Geograph IrelandLatest Images by cornisharchive
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2024-03-28T17:15:11+00:00text/html2013-07-05T00:00:11+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/79343cornisharchive50.492654 -4.488178SX2368 : King Doniert's Stone
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/3540936
King Doniert's Stone on the right of the picture, is a decorated pedestal for a large cross probably made of wood. It has a mortice cut in the top, likely to take the shaft of the cross. Three sides of the stone are carved with beautifully designed interlace patterns, while the fourth is cut with an inscription bearing the name of the last recorded Cornish King. The inscription reads "Doniert rogavit pro anima" which translates as "Doniert begs prayers for the sake of his soul". Documentary sources refer to a King Dumgarth who drowned c AD875 and with whom Doniert has been identified. The field adjacent to the one in which these two crosses originally stood is identified as "Two Cross Downs" on the 1840 Tithe map, probably in reference to these two crosses. The name also gives a clue to their original setting. The second taller stone, known as "The other half stone" is a decorated cross shaft, again this stone has a mortice in the top indicating it too had a cross. The decorated panel on the front is an eight cord plait and the back has broken off. The two sides are uncarved, suggesting that the monument was never completed. It is likely the two stones are totally separate monuments which at some time in the past were relocated. There is some doubt as to where King Dumgarth was drowned, some reports state at sea, others during a hunting expedition quoting the nearby River Fowey at Golitha Falls but anyone who has visited that site would doubt that an accidental drowning of a King could occur in such relatively shallow water. The clue to Donierts identity lies in a passage in the early Welsh chronicle "Annalease Cambriae" which names a King of Dumnonia, the name the Romans gave to identify this area of the South West, as Dumgarth or Dwingarth. These two stones are the only surviving examples of 9th Century stone crosses in Cornwall. Excavations below the stones have indicated a rock cut passageway starting at the South East and terminating in a cross shaped chamber below the stones. The relationship between the stones and this underground passage has yet to be determined.text/html2012-11-23T22:10:49+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/79343cornisharchive50.516276 -4.447381SX2671 : Mining ruins at Langstone Down
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/3235413
Remains of an Engine House, one of some 300 that still remain in the area that is now a World Heritage site. At one time there were literally thousands of these structures, a number in this area are currently being preserved. It was in the mid 1830s that commercial amounts of copper were discovered and Cornwall became the largest supplier of copper in the world. The South Caradon Mine on the southern part of Caradon Hill held the world record for copper extraction at one time. The boom was short lived, lasting for around 30 years, although extraction still continued for some time after but the major commercial mining of copper ceased and most of the miners left for other parts of the world, taking with them the skill and expertise gained in these Cornish locations. This migration of miners led to the expression 'Find a hole in the ground anywhere in the world and you will find a Cornishman in it'. Today these ruins are testimony to the skill,hard work and courage of the men, women and children who risked their lives daily in dangerous conditions. Working in the dark with only minimal artificial lighting they gave the world the copper that helped fuel the march of technology, and the Industrial Revolution. It is a fact that the skill that made workable steam driven equipment was developed 30 years before Stephenson's Rocket, and the development of steam driven machinery changed the world for ever. Further in depth information is available at the Cornish Mining World Heritage site.text/html2012-11-11T00:02:23+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/79343cornisharchive50.527335 -4.460371SX2572 : Tors on Stowes Hill
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/3219015
Caused by erosion rather than weathering, these impressive structures are the result of millions of years of nature's activity. This particular example is on Stowes Hill [[[3218996]]] a Neolithic site dating from 4000-2500 BC. The granite is formed by igneous intrusion taking place under intense heat and pressure. Magma was pushed into the crust about 300 million years ago during the Permian period. Over millions of years the rocks in the crust are worn away exposing the granites at the surface. Since the granites are hard and resistant they are eroded more slowly than the surrounding sedimentary rocks. This was at a time when the climate was tropical, when dinosaurs came and went and flowering plants evolved and monsoons dominated. These downpours helped rot the granites, creating kaolin, more popularly known as china clay, at one time a major industry in St. Austell, now home of the Eden Project. During the ice ages the rotten rock was further broken up by the growth of ice crystals repeatedly forming in the freezing conditions. During the thaws in the arctic summers the rotted material became so waterlogged it washed down slope leaving the stronger unweathered parts of granite to stand proud at Tors, and creating these wonderful shapes.text/html2012-11-10T23:37:51+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/79343cornisharchive50.527152 -4.460503SX2572 : Stowes Hill
