Nine Stones of Altarnun

Nine stones, Nine stones of Altarnun or Altarnun stone circle is a stone circle located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south southeast of Altarnun, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) west of Launceston on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, UK.^[1][2]

Description

Nine stones of Altarnun is English heritage managed property. It was restored in 1889 when only two remained standing. The circle is the smallest on Bodmin moor, only 49 feet (15 m) in diameter with eight granite stones forming the circle and one in the centre. A flat triangular shaped stone also lies at the base of one of the stones. The stones are irregularly spaces with the tallest being 4.2 feet (1.3 m). A gap in the north suggests where another stone may have stood.^[2]

Archaeology

There are hut circles 550 metres (1,800 ft) to the northeast and another to the south.^[3]

Alignments

Alexander Thom proposed a lunar alignment with a nearby stone row which leads towards some cairns, although this has been considered doubtful as the row is likely of medieval construction.^[4]

Literature

• William Borlase (1754). Observations on the antiquities, historical and monumental, of the county of Cornwall ...: Consisting of several essays on the first inhabitants, Druid-superstition, customs, and remains of the most remote antiquity, in Britain, and the British Isles ... With a summary of the religious, civil, and military state of Cornwall before the Norman Conquest .... Printed by W. Jackson, in the High-Strand. http://books.google.com/books?id=-IqUQAAACAAJ. 
• William Copeland Borlase (1872). Naenia Cornubiae: the cromlechs and tumuli of Cornwall. Llanerch. ISBN 9781897853368. http://books.google.com/books?id=u-eBAAAAMAAJ. 
• William C. Lukis (1885). The prehistoric stone monuments of the British Isles: Cornwall. Printed for Nichols and Sons for the Society of Antiquaries. http://books.google.com/books?id=N6WbQAAACAAJ. 
• Aubrey Burl (2005). A guide to the stone circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300114065. http://books.google.com/books?id=yhWFB1JAjWsC&pg=PA32. 

References

External links

• Pastscape - Nine stones of Altarnun
• Illustrated entry in the Megalithic Portal
• Illustrated entry in the Modern Antiquarian
• Map sources for Nine Stones of Altarnun