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Stannon stone circle
St Breward |
North Cornwall
NGR: SW 1257 8002 |
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Stannon stone circle is located at the edge of the rolling expanse
of Stannon Moor, just above a river valley which marks the upper
limit of modern cultivation. The site is currently somewhat
overshadowed by the china clay works, and its landscape situation is
obscured, but until the 20th century the area around the circle
would have been dominated by the western summit of Rough Tor to the
east, with its tor enclosure. The Stannon – Roughtor area contains
one of the most remarkable concentration of upstanding monuments
dating to the early prehistoric period. Two other stone circles lie
close by: Louden is just 850m to the south-east while Fernacre is
2km away, due east of Stannon and south of the Roughtor summit.
Stannon appears to have much in common with these two circles; they
are all very large, by Cornish standards, and all are made up of a
large number of small upright stones. Stannon has between 64
and 68 stones laid out in an irregular ring. Originally
there may have been as many as 82 stones. Fernacre also has a large number of stones in its make-up, Louden
fewer, yet the three circles are the largest in Cornwall and could
have been amongst the first to be built. All are irregular in shape
and may have been laid out by eye rather than using a central peg
and rope to survey an accurate circle as was probable with the more
regular circles.
Numerous cairns are sited on Stannon Down, mostly in clusters, and
there are four small upright stones to the north-west of the
circle that appear to be part of an alignment through Stannon
towards the Louden circle. A number of straight alignments have been
identified between circles and other monuments in this area; a line
from Stannon circle via Fernacre circle passes close to the large
cairn on the northern summit of Brown Willy for example. A line from
Roughtor’s northern summit through Fernacre circle passes through
the cairn cemeteries and natural tor on the summit of Garrow Hill.
With map and ruler you will be able to discover several other
similar alignments. There is also a convincing astronomical
alignment from Stannon to Rough Tor around May Day and Lammas time
when the sun rises through the gap between the two summits of the
tor. At the equinoxes the sun also rises over the tip of Brown
Willy.
There is little good dating evidence for the construction of stone
circles in Cornwall and they are, by analogy with other areas,
assumed to date to the early Bronze Age. The relationship between
the stone circles and the cairns, field systems and round houses is
problematical, but it seems that they are unlikely to be closely
contemporary. Nevertheless, broad patterns of site distributions can
be proposed and it is possible to define ritual and ceremonial
landscapes beyond the settlements and fields.
The monument stands at the edge of open moorland to the south of the
Stannon china clay works and can be accessed by the road that leads
to the clay works from Harpur’s Downs to the west. From Stannon it
is possible to walk to all of the other monuments mentioned above.
Sources
Barnatt, J, 1982. Prehistoric Cornwall: The Ceremonial Monuments.
Turnstone Press Limited. ISBN 0 85500 129 1
Payne, R, 1999. The Romance of the Stones:
Cornwall's Pagan Past. Alexander Associates. ISBN 899526 66 8 |
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Ground & Aerial photographs |
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