Carwynnen Quoit

Also known as:
Caerwynen, Pendarves Quoit, Pendarvis Quoit, The Giant's Frying Pan and The Giant's Quoit
Nearest town:
Camborne (3km NNW)
OS reference:
SW650372
OS sheet:
203
Latitude:
50° 11' 14.9 N
Longitude:
5° 17' 33.05 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Carwynnen Quoit by GLADMAN

Didn’t think I was going to like this... but I did. Pretty special.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 30, 2024
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by Chris Bond

Leaflet for “Save Our Quoit”, aiming to raise donations for an excavation and the restoration of Pendarves or Carwynnen Quoit near Camborne in Cornwall, produced by The Sustainable Trust, who purchased the land in 2009. The portal tomb was re-finally re-erected in 2014.

Image credit: The Sustainable Trust
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Oct 29, 2023
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by postman

Caerwynen Quoit, the stones with many names at sunset.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Aug 6, 2015
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by postman

Each clump of nettles has a big stone in a pit.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Aug 6, 2015
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by Zal

Two sketches of the quoit made on site in April 2015. Indigo calligraphy ink and Derwent Drawing pencil.

Image credit: © Amanda Bates 2015
Zal
Zal Apr 7, 2015
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by thesweetcheat

Sadly time to leave, as the next wave of rain gets a bit close for comfort.

Image credit: A. Brookes (27.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jun 30, 2014
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by thesweetcheat

The “Shield” Stone. The shield shape occupies the lower right-hand tip of the stone. The light isn’t ideal to see it, unfortunately.

Image credit: A. Brookes (27.6.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jun 30, 2014
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by Sustrust

The dismantling of Carwynnen Quoit, ready for the Big Dig starting soon.

Image credit: The Sustainable Trust
S
Sustrust Sep 12, 2012
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by hamish

I don’t envy Andy and the team sorting this lot out.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Jul 1, 2009
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by hamish

The Carwynnen stone heap waiting to be re erected.This picture is looking north east.The whole site is looking good and access is easy with new gates into the field.You can squeeze a couple of cars by the gate.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Jul 1, 2009
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by ocifant

Article in the West Briton, 12th March 2009.

Image credit: West Briton newspaper
ocifant
ocifant Mar 18, 2009
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by thesweetcheat

From “Ancient Crosses, and other Antiquities in the West of Cornwall” 3rd edition (1872)

Image credit: J.T. Blight (1872)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Feb 3, 2009
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by Mr Hamhead

Taken from CS Gilberts “History of Cornwall” published early 1800s

Image credit: CS Gilbert
Mr Hamhead
Mr Hamhead Jun 20, 2007
Image of Carwynnen Quoit by reswern

This postcard photograph was originally taken about 1900 by William John Bennetts, the Camborne and Hayle photographer. From c 1904-5 it was sold by the Milton Artlette postcard company. It shows what is locally known as the Carwynnen Cromlech as reconstructed after the collapse of 1842. It had a further collapse in 1967, and has not unfortunately been re-erected.

Image credit: W J Bennetts
R
reswern Dec 26, 2004

Articles

Carwynnen Quoit

More than a pile of stones: The archaeological quest at a burial chamber in Neolithic Cornwall

moss
moss Jan 14, 2015

Jacky Nowakowski, the Lead Archaeologist with the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, on the amazing restoration of the Carwynnen Quoit megalith.

The chamber belongs to a class of portal dolmens
“When the three granite uprights and the massive capstone collapsed in the 1960s earth tremor, they created a heap of stones which protected the ground beneath.

During the ensuing 50 years of land clearance, more large stones were heaped up onto the pile. These continued to ensure that the original area of the monument chamber was protected from later damage by ploughing.

The floor of the monument, an intact stone pavement, is made up of a narrow strip of compacted small stones which formed a hard-standing surface arranged in a doughnut-like circuit.

This embraced the central part, made up of slightly larger stones pressed firmly into the soil beneath.