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/3218996
A Neolithic Tor enclosure, Stowes Pound is located on Stowes Hill, close to the
modern village of Minions. Tor enclosures were in use between 4000-2500 BC, and my have been used as ceremonial centres for local communities and for the exchange of goods and ideas. It is of some significance that within a few hundred metres are many historic sites consisting of barrows, cairns, stone circles, stone rows and standing stones. Two large stone walled enclosures encircle the summit of the ridge. The larger enclosure has two identifiable entrances on the west and east sides. Within the large enclosure are over a hundred stone free platforms, possibly the stances for wooden round houses. Particular to the south western part of Britain, Stowes Pound has close similarity to Roughtor, Carn Brea and Helman Tor, all located in Cornwall. The Cheesewring, famous in folklore stands on Stowes Hill and is a popular visitor attraction.text/html2012-06-08T23:38:01+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/79343cornisharchive50.516137 -4.458237SX2571 : The Hurlers stone circles
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2984178
Known as The Hurlers, the stone circles close to the village of Minions on Bodmin Moor remain to this day a mystery as to why they were constructed in the first place. One vital question can be asked and that is why three circles when surely one could have sufficed such as at Stonehenge. Some experts believe there could have been even four, with another not so obvious to the North. What remains is three distinct circles, the middle one of which is the most preserved having 14 standing stones with 14 markers placed in empty stone sockets during restoration work. The central circle is more elliptical and has a central marker while the southern circle is all but devoid of stones. One view put forward is that the circles mirror the belt of the constellation Orion which just once a year at the winter solstice passes due south at midnight. This could have allowed the ancient people to tell the half way point between the autumnal equinox and the vernal equinox, providing information for the planting of crops, in effect a primitive calendar. Another important point is that the Michael and Mary ley lines which have been mapped through the 370 miles from Lands End in the west to Hopton on Sea on the east coast in Norfolk, cross each other at certain points and one of these is the Hurlers. The lines were so named due to the astonishing preponderance of churches along its path dedicated to St. Michael (and his complimentary St. George) and St. Mary (and her complimentary St. Margaret). Whilst this may be considered to be mere coincidence, the alignment is precisely oriented to one of the Celtic calendars most important dates, May 3rd the feast of Beltane. On this day the sun rises and shines it's light along the invisible terrestrial line and all monuments along it. Then at Lughnasa, the setting sun on August 1st illuminates it from the opposite end. To try to understand the reason for constructing such edifices, we must realise that these people were not just simplified version of ourselves, but their beliefs, values, customs and cultural background were different. They were superstitious, conservative, dependent on tradition, with little idea of the worlds natural laws, and relied on ritual for protection. Climate change in the 1st millennium BC, the late Bronze age, caused the uplands to be abandoned, and in turn the ancient circles to be abandoned as well, during which time the druids first appeared and new belief systems initiated.text/html2012-06-08T23:09:46+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/79343cornisharchive50.515921 -4.459918SX2571 : The Pipers standing stones
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2984142
Standing to the south West of the Hurlers stone circles, are these two menhirs
(from middle breton men = stone hir = long). The stones are around 2 metres high and the distance between is about the same. The Pipers perfectly frame the ancient Neolithic settlement that was Stowes Pound. There is no real evidence for what they were for and why they were placed in this position. Menhirs were used for ritual sacrifice, boundary markers or even early calendars. Recent dowsing by Tamar Dowsers http://www.tamar-dowsers.co.uk indicated that these menhirs dowse as being part of the wider hurlers matrix and mark a point on a local alignment and a ley runs through the stones and off across the moor to the North West and the reconstructed apex of Caradon Hill to the South East. It should be remembered that when the mast was installed on Caradon Hill, the top of the hill was levelled off. Such an obvious high point on the moor would have been likely to have a barrow or a cairn. In any event, The Pipers are as mysterious as the Hurlers stone circles which they have an obvious link with. The area has been scarred by decades of mining, both deep and surface, and it is some what surprising that anything has been left at all.text/html2012-06-01T23:55:02+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/79343cornisharchive50.488291 -4.469197SX2468 : St Cleer Holy Well
