18th September 2020 - Cornwall

Autumn has definitely arrived as I tugged a large mushroom out of Lucy's mouth this morning, probably similar to the ones I phoned the vet up last year in a panic thinking she had eaten a toxic one.  Woken up by the clatter of a plate outside the kitchen in the middle of the night, there was a round, sharp spiked hedgehog chasing the plate around, so I gave it some biscuits and when it finished it toddled off to inspect the lawn.  Happy about that I haven't seen a hedgehog for three years.

Yesterday was not exactly full, Rod and his wife came to mow the lawns, and Rod gave me back most of the money I gave him last time because he said I had paid too much for the cutting down of the Buddleia, which I thought was very kind and thoughtful.  J and R were tidying up the copse at the back, a once yearly job they do.  Then my friend popped head over the gate and gave me a shock and we had a long talk, the whole life of the village events have come to a stop, perhaps it will perk up next year.  She is going to come and trim the plum trees, though really I only wanted to borrow her loppers.

But today I was going to put photos of another three circles all grouped together, with a gravel path in between.  But then I remembered that they had supposedly uncovered a quartz path., which has probably turned out to be a granite path, but still.  The Hurlers as they were called lie  quite a few hundred yards from the Cheesewring Tor, those outcrops of rocks that appear all over Cornwall and round which you can find prehistoric settlements.   But according to English Heritage, the circles focus on several cairns, including the enormous Bronze Age Rillaton Barrow, in which was found the Rillaton gold cup.  

Rillaton Barrow

Bodmin Moor is rather bleak, surreal maybe, the weather when we were there was dull and wet, not the most impressive time to see prehistory.  The moors stretch in a rolling manner, this due to mining and the forlorn disused industrial ruins that dot the landscape are a feature, though only if you feel miserable! But because of the unwelcome aspect of the soil, only horses and cows and the never-ending sheep of this country can graze.

I am watching Battleship Galactica at the moment, yes I have loved sci-fi since childhood (just can't grow up) and North Cornwall would make rather a good background to a planet far out in the Universe in film.

When we first arrived after driving down to Cornwall, even before we had found the inn we were staying I had demanded to stop at the Circles, they are very near to the Minion car park.  It was pouring with rain as I walked to find them, and wandered round their greyness in the pouring rain.  Getting back to the car Paul almost refused to let me into his precious car but relented eventually and we made our way to the pub.

From English Heritage;  The monument forms one element in an extensive grouping of later Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and funerary monuments on this part of Bodmin Moor, and the circles are directly aligned with some of these.

The axis through the centres of the two northern circles aligns directly on the massive Rillaton Barrow, visible on the skyline to the north-east, while the axis of the southern pair of circles in turn aligns directly with a prehistoric round cairn to the south-west.

Another line at right angles to this axis through the central circle takes in another stone circle, an embanked avenue and a stone row. Such circles are likely to have had considerable ritual importance for the societies that used them.