Gûn Rith Menhir

Nearest town:
Newlyn (5km NE)
OS reference:
SW429245
OS sheet:
203
Latitude:
50° 3' 51.44 N
Longitude:
5° 35' 34.71 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Chris Bond

The Gûn Rith Menhir at Boleigh. Photograph taken from the west on 7 August 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Feb 16, 2025
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Chris Bond

The Gûn Rith Menhir at Boleigh. Photograph taken from the north-north-west on 7 August 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Feb 16, 2025
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Chris Bond

The Gûn Rith Menhir at Boleigh. Photograph taken from the east-south-east on 7 August 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Feb 16, 2025
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Chris Bond

The Gûn Rith Menhir at Boleigh. Photograph taken from the east-south-east on 7 August 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Feb 16, 2025
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Chris Bond

The Gûn Rith Menhir at Boleigh. Photograph taken from the north-east on 7 August 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Feb 16, 2025
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Chris Bond

The Gûn Rith Menhir at Boleigh. Photograph taken from the west on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Feb 16, 2025
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Chris Bond

The Gûn Rith Menhir at Boleigh. Photograph taken from the north on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Feb 16, 2025
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Chris Bond

The Gûn Rith Menhir at Boleigh. Photograph taken from the north-east on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Feb 16, 2025
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Chris Bond

The Gûn Rith Menhir at Boleigh. Photograph taken from the east-south-east on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Feb 16, 2025
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by Meic

Gun Rith Menhir – 10th May 2004

Image credit: Michael Mitchell
Meic
Meic Oct 17, 2006
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by ocifant

Hopefully, this will ensure it stays upright for a while...

Image credit: Alan S>
ocifant
ocifant Oct 13, 2003
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by goffik

This is the hole the stone stood in – not very deep – no wonder it fell! :o(

Image credit: Goffik
goffik
goffik Jul 3, 2003
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by ocifant

Gun Rith 11 March 2003 – a downed stone is a sad sight

Image credit: Alan S>
ocifant
ocifant Mar 16, 2003
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by ocifant

Gun Rith 11 March 2003 – not too deeply seated, was it?

Image credit: Alan S>
ocifant
ocifant Mar 16, 2003
Image of Gûn Rith Menhir by ocifant

Gun Rith 11 March 2002. The stone is down. I suspect the farmer will want this moving very soon...

Image credit: Alan S>
ocifant
ocifant Mar 16, 2003

Articles

Gûn Rith Menhir

Gun Rith retains its lean

phil
phil Jul 4, 2003

Cornish newspaper “The West Briton” expands on the recent news about Gun Rith Menhir

The restoration process has been carefully planned to ensure that the area is safe for visitors and to make it look exactly as it did before the accident – even down to replacing it with a lean.

Ann Preston-Jones, senior archaeologist at the historic environment service said: “We wanted to make sure that although the stone was going to be built back into the hedge, it would remain as visible as it had been before.

“However, as the stone had almost no foundation and a 15 degree lean, it had become very unstable.

“The only way to make it safe without a base would have been to place it completely upright and to bury it so deep that it would have appeared very much shorter and become rapidly overgrown by trees and shrubs.

“We therefore came to the conclusion that it would be best to stand the stone up in a base as it is something that we have done before for medieval crosses.

“We felt that, in this case, it could be justified because, with the support of a base, most of the height of the menhir can be above the ground and it will be safe for it to lean slightly.”

read the full story
thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=79373&command=displayContent&sourceNode=78925&contentPK=6209041

Gûn Rith Menhir

Bronze Age Stone Set Back In Place

Kammer
Kammer Jun 30, 2003

From an article on the thisisDevon Web site, published 27th June 2003:

A prehistoric standing stone – one of the vital features of Cornwall’s Bronze Age landscape – was returned to its original site yesterday after being restored. Gun Rith Menhir, a 12ft granite stone, fell over in January and has since been in the care of archeologists.

