Ancient monuments

King Arthur’s Hall and stone circles

King Arthur’s Hall – spoiler alert, it has nothing to do with King Arthur – is one of the most enigmatic monuments in Cornwall and a source of years of argument and speculation.

It consists of a 48m long and 21m wide rectangular enclosure formed by a 2m tall bank with a series of over 50 stones on the inside face. The central area is boggy and pretty much a no-go area for much of the year. Oriented roughly N-S, there is an entrance way at the SW corner. To the north east stands the unmistakeable outline of Rough Tor and Brown Willy, so it lies in the area of Bodmin moor which was covered with Neolithic and Bronze Age remains.

Continue reading King Arthur’s Hall and stone circles →
Ancient monuments, Industrial heritage

Cape Cornwall to Carn Kenidjack

A foraging expedition on a bright sunny day took us back to Cape Cornwall, surely one of the loveliest coastal spots in the Duchy. From there we made our way to the familiar Tregeseal stone circle.

Set on the edge of an area of high moorland covered in the bright colours of flowering heather, Tregeseal is the first ancient monument you meet as you follow the Tinners’ Way from St Just.

Continue reading Cape Cornwall to Carn Kenidjack →
Churches, Holy wells

Four churches and a holy well …

Our travels in the Looe valley took us to four more churches Pelynt, Lanreath, Morval and St Keyne as well as St Keyne’s holy well which is a charmer in a woody spot at a road junction.

The Buller family features strongly in the first three churches. The fourth, St Keyne, joined the Hall of Shame as it was locked and although it displayed a telephone number, this was unanswered.

Continue reading Four churches and a holy well … →
Curiosities

A flat spot on the wall

A low sea wall surrounds the little harbour of Port Gaverne. Half way along it, the builders have laid two stones to create a flat surface. Below, is a small brass plaque which explains why.

In memory of Richard Cook
Lived in the Beach House
10/07/1956 – 19/09/2015

Before the saga of the wall moves on, and we forget
There’s something pretty special I haven’t mentioned yet
I’ve chatted to the workmen from the first day that they came,
We’ve got to be quite friendly, though I’ve never asked a name
They know I lean against the wall with cup of tea in hand.
To see what’s happening on the beach – I think it’s really grand.
But I was quite touched yesterday whilst looking out to sea,
To see they’ve built a special ledge to hold my cup of tea.
So if you ever wonder why that flat bit’s on the wall,
It’s there just for my cuppa and nothing else at all!

Richard Cook your poem I have had to amend
With words of my own my dearest friend.
We your friends will take it on our back
To install a shiny brass plaque
On your flat spot the plaque shall go.
So we your friends can stop and touch and say hello.

We might argue with the punctuation and perhaps the scansion of the tribute but there is no denying the charm of the sentiment and the kindness of those workmen.

Churches, Curiosities, Holy wells, Natural seawater pools

Two more pools and a stone circle

Our relentless search for more rock-cut swimming pools took us to the Looe and Polperro area. But first, we needed to appease the gods by visiting Duloe church which has much to recommend it. And, since we were in the area, we could not resist St Cuby’s well or Duloe: Cornwall’s smallest stone circle.

It would be good to say that they were ‘all within walking distance’ but the walk to the well would probably end in disaster for the road is winding, downhill and with no pavement.

Duloe stone circle

Millendreath was our next stop, a location we commented on unfavourably when we were walking the coast path. It hasn’t improved. the chalets still give the impression of a series of portacabins dumped on the side of the valley.

Continue reading Two more pools and a stone circle →
Ancient monuments, High spots, Stone crosses

Three stone circles and Rough Tor

A lovely sunny bank holiday took us on a four mile walk around the Rough Tor area, expertly guided by iWalk Cornwall. Visiting three different stone circles, numerous hut circles, ring cairns and an early medieval cross on one walk was quite something.

Stannon stone circle

The first delight was Stannon stone circle which consists of 39 standing stones and about another 40 recumbent, according to Craig Weatherhill, out of a probable total of 82. There were various alignments with Rough Tor, Brown Willy and the gap between which we could not test on a sunny day.

The effect of its isolation is rather ruined by the large, obviously man-made hill alongside: the remains of former china clay mining which has resulted in the large Stannon reservoir.

Continue reading Three stone circles and Rough Tor →
Ancient monuments, Curiosities, Natural seawater pools

Rinsey and Trewavas rock pools

A chance conversation led to the discovery of two natural seawater rock pools which we have not seen mentioned anywhere else.

Rinsey Head is a familiar landmark with its house apparently perched on the edge of the cliff. What many people miss is that there is a small cove at the base of the cliff – Porthcew – which has sand at low tide and has several tempting-looking rock pools.

Rinsey (Porthcew) beach
Continue reading Rinsey and Trewavas rock pools →
Curiosities

Discovering Titanium

On the windowsill in the north aisle of Manaccan church is a small plaque commemorating the discovery of Titanium by Rev William Gregor in 1790 (or 1791). A Cornishman by birth, William Gregor was the Rector of Creed and a well-known amateur scientist.

Shown some black sparkly sand found at Tregonwell Mill, just outside the Manaccan, he identified it as FeTiO3 and named it Menachanite (why not Manaccanite?). It was later re-named Ilmenite after the Ilmensky Mountains in Russia where it was also found.

Continue reading Discovering Titanium →
Curiosities, Natural seawater pools

Mousehole rock pool

In our search for rock-cut swimming pools, we visited Mousehole on a baking hot day in September. Amongst the rocks to the north-east of the village is the large paddling pool which was constructed in the 1950s/1960s.

Mousehole paddling rock pool with St Michael’s Mount in the distance

Although large – perhaps 12m x 12m square, the pool is not deep. At low tide it was knee-deep to an adult. As the tide came in, this rose to about thigh deep and so do not expect to be achieving Olympic times. It is also slippery underfoot.

Continue reading Mousehole rock pool →
Ancient monuments, Curiosities, Early Medieval, Natural seawater pools

Around Perranporth

We visited Perranporth at spring low tide on a bright May day to find the rock-cut swimming pool on Chapel Rock. It turned out to be very easy to find in a wonderful location.

Perranporth pool

We could not miss Chapel Rock which dominates the centre of the immense Perranporth beach, its St Piran flag flying proudly straight out in the stiff wind. A hazy sandstorm was blowing from the direction of the Watering Hole.

Continue reading Around Perranporth →

A journey through the landscape and history of Cornwall