About the Ancient Penwith website
About
The Ancient Penwith website probes into a deeper layer of understanding prehistory than many archaeologists prefer to go. It looks particularly at the locational and geomantic factors involved in the siting of ancient sites - and this reveals valuable clues about their purpose.
The Nine Maidens
It bridges archaeology, geomancy, earth mysteries and dowsing, with some astronomy, geology, mythology, deduction and imagination thrown in.The key element of the research is the Map of the Ancient Sites and Alignments in West Penwith.
This work is based on the possibility that the ancients knew something that we don't, and that what they knew might be of value to us today and in the future.
West Penwith
Penwith is a distinct area bound by sea on three sides. It has a greater density of ancient sites than anywhere in Britain. It also has a significant number of people interested in this subject. Thus it is a valuable area for carrying out research projects such as this.
In prehistory West Penwith was quite central. It was well placed between Ireland, Wales, Brittany and what became England. It was rich in tin, a rare and valuable constituent of bronze, and other valuable metals.
Subtle energies were utilised and enhanced by the people of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages between roughly 6,000 and 2,000 years ago, and there is something for us to learn from them.
Research
A series of maps of ancient sites and their alignments were created by Palden Jenkins using Google Maps between 2014 and 2022. Click here to see them. They show all the known ancient sites of Penwith (and also wider Cornwall) and their alignments, and there are a few special maps showing features of interest.
They draw upon existing research done by a variety of researchers since the days of geomancer John Michell in the early 1970s, and brought together over time by Meyn Mamvro, a journal about the ancient stones and sacred sites of Cornwall.
All details on the map have been checked with the help of Cheryl Straffon and Ray Cox of Meyn Mamvro. The maps are subject to regular review, updates and revision roughly every six months. More details about the map here.
Years of field research were done too, visiting and examining sites all over the peninsula, most of them repeatedly. It included innerwork - listening hard to let the sites and the landscape speak. All this drew on earlier work by Palden in other areas in Britain and elsewhere, and on local research in Penwith carried out by other people.
The Ancient Penwith website was constructed between 2017 and 2019 and thoroughly revised in 2024. It is written, designed and paid for by Palden Jenkins in a spirit of public service and contributing to the furtherance of our understanding of prehistory here in Cornwall and further afield.
As from 2025 a new research project has started - the Belerion Project.
Palden Jenkins, Botrea Farm, Newbridge, Penzance, Cornwall TR20 8PP, UK. 01736-785 967. E-mail.