Stannon Moor monuments

Stannon Moor
Stannon Moor
Stannon circle
Stannon circle
Stannon circle at dusk
Stannon circle at dusk
Moorland track
Moorland track
Middle Moor Cross
Middle Moor Cross
  • Distance:4 miles
  • Walk grade:Easy-Moderate
  • Start from:lane to Harpur's Downs
  • Recommended footwear:Walking boots (marshy even in summer)

Highlights

  • Stannon stone circle
  • Remains of a burial chamber on Louden Hill
  • Remains of a bronze-age settlement on Roughtor
  • Fernacre stone circle

Directions

    Much of this walk is on moorland where there are no defined paths. Use of a GPS is recommended to find the points of interest.

  1. Start the walk at the point where the road to Harpur's downs turns into a track at SX 12323 80114 (50.590587; -4.653069)
  2. Head for the Stannon stone circle at SX 12558 80019 (50.589578; -4.64885) by the edge of the Stannon works clay tips
    3. Stannon has between 64 and 68 stones laid out in an irregular ring. Originally there may have been as many as 82 stones. There is a convincing astronomical alignment from Stannon to Rough Tor around May Day and Lammas time when the sun rises through the gap between the two summits of the tor. At the equinoxes the sun also rises over the tip of Brown Willy.
    It is not fully understood what function the stone circles served, although excavation of some monuments has shown an association with burials. Some circles also appear to have been used to mark the passage of time and seasons which is indicated by the alignment of stones with landmarks to mark important solar or lunar events such as the sunrise and sunset at the winter or summer solstice. Where excavated they have been found to date from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (2400-1000 BC).
  3. Head east, skirting south slightly around the Stannon Moor china clay works and passing Cairns at SX 12905 79869 (50.58850; -4.64452).

    4. China clay from the works on Stannon Moor near Roughtor was pumped 8km down to the Wenford Dries at Poley's Bridge near St Breward. Here the slurry was pumped into settling tanks and then dried. The resulting powder was loaded into containers and transported down the railway to Padstow which is now the Camel Trail. The dryers operated until 2002 apart from a brief closure during the Second World War.

  4. Notice 4 hut circles just past the end of the Stannon Moor clay tips. Roughly to the south of the southernmost hut circle is the Louden Hill burial chamber at SX 13290 79870 (50.588631; -4.639048)
  5. Head up Louden Hill passing the remains of a settlement at SX 13620 80037 (50.59024; -4.63451)
    6. Looking across the barren granite landscape of Bodmin Moor it may seem strange that so many settlements can be found here from the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. About 10,000 years ago Bodmin Moor was almost entirely covered in forest, and the Neolithic tribes would have lived in forest clearings. During the Bronze Age, the majority forest was cleared for farmland. The burning and grazing over several thousand years has resulted in poor soils which together with the exposure to the wind is why the few trees on the moor today are generally stunted.
  6. Head towards Roughtor for Logan Rock at SX 13755 80306 (50.5927; -4.6327) on the top of Louden Hill passing a Cairn on your right at SX 13790 80267 (50.59235; -4.63223)

    7. Roughtor and the slightly higher Brown Willy sit side by side just south of Davidstow Moor. Roughtor can be reached by the road from Camelford and there is a small car park from which you can walk up the slopes to the summit.

    The summit of Roughtor is encircled by a series of rough Neolithic stone walls which link natural outcrops to form a tor enclosure. Also on the summit are the foundations of a mediaeval chapel built into the side of one of the larger cairns.

  7. Head east to the remains of a settlement on the slopes of Rough Tor at SX 14467 80297(50.592879771; -4.62218761048)
    8. On the southern slopes of Roughtor just off the track from St Breward, there is a stone circle and nearby the remains of a large number of hut circles. The houses and the small enclosures probably represent an economy based on stock rearing with perhaps a little cultivation of cereals, whilst the extensive field system represents a time when farming was predominant.
  8. Head south to the Fernacre stone circle at SX 14478 79979 (50.589255; -4.623399)
    9. Fernacre is one of the largest stone rings in Cornwall with a diameter of approximately 44m by 46m. Only about 61 stones survive, the possible total originally being between 77 and 95. From Fernacre it has been shown that the position of Brown Willy marks the equinox sunrise.
  9. Head south onto the track and turn right, heading west passing Cairns at SX 13753 79692 (50.58718; -4.63247) and SX 13505 79679 (50.58699; -4.63595) and another stone circle at SX 13205 79487 (50.58516; -4.64009)
  10. Follow the track to middlemoor Cross near Camperdown Farm then head north down Dinnever Hill passing the Cairns to complete the circular walk