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England
Mulfra QuoitDolmen / Quoit / Cromlech
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The footpath heads on up to the top of Mulfra Hill. You can't really miss the quoit, because it's right in front of you! The slipped capstone faces me on this approach. By now the sun is at its midday and indeed midsummer peak. Obligatory photos taken, I set my back against the capstone and eat the biggest vegetable pasty I've ever had. Yum! What a spot it is, with excellent views over Mount's Bay to the south, taking in St Michael's Mount. Castle-an-Dinas is prominent to the east. Over to the west the Nine Maidens ridge and Ding Dong engine house are clearly visible. Perfect. This post appears as part of the weblog entry A Crack In The Clouds (3) – Carfury to Gurnard's Head 23 June 2011
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Posted by thesweetcheat17th July 2011ce Edited 17th July 2011ce |
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Visited 13.4.10. Park by farm house (small layby opposite house) and take the footpath straight up the hill. There have been 'steps' cut into the path, making the steep climb that bit easier. At this time of year the bracken and dreaded gorse wasn't too bad. The quoit only becomes visible as you approach the brow of the hill. The walk up the hill only takes about 10 minutes. The quoit is easy to get into (out of the wind!) and the slanting cap stone is very similar to Zennor quoit. There are good views to be had in all directions. |
Posted by CARL 22nd April 2010ce |
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Whilst doing fieldwork for A-level courswork I pursuaded the family to drive me around Penwith so I could measure and photograph what my younger sister termed as "a pile of old rocks!". As it was our first visit to Mulfra, we firstly drove past the footpath, pulled over next to Try Farm, checked the map, turned around and parked in a layby just behind us. From there we followed a footpath up the hill, as it looked to be going the wrong way we turned off, and followed what turned out to be an animal track, that soon disapeared. Freezing cold wind didn't discourage us and we plouged on, shins scratched and bleeding by low lying gorse, we arrived on top of the hill to the fantastic site of Mulfra Quoit! The qouit itself is fantastic, big enough to squeeze inside for a moments rest and to open the flask of tea! The views in all directions are fantastic, and many photo's were taken. When hands and face was numb, we followed a clearer path back down to the car, was steeper going but much quicker. |
Posted by Mirla8th April 2008ce Edited 12th April 2008ce |
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On holiday in Penwith last week, I'd agreed to meet Mr Hamhead for lunch in the Tinners Arms as he was also in the area. Suitable refreshed after a pint and a meal, we set off for our agreed target, Mulfra Quoit. I'd last visited the quoit some 3 years ago, and took the steep approach from Try Farm on that occasion. Today though, we took the much easier (but longer) approach from the north. After a couple of comedy pictures, we discussed the apparent moulding on the underside of the capstone, whether the quoit was ever 'whole', and the alignments with Chysauster and Castle an Dinas (and the time difference between the ages of the sites). Some of the gorse had been burnt off near the quoit, and investigation to the south uncovered some old field boundary walls, and a possible hut circle. As the weather was closing in from the south, we made our way back to the car, and the heavens opened as if to say "Get orff my hill!". We got. |
Posted by ocifant18th October 2006ce |
| We parked by a house in the Try valley to the east, in a one car grassy layby .Walk north to the footpath and climb the hill it was quite easy even the children didn't ask to be carried.Upon reaching the dolmen you cant look at it too long because the view is too demanding of your attention .Being up here you just know the view was important to the ancient's whether for beauties sake or as a territorial marker, either way we benifit |
Posted by postman4th August 2006ce |
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If you want views, then Mulfra's the place for you. From up here you can see St Michaels Mount, Ding Dong mine, Penzance, the hanging gardens of Babylon... Knowing my reluctance to walk distances, we chose the shortest route for us to reach it, up an incredibly steep slope, wading through the gorse and heather on something which could only loosely be called a path. But it IS worth the agro. This place is magic. The light was good on the crazy slanting capstone and I sketched as quickly as a could, but the paint was reluctant to dry, it was so cold. This would be a fantastic place to spend hours hanging out at. Come when its warm! |
