RXJDE STONE MONUMENTS OF CORNWALL. 195 



supporters — just as the columnar circle carries with it the 

 suggestion of enclosure and separation as completely as the 

 continuous ; and that the one therefore might as well be used 

 for a cenotaph as the other. 



Using the term in its wider and differentiated sense, we 

 shall find that the majority, if not the whole, of our Cornish 

 cromlechs can cause no difficulty. 



The Lanyon cromlech had without doubt a grave within the 

 cell, and the line of its investing barrier may yet be traced, though 

 not so clearly as when Dr. Borlase wrote ; while that at Lower 

 Lanyon, which was buried in a mound when found, also gave 

 evidence of interment. So with the cromlechs at Chywoon and 

 Mulfra and Bosporthennis. Each was covered by a cairn, and 

 each was used for burial. Zennor cromlech again was enclosed 

 in a cairn, and this is most emphatically the case with the 

 so-called " druid's altar " at Pawton, which is nothing more nor 

 less than a huge kist. So the "Three Brothers of Grrugith " 

 simply cover a grave. 



The re-erected Oaerwynen cromlech has yielded no trace of 

 interment, probably because it has not been adequately explored. 

 Nor is any recorded in connection with the structure at Trethevy, 

 which, however, is an unmistakeable kist ; while there is no 

 testimony either way for the destroyed example at Quoit, near 

 St. Columb. Mr. Borlase classes the Caerwynen with the Lanyon 

 as the only instances in the county of cromlechs proper, that 

 is the columnar supported dolmen. But neither was rebuilt on 

 the original plan, and in both, the stones are present, unutilised, 

 which complete the original kist. So far as Cornwall is concerned, 

 therefore, the columnar cromlech has no existence. 



Hence the only problem left open in connection with the 

 purpose of the Cornish cromlechs, is the question already stated 

 — whether they were all in the first instance covered with a 

 mound or cairn, or whether they were free-standing. And this 

 resolves itself into the one instance of Caerwynen and cannot 

 affect the assignment. The fact that while the Trethevy 

 cromlech stands on a mound its stones are bedded in the natural 

 soil, indicates at once the former existence of a superincumbent 

 cairn, no doubt in part removed to build the houses hard by. 



