On our way back from our walk over the moor, we stopped off to take some photos of Lanyon Quoit I've looked it up on Wikipedia
Lanyon Quoit is a dolmen in Cornwall, 2 miles southeast of Morvah. It stands next to the road leading from Madron to Morvah. In the 18th century, the structure was tall enough for a person on horse back to stand under. The capstone rested at 7 feet high with dimensions of 9 feet by 17.5 feet weighing 13.5 tons. The monument is thought to be a burial chamber; perhaps a mausoleum.On 19 October, 1815, Lanyon Quoit was torn down by a storm. Nine years later enough money was raised by local inhabitants to re-erect the structure. During the storm one of the uprights was broken in half. Thus, there are only three uprights today and the structure does not stand as high as it once did.
Before the collapse of the structure, it was said to be aligned with the cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west). This gives historians and archaeologists reason to believe that the structure was used for ritual activity.
The chamber lies at the north end of a long barrow 90 ft long and 40 ft wide
All three legs showing - it's still tall enough to stand underneath
or - you can crouch low on the ground and take this - Jims favourite shot
A closeup of the Greenburrow Pumping Engine House for the Ding Dong Mine
Been tomthese two spots too, along time ago...and your shot of the mount is great..love that Mount!!! Sue K
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, We love it up there - especially on a fine day like today - as for the mount, well we take so many shots and still love it ! Sue
DeleteGood evening Sue,
Deletejust read that Lanyon Quoit was rebuilt after the storm with the same gear which was used to replace the famous Logan Rock.
Years ago we made a journey to the stones with my late friend Eddie, and we visited another fine example of Quoit in Cornwall- Chun Quoit. This one is the only example of its kind in perfect preservation. And I remember a sentence my friend Eddie said, when we were standing at the nearby Chun Castle. "We, standing here and looking at Chun Castle, see the same span of life as those people living here more than 2000 years ago when looking at Chun Quoit."
It's incredible that these Quoits are more than 1000 years older than the pyramids in Egypt.
So many things to do and see in Cornwall.
All the best
Gerd
Evening Gerd, I was pleased to see that when I copied the piece from Wikipedia the links still worked as it's such an interesting piece. Chun Quoit & Castle are now on our list of places to visit, having walked along the valley below Chun Castle when we were on lost dog search - we're hoping the paths might dry out sometime ! as at the moment it's no fun at all - the one to Men-an-Tol was nice and dry compared to most we've walked on recently. It is amazing to read that even though life was hard in those days the local people managed to raise the money to restore Lanyon Quoit - although not as tall as it had been - what a sight it must have been at it's full hight. Sue
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