THE CHEESEWKING, CORNWALL, AND ITS TEACHINGS. 143 



It is mentioned in Woodward's Geology of England and Wales 

 as one of the tors near the granite quarry from which the stone 

 used in the construction of the London Docks and Westminster 

 and Waterloo Bridges was obtained.* 



To turn from the geological to the popular idea of the nature 

 and origin of the Cheesewring, we have only to quote the views 

 of the late Mr. Wilkie Collins in his entertaining narrative of 

 Jiamhies beyond Raihuays, written half a century ago,t which is 

 amusing and instructive as indicating the crude ideas which 

 prevailed on such subjects at that time. Discarding the 

 druidical theory advanced by " certain learned men," to wit, I 

 presume, Borlase and those who adopt his views, he proceeds to 

 give what he considers to be the correct geological explanation of 

 the origin and mode of formation of this natural monument. 

 According to his view of the subject it is assumed that the 

 Cheesewring and all the adjacent upstanding masses of stone 

 " were once covered, or nearly covered, by earth, and were thus 

 supported in an upright position ; that the wear and tear of 

 storms gradually washed away into the valleys all the earth 

 from between the rocks, and then left such heaps of stones as 

 were accidentally perfect in their balance on each other to 

 stand erect, and such as were not, to fall flat on the surface of 

 the hill in all the various positions in which they now appear." 

 In this account of the formation of the Cheesewring and 

 similar tors we seem to have an illustration of the proverb " ne 

 sittor ultra crejpidam!' Mr. Collins was a writer and novelist, but 

 not, I fear, a geologist; and hence the amusing attempt to 

 explain on geological principles the origin of the Cheesewring 

 and similar Cornish tors. In fact, it will be observed that he 

 starts with the assumption that these isolated rocks were in 

 existence before being " covered with earth " ; but their oiigin 

 still remains to be explained. Mr. Collins, however, deserved 

 credit for recognizing that the Cheesewring is a natural 

 monolith, and not to be classed with the dolmens, or cromleclis, 

 such as that of Trevethy, which has been erected at a short 

 distance to the southward, near St. Clair's Well. 



It is now time that I should proceed to describe the Cheese- 

 wring, and discuss its origin and mode of formation — a task by 

 no means easy, and which cannot be done without taking a 



* 2nd Edit. (1887), p. 575. De la Beche has omitted reference to it in 

 his standard work, The Geology of Cornwall^ Devon^ and Somerset (1839). 

 t E. Bentley (1851). 