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2972615
The St. Cleer holy well stands on the spot of a natural spring, and an ancient cross about 9 feet high stands a few feet from the well itself. The cross is a Latin cross, not celtic in origin. The well takes its name from the village of St. Cleer which is named variously after many possible saints. The commonly held belief is that of St. Clarus who is believed to have sanctified the holy well and cross. Clarus was born in Rochester in the 9th century and went to Normandy becoming a Benedictine monk. A noblewoman whose advances he rejected had him beheaded. His feast day is given as 4th November which just so happens to be the feast day of St. Clether, also known as cleer and claris! Another belief is that it was St. Clare, a 12th century disciple of St. Francis. A more interesting and I think more likely offering is that of the Knight Ingelram de Bray of St Clair sur epte who built a new church in St. Cleer in 1250 after he married the heiress of the nearby Manor of Rosecraddoc, dedicating it to his birthplace. This knight also built a granite chapel to cover the well, but this was destroyed by fanatics in the Civil War and the site lay in ruins for some 200 years. Restoration was carried out in 1864 as a memorial to the Rev. John Jope, for 67 years the vicar of St. Cleer. The well is said to have been used as a boussening or ducking pool to allow for complete immersion. The healing powers of the well were said to be for the curing of insanity, rickets and epilepsy. An annual well dressing ceremony is held at the site, and locals and visitors join with children from village schools to dress the well and ring hand bells, the event this year being on May 25th. A number of references are made to the fact that attempts have been made to remove and cart away stones from the chapel, but mysterious power has always returned them at night! The well is grade I listed, along with the front wall and cross.text/html2012-05-31T23:25:31+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/79343cornisharchive50.493258 -4.455497SX2568 : Trethevy Quoit
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2971274
Trethevy is considered as the best preserved quoit in Cornwall, and one of the most impressive of its type in Britain. Doubt about its most talked about feature, the drilled hole through the top corner of the capstone, has raised many theories, that range from an astronomical feature to an aid to raising the capstone itself. The capstone has been adjudged to weigh from any where between 10.5 tonnes to 20 tonnes, in any event it must have been a considerable task to construct. The use of dolmens such as this was for communal tombs, housing the bones of ancestors but due to the acidity of the Cornish soil no such items have been found in that counties sites. The sites were placed carefully in the landscape in relation to hills and water, with entrances aligned towards particular horizon features or celestial events. Trethevy is orientated roughly towards the east-south-east. At the present time the area around the quoit is open countryside, with small villages and hamlets visible, but it should be borne in mind that when this was in use around 3700-3300 BC the area would have been thickly wooded and the site would have been hidden from general view and therefore more secluded and spiritually separate. There is also some doubt as to whether the capstone was originally horizontal or at the acute angle it is at present, this possibly due to slippage or partial collapse. Despite the fact that the stone is now only a few metres from local dwellings, there is a distinct ambience on the site. As with many Neolithic sites, sunrise and sunset are the best times for viewing.text/html2012-05-27T01:48:43+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/79343cornisharchive50.489142 -4.467268SX2568 : The St. Cleer Dissenters Chapel
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2962994
It was thanks to the creation of one of the earliest manifestations of Trade Unionism, namely the Caradon Miners' and Mechanics' Friendly Society in 1842 that led to the building of the St. Cleer Dissenters chapel in 1864 by these same men. Built for the benefit of persons who were denied burial by the established church after a lifetime of nonconformity, the chapel continues to this day to accommodate all faiths and beliefs, carrying on the original aims of those early pioneers. At the time of its construction, the population of the parish was 3931, a figure that has to this date not been exceeded, in fact in 1961 the figure was 1524. The high population in 1864 was of course due to the large influx of people seeking work in the Caradon mining area, although at that time the boom was already over and workers began to move to other areas, including overseas. At least seven non-conformist chapels existed in the area, most now however have been converted to private dwellings. The chapel and cemetery are administered by four trustees, and much work has been done in the grounds by local volunteers. The chapel itself has also had a sympathetic renovation. The cemetery is still in use, a number of plots being reserved as it is expected that none will be available in around 20 years. An excellent web site exists at http://thedissentersgeneralchapel.co.uk. Here can be found historical records, burial details and minutes of trustee meetings, along with other photographs and a record of flora and fauna identified on the site.