Fernacre

It has been suggested to mean bracken-land or come from the old plural for fairy; feren, who was said to be sacred to the ancient Cornish.{{cite book|author=Susan M. Pearce|title=The archaeology of South West Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4pFpAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=Collins|page=212}} Fernacre is one of the biggest stone circles in Cornwall. It is slightly flattened in a northwest to southeast direction, measuring {{convert|46.2|m|ft}} by {{convert|43.3|m|ft}}{{cite book|author=Aubrey Burl|title=A guide to the stone circles of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yhWFB1JAjWsC&pg=PA32|year=2005|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-11406-5|page=32}} The circle contains some 68 or 69 stones with a further 3 displaced within, 38 or 39 remain standing upright. They are deeply sunk into the soil with the tallest stone measuring {{convert|1.3|m|ft}} high and the longest fallen stone {{convert|2.1|m|ft}}.{{cite book|author=William Page|title=Cornwall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8w_HAAACAAJ|year=1906|publisher=Archibald Constable & Co.|page=394}} Fernacre is a marker for the start of a medieval drove road from Rough Tor to Garrow.

The ruins of what was called Fernacre farm were first recorded in 1327 AD.{{cite book|author=Nigel Harvey|title=The industrial archaeology of farming in England and Wales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4BFAAAAYAAJ|year=1980|publisher=B.T. Batsford|isbn=978-0-7134-1845-3}} Numerous hut circles dot the landscape nearby and it has been suggested that the dating for Fernacre is contemporary with these.{{cite book|author=Society of Antiquaries of London|title=Archaeologia, or miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1VlIAAAAYAAJ|year=1908|publisher=The Society}} No bones or remains were found in these hut circles, only a few flaked flints gave clues to its occupation.{{cite book|title=American journal of archaeology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BeMsAQAAIAAJ|year=1910}} The Fernacre settlement covered 164 acres, of which 84 show signs of having been farmed. The dating of the sites is uncertain. However, it has been suggested to have been constructed either in the Neolithic or Bronze Age.{{cite book|author1=Prehistoric Society (London|author2=England)|author3=University of Cambridge. University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology|title=Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society for ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yeYhAQAAIAAJ|year=2005|publisher=University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology|page=357}} There are signs that the circle had a retaining bank of earth on its southeast.{{cite book|author=Rodney Castleden|title=Neolithic Britain: new stone age sites of England, Scotland, and Wales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wYOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA37|access-date=23 March 2011|year=1992|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-05845-2|page=37}}

Fernacre carries a pivotal location between Rough Tor located due north and Brown Willy located due east.{{cite book|author=Harold Bayley|title=Archaic England: An Essay in Deciphering Prehistory from Megalithic Monuments Part Two 1919|date=October 2004|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-1-4191-7324-0|page=550}} Garrow Tor also lies to the east and Louden Hill to the west-southwest. It is only 100 ft from being in a direct line in an easterly direction between Stannon and Brown Willy Cairns; another small erect stone stands in this line eastwards on the way to Brown Willy which has been suggested to mark the equinox sunrise.{{cite book|author1=British Association for the Advancement of Science. Meeting|author2=British Association for the Advancement of Science|title=Report of the annual meeting|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfY4AAAAMAAJ|year=1908|publisher=Office of the British Association|page=371}}{{cite book|author=Thomas Rice Holmes|title=Ancient Britain and the invasions of Julius Caesar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0lnAAAAMAAJ|year=1971|publisher=Books for Libraries Press|page=211}} William Page note that when viewed from the centre of Fernacre circle the sunset on 1 May would align approximately with Louden Hill.{{cite book|author=William Page|title=The Victoria history of the county of Cornwall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZwpKwB89CIC|access-date=23 March 2011|publisher=Constable}}

• {{cite book|author=William Borlase|title=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 ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IqUQAAACAAJ|year=1754|publisher=Printed by W. Jackson, in the High-Strand}}
• {{cite book|author=William Copeland Borlase|title=Naenia Cornubiae: the cromlechs and tumuli of Cornwall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-eBAAAAMAAJ|year=1872|publisher=Llanerch|isbn=978-1-897853-36-8}}
• {{cite book|author=William C. Lukis|title=The prehistoric stone monuments of the British Isles: Cornwall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6WbQAAACAAJ|year=1885|publisher=Printed for Nichols and Sons for the Society of Antiquaries}}
• {{cite book|author=Aubrey Burl|title=A guide to the stone circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yhWFB1JAjWsC&pg=PA32|year=2005|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-11406-5

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{{Reflist}}

{{Portal|Cornwall|Astronomy|History}}

{{Commons category|Fernacre stone circle}}

• [http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/a2m/bronze_age/stone_circle/fernacre/fernacre.htm Cornwall's Archaeological Heritage – field guide to accessible sites – Fernacre stone circle]
• [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=71 Illustrated entry in the Megalithic Portal]
• [http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/310/fernacre.html Illustrated entry in the Modern Antiquarian]
• [http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=433196 Pastscape – English Heritage entry about Fernacre stone circle]
• {{oscoor gbx|SX144799}}

{{Cornwall}}

{{European Standing Stones}}

Category:Bodmin Moor

Category:Stone circles in Cornwall