Standing stone 105m south east of Chyenhal Farm

Overview

Location

Reasons for Designation

Standing stones are prehistoric ritual or ceremonial monuments with dates ranging from the Late Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age for the few excavated examples. They comprise single or paired upright orthostatic slabs, ranging from under lm to over 6m high where still erect. They are often conspicuously sited and close to other contemporary monument classes. They can be accompanied by various features: many occur in or on the edge of round barrows, and where excavated, associated subsurface features have included stone cists, stone settings, and various pits and hollows filled in with earth containing human bone, cremations, charcoal, flints, pots and pot sherds. Similar deposits have been found in excavated sockets for standing stones, which range considerably in depth. Several standing stones also bear cup and ring marks. Standing stones may have functioned as markers for routeways, territories, graves, or meeting points, but their accompanying features show they also bore a ritual function and that they form one of several ritual monument classes of their period that often contain a deposit of cremation and domestic debris as an integral component. No national survey of standing stones has been undertaken, and estimates range from 50 to 250 extant examples, widely distributed throughout England but with concentrations in Cornwall, the North Yorkshire Moors, Cumbria, Derbyshire and the Cotswolds. Standing stones are important as nationally rare monuments, with a high longevity and demonstrating the diversity of ritual practices in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. Despite re-erection, the standing stone 105m south east of Chyenhal Farm will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its initial erection, function, longevity, territorial significance, ritual and funerary practices, re-erection and overall landscape context.

Details

The monument includes a standing stone, situated on a coastal ridge overlooking Mounts Bay. The standing stone survives as an upright earthfast monolith roughly triangular in section is approximately 0.8m wide at the base and tapers upwards to a height of 2.5m. It was re-erected in the early-19th century and recorded by Blight in 1858.

Sources: HER:- PastScape Monument No:-422685

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

CO 808

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.