Investigations carried out on the stone, and the circumstances surrounding its fall, revealed that it had been loose for more than 30 years and was set less than one foot in the ground.

Read the full article...

This news item was originally flagged up on the TMA Forum by Phil, but I thought it was worthy of a posting on the main site (we don’t get enough good news here, so I thought it might cheers us up a bit).

Gûn Rith Menhir

Gun Rith to be re-erected next month?

ocifant
ocifant Apr 10, 2003

According to a post from Andy Norfolk on the Stones Mailing List, Gun Rith is to be re-erected sometime at the end of May.

Good News.

Gûn Rith Menhir

C
CARL Apr 21, 2010

Visited 12.4.10.
Very easy to access.
Park in layby directly opposite sign posted lane to Tregiffian Farm. The stone is in the hedgerow behind the layby. Access to field is via a handy stone stile. From Rith Menhir you get a superb view of The Merry Maidens stone circle.

Gûn Rith Menhir

ocifant
ocifant Oct 12, 2003

7th October 2003

Nice to see that Gun Rith has been re-erected, complete with original (or near as dammit) lean. The base has been placed into concrete this time, and the field wall has been reconstructed around it, so hopefully it won’t fall again in a hurry.

Gûn Rith Menhir

goffik
goffik Jul 3, 2003

We had been to Tregiffian Burial Chamber a few years ago, but as newbies to Cornwall, stopped there, took some photos, went home. Didn’t know Gun Rith was here, and didn’t even know Merry Maidens or The Pipers were close by!

So, armed with our spangly OS maps, we thought we’d return. What a pleasant surprise! Apart from being so wet we could have been wading through water (very rainy May 2003), and the poor thing had fallen, there was still a subdued atmosphere here. Felt like we were seeing something rather special. Just had to touch it. Was I wrong to feel the urge to stand in the hole it fell from? I did it any way and felt good about it. ;o)

We stayed a while then returned, via Tregiffian Burial Chamber and a final glance at Merry Maidens. Bless em all!

Still – now it’s back standing, I’ll have to go and have another look – hard life, innit?

Gûn Rith Menhir

ocifant
ocifant Mar 11, 2003

Bad news I’m afraid. This ‘sexy stone’ is no more. I passed here today (I’ll post a fuller weblog on my return home next week), and the Gun Rith menhir is down.

I wondered why I couldn’t see it from the Merry Maidens, and it was only when I went into the field that I realised the stone was down. It’s fallen across the cart tracks into the adjoining field, so no doubt the farmer will be moving it soon. I’ve tried to get a message to Andy Norfolk in the hope that the restoration can be done sensitively.

I’ve taken a few photos of the fallen stone, but can’t upload them on this connection. More to follow next week.... ...Pictures now uploaded, and the stone hadn’t yet been moved when I paid a return visit a couple of days later.

Gûn Rith Menhir

pure joy
pure joy Jan 7, 2003

Gun Rith Menhir – 23.12.2002

This sexy stone is clearly visible from the Merry Maidens and Tregiffian and is probably an outlier for the stone circle. Also know as ‘The Fiddler’ it’s found lurking in a hedge, just off a public footpath that leads from opposite the lay-by for the Merry Maidens. This strangely phallic and leaning monster measures 285cm (H) x 55 (W) x 55 (D).

W.C.Borlase excavated the foot of the stone in 1871 but found only a beach pebble. Craig Weatherhill suggests that Gun Rith (Gun Ruth) means ‘Red Downs’.

Miscellaneous

Gûn Rith Menhir
Standing Stone / Menhir
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Oct 16, 2006

In the article below, A. L. Lewis calls this stone ‘the Goon Rith or Longstone’.

Prehistoric Remains in Cornwall
The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 35. (Jul. – Dec., 1905), pp. 427-434.

Topics

Gun Rith erect again! (without concrete!) 7
phil
phil
Jun 2003
Fallen Stone 13
ocifant
ocifant
Mar 2003

Sites within 20km of Gûn Rith Menhir

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.