Posted by Jane24th March 2004ce |
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Mulfra sits overlooking Mount's Bay, on a fine day one of the best views in Cornwall. I was lucky, I got such a day. Like others I found the route up was not easy, or the route down....but it was worth it for the view. The cap stone has fallen so you can nicely position yourself to take it all in, have a snack and if time a little nap. I shall return when next in the area, when hopefully it will be a little warmer and the helicopters of RNAS Culdrose arn't doing exercises. This post appears as part of the weblog entry The Quoits of Penwith
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Posted by Mr Hamhead30th January 2004ce |
| It is best to approach the Quoit from the west, the footpath from the cottage disappears half way up the hill. If you park at the cross roads you can see the main path, it is very rutted and in the rain is a stream, but it is the best way I have found. |
Posted by hamish9th February 2003ce Edited 22nd April 2003ce |
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Just to echo Pure Joy's notes, I tried to visit the site a few years ago and could find no trace of any footpath either. As it was nearing the end of the day and I had a friend and her two kids in tow it didn't seem fair dragging them over the hillside to see 'some more old stones'. I think they had enough of stones that day to last them a lifetime. Then the same thing happened to us as PJ - we got lost on the roads too... |
Posted by Chris Collyer18th January 2003ce |
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Mulfra Quoit – 27.12.2002 The Eastside of Mulfra Hill was seriously overgrown when I tried to visit. I couldn’t find the Public Footpath marked on the map (from the road, at approx 454356) that should lead up to the Quoit, nor any other path up the hill. The brambles and undergrowth were ferocious. Bummer. I’ll try again another day and maybe another path…don’t know when…..some sunny day…..(I feel a song coming on). After Mulfra I got hideously lost amongst the roads. I really feel like I’m losing my mind, going up and down the same roads. Is someone trying to tell me something? |
Posted by pure joy17th January 2003ce |
| I was there in May 2002. The weather was as you [Gazza] described, but the site is stunning. |
Posted by hamish 11th August 2002ce Edited 26th November 2002ce |
| Now this is one for the memory... a trek up a boggy, featureless hillside in wind and drizzle put a bit of a cloud over this visit. Just when we were getting REALLY jizzed with the whole thing, Mulfra is there. The huge capstone pointing crazily upwards, and the view ... just sit on the hill, back to the quoit and drink in the view. There is everything from prehistory to now visible here, and it's just soooooooo beautiful up there. And then the sun came out ! The lands end peninsular is just mindblowing. |
Posted by Gazza 29th December 2000ce |
Folklore |
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According to 'The Giants of Cornwall' by B. C. Spooner, the stones of Mulfra are said to be quoits from a giant's game. Folklore, Vol. 76, No. 1. (Spring, 1965), pp. 16-32. |
Posted by Rhiannon21st November 2006ce |
Miscellaneous |
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The cromlech on the top of Mulfra Hill, in Madron {although Mulfra Hill is part of Madron, it is detached from the rest of that parish by an intervening portion of Gulval}, is 3 1/2 miles north-north-west of Penzance. The cover-stone, according to Borlase, was 9 2/3 feet by 14 1/4, including a piece evidently broken off, and lying near it. Its present circumference scarcely exceeds that of Ch'un. The kist-vaen is 6 2/3 feet long, and 4 wide; the three slabs forming the two ends, and one of the sides, are about 5 feet high; the south supporter is gone, and on that side the cover stone has fallen, so as to rest on the ground at an angle of about 45 degrees.p27 of The Land's End District: Its Antiquities, Natural History, Natural Phenomena and Scenery. by Richard Edmonds. 1862. Online for perusal at Google Books. |
Posted by Rhiannon 12th March 2007ce Edited 12th March 2007ce |
| Etymology of Mulfra:- Late Cornish Moel Vrea, bare/domed hill. |
Posted by hamish 10th November 2002ce |
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