Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Most impressive is
Lanyon Quoit
, topped by a 13.5-tonne capstone and situated right be-
side the road between Madron and Morvah. In the 18th century, the monument was tall
enough to shelter a man on horseback, but an 1815 storm blew the quoit down and broke
one of the four uprights; it was re-erected nine years later.
Chûn Quoit
(near the Chûn Castle
hillfort) is also very well-preserved, although others such as
Zennor Quoit
and
Mulfra Quoit
haven't fared so well over the centuries.
Five miles southeast of Morvah is the curvy
Mên-an-tol
(Cornish for stone-of-the-hole), a
weird formation consisting of two menhirs (monumental stones) flanking a hollow stone.
Squeezing through the stone was said to be a cure for infertility and rickets.
HILLFORTS & SETTLEMENTS
The area is dotted with Iron Age hillforts, most of which date from around 1000 BC to
500 BC (although some were probably built on the site of earlier fortifications), including
Chûn Castle
, signposted from the road past Mên-an-tol and Lanyon Quoit. A pile of rubble
and two upright stones are all that remains of the fortress, but in the 18th century the walls
stood 4.5m high; much of the stone was subsequently plundered for local construction
projects (including Penzance's north pier). Other ruined hillforts can be seen at
Maen Castle
near Sennen, Logan Rock near Treryn Dinas (
Click here
) and Kenidjack, near St Just.
Marginally more intact is the Iron Age village of
Chysauster
( 07831-757934; adult/child
£3.60/2.20; 10am-6pm Jul & Aug, to 5pm Apr-Jun & Sep, to 4pm Oct)
, thought to have been built
between 400 BC and AD 100. Consisting of eight stone-walled houses, each with its own
central courtyard, it gives you a real sense of daily life during the Iron Age - you can still
see the stone hearths and platforms used to grind corn, and wander the gardens where the
residents kept livestock and grew arable crops.
Arguably even more atmospheric than Chysauster are the ruins of
Carn Euny
, another
Bronze Age village that's half-hidden by trees, and is thought to date to around 500 BC.
It's very hard to find without an Ordnance Survey (OS) map; head west from Penzance on
the A30 to Land's End and look out for the brown 'Carn Euny' signs after you pass the
turning to Drift. There's limited parking near the farmhouses at Brane, from where the
hillfort's about a 500m walk.
STONE CIRCLES
Penwith's stone circles include the
Merry Maidens
, near Lamorna, which supposedly mark
the petrified remains of a group of 19 girls turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath.
Nearby are the
Pipers
, who earned the same fate for tootling a tune on a Sunday. There's
