The Hurlers ( Cornish: ''An Hurlysi'') is a group of three

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

s in the civil parish of

St Cleer St Cleer () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated on the southeast flank of Bodmin Moor approximately two miles (3 km) north of Liskeard. The population ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, UK. The site is half-a-mile (0.8 km) west of the village of Minions on the eastern flank of

Bodmin Moor Bodmin Moor () is a granite moorland in north-eastern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geology, geological history. It includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough To ...

, and approximately four miles (6 km) north of

Liskeard Liskeard ( ; ) is an ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) east of Bodmin. Th ...

Location

The Hurlers are north of

near the village of Minions on the southern edge of

in east Cornwall. Just to the west of the circles are two standing stones known as the Pipers. Nearby are

Rillaton Barrow Rillaton Barrow () is a Bronze Age round barrow in Cornwall, UK. The site is on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor in the parish of Linkinhorne about four miles (6 km) north of Liskeard. Rillaton Barrow was excavated in 1837 and found to c ...

and

Trethevy Quoit Trethevy Quoit () is a well-preserved megalithic structure between St Cleer and Darite in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is known locally as "the giant's house". Standing high, it consists of five standing stones capped by a large slab a ...

, an entrance grave from the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period. The Hurlers are managed by the Cornwall Heritage Trust on behalf of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

Origin of the name

The name "Hurlers" derives from a legend, in which men were playing

Cornish hurling Hurling () is an outdoor team game played only in Cornwall, England, played with a small silver ball. While the sport shares its name with the Irish game of hurling, the two sports are completely different. Once played widely in Cornwall, the ...

on a

Sunday Sunday (Latin: ''dies solis'' meaning "day of the sun") is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. Sunday is a Christian sabbath, day of rest in most Western countries and a part of the Workweek and weekend, weekend. In some Middle Ea ...

and were magically transformed into stones as punishment.Westwood, Jennifer (1985), ''Albion. A Guide to Legendary Britain''. London : Grafton Books. . p. 21. The "Pipers" are supposed to be the figures of two men who played tunes on a Sunday and suffered the same fate.The Hurlers Stone Circles: History and Research
English Heritage According to another legend, it is impossible to accurately count the number of standing stones.

Construction

The Hurlers comprises three stone circles that lie on a line from SSW to NNE, and have diameters of , and . The two outer stone circles are circular. The middle circle, the largest is slightly elliptical. The survival of the southern stone circle, which now contains nine stones, has been most precarious: only two of the remaining stones are upright and the other seven are partially covered with soil. In the middle circle 14 stones survive out of 28. The stones show clear traces of being hammered smooth. The northern stone circle contained around 30 standing stones, from which 15 are still visible. Two other monoliths, the Pipers, are southwest of the middle circle and may be entrance stones to the Hurlers.www.historic-cornwall.org.uk
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Early accounts

The earliest mention of the Hurlers was by historian

John Norden John Norden (1625) was an English cartographer, chorographer and antiquary. He planned (but did not complete) a series of county maps and accompanying county histories of England, the '' Speculum Britanniae''. He was also a prolific write ...

, who visited them around 1584.M. V. Taylor, Francis Haverfield, Louis Francis Salzman, 1906, ''The Victoria History of the County of Cornwall: Volume 1'', p. 399 They were described by

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that relates la ...

in his ''Britannia'' of 1586. In 1754

William Borlase William Borlase (2 February 169631 August 1772), Cornish antiquary, geologist and naturalist. From 1722, he was Rector of Ludgvan, Cornwall, where he died. He is remembered for his works ''The Antiquities of Cornwall'' (1754; 2nd ed., 1769) a ...

published the first detailed description of the site.

Excavations

Ralegh Radford Courtenay Arthur Ralegh Radford (7 November 1900 – 27 December 1998) was an English archaeologist and historian who pioneered the exploration of the Dark Ages of Britain and popularised his findings in many official guides and surveys for the ...

excavated the site in the 1930s, and partly restored the two northern circles by re-erecting some stones and placing marker stones in the positions of those missing. Archives from the unpublished excavation reports have been re-evaluated by Jacky Nowakowski (Cornwall Archaeological Unit) and John Gould (English Heritage) and may result in more analysis and publication. There have been several subsequent investigations. Between 1975 and 1985 aerial survey and subsequent analysis by various teams, (including

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, RCHME and co-ordinated by Cornwall Archaeology Unit) was used to identify and map the features. English Heritage conducted a

geophysical survey Geophysical survey is the systematic collection of geophysical data for spatial studies. Detection and analysis of the geophysical signals forms the core of Geophysical signal processing. The magnetic and gravitational fields emanating from the ...

in 2004. A survey by the Cornwall Archeological Unit in 2009 indicated that there might also be a fourth circle and two stone rows. The Hurlers was protected as a

scheduled 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, visu ...

in 1981, and the protected area was extended in 1994 to include the Pipers.

Alignments

In 1967 Scottish engineer

Alexander Thom Alexander Thom (26 March 1894 – 7 November 1985) was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard, categorisation of stone circles and his studies of Stonehenge and other archaeological sites. Life and work Early ...

suggested borderline case alignments at the Hurlers. He suggested two solar alignments of four stones with far uprights. He suggested two stone-to-site alignments with

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

and

Arcturus , - bgcolor="#FFFAFA" , Note (category: variability): , , H and K emission vary. Arcturus is a red giant star in the Northern celestial hemisphere, northern constellation of Boötes, and the brightest star in the constellation. It ha ...

and two other site-to-site alignments with Arcturus. Each stellar alignment was given with tabulated declinations at a date some time in between the range of 2100 to 1500 BC.

Cornwall Heritage Trust

In 1999 there was controversy regarding the site and others under the care of

. Members of a pressure group, the

Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament The Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament ( Cornish: ''Seneth Stenegow Kernow''), was a pressure group which claimed to be a revival of the historic Cornish Stannary Parliament last held in 1753. It was established in 1974 and campaigned, up unt ...

, removed signs bearing the English Heritage name. After this action several smaller sites, including The Hurlers,

Dupath Well Dupath Well () is a holy well house and chapel dedicated to St. Ethelred, constructed over a spring. It is a Grade I listed building, having been added to the register on 21 July 1951. Dupath Well is located at , just outside the town of Callin ...

Tregiffian Burial Chamber The Tregiffian Burial Chamber () is a Neolithic or early Bronze Age chambered tomb. It is near Lamorna in west Cornwall, United Kingdom (). It is a rare form of a passage grave, known as an '' Entrance grave''. It has an entrance passage, lined ...

, St Breock Downs Monolith,

King Doniert's Stone King Doniert's Stone () consists of two pieces of a decorated 9th-century cross, near St Cleer on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. The inscription is believed to commemorate Dungarth, King of Cornwall, who died around 875. History In the 5th century, C ...

and

Carn Euny Carn Euny (from )Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF)

, were transferred to the management of the Cornwall Heritage Trust.

Popular culture

The Hurlers are the subject of a 2008 song by Devon singer,

Seth Lakeman Seth Bernard Lakeman (born 26 March 1977) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who is most often associated with the fiddle and tenor guitar, but also plays the viola and banjo. Nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize ...

References

External links

English Heritage: Hurlers Stone Circles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurlers, The Bodmin Moor Stone circles in Cornwall English Heritage sites in Cornwall Scheduled monuments in Cornwall