PAUL 5

Apparently first discovered by John Michell during the 1960s,* this 1.55 metre (5’) “sturdy” stone stands in a cultivated field named Park Grows relating to an ancient stone cross which may once have stood on the churchway path from Castallack to Paul – now the present minor road and footpath adjacent to this field.

The stone is remarkable in having a line of seven small cupmarks* on its eastern face, with two more below it, and stands on the November sunrise alignment from Boscawen-un Circle. This is the second known stone in the peninsula to have nine cupmarks on it – another once existed as a boundary marker on open moors near the Nine Maidens Stone Circle.*

Henderson also drew* a stone at Bosullow having ten cupmarks on it and another cupmarked stone is in the walling of Castallack Round at 4482/2541.* However Payne considered these particular cupmarks at Castallack looked more like modern drill marks made in preparation for splitting the stone.*

PAUL 6

These stones are not mentioned by any of the Victorian antiquaries although several recorded the menhir in the next field (PAUL 2). The SMR states* that: “Two other stones are set upright almost in a straight line from this stone (PAUL 2) to the west; these however are thought to be recently erected”. Russell saw the two stones in February 1959 and noted* them as nearly in line with the menhir; they were only about 1.08 metres (3’6”) high and she thought them probably only rubbing stones even though they were more weathered and solidly based then usual. It is uncertain when they were uprooted and it seems strange that, if they were rubbing posts erected after the time of Blight, two stones should be erected so close together in the same field. They remain an enigma.

PAUL 7

A pear-shaped possible standing stone about 2.3 metres (7’6”) tall is located in the overgrown hedge on the driveway to Ennis Farm. It was discovered in 1995by the then occupiers, Mr and Mrs Tonkin.*

PAUL 8

A possible menhir was recorded standing in a hedge at the above location where the path meets the main road. No measurements were given. A large uprooted stone, 3 metres (10’) long, was also noted being used as a gatepost at Bojewans at 4365/2710.*

PAUL 9

In 1984 a 2.48 metre (8’) tall stone was discovered by Michell standing in a field hedge; it tapers to a flat top from a 2.48 metre (8’) base.* Any prehistoric significance has been described as being “indeterminate” although the stone has a “certain rugged charm”.*

PAUL 10

These three stones were recorded* as possible menhirs in 1994.

Stone A is a 1.94 metre (6’3”) triangular-shaped stone tapering from its base in a field close to a public footpath; it points directly to the tip of the Lizard marking the position of the rising sun at Imbolc and Samhain (early February and November). According to the farmer this stone, very similar to PAUL 13A at Swingate, went back “at least 5 or 6 generations”, so might be a menhir.

Stone B is located in a hedge just east of A – no measurements recorded.

Stone C is 1.7 metres (5’6”) tall and leans to the west in the middle of a field southeast of B.

Further remarks on these stones under PAUL 13.

PAUL 11

Two large standing stones built into the wall of an Iron Age enclosure known as Kerris Roundago still remain. They were drawn by Dr.Borlase* who remarked that four “rude pillars” about 2.48 metres (8’) high stood at the southern end of the Roundago; there were also some “large long stones” lying at their feet which he considered to have formerly lain on top of these pillars as part of a monument he thought to have been a place of worship.

About 1813 two of the large upright stones were taken away for use as gateposts at the Penzance Dock; the survivors were left standing 2.8 metres (9’) apart.*  During the 1840’s much of the stonework of the Roundago was removed to enlarge the field and many fallen and upright stones taken away; the entrance to the site was filled in by a Cornish hedge although the two upright stones were left to form “conspicuous objects”.* Copeland Borlase went to the site in May 1871 and wrote* that the two pillars, 6’6” and 7’ tall, seemed to “form a gateway”.

Although the Roundago is an Iron Age enclosure it is possible that Bronze Age menhirs were incorporated into the later structure, but this must, I think, remain highly suspect – imagine how the two gatepost stones at Chun Castle would appear if all other remains were taken away.

PAUL 12

Michell recorded* these two stones as possible menhirs (A) 1.75 metres (5’9”) and (B) 1.9 metres (6’) in height respectively, and standing about 60 metres apart in a northeast to southwest alignment so typical of prehistoric sites. He considered that they looked “decidedly ancient”.