More than 2,000 finds were made in our 2012 test pits and Big Dig trench, covering a wide variety of objects dating to all ages.

The main discovery was the partial survival of a remarkable stone pavement on the footprint of the original Neolithic monument, made up of small stones mainly of granite with some quartz pieces covering an area of approximately 5.5m² under topsoil.......

And there is much more on this community spirited archaeological excavation.....

culture24.org.uk//history-and-heritage/archaeology/art512813-more-than-a-pile-of-stones-the-archaeological-quest%20at-a-burial-chamber-in-neolithic-cornwall

Article by Ben Miller.

Carwynnen Quoit

1920s picnic picture recreated at ancient monument

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 30, 2014

A photograph of picnickers enjoying lunch at an ancient monument in Cornwall has been re-enacted almost a century after the original party packed up their hampers.

Photographer Andy Hughes, who has a studio in St Ives, was invited to recreate the scene by members of Sustrust, a history group responsible for rebuilding Carwynnen Quoit, near Camborne, earlier this year.

Using an old glass plate camera, the Truro College photography lecturer set up the shot as the original group had been arranged in 1925. He is currently processing the image and will be revealing the results in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, a number of professional photographers, including Colin Higgs, of the Western Morning News, were on hand to capture the reconstruction process.

“Andy was meticulous in his preparations,” said Colin. “It was fascinating to watch.”

The Neolithic structure, known locally as the Giant’s Quoit, had been a forlorn pile of stones for some 50 years before members of Sustrust began a five-year project to rebuild it. Watched by several hundred enthusiasts and supporters, its 10-ton capstone was finally hoisted back into place on Midsummer’s Day. Measuring 11ft by 8ft by 1ft, the great granite slab was dropped into position by crane.

Pip Richards, who has been the driving force behind the venture to re-erect the 5,000-year-old burial chamber near Troon, said the photographic re-enactment was part of a number of associated activities, including the production of a book and app.

“It is quite a famous photograph and comes from the collection of David Thomas,” she said. “It was a great day and I’m confident the results will be exceptional because the weather was not too bright so people weren’t squinting.”

Among those posing as 1920s picnickers were archaeologists James Gossip, Jacky Nowakowski and Richard Mikulski, Tony Boshier, who was part of the reconstruction team, Sustrust chairman Andy Norfolk, along with volunteer diggers and supporters.

“People just love to dress up and have some fun,” said Pip. “The director, James Kitto, did a great job organising everyone into their positions. If anything was different it was the attitude of those being photographed. In 1925, it was only seven years after the Great War, and there is a sombre air about the picture.”

Carwynnen Quoit – which has also been known as The Giant’s Frying Pan and Pendarves Quoit – might originally have been covered by a large mound of earth. More than a dozen similar structures can be seen elsewhere in Cornwall, including Trethevy Quoit, Lanyon Quoit and Chun Quoit.

Numerous groups were involved in the reconstruction project, including several schools which took part in outdoor lessons at the site. Children from Troon, Crowan, Kehelland, Penponds and Archbishop Benson schools chose items for a time capsule, which has now been buried deep beneath the ancient monument.

“We decided to let the children decide what should go in it,” said Pip. “So among the objects is a teddy bear, a jar of local honey to help people in the future identify the plants of today, hair from members of the team to help with DNA identification, 2014 coins, a serpentine heart pendant, a golf ball, badges from Troon Cricket Club and Camborne Rugby Club, a St Piran’s flag, a pasty key-ring, and a cartoon telling the story of the quoit.”

Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Sita Cornwall, the excavation revealed around 2,300 objects – many of them Neolithic – in the surrounding area. For more information visit giantsquoit.org

westernmorningnews.co.uk/1920s-picnic-picture-recreated-ancient-monument/story-21962607-detail/story.html

Carwynnen Quoit

Was quoit a place of worship?

moss
moss Jul 16, 2014

Carwynnen Quoit is standing proud again for the first time in half a century thanks to the efforts of a community group. Eminent Cornish archaeologist Professor Charles Thomas explains the ancient monument’s significance.

