Rillaton Barrow
The Rillaton Barrow (also called Craddock Moor barrow) a large early Bronze Age burial mound , is located in the village of Minions , north of Liskeard on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall . The village is located on Caradon Hill , the highest point in southeast Cornwall. There are other prehistoric monuments and copper mines in the vicinity .
Hill and stone box
The hill dates from between 1700 and 1500 BC. And has a diameter of 30 m. In 1837, stone-looking miners discovered a stone box made of granite on the eastern edge of the hill . The 2.4 m long and 1.1 m wide box contained the remains of a human skeleton, a copper dagger, ceramics, pearls and the so-called "Rillaton Gold Cup".
The gold cup
The "Rillaton Gold Cup" is a horizontally ribbed cup 80 mm high. The shape has parallels in the ( Aunjetitz culture ), in Emilia-Romagna (Montecchio Emilia) and in England ( Ringlemere Gold Cup , in Kent). The piece is either imported from the continent or a local imitation. It took great skill to manufacture the corrugated profile. The handle is decorated with two groups of grooves and attached to the cup body with diamond-shaped discs.
The cup, which belonged to the Royal Family for some time, has been in the British Museum since 1936 . A copy of the Rillaton Cup is in the Cornwall Museum in Truro . Many other artifacts from the stone box have been lost.
In the vicinity
- The stone circle of Craddock Moor , the granite gate Cheesewring and the Druids Chair are about 1½ km north, at Nether Minions in the moor. The rock formations are the result of the millennia of erosion of the granite layers.
- The Hurlers , a Bronze Age complex of three stone circles , is 200 meters from Rillaton Barrow on the west side of the village and the Menhir "The Longstone / Lang Tom" is 850 meters away.
There was mining for copper in the area. The only remnant from this time is the ruin of a power station, all other remains have disappeared. The railway line to Liskeard and Looe for export, which was opened in 1844 for the transport of the silver-gray granite, is only visible in places and is used by hikers and riders.
To the north of the village is the restored Houseman's Engine House with an exhibition about the history and nature of the area.
literature
- Homer Sykes: Mysterious Britain. Fact and folklore (= Country Series. 30). Phoenix, London 1998, ISBN 0-7538-0432-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 31 '16 " N , 4 ° 27' 20.5" W.