Page:VCH Cornwall 1.djvu/440

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A HISTORY OF CORNWALL THE 'LONGSTONES' This list contains the single upright stones, which are conspicuous for their great height, and those which have been shown by excavations, or other methods of observation, to be artificial in origin and connected with the subject of this chapter. In the present limited state of scientific know- ledge as to their origin it has been considered best to omit, as natural, all which do not come under either of the foregoing descriptions. CONST ANTINE. 'Men Perhen': 20 ft. in height; broken into twenty gate-posts in 1764. Borlase, Antiq. 162. LELANT. At Bosava (sic, ? Beersheba), loft, in height. Blight, Crosses of US. Cornw. 71. LUDGVAN. At Tremenheere ; now destroyed. Borlase, Naen. Corn. 95. MADRON. At Trewren. Two stones, 5ft. and 6ft. in height respectively; loft, apart, ENE. In excavating between them on 21 October, 1752, a grave was found 6ft. 6 in. long, 2 ft. 9 in. wide and 4ft. 6 in. deep, containing black greasy earth. Borlase, Antiq. 187; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 22. At Boswarthen, about 8 ft. in height. At Mulfra, 'a little below the Cromlech, is a stone 1 5 ft. long, which seems to have been formerly erect.' Canon Rogers quoted in Borlase, Naen. Corn. 99. MORVAH. Kerrow hill, 6ft. in height. Blight, op. cit. 71. PAUL. At Chyenhal, 8 ft. in height. Blight, op. cit. 71. At Tresvenneck, 12 ft. in height. A slab of granite was turned up by the plough at the foot of the ' pillar,' in April, 1 840. It covered a very large urn, and a small one was found about i8in. away. Both are now in Penzance Museum. Tram. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antiq. Soc. i, 233. Edmonds, The Land's End District, op. cit. 32. ST. AUSTELL. Near Mount Charles, 1 1 ft. 6 in. in height. Borlase, Naen. Corn. 99. ST. BREOCK. On Downs. Two stones, 12 ft. 4 in. and 8ft. in height respectively. Borlase, Naen. Corn. 96 ; Lukis, Prehist. Stone Man. 76, pi. xxxi. ST. BURIAN. ' The Pipers,' at Bolleit, 15 ft. (the tallest now standing in Cornwall) and 13 ft. 6 in. respectively. Excavations made under the tallest produced nothing. Borlase, Naen. Corn. 107 ; Blight, op. cit. 71 ; Lukis, op. cit. 14, pi. xxx. At Boscawen Un, 8 ft. 6 in. in height. Blight, op. cit. 71. At Goon Rith, loft. 6 in. in height. Excavations produced nothing. Borlase, Naen. Corn. 107 ; Blight, op. cit. 71; Lukis, op. cit. 14, pi. xxx. At Pridden, 1 1 ft. 6 in. in height. Excavations disclosed a small pit containing splinters of burnt bone, under a cover stone. Borlase, Naen. Corn, i o i . At Boscawen Ros., i o ft. in height. Blight, op. cit. 71 (as Tregiffian). Borlase, Naen. Corn. 108. At Trelew, loft. 4 in. in height. Excavations disclosed splinters of burnt bone and burnt clay. Borlase, Naen. Corn. I O2 ; Lukis, op. cit. 14, pi. xxx; Blight, op. cit. 71. ST. COLUMB. ' The Old Man,' 7 ft. 6 in. in height. ' Once apparently surrounded by a small circle of stone set on edge.' Borlase, Naen. Corn. 99 ; Lukis, op. cit. 15, pi. xxxi, now destroyed. ST. JUST. Blight (Crosses of W. Cornw.) mentions one at Brew, but there is no such place in the parish ; and another at Longstone Downs, Boslow, but this is at Boswens, Sancreed, q.v. ST. KEVERNE. At Tremenheere, 9 ft. 5 in. in height. Borlase, Naen. Corn. 277. ST. MABYN. ' Longstone,' a little E. of the church, removed and broken up ' to brave ridiculous legends and superstitions,' Maclean, op. cit. ii, 451. SANCREED. At Boswens, 9 ft. in height. Borlase, Antiq. 163 and pi.; Blight, op. cit. 71. At Drift or Trigganeris. Two stones, 8 ft. 6 in. and 6 ft. in height respectively, and 1 6 ft. apart. Excavations disclosed a grave between them 6 ft. long, 3 ft. wide, and 5 ft. deep ; it was empty. Borlase, Antiq. 187 ; Blight, op. cit. 71 ; Borlase, Naen Corn. 23 ; Lukis, op. cit. 15, pi. xxx. At Trenuggo, lift. 2 in. in height. Bones, chips and ash found at foot. Borlase, Naen. Corn. 102 ; Lukis, op. cit. 14, pi. xxx ; Blight, op. cit. 71. SITHNEY. On Longstone Down, 1 1 ft. in height. Borlase, Naen. Corn. 99. WENDRON. Near Burras, about 10 ft. in height, in a field on the E. side of main road. ZENNOR. Porthmeor, 6 ft. 8 in. in height. Lukis, op. cit. (as Polmeor) 1 5, pi. xxx. THE HOLED STONES The most striking monuments of this description in Cornwall are : THE MfiN-AN-ToL in Madron, consisting of two upright stones, each about 4 ft. in height, now standing 1 9 ft. apart ; midway in the line between them stands a flat stone roughly circular, 372