Nothing like a long weekend to make the weather go off. Despite this we set off early. First stop was Helston where we had a bit of a walk around and breakfast.
Then onto Pendennis Castle.
Pendennis Castle dominates a high rocky headland on the south side of the Fal estuary, overlooking the English Channel close to where it joins the Atlantic Ocean, historically a vital sea route. The castle defences are a rich amalgam from an artillery fortress operating throughout the period 1539–1956, concentrated both inside Elizabethan ramparts and on the top and slopes of the headland around it.
The centrepiece of Pendennis is a circular four-storey tower which had a storeroom and kitchen in the basement, guns on two enclosed floors and an open roof with a lookout turret. Around the tower, an open circular platform (chemise) also supported guns. Probably added during or very shortly after the initial construction, it made the ground floor of the tower suitable only for accommodation.
A stone bridge spans the dry ditch around the chemise. It links the ruins of a Tudor guardhouse and the forebuilding, the latter a late 16th-century replacement for a twin-towered gatehouse.
The forebuilding retains its portcullis slot and piers and holes for a counterbalanced drawbridge. Unlike the tower, it has decorative features including an oriel window, gargoyles and a carving of the Tudor royal arms: it may have been the living quarters of the captain of the garrison. It was such an interesting mix amalgam of defences from Tudor times, the 1700 , 1800's and world war 1 and II.
From here it was a short drive to Halliggye Fogou. Beautiful scenes in all directions.
‘Fogou’ is a Cornish word meaning a cave, and Cornish fogous are prehistoric underground passages constructed by excavating a trench and lining its sides with either large stone blocks or drystone walling, and then roofing it over with large flat slabs. Halliggye is a good example of a large well preserved Cornish fogou.
There are twelve surviving fogous in Cornwall, but many more may have been ‘lost’ over the centuries and new examples are revealed from time to time. They were constructed from the 5th Century BC to the first two centuries AD, placing them in the late Iron Age and early Roman periods. Their function remains a mystery; the most plausible explanations see them as places for storage, or for refuge, or as the setting for religious or ritual activities.
Similar sites are also found in Brittany, Ireland and Scotland where they are known as souterrains, but their architecture, date range, and possibly also their function(s), differ from the Cornish sites. In Ireland, for example they may be constructed or continue in use into the mediæval period.
The majority of fogous are associated with contemporary settlements and Halliggye is no exception, being situated within the earthworks of an Iron Age farming hamlet or Round. The two concentric ramparts of the round survive best in their north-eastern quadrant and contain a broad curving ditch. The modern hamlet is largely confined within the area of the round and the fogou is situated in its north-west sector.
Despite the misty day we then proceeded to Lizard point which is the most southern tip of the United Kingdom.
We then drove miles to see an Iron Age village but it closed just as we got there. Not happy!
So then we went the opposite direction looking for ancient stones.
Ancient stone cross.
It took a bit of sleuth work but we finally found the Merry Maidens and the Two Pipers and the ancient burial Grave called Tregiffia
Geoff standing in amongst the Merry Maidens in the rain.
What is would have looked like on a nice day!
The circle, which is thought to be complete, comprises nineteen granite megaliths and is situated in a field alongside the B3315 between Newlyn and Land's End. The stones are approximately 1.2 metres high, with the tallest standing 1.4 metres. They are spaced three to four metres apart with a larger gap between the stones on the east side. The circle is approximately twenty-four metres in diameter. To the south is another stone which suggests a possible north-south orientation. In earlier times there was another stone circle located 200 metres away but this had been destroyed by the end of the 19th Century. 300 metres to the northeast are The Pipers – two 3-metre high standing-stones. These have been described as "largest surviving standing stones in Cornwall and probably the best known". The Tregiffian Burial Chamber is nearby.
The local myth about the creation of the stones suggests that nineteen maidens were turned into stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. (Dans Maen translates as Stone Dance.) The Pipers, two megaliths some distance north-east of the circle, are said to be the petrified remains of the musicians who played for the dancers. A more detailed story explains why the Pipers are so far from the Maidens – apparently the two pipers heard the church clock in St Buryan strike midnight, realised they were breaking the Sabbath, and started to run up the hill away from the maidens who carried on dancing without accompaniment. These petrification legends are often associated with stone circles, as is reflected in the folk names of some of the nearby sites, for example, the Tregeseal Dancing Stones, the Nine Maidens of Boskednan, as well as the more distant Hurlers and Pipers on Bodmin Moor. Another tradition says that The Pipers were erected to commemorate Howel and Aethelstan, leaders who died in a 10th-century battle.
Tregiffian is a Neolithic or early Bronze Age chambered tomb with an entrance passage, walled and roofed with stone slabs, leading into the central
Internally the chamber measures 16 feet (4.9 metres) long by up to 6 feet (1.9 metres) wide and 3 feet (0.9 metres) high. The walls are built from a combination of edge-set slabs and roughly coursed slabs and rubble. Four massive slabs or capstones span the chamber width to form the roof.
The entrance, at the south-west end, is constricted to 2 feet 7 inches (0.8 metres) wide by two ‘portal’ slabs: one of these is most unusual, as its face is entirely covered by a network of 25 carved hollows – a rare form of prehistoric rock carving called cup marks. This example may be the oldest in the south.
Final stop for the day was Penzance. Didn't see any pirates but not surprised that they are not out in this cold and rain.
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