Craddock Moor Stone Circle or Craddock Moor Circle is a
stone circle located near
Minions on
Bodmin Moor in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
,
UK. It is situated around half a mile Northwest of
The Hurlers (stone circles)
The Hurlers ( Cornish: ''An Hurlysi'') is a group of three stone circles in the civil parish of St Cleer, Cornwall, England, UK. The site is half-a-mile (0.8 km) west of the village of Minions on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor, and ...
.
Description
The circle consists of sixteen fallen stones with one remaining possible stump, all considerably overgrown making it one of the harder circles to find on the moor. John Barnatt has suggested that the circle was situated so that the summit of
Brown Willy
Brown Willy (possibly meaning "hill of swallows" or meaning "highest hill") is a hill in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The summit, at above sea level, is the highest point of Bodmin Moor and of Cornwall as a whole. It is about northwest ...
marked the
midsummer
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe.
The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr ...
sunset.
It is nearby to Craddock Moor stone row and an embanked enclosure.
Christopher Tilley
__NOTOC__
Chris Tilley is a British archaeologist known for his contributions to postprocessualist archaeological theory. He is currently a Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at University College London.
Tilley obtained his PhD in Anth ...
noted what he called a "possible axis of movement" linking the stone row, an embanked enclosure, the circle and the Hurlers. As these cannot be seen from each other, he commented "It is difficult to imagine how such a striking alignment could occur purely by chance."
Archaeology
One of the first archaeological surveys of Bodmin Moor, including Craddock Moor Circle was carried out c. 1800 by Nicholas Johnson and Peter Rose.
Folklore
Chris Barber and David Pykitt suggested that Craddock Moor is named after the ancient British King of
Arthurian legend
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
Caradoc
Caradoc Vreichvras (; Modern cy, Caradog Freichfras, ) was a semi-legendary ancestor to the kings of Gwent. He may have lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is remembered in the Matter of Britain as a Knight of the Round Table, under the ...
who has been linked to the
Pendragon
Pendragon or ( wlm, pen dreic, ''pen dragon''; composed of Welsh , 'head, chief, top' and / ''dragon'', 'dragon; warrior'; borrowed from the Latin word , plural , 'dragon , br, Penn Aerouant) literally means 'chief dragon' or 'head dragon', but ...
Caractacus
Caratacus ( Brythonic ''*Caratācos'', Middle Welsh ''Caratawc''; Welsh ''Caradog''; Breton ''Karadeg''; Greek ''Καράτακος''; variants Latin ''Caractacus'', Greek ''Καρτάκης'') was a 1st-century AD British chieftain of the ...
who fought the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
.
Literature
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Cornwall's Archaeological Heritage - field guide to accessible sites - Craddock Moor stone circleIllustrated entry in the Megalithic PortalPastscape - English Heritage entry about Craddock Moor Stone Circle
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craddock Moor Stone Circle
Bodmin Moor
Stone circles in Cornwall