Chûn Quoit

Chûn Quoit
Shown within Cornwall
Location	Cornwall
Coordinates	50°08′55″N 5°38′16″W / 50.1486°N 5.6377°W / 50.1486; -5.6377
Type	Dolmen
History
Periods	Neolithic

Chûn Quoit is one of the best preserved of all quoits (also called dolmens or cromlechs) in Cornwall, UK.

Location

Chûn Quoit is located in open moorland near Pendeen and Morvah. It is perhaps the most visually satisfying of all the quoits. Standing on a windy ridge, near the much later constructed Chûn Castle hillfort, it surveys heather moorland and the open sea.

Description

As with the other quoits, the quoit was probably covered by a round barrow (35 ft in diameter), 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). There is a cup mark on top of the capstone. 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, Mulfra Quoit, Mên-an-Tol and Mên Scryfa. The rocky outline of Carn Kenidjack marks the position of midwinter sunset away to the south-west.

This is the only dolmen in West Penwith to retain its capstone 'in situ' – others have been re-settled. It is believed to have been built around 2400 BC, two millennia before the neighbouring Chûn Castle.

References

External links

Media related to Chûn Quoit at Wikimedia Commons