interested!

[somecunttookmyurl]

Pros of the drought: seeing ‘ghosts’ of ancient settlements Cons of the drought: our crops are literally dying

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19th Feb 2023

Possibly the most famous of all the megalithic sites in Kernow, if not the most visted. It was knocked down in a storm in 1815 before being re-errected with a significantly shorter stance in 1824. At its northern end is a mess of stones that were once a pair of cist tombs.

megalithic.co.uk

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19th Feb 2023

Bosiliack Barrow - a stunning example of a scillonian enterance grave, a type of grave found on the Isles of Scilly & West Cornwall. It's one of a handful of barrows in Cornwall to be excavated semi-recently and there's a photo on it's megalithic.co.uk listing. It's enterance is lined up to face the sun during the midwinter solstice, and inside it's grave there were potential offerings of topsoil & turf.

megalithic.co.uk

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19th Feb 2023

Boskednan stone circle is a gorgeous ring up high on a ridge near Morvah. Also known as The Nine Maidens, it's another ring that's been given the folklore of young maidens dancing on a sunday - and being turned to stone by the Christian God. According to Cornovia, originally it would've included many more stones but only 11 survive to today. Urns and other remains of a human presence have been found close by, as well as the close presences of several burial sites.

megalithic.co.uk

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19th Feb 2023

The sad stump of a menhir, between the Boskednan northern kerbcairn & the Boskednan Stone Circle. No records remain of why the stone has been reduced to a stump and indeed it's quite the sorry sight.

megalithic.co.uk