A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



left in the county, or in the country. It is elliptical in shape and com- 

 paratively small, the greater diameter (8 to 1 7) being 8 1 ft. 3 in. and 

 the lesser (4 to 1 3) 72 ft. 6 in. There are nineteen stones in the 

 ring, all of moderate size, and one in the centre rather larger, which 

 stands 9 ft. out of the ground and leans towards the north-east. As will 

 be seen by the above table no other stone exceeds 4 ft. 7 in. in height ; 

 one (14) is of quartz and the rest are of granite. The photograph 

 gives a good idea of the appearance of the circle, and the plan shows in 

 detail the position of the stones. Only two other circles in the county, 

 Stripple Stones and Nine Stones, possess a central monolith, and the 

 stone in the latter is of doubtful antiquity. This leaning stone has been 

 thought to act the part of a gnomon in a sundial, but Dr. Stukeley's 

 suggestion, ' that somebody digging by it to find treasure disturbed it,' l 

 commends itself as reasonable. The average spacing is 1 1 or 12 ft., 

 but a gap of 22 ft. on the west side would allow room for another stone, 

 if such existed. Between two standing stones on the north-east lie two 

 flat stones, the halves of a large stone, which, according to W. Cotton's 

 plan of 1826, formerly lay outside the circle and at right angles to its 

 present position. Dr. Borlase took it to be part of a dolmen, and it has 



the appearance of the cover- 



I 



MENHIRS MEAR 6O*C AWJE NIJN 



ing stone of a kist-vaen. 



Having examined the 

 monument itself we may 

 turn our attention to its im- 

 mediate neighbourhood. 

 North-east of the circle are 

 two menhirs, sketches of 

 which are here given. The 

 nearer one is 8 ft. 1 1 in. high 

 and is distant 416 yards 

 (N. 44 E.) from the circle, 

 the top being just visible 

 over intervening hedges ; the 

 farther menhir is 7 ft. 5 in. 

 high and stands in the hedge of the lane leading to the farm ; it is 

 690 yards from the circle (N. 54 E.) and not visible from it ; these 

 two menhirs stand west-south-west (S. 72 W.) and east-north-east of 

 each other. There are two small barrows near by. On the south-west, 

 60 yards away, is one which was opened in 1864 and yielded a small 

 urn, now in the Penzance Museum, a portion of a stone mortar and a 

 flat stone; in the centre is a large granite boulder, sometimes called 

 the ' money rock.' 2 Another barrow, on the south-east, was opened by 

 W. C. Borlase, who found a small urn and some minute pieces of bronze, 

 possibly the rivets of a dagger. 8 



W. C. Lukis and W. C. Borlase, Prehistoric Monuments of the British Isles: Cornwall (1885), p. i. 

 ! J. T. Blight, Churches of West Cornwall (1865), pp. 123-4. 

 3 Ntenia Cornubite (1872), p. 219. 



380 



