Verified50.0650° N · 5.5890° W · 80 m
Merry Maidens Stone Circle — St Buryan
Late Neolithic – Bronze Age·Cornish Late Neolithic·🇬🇧 Cornwall, England, United Kingdom
About
About Merry Maidens Stone Circle — St Buryan
Merry Maidens Stone Circle — St Buryan in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom is a Late Neolithic – Bronze Age megalithic attributed to Cornish Late Neolithic. Perfect circle associated with two pipers standing stones and Tregurnow burial chamber. Surveys document interior and comparative analysis.
Why it mattersImportant Cornish Late Neolithic megalithic of the Cornwall, England region
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Chronology
- 02Landscape organisation
Theories
- 01Ceremonial aggregation
- 02Subsistence base
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 2500 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic – Bronze Age
- Culture
- Cornish Late Neolithic
- Purpose
- 19 granite stones in perfect 24 m circle, folklore of maidens petrified for dancing on Sabbath
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 2500 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1900 CE
Antiquarian survey
On the ground
Structures & features
50.0650° N · 5.5890° W · 80 m · 4 mapped features
- Merry Maidens Stone Circle — St Buryan — Main ChamberchamberPrimary chamber50.0652° N · 5.5889° W
- Merry Maidens Stone Circle — St Buryan — Kerb/Circle StonescircleCircuit stones50.0648° N · 5.5888° W
- Merry Maidens Stone Circle — St Buryan — Outlierstanding stoneAssociated outlier stone50.0655° N · 5.5892° W
- Merry Maidens Stone Circle — St Buryan — Secondary EnclosureenclosureSecondary walled area50.0646° N · 5.5892° W
Gallery