Today in Cornwall and Scilly the remnants of what are seen as Neolithic burial monuments, mostly excavated or ruined, involving large granite uprights and capstones and usually seen as having been enclosed in large kerbed mounds or cairns, are known by various names.

These include quoit, referring to capstones, and an English word for the small stone discs or horseshoes used in an old-style throwing game. They also include and cromlech, which is sometimes seen as “grambla”, an obscure dialect word shared with Welsh.

Its original sense was “curved-slab”, referring – like quoit – to a capstone.

In the last few years, thanks to Pip Richards of the Sustainable Trust and her archaeological colleagues, excavations and public involvement by schools and community groups have reached a most exciting stage at Carwynnen, the high ground in the southern part of Camborne parish. Readers will already know this as it has been well-reported in the WMN.

I write as a Camborne man, born in 1928, who well recalls the Carwynnen monument before its last collapse – possibly as a result of an earth tremor – in 1948. The monument, when complete, had three large local granite uprights and a vast granite capstone slab. It stands in what has long been called Frying Pan Field and was still nicknamed when I was a boy as The Devil’s Frying Pan. The implication, possibly overlooked until now, is that Carwynnen Quoit, as we may call it, was – unlike similar and contemporary Neolithic monuments in West Penwith such as Lanyon Quoit, Chun Quoit, Zennor Quoit and others – never contained in a large mound or cairn with stone-kerbed circumference and a low entrance passage.

Carwynnen was not necessarily unique in all of Cornwall, but radically different.

I don’t want to anticipate the findings of a report to be published by senior archaeologists Jacky Nowakowski and James Gossip, who are in charge of the exploration. What I stress is that this upland sector of Cornwall’s central east-west ridge has a general name of Carwynnen (Cornish: the light-coloured, or granitic, rocky hill) and that, despite centuries of mining and farming, it’s still riddled with standing stones, the odd stone circle, clusters of stone huts and early field-systems. Trial sections now dug in Frying Pan Field imply scattered Neolithic activity all around.

My guess is that those “frying pan” names date from the 16th or 17th centuries when English overcame spoken Cornish and that, before then, the monument itself was most probably cromlech. If so, the name would arise from the large, always visible, capstone. The conclusion is that Carwynnen Quoit was never contained in a vast mound of stones and earth and never so concealed. It was, if you like, open-air. From the Neolithic beginning, people could walk between the uprights, walk below the capstone, on a kind of neat circular paving, upon which they might place small offerings.

In other words, it was never built as a Neolithic burial mound. Effectively it was some kind of religious monument or a temple. Why, where and when it was made are questions still left with the archaeologists.

Now that the capstone has been replaced, the field tidied and sign-boarded, it is a temple once again.

Again as a Camborne man, whose family – from West Penwith – settled up there on the Carwynnen ridge in the 1680s, I find all this exciting beyond words. And I hope, readers of the WMN, will follow what happens next with equal attention.

westernmorningnews.co.uk/quoit-place-worship-burial/story-21465028-detail/story.html

Carwynnen Quoit

Ancient monument Carwynnen Quoit rebuild completed

moss
moss Jun 24, 2014

Work to rebuild a collapsed ancient Cornish monument has been completed on the day of the summer solstice.

Carwynnen Quoit, or Giant’s Quoit, a 5,000-year-old burial chamber near Troon, collapsed in 1966.

The burial chamber had fallen apart but, with help from archaeologists, it is standing proud once again.

Replacing the capstone was the last piece of work carried out by owners the Sustainable Trust, which bought the site in 2009.

Leading architect on the project, Jacky Nowakowski said: “It’s a magical moment to get to this stage in the project.

“I feel exhilarated to bring the capstone home and make the monument complete again.

