Cornish Quoits

Cornwall has a number of notable dolmens - known locally as quoits - and, over the years, I've visited them all.

The first I ever saw was Lanyon Quoit, which is situated beside the road not far from the Mên-an-Tol, the Mên Scryfa and Boskednan stone circle.

It's the largest of all the Cornish quoits. It has three support stones, which stand at 1.5 metres high, and a capstone which is 5.5 metres long and weighs more than 12 tonnes. In the eighteenth century the quoit had four supporting stones and the structure was tall enough for a person on horseback to ride under. It collapsed in a storm in 1815 and was re-erected nine years later, and as a result the dolmen is now very different from its original appearance. 

A dolmen is a type of single-chambered megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more vertical megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or 'table'. Most date from the early Neolithic (4000–3000 BCE) and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus or mound with the uprights forming the walls of the tomb. Small pad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance. in many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone "skeleton" of the mound intact. 

Variant forms of dolmen are found all over the world with the largest percentage - 40% - being in Korea. They can boast a staggering 35,000 of them compared to Cornwall's twenty or so. The name 'Dolmen' originated from the Welsh taol maen, which means 'stone table'. Meanwhile the word 'Quoit' is less easy to explain. Some say it comes from the old French word coite and means 'a large flat stone' (old French (Breton), Cornish and Welsh are all sister languages). Another name for these chambered tombs was a cromlech. In Cornish this breaks down into crom (curved) and legh (slab).

Other notable Cornish quoits are as follows: 

West Lanyon Quoit lies very near to Lanyon Quoit but has never, as far as I know, been erected in modern history.

Chun (pronounced choon) Quoit on the summit of Chun Downs, near Penzance. Also near the site of of Chun Castle, an impressive Iron Age hill fort. We went there a lot for dog walks when I was a boy.

Mulfra Quoit - also high on the moors and not too far from Chun - though not so well preserved, sadly.

Trethevy Quoit, located near St Cleer on the edge of Bodmin Moor, is the most complex of Cornwall's dolmens and probably the best preserved. It has six supporting stones forming its internal chamber, but also has an antechamber. The only other Cornish quoit to boast two chambers is Lanyon Quoit. The huge Trethevy capstone sits at an uncomfortably steep angle, though it is unconfirmed as to whether this was its original position or the result of partial collapse at some point in its five millennia history. But what makes the capstone particularly interesting is the circular hole cut in the higher most corner. There are also another larger holes cut into the top of two of the upright stones. Perhaps these were used for astronomy?

Carwynnen Quoit is located near the town of Camborne. These are actually images taken from Wiki Commons as I haven't seen this quoit in its current form. When I last visited in 2010 it was simply a pile of stones as it collapsed in 1966. The structure you see here was only rebuilt in 2014.

Pawton Quoit stands near Haycrock Farm, south of St Breock near Bodmin. It always looks precarious to me as the capstone is held up on a fairly thin point of rock. But granite is a very hard stone. The village also boasts the St Breock Downs Monolith, a 5m high prehistoric standing stone - the largest and heaviest prehistoric standing stone in Cornwall.

Sperris Quoit is in a pretty poor state. It stands on a hill near Zennor. The name is interesting as the word 'sperris' is a Cornish word that means hobgoblin, ghost, or sprite.

However, Zennor does boast a much better example just 300m away. Sadly, the top of Zennor Quoit fell off sometime in the 19th century but we do have a sketch by William Borlase that at least shows us what it looked like in 1769.

The last dolmen I'll mention is the interestingly named The Three Brothers of Grugith or, in Cornish, An Tri Broder a Grugwydh. You can find this one on the summit of a hill not far from the village of Coverack and overlooking the satellite dishes Goonhilly Downs. 

As noted on the Cornish Bird blog, 'The name is an odd one, even for Cornwall. And it has taken me a while to untangle what I think is the answer. Grugwith or Grugith, sometimes Crugwith or Grugoth, comes from the Cornish word ‘Crukwaeth‘ according to Craig Weatherhill and means ‘barrow by trees’. As for the ‘three brothers’ element, this seems to refer to the three stones and there is a strange legend attached to this too, which Cyrus Redding relates in his ‘Illustrated Itinerary of Cornwall‘ published in 1842.The story goes that there was a falling out between two local saints – St Keverne and St Just. Apparently St Just was visiting St Keverne and after he left his host noticed that there was some “plate” (objects made of precious metals we assume) missing. St Keverne was furious, thinking that his friend had stolen from him. He rushed after St Just across Crousa Downs and on his way picked up three stones, each weighing a quarter of a ton, to use as weapons. Because St Keverne was a saint these stones contracted and made themselves small enough for him to put them in his pocket. After he caught up with St Just he threw the stones at him, where they remain to this day. I wonder if the three stones referred to in this legend are the Three Brothers of Grugwith. If anyone can enlighten me further I’d be delighted!'

So there you go. These things will always amaze me, if for no other reason than imagining the effort it took to build them. In their time, these things were as important to our pagan forebears as cathedrals are to Christians and mosques to Muslims today. 

And no less effort went into making them.