Nine Maidens
The Nine Maidens, otherwise known as the Nine Stones of Boskednan are a partially restored prehistoric stone circle near Boskednan in Cornwall, around four miles north-west of the county's westernmost town, Penzance. It is also known as the Boskednan stone circle.
The monument is also traditionally known as the Nine Maidens or Nine Stones of Boskednan, although the original structure may have contained as many as 22 upright stones around its 226-foot perimeter.
Location
- Location map: 50°9’38"N, 5°35’37"W
- Streetmap: SW434351
The stone circle is in south-western Cornwall, north of the road from Madron to Morvah, and is approximately half a mile north-west of Boskednan village. It can only be reached on foot. The enigmatic Mên-an-Tol stones (which may also be the remains of a stone circle) are just half a mile to the south-west.[1]
Construction
The stone circle once probably consisted of 22 granite blocks, from which 10 still survive. Six stones stand upright, one sits two feet out of the ground, the others remain lying in the soil. The stones are all about three feet high, the highest measure approximately ten feet and stand to northern edge of the circle.[2] The stone circle originally described a circle with a diameter of approximately 70 feet. The circle may have belonged with the nearby barrow to an extensive cult district.[3]
History
Stone circles such as that at Boskednan, were erected in the late Neolithic or in the early Bronze Age by representatives of a Megalithic culture. The first mention of the stone circle in modern times, in 1754, is found in the work Antiquities, historical and monumental, of the County of Cornwall by William Borlase, who reported 19 upright standing stones. William Copeland Borlase, a descendant of the earlier Borlase, conducted excavations and found a cist and a funerary urn near the stone circle, dating from the early Bronze Age. Borlase described his discoveries in 1872 in his work Naenia Cornubiae, which concerns prehistoric monuments of Cornwall.[3]
See also
Other prehistoric stone circles in the Penwith region
- Boscawen-Un
- The Merry Maidens - also known as Dans Maen
- Tregeseal East - also known as the Tregeseal Dancing Stones
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Nine Maidens) |
- Megalithic Portal: Boskednan stone circle
- Nine Stones of Boskednan: The Modern Antiquarian
- Boskednan Stone Circle: Megalithic Walks
References
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 424271 – Men an Tol
- ↑ Boskednan (Nine Maidens) at Megalithics
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Boskednan or 'Nine Maidens' at 'Historic Cornwall
- John Barnatt: Prehistoric Cornwall. The Ceremonial Monuments. Turnstone Press Limited, Wellingborough 1982, ISBN 0-85500-129-1.
- Robin Payne: The Romance of the Stones. Alexander Associates, Fowey 1999, ISBN 1-899526-21-8.
- Burl, Aubrey (2000). The stone circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. Yale University Press. Chapter 9. ISBN 0-300-08347-5.
- Cope, Julian (1998). The Modern Antiquarian: A Pre-Millennial Odyssey Through Megalithic Britain. HarperCollins. p. 166. ISBN 0-7225-3599-6.