ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS 



Cornwall possesses a number of fine monuments. 

 The most celebrated is the Dance Maen Circle, 

 which is 76 feet in diameter and has two monoliths 

 to the north-east, out of sight of the circle, but 

 stated to be in a straight line with its centre. 

 Local tradition calls the circle " The Merry 

 Maidens," and has it that the stones are girls 

 turned into stones for dancing on Sunday : the 

 two monoliths are called the Pipers. The three 

 circles known as the Hurlers lie close together 

 with their centres nearly in a straight line in the 

 direction N.N.E. by S.S.W. At Boscawen-un, 

 near Penzance, is a circle called the Nine Maidens, 

 and two circles near Tregeseal have the same 

 name. Another well-known circle in Cornwall is 

 called the Stripple Stones : the circle stands on a 

 platform of earth surrounded by a ditch, outside 

 which is a rampart. In the centre is a menhir 

 12 feet in height. 



At Merivale, in Somersetshire, there are the 

 remains of a small circle, to the north of which 

 lie two almost parallel double lines of menhirs, 

 running about E.N.E. by W.S.W., the more 

 southerly of the two lines overlapping the other 

 at both extremities. 



With what purpose were these great circles 

 erected ? We have already mentioned the curious 

 belief of Geoffrey of Monmouth with regard to 

 Stonehenge, and we may pass on to more modern 



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