We then drove towards home, but carried on past Penzance and out onto the Penwith Moors - to both take our dogs for a much deserved long walk and look for the missing Pointer who was last seen in this area. No luck, but weather permitting we'll go back tomorrow.
In the meantime just a couple of shots of the moor.
Nine Maidens Stone Circle - no idea why there are 11 perhaps the others weren't maidens !
Huge amount of water both flowing and lying on the ground - Wooster thought it was great fun !
Been to all the places you mentioned. Great fun, and dogs love the water, fun to play in the puddles :-) ....Sue K
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, Wooster is quite unusual for a Pointer they are known for having a great dislike for water - he's been at it again today - his back legs resembled the wheel-arch of a 4 x 4.Sue M
DeleteMorning Sue,
ReplyDeletefirst of all a big thank you for all the wonderful pictures you post, it's so good to have this close contact to the area we love so much.
Original name of the "Nine Maidens" is "Boskednan Stone Circle". Built during the Beaker Period and the Bronze Age (2400-800 BC) there were 19 stones mentioned when first recorded in the 18th century, may be there was a total of 22 stones. Only six left standing, three leaning heavily and two completely fallen till the renovation in 2004, now there are again 11 standing stones.
Anne Preston Jones from County Council Archeological Unit said:
"Many circles in Cornwall are called "Nine Maidens" as the figure "Nine" was always considered magical and mystical. The name doesn't really have anything to do with the number of stones in the circle."
Another explanation is written in the book "Belerion", Ancient sites of Land's End" by Craig Weatherhill:
"..the name is usually explained by late Christian myth of metamorphosed sabbath-breakers, but the origin of the name may be much older. Maidens may be a corruption of medn, a late spoken form of the Cornish word for stone, men. The word nine is something of a mystery, unless it's an abbreviation of nineteen, most of the Land's End circles appearing to have consisted of that number of stones."
At least, may be there is some explanation with the above, but being more than 4000 years old, I find it fascinating that there is a bit of mystery, especially in this remote place.
Only two more months till we are back, yippeeh!
Take care
Gerd
Hello Gerd - Many thanks for the info on the Nine Maidens - I should have looked it up on the computer, but I was too tired. So many standing stones up on the moors - we saw several again today. Your holiday is even later this year - we wondered if we'd missed you - perhaps Summer will have arrived by then ! Sue
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