“A lot of people have come together to bring an ancient monument back to life, so today’s a real celebration of that amazing achievement.”

The ancient granite monument is believed to date as far back as the Neolithic period.

The Cornwall Sustainable Trust and Cornwall Heritage Trust employed professional archaeologists to help research and rebuild it.

Initial work saw two support stones replaced in their original Neolithic footings but the third stone had to be adjusted to comply with health and safety regulations.

The main capstone measuring 3.3m (11ft) long, 2.5m (8ft) wide and 30cm (1ft) thick was dropped into position by a large crane.

According to the trust, Carwynnen Quoit is among 12 similar monuments around the county.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-27945128

Carwynnen Quoit

Archaeologists to reconstruct 5000 year old monument near Camborne

moss
moss Oct 18, 2013

Archaelogists are to finally start work on reconstructing Giant’s Quoit, a Stonehenge-like structure built 5,000 years ago by early man living near Camborne.
Following three years of fundraising the ancient scheduled monument is being restored with final excavations taking place between October 21 and 31 with an open day scheduled for the 27th.

“Weather permitting we anticipate the erection of the first support stone, or orthostat, during the morning of 31st October,” said Pip Richards, director of the Sustainable Trust.
The Sustainable Trust, which owns the field, known as Cromlech Parc or Frying Pan Field, has £55,000 funding to carry out the work, which has been approved byEnglish Heritage.

Ms Richards added: “Restoration to the second and third orthostats (standing stone) will be in spring with the capstone placed near midsummers day in 2014.”
There will also be educational and outreach events taking place throughout this period.
She added: “We are delighted with this long awaited news and are looking forward to fulfilling our ambition to restore this unusual iconic monument.
“Bringing Neolithic history into focus through what was once considered just a pile of old stones, and giving the local community something to be proud of, makes us happy to undertake the work. So much good feeling and encouragement was engendered during the last phase of the project, it makes it all worthwhile.
“We can only guess the original uses prehistoric man had for these monuments. Burials and ancestor worship are thought to have occurred here.
“This is the only such monument in the area, as most of the existing quoits are on the moorlands of west Penwith.”
Volunteers have also pledged to carry on the work after taking part in the first phase of archaeological investigations last year.
A film, depicting the site’s history and archaeological significance is being made, and a bi-lingual ballad is also being commissioned along with the creation of a special App to help guide visitors around the site.
Several exhibitions and talks will be held along with education days for schools once the work has been completed.
The Sita Cornwall Trust is funding the excavations and restoration, and the Heritage Lottery Fund are funding the education and outreach side of the project.
The Sustainable Trust also thanked the re also grateful to the Tanner Trust, Cornwall Heritage Trust, The Council of British Archaeology and Cornwall Archaeological Society, for making the project possible.
Ms Richards added: “Support has also come from the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies & Camborne Old Cornwall Society. Without this diverse interest, the larger bids would not have been forthcoming.”

Taken from ThisisCornwall

tinyurl.com/op4755u

Carwynnen Quoit

Quoit stones lifted by Sustainable Trust

S
Sustrust Sep 12, 2012

Preparations for our big dig at Carwynnen Quoit went into full swing on Monday September 10th when a large crane arrived on site to dismantle the pile of stones and temporarily remove them to a safe place. This was an exciting although potentially nerve wracking exercise! The stones have lain in a disorganised pile for more than 40 years when the monument collapsed in 1966. Since then a large number of other stones have been added to the pile, many of them very large, and these had been heaped up, over and upon the ancient capstone and its companion uprights.

Carwynnen is a portal dolmen: essentially a stone monument with an open chamber formed by three large granite uprights which support a splendid majestic capstone. In an early measured survey carried out by the antiquarians Lukis and Borlase in the late 19th century, another two stones were recorded. One lay flat to one side of the monument and this was shadowed by a small squared upright placed next to it. We know that this ancient monument was therefore made up of at least 6 stones. These lay in a muddle within the heap. Over 130 years later a detailed plan of this heap was made and this excellent survey was a great help as it identified the six main stones. The challenge was to unpick the pile and remove those stones which we know were part of this ancient monument and place them to one side so that they can be studied further before they are brought back together and reassembled when the quoit is restored.

