Burras Menhir

Burras is a small hamlet situated between Redruth and Helston in Cornwall.

Recorded as ‘Berres’ in 1337, the name is derived from the Cornish language ‘ber-res’ translating as ‘short ford’. It is sometimes known as ‘Burhos’ and there is a ‘Burras Farm’ and a ‘Burhos Farm’.

A 19th-century milestone survives in the hamlet. It is a painted dressed granite monolith with a pyramidal head, triangular in plan shaft over a square in plan base and is inscribed on the left side:  ‘REDRUTH 5 MILES’ and the right-hand side inscription: ‘HELSTON 5 MILES’

The road bridge over the River Cober which runs through the hamlet dates from the early 19th century and is a listed structure comprising granite rubble with roughly-hewn granite monoliths as lintels. It is a two-span bridge of primitive lintelled construction with iron railings. The railings are threaded through iron stanchions between terminal granite monoliths at either side of the bridge while the lintels are linked by iron cramps.

Burras Menhir can be found at Lezerea Farm a short distance south of the river. This impressive Bronze Age standing stone measures 12 feet 5 inches in height and is a listed monument.

It may not stand in its original site and local historian Michael Tangye in 1971 records the re-erection of the stone in a large pit during the early 1900s by the brothers Pearce with the use of a steam engine, in the presence of Sir George Smith, the owner of the land. 

Traces of one of several Iron Age Rounds in the area has been identified by crop marks just a few fields to the south-east.

Toponymy by the late Craig Weatherhill.

With thanks to Myghal Map Serpren.