Chûn Quoit

Chûn Quoit.

The best preserved of all quoits (also called dolmens or cromlechs) in Cornwall, UK is Chûn Quoit, located in open moorland near Pendeen and Morvah. The uphill walk is worthwhile because this is perhaps the most visually satisfying of all the quoits. Standing on a windy ridge, above the much later constructed Chûn Castle hillfort, it surveys heather moorland and the open sea.

As with the other quoits, the quoit was probably covered by a round barrow (35 ft in diamter), of which much evidence abounds. It was a closed chamber and its mushroom-domed capstone measures 3.3 m (11 ft) by 3 m (10 ft), with a maximum thickness of 0.8 m (2 ft 7 in). It is supported about 2 m (7 ft) from the ground by four substantial slabs.^[1] There is evidence of an entrance passage to the south-east within the mound area. The site was examined in 1871 but no significant finds were made. In the same vicinity of Chûn Quoit there are many other megalithic and archaeological sites as Lanyon Quoit, Mên-an-Tol and Mên Scryfa. The weird rocky outline of Carn Kenidjack marks the position of midwinter sunset away to the south-west.

This is the only cromlech in west Penwith to retain its capstone 'in situ'--others have been re-settled. It is believed to have been built around 2400BC, two millennia before the neighbouring Chûn Castle. In 1988 radiation readings were taken inside the chamber which revealed results 123% higher than the local environment. This 'high-energy' granite is the only possible clue to otherwise inexplicable claims that short bursts of multicoloured light flash across the undersurface of the quoit lasting half an hour. There is a cupmark on top of the capstone which perhaps had a ritual significance to the druids who, to this day, make pilgrimages to the site.

References

1. ^ Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall; 2nd ed., revised by E. Radcliffe. Penguin; p. 121

See also

• List of topics related to Cornwall

Coordinates: 50°08′55″N 5°38′16″W / 50.1486°N 5.6377°W / 50.1486; -5.6377