STONE CIRCLES 



William Hals' account is to the same effect and very like his description 

 of the Nine Maidens, Wendron : 



On another part of this parish, near Retallock Barrow ... is still extant, in the 

 open downs, nine perpendicular stones, called the Nine Maids, in Cornish Naw-voz, 

 alias the nine sisters, in Cornish Naw-whoors, which very name informs us that they 

 were sepulchral stones, erected in memory of nine natural or spiritual sisters of some 

 religious house, and not so many maids turned into stones for dancing on the Sabboth 

 Day, as the country people will tell you. 1 



The Rev. Richard Warner, writing in 1808, says that when he visited 

 the spot only three stones were upright, ' the remainder lying on the 

 ground.' 2 W. C. Borlase refers to them in Ncenia Cornubice (1872) as 



nine erect stones averaging from 1 1 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 6 in. high, forming an ortholith, 

 or single line ... In the same line with these pillars, to the N.E., stands a single rude 

 Menhir, 7 ft. 6 in. above ground, and once apparently surrounded by a small circle of 

 stones set on edge. This goes by the name of the ' Old Man,' which to the believer 

 in the theory of sun-worship, will sound strangely like ' Houl Maen,' or the ' Sun 

 Stone." Indeed it seems very probable that this stone formed part of the same monument 

 as the Nine Maidens, and that, like many of the circles, a religious, rather than a 

 sepulchral origin, should be assigned to it. 3 



From this it is evident that six of the stones were set up again between 

 1808 and 1872, and that the tallest stone, which has fallen since 1872, 

 stood ii ft. 6 in. out of the ground. With regard to the suggestive 

 name of ' sun stone,' it must be borne in mind that, viewed from the 

 stone row, the * Old Man ' would have been too far north to mark the 

 midsummer sunrise, at that spot approximately 55E. of N. Lukis and 

 Borlase include a description, plan, and sketches of these stones in their 

 great work, 4 and Mr. Lukis remarks : ' Mr. W. C. Borlase states that it 

 [the " Old Man "] was " once apparently surrounded by a small circle of 

 stones set on edge," but I saw none.' 



Such is the past history and present condition of the Nine Maidens, 

 but it is no easy task to form an opinion as to its origin. The late R. N. 

 Worth, a recognized authority on the stone rows of Dartmoor, classed it 

 with them ; 6 and as he considered them to be associated with burial and 

 burial rites, it is to be assumed that he regarded these stones also as 

 sepulchral. W. C. Borlase, on the other hand, as we have seen, thought 

 them religious in character ; and we are free to accept whichever hypo- 

 thesis most pleases us. 



A natural sequel to a description of the stone circles and allied 

 megalithic monuments of Cornwall would be an inquiry into their uses, 

 date and authorship, and, so far as space admits, these points must be 

 considered here. At the outset we are met by a considerable obstacle 

 the circles have never been examined systematically by digging. Reck- 

 less or unskilled excavation is much to be deprecated, but a judicious 

 use of the spade is essential if these monuments are to be fully 

 investigated. 



1 D. Gilbert, Paroch. Hist, of Cornwall, i. 220. * A Tour through Cornwall, pp. 320-1. 



3 pp. 989. * Prehistoric Monuments, pp. 15-16, 2930, pis. xxxi. xxxii. 



5 Report of Devonshire Assoc. (1894), xxvi. 297. 



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