The whole operation ran extremely smoothly thanks to the planning and care carried out by the team from The Sustainable Trust. Each of the main stones were systematically removed from the pile, lifted by webbing strops carefully secured into place. They were then moved by the crane. As they were momentarily held, suspended in temporary flight, each was weighed. The finely dressed uprights each weigh on average 2 tonnes and the beautiful capstone clocks in at a massive 9.8 tonnes! Imagine how the ancients put this monument together over 5,000 years ago – the skill, operational management and engineering skills are truly astonishing. These fine stones now lie close to the site and the field has become a dormitory of sleeping giants waiting to be awoken and once again reunited as the Giant’s Quoit.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-19554301

Carwynnen Quoit

Funds needed...

Mr Hamhead
Mr Hamhead Aug 5, 2007

I have received this email today from a group called the Sustainable Trust...the third paragraph is the interesting bit...

Crenver Grove, the 14Hectare woodland we manage for the Dandelion Trust, now entertains local children as part of Forest School activities. Any initiative to bring volunteers of all ages and abilities in contact with nature and their heritage is welcomed. Help with clearance of the invasive species is constantly needed, and is always a light-hearted activity. Just ring us for details. 01209 831718. ’ Breathing Spaces’, a Big Lottery fund have just made us a sizeable award for works to Crenver Grove, mending walls, an archaeological study, green woodworking workshops and training.

Globally-our little project in Sri Lanka helping tsunami victims has moved on. The Saga Charitable Trust have put a further £5,000 into the neglected village we helped back into employment with a Cornish boost to their coir spinning cottage industry last year. They will buy sewing machines, train and provide a showroom together with our Sri Lankan partners, the Centre for Environment & Development. We have also been instrumental in forming a Credit Union in this village, Madampagama. Microfinance often help poor villagers cross the poverty line, making their work and lives more sustainable. Scooby, a photographer from University College, Falmouth recorded the project. Her images of the progress is being exhibited around Devon & Cornwall this year. The exhibition is called ‘Recovery’. Prints are for sale at (www. Travellightphotos.co.uk)

Locally, we are engaged in negotiations to buy the ‘Giants/Pendarves/Carwynnen Quoit/Cromlech/Dolmen- also known as the ‘Frying Pan’. Naming it is a weighty problem, the least of our worries is clearing a planning technicality and raising the money to buy this Listed Scheduled Monument together with the surrounding 5 acres of land. We would be delighted to receive any donations towards the £22,000 asking price, or any offer of help or suggestions towards running a series of events to involve a wide audience. H.R.H the Duke of Cornwall , Camborne Town Council and The Cornish Gorsedd have kicked off the fund with Community Energy Plus donating 200 indigenous trees to extend the wildlife corridor on this land, which was formerly set aside land, owned by a bulb growing company.

So we trundle on, pleased with an involvement in a new magazine called ‘The Source’, happy to make charcoal for cooking and drawing, and most of all to welcome new people to help us ‘treat the world as if we intend to stay.‘

The website for this is sustrust.co.uk/new_projects.html

Carwynnen Quoit

C
carol27 Sep 24, 2015

Magic faeries at Carwynnen quoit.
Drove down a one horse track, knackered jalopy rattling alarmingly. My first quoit, stood on its lonesome at the bottom of the field. Lovely, lovely.
Great old photo of 1925 Cornish society picnickers, fascinating – one of them looked like a bohemian.
Quite tastefully done circular benches with saplings planted around them as a viewing area.
Huge capstone, (hadn’t yet seen Trethevy Quoit); sparkling quartz stone. As others have mentioned odd mysterious little pits with stones in them dotted around the field.
It was very windy, with sunshine breaking through. As we wandered around we were accompanied by a whistling tune borne on the air, coming & going with each gust. We were enthralled & became increasingly excited, this tune could not be denied. We investigated the whole field boundary hedges & peered into the surrounding woodland; no lone flautist to be seen! At last evidence of the supernatural! Don’t accept any food or drink from the faeries Nick says.
It’s following me around says the limping one & indeed it was, or rather his metal walking stick, through the holes of which the gale was blowing scales! NOT faeries then! Bugger!
A bit magical all the same.

