Trethevy Quoit

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Trethevy Quoit in Cornwall
East view
Etching by WC Borlase 1872
Etching by WC Borlase 1872
Etching by WC Borlase 1872

The Trethevy Quoit , also known as The Giant's House , is an approximately 5,500 year old dolmen from the Neolithic Age . It is in Cornwall in England . This quoit illustrates well the peculiarity of the Cornish portal tombs .

location

The Trethevy Quoit is the former District Caradon north of Liskeard in the village Tremar Coombe. Nearby are The Hurlers , three stone circles from the late Bronze Age. There are a few other megalithic sites of this type in Cornwall :

construction

The Trethevy Quoit, like other portal tombs of this type, was initially covered by a mound. The remains of the fortifications that can be found indicate a diameter of 6.5 m. The remaining seven stones and the 3.7 m long and 10.5 ton heavy cover plate used to be inside the facility. At the top of the cover plate is a natural hole that may have been used for astronomical observation. The group of horizontal stones consists of an overturned rear wall, two side wall stones that slightly overlap, a front stone and a flanking stone a little further away. The peculiarity of the Cornish portal tombs is that such stones sometimes create and delimit a small, partially closed space in front of the frontal closure. Some stones have hole-like perforations as decorations. The front stone is often referred to as the entrance stone, although most portal tombs cannot move it. The Trevethy Quoit is a rare exception here, because a small, rectangular movable stone on the lower right edge of the front allows access to the burial chamber, which is only rarely opened today. The back of the chamber has collapsed inwards and now forms an elevation inside the chamber. When erected, this stone is about the same height as the front stone, so that in the past the cover plate was apparently not supported by the flank stones, but rested almost horizontally on the front stone and back wall. Then, however, there would have been a considerable gap between the bearing stones and the side walls, through which the soil could have penetrated the burial chamber. It can therefore be assumed that when the rear wall collapsed, the falling cover plate also damaged the flank stones. The interior is 2 m long and 1.5 m wide and today measures 4.6 m at the highest point.

Research history

The Trethevy Quoit was first mentioned in 1584 by J. Norden in a topographical and historical representation of Britain, which was not published until 1728. In the 19th century, William Copeland Borlase took a closer look at the megalithic system and made the etchings shown here. He also made initial speculations about the overturned rear wall and the earlier appearance of the quoit. Hugh O'Neill Hencken wrote a first modern presentation in 1932, in which he explained the special features of the antechamber and pointed out parallels to buildings in Brittany . Recent excavations have shown that this type of megalithic complex was built in the Neolithic between 3700 and 3500 BC. BC and have been used as community graves for a long time.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John North: speculi Britanniae Pars: a topographical and chorographical description of Cornwall , London: C. Bateman 1728
  2. ^ William Copeland Borlase: Naenia Cornubiae , London: Longmans 1872
  3. ^ Hugh O'Neill Hencken: The Archeology of Cornwall and Scilly , London: Methuen 1932
  4. ^ John Barnatt: Prehistoric Cornwall: The Ceremonial Monuments , Turnstone Press 1982

literature

  • John Barnatt: Prehistoric Cornwall: The Ceremonial Monuments . Turnstone Press 1982, ISBN 0855001291 .
  • Ian McNeil Cooke: Standing Stones of the Land's End . Cornwall: Men-an-Tol Studio 1998, ISBN 0951237195 .
  • Homer Sykes: Mysterious Britain - Fact and Folklore . Weidenfeld and Nicholson 1993, ISBN 0297831968 , p. 22.

Web links

Commons : Trethevy Quoit  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 29 ′ 35.5 "  N , 4 ° 27 ′ 19.4"  W.