Yet a third possible menhir at about 4495/2655 was mentioned in 1887.*  It was a 2 metre (6’6”) tall stone almost 2 metres in width and shaped like the menhir at Kerris; it was not a cattle rubbing post: “such things are seldom, if ever, so large, or erected on a downs”.*  Although on the southwest slope of a hill about 180 metres north of Redhouse Farm and some 140 metres from the pair of stones above mentioned, the account of this supposed menhir failed to mention either of them, which strengthens the probability that they are late 19th century rubbing posts.

When I went to the site in February 1997 I found the area of rough ground where the supposed third stone had been located to be littered with large stones, some built into hedges and similar to Stone B – presumably when Clodgy Moor was broken in. Stone A is a smooth tapered stone standing in an adjacent field where a hedge restricts view of Stone B, a wide thin stone of unusual shape for a rubbing post in the next field that Payne considered to have the appearance of a reused cist capstone placed on edge – he also considered the 1887 reference probably related to this stone.*

PAUL 13

There are a significant number of stones, of all shapes and sizes, standing well away from field hedges around the Kemyel group of farms. Most must be suspect as ancient since they were unrecorded by Victorian antiquaries or marked on any OS maps of the time; however four of these stones have been recorded* as possible menhirs and are listed below.

Stone A is a 2 metres (6’6”) high triangular-topped stone, once apparently part of a pair – its neighbour dragged out by tractor and chain during the early 1970’s and only saved through its current use as a cattle rubbing post.* This may be part of a pair of stones noted by Copeland Borlase in 1871* as being on top of Kemyel Hill half a mile south of Castallack: “the crops in a field always grew different in one circular spot, and that two upright stones were supposed to mark the gateway into a similar enclosure to that at Castallack (i.e. Castallack Round)”. This stone is the most likely menhir out of all the stones in the area and there is a field name of Long Stone (PAUL F1) only two fields away.

Stone B is 1.65 metres (5’6”) tall and stands in a field north of A.

Stone C is 1.85 metres (5’9”) tall and stands in a field close to the footpath from Kemyel Drea to Raginnis. The views from here across the sea are magnificent and the stone apparently indicates midsummer sunrise position over St.Michael’s Mount and this, it has been suggested,* makes it a likely menhir – the SMR considers it a possible rubbing post.* There are several other insignificant looking stones in other fields close by at c.4632/2520 and c.4649/2535 which are likely to be rubbing posts.

Stone D is a small triangular-shaped stone recorded in a field north of B, its small size and peculiar shape makes it an unlikely rubbing post and Payne thought it could be a small menhir – he also considered that the uprooted paired stone A could have simply been an earthfast boulder.*

PAUL 14

A pair of stones stand a few metres part within a circular hilltop enclosure known as Faughan Round with extensive views across much of the peninsula and Mount’s Bay. The stones may have been Bronze Age menhirs incorporated into an Iron Age enclosure as suggested for the site at Kerris Roundago,* but, once again, this must remain unlikely.

PAUL 15

Halliwell recorded*  a fallen stone about 3.1 metres long by 1.24 metres wide (10’ by 4’) lying in the field immediately east of the famous Tresvennack Pillar (PAUL 4). Russell put this at the above grid reference but failed to say if she actually saw it.*  No other mention of this stone is known and no trace of it has been found in this field.

All the fields surrounding and including that containing the existing menhir in TA973 were farmed by the same tenant in 1841*  yet that significant stone failed to make an impression on him when he named his fields. The fact that he called TA975 Long Stone, rather than TA973 is a strong indication that Halliwell’s fallen stone was then upright – so forming a pair with its extant neighbour.

PAUL 16

Another possible menhir lies flat in the farm lane at Tresvennack with its 3.1 metre (10’) long upper face level with the ground surface. It is located near the stile on the footpath to Kerris close to the western end of the farm complex and seems far too large to have been dragged very far: it may once have stood (if it was ever a menhir) in a small overgrown enclosure on the northern side of the lane some 300 metres north-east of Tresvennack Pillar.*