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Trethevy
Quoit
St Cleer |
Caradon
NGR: SX 25935 68813 |
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Trethevy Quoit is sited on a promontory overlooking the confluence
of streams which flow southwards to become the River Seaton; the
northern skyline is dominated by Caradon Hill and granite massif of
Minions Moor. Trethevy is considered to be the best preserved quoit
in Cornwall and one of the most impressive of its type in Britain.
John Norden, writing in 1584, described it as “A little howse raised
of mightie stones, standing on a little hill within a fielde”.
Four large overlapping granite slabs set upright form the sides of
the chamber with lateral stones at front and back. The back stone
is leaning inwards, and the massive capstone which is supported by
these uprights rests at a crazy angle. It is not clear whether this
was a feature of the original design of the monument or the result
of a partial collapse or slippage. A curious round hole has been
drilled through the top corner of the capstone. A small antechamber was
formed at the front of the monument but only one of the two original
upright stones remains. A rectangular cut-out at the side of the
upright stone that forms the front of the main chamber may have been
an original entrance but it could equally be a later modification -
certainly, no other Cornish site has such a feature. The quoit is
surrounded by a stony mound or cairn which would probably have been
more impressive than it is today, though it is thought unlikely that
the quoit would ever have been completely covered.
Also known as cromlechs and portal dolmens, excavations have shown
that these kinds of sites were constructed in the early and middle
Neolithic period between 3700-3300 BC. They were used over long
periods as communal tombs or ossuaries to house the bones of the
ancestors. Due to the acidity of the soil no bones have been found
in Cornish quoits, but excavations elsewhere have revealed human
bones in the chambers and pits and postholes in the forecourt area.
It was not unusual for quoits to have been the focus for Bronze Age
funerary rituals in the form of cremations placed in burial urns.
Regional variations of Portal Dolmens are found all over the British
Isles and indeed throughout the world. In Britain they are most
numerous in the rocky western parts such as Cornwall, Wales,
Scotland and Ireland, though they are also found further to the east
in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire for example. Studies carried out in
several areas around the Irish Sea seem to indicate that sites were
placed carefully in the landscape in relation to hills and water,
with entrances aligned towards particular horizon features or
celestial events. Trethevy Quoit is orientated roughly towards the
east-south-east.
Trethevy Quoit is well signposted from a small lay-by car park in
the hamlet of Trethevystone, between Darite and Tremar.
Sources
Barnatt, J, 1982. Prehistoric
Cornwall: The Ceremonial Monuments. Turnstone Press Limited.
ISBN 0 85500 129 1 |
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Ground & Aerial photographs |
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