Helman Tor ( kw, Torr Helman) is a granite hill in mid

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 Atlan ...

, UK with several separated

tors Tors may refer to: * Tor (rock formation), rock outcrops * Ivan Tors (1916–1983), playwright, screenwriter and film and television producer * TransOral Robotic Surgery, a surgical technique See also

* Tor (disambiguation) * Ten Tors * Tors ...

, and is designated as a (non-statutory) County Geology Site (with similar criteria to a

County Wildlife Site County Wildlife Site (often abbreviated to CWS) is a conservation designation in the United Kingdom, which despite conferring no statutory protection onto a site, does affirm a site's importance and value for wildlife in its county context. The d ...

). The hill also has a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. Helman Tor is also the name of the

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

managed by the

Cornwall Wildlife Trust The Cornwall Wildlife Trust is a charitable organisation founded in 1962 that is concerned solely with Cornwall, England. It deals with the conservation and preservation of Cornwall's wildlife, geology and habitats managing over 50 nature reser ...

which includes

Breney Common Breney Common is a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest, noted for its biological characteristics, in mid Cornwall, England, UK. It is located mainly in Lanlivery civil parish, with the Saints' Way footpath running through it ...

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

) and Red Moor. Helman Tor, along with Breney Common, Red Moor and Belowda Beacon, is part of the Mid Cornwall Moors Site of Special Scientific Interest. It lies on the

Saints' Way The Saints' Way ( kw, Forth an Syns) is a long-distance footpath in mid Cornwall, England, UK. History and description The footpath runs from Padstow parish church in the north via Luxulyan to Fowey parish church in the south, a distance of ...

, a

long-distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents ex ...

completed in 1986. It is the northern end of a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

ridge. There are at least three rocking stones (

logan stone Rocking stones (also known as logan stones or logans) are large stones that are so finely balanced that the application of just a small force causes them to rock. Typically, rocking stones are residual corestones formed initially by spheroidal ...

) on the ridge. There is a prehistoric

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post- ...

and a stone

hut circle In archaeology, a hut circle is a circular or oval depression in the ground which may or may not have a low stone wall around it that used to be the foundation of a round house. The superstructure of such a house would have been made of timber an ...

settlement on the site. There is evidence of walls constructed in

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...

period, around 6,000 years ago, as well as some level platforms, thought to be house sites, one platform has a network of postholes. There is also remains of a field system. These are similar to those at Carn Brea and limited excavation was carried out by

Roger Mercer Roger James Mercer (12 September 1944 – 3 December 2018) was a British archaeologist whose work concentrated on the Neolithic and Bronze Age of the British Isles. Biography Between 1970 and 1973 he led the excavations at Carn Brea in Corn ...

There is a second Logan stone in the highest pile beside the trig point (triangulation point). A third logan stone is further down the ridge to the south, outside the reserve.

References

External links

Access to Monuments - Helman TorHelman Tor
at UKClimbing.com Hills of Cornwall Nature reserves of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust {{Restormel-geo-stub