And so our series on Cornish Quoits comes to an end, with the last two (plus a small bonus) of our baker’s dozen in the extreme south-west.

 

12. West Lanyon Quoit

Half a mile or so from it’s much more famous neighbour lies West Lanyon Quoit. Only one upright and a collapsed capstone remain, after the quoit was dug out of an earthen mound (barrow) when the landowner directed his servants to remove the earth from the barrow for compost.

The cromlech was discovered in 1790, and the following account (by Rev Malachi Hitchins) was published in the Archaeologia in 1803 (Vol XIV, quoted in Cotton’s Celtic Remains p 37 ):

The gentleman who owns the estate of Lanyon happening to be overtaken by a shower took shelter behind a bank of earth and stones, and remarking that the earth was rich he sent his servants to carry it off when having removed near one hundred cart loads they observed the supporters of a cromlech from which the covering stone was slipped off on the south side but still leaning against them. This covering stone is about 13 feet long by 10 broad. The south supporter on which it still leans is 6 feet high and 5 wide, that on the west is nearly of the same height and about 9 feet wide. The east supporter, since cleft and carried away, was 10 feet wide and with the other two formed almost a triangular kistvaen with a space of about a foot at the north end uninclosed. As soon as the gentleman observed it to be a cromlech he ordered hismen to dig under it where they soon found a broken urn with ashes and going deeper they found half a skull, the thigh bones and most of the other bones of a human body lying in such a manner as fully proved that the grave had been opened before and the flat stones which formed the grave had been all removed out of their places. The cap stone and the two remaining supporters are in the middle of a hilly field two or three furlongs W of the much more frequented Lanyon Quoit.

Further information: 

Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society Transactions
Cornwall HER
The Megalithic Portal
Wikipedia

13. Chun Quoit

Chun Quoit is the most westerly of the extant Cornish Quoits, and the end of our journey. Affectionately known as the ‘megalithic mushroom’ due to its appearance atop Chun Downs, Chun Quoit is structurally very simple, consisting of four inward leaning uprights, topped by a bulbous capstone. It is considered the most complete, but also the smallest remaining example. Like many other quoits, Chun sits upon a low stony mound or platform and may have at one time been buried beneath a mound of earth to form a tumulus.

Further information: 

Cornwall HER
The Megalithic Portal
Wikipedia

Bonus: Bosullow Quoit

Not a genuine quoit, but a piece of ‘farmer artwork’. This replica stands at a road junction on Bosullow Common, about a mile or so from both Lanyon and Chun Quoits. The capstone rests on three uprights, and the whole stands less than a metre tall.

An interesting distraction/tribute.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief visit to the Cornish Quoits.