St Breock Downs Monolith
Lua error in Module:Infobox at line 271: malformed pattern (missing ']'). St Breock Downs Monolith (or St Breock Longstone; Cornish: Men Gurta[1]) is the largest and heaviest prehistoric standing stone in Cornwall, England.[2] It stands on the summit of St Breock Downs.
The stone is made from the local Devonian shale which has extensive feldspar veining,[3] and it is estimated to weigh around 16.5 tonnes.[1] It is 4.92 metres long[1] and stands to a height of just over 3 metres above ground level.[3] It stands on a low stone mound or cairn with a diameter of around 10 metres.[3] It is believed to be Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (around 2500-1500 BC).[1]
It fell over in 1945, and was re-erected in 1956 after a small excavation had been carried out.[3] The excavation showed that the stone stood in a setting of quartz pebbles below which were two small hollows.[1] Similar hollows at other sites have been found to contain human bone or ashes.[1]
The stone may have been associated with other Bronze Age ritual monuments in the area, including one other standing stone,[4] and a series of barrows that extend up to 4 miles (7 km) to the west.[3]
The stone is mentioned in antiquarian records as early as 1613, and was later adopted as a St Breock parish boundary marker.[3] The site is now in the care of the Cornwall Heritage Trust on behalf of English Heritage.[5]
Notes
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Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
- St Breock Downs Monolith, English Heritage
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 St Breock Downs Monolith, Pastscape, retrieved 12 April 2012
- ↑ St Breock Downs Monolith, English Heritage, retrieved 12 April 2012
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 History and Research: St Breock Downs Monolith, English Heritage, retrieved 12 April 2012
- ↑ St Breock Downs Standing Stone, Pastscape, retrieved 12 April 2012
- ↑ Sites Managed and Cared for by Cornwall Heritage Trust for English Heritage, retrieved 12 April 2012
