Hurlers- Stone Circles, Cornwall, UK
N 50° 30.984 W 004° 27.497
30U E 396614 N 5597064
Near the moorland village of Minions lies the Bronze Age stone circles known as The Hurlers. The area around the Hurlers has been extensively mined and quarried so they are lucky to have survived.
Waymark Code: WM5F9D
Location: United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/31/2008
Views: 8
This unusual site consists of three large aligned stone circles, running from NNE to SSW, built in a pass between the River Fowey and the River Lynher. The sides of Stowe's Hill rise to the north and that of Caradon rising to the south. Multiple or associated circles are not unusual in the south-west of England and they often lie between rivers at suitable positions for converging people and traders.
The southern circle is the smallest being 108ft across and it has only nine stones remaining. The largest is the central circle, slightly egg shaped, with a diameter of 137 x 132ft with 14 stones remaining. The northern circle is 113ft across with 15 stones remaining here, of which four have fallen, and there were probably a further nine. The central and the northern rings were once linked by a granite pathway along their axis.
The name The Hurlers refers to an old tradition that the circles are men or women turned to stone, like The Pipers, The Merry Maidens, Stanton Drew, The King Stone and The Rollright Stones. As the historian William Camden wrote in 1610: The neighbouring inhabitants terme them Hurlers, as being by devout and godly error perswaded that they had been men sometime transformed into stones, for profaning the Lord's Day with hurling the ball. According to another legend, it is difficult to count the number of the Hurlers at Minions, but should you do so correctly, a misfortune will befall you.
About half a mile way lies the famous Rillaton round barrow with Trethevy Quoit, a fine dolmen, about 2 miles south.
Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log to this waymark you need to visit and write about the actual physical location. Any pictures you take at the location would be great, as well.