Carwynnen Quoit

postman
postman Aug 7, 2015

No fieldnotes since the re-erection, how very odd.

I parked at the gate by the big fancy “look what we did” information board, and took a slow walk down to the dolmen, we had the place to ourselves but the roar of many children playing in the woods drowned out all but the most steadfast of thoughts.
It was a gorgeous evening and we would soon be treated to another jaw dropping Cornish sunset so I decided we would stay until the glorious end, the show would not be over til the fat lady had sung her song.
The stones looked lovely in the setting sunshine, and definitely look better standing up, they did a pretty good job, it’s doubtful I’d have come to see a pile of stones half covered in nettles, but this is very good, natures helping out though.
By all accounts, well just one really, this dolmen has a complicated floor, other smaller stones still lie around unexplained, the curve of angled pebbles at the front? of the dolmen are remnants of the paving, or so I’m left to presume, over 2000 finds from the dig and now there’s a time capsule down there too.
Almost unbelievably the archaeologists say that the stones were never covered in a mound of any sort, but that you could walk under it even in the neolithic, I cant believe that, an open air burial chamber ?, burial chambers are supposed to keep the remains of the illustrious departed safe, it would be like building a car with no wheels, a plane with no wings, an interstellar mission with no murderous robot. Nope.
We’re interrupted a couple of times by photographic opportunists from what looks to be a caravan site in the adjacent trees, but we’re sitting at the front on the purpose made sitting stone, out of the way.
Here it comes, the sun is going down, (photo) going, (photo) going (photo) gone.
There are three clumps of nettles that seem not to have been mentioned by the sustainable trust, each clump has a squarish pit dug into the ground and in each pit is a large stone. The only thing I can come up with is Sweetcheat mentioned a nearby stone circle once, I think, maybe it was a dream.
Just like my whole time in Cornwall.

Carwynnen Quoit

C
CARL Apr 28, 2010

Visited 14.4.10.
Situated on the left of the lane running from Praze-An-Beeble to Troon off the B3303. Very easy to access. Park in front of field gate. There is a large information board giving details of the Quoit and I noticed that someone had built a D.I.Y. model of the quoit on the grass behind the information board. The quoit is still a jumble of stones although the capstone is clearly evident. The stones are visible from the field gate although it is only an easy 2 minute stroll if you want to get up close and personal.

Carwynnen Quoit

hamish
hamish Jul 1, 2009

Went here on a very hot day in June. Was pleasantly surprised to see that work has started. There are two field gates with space for a couple of cars and easy access to the field.It is nice to see the meadow flowers starting to grow.I await now eagerly for something to happen to the Stones, it is quite a jigsaw puzzel.

Carwynnen Quoit

chris s
chris s Mar 10, 2002

After being re-erected for a brief period in the mid-20th century, this chamber tomb had collapsed again by 1983. Currently still lying in a sorry state; no plans to re-erect it. Last visited in August 2001, nevertheless impressive and atmospheric.

Miscellaneous

Carwynnen Quoit
Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech
chris s
chris s May 3, 2006

There’re the stirrings of a local campaign to get this re-erected according to a recent correspondence in the West Briton newspaper. I for one would like to see it happen, it being the only quoit in the Kerrier area.

Topics

reerected quoit 25
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Jun 2014
Work to begin soon 4
moss
moss
May 2014
3D puzzling 2
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Jul 2009
Quoit a problem 17
B
bergman
Feb 2009

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