Nine Stones, Altarnun
{{Short description|Stone circle on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox ancient site
|name = Nine Stones
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|image = Ninestones of altarnun bodmin moor.jpg
|alt = Three of the Nine Stones
|caption = Three of the Nine Stones
|map_type = Cornwall
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|location =Bodmin Moor, Cornwall
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|coordinates = {{coord|50.576299|-4.492585|display=inline,title}}
|type = Stone circle
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|epochs = Bronze Age
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The Nine Stones (or Altarnun stone circle) is a stone circle {{convert|3|km|mi}} south southeast of Altarnun, {{convert|11|km|mi}} west of Launceston on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, UK.{{cite book|author=William C. Lukis|title=The prehistoric stone monuments of the British Isles: Cornwall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6WbQAAACAAJ|access-date=22 March 2011|year=1885|publisher=Printed for Nichols and Sons for the Society of Antiquaries}}{{cite book|author1=Alexander Thom|author2=Archibald Stevenson Thom|author3=Aubrey Burl|title=Megalithic rings: plans and data for 229 monuments in Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T8IKAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA81|access-date=22 May 2011|year=1980|publisher=British Archaeological Reports|isbn=978-0-86054-094-6|pages=81–}}
Description
The Nine Stones is an English Heritage managed property. It was restored in 1889 when only two stones remained standing. The circle is the smallest on Bodmin Moor, only {{convert|49|ft|m}} in diameter with eight granite stones forming the circle and one in the centre. A flat triangular-shaped stone also lies at the base of one of the stones. The stones are irregularly spaced with the tallest being {{convert|4.2|ft|m}}. A gap in the north suggests where a stone may have stood. The central stone, a granite post 1.1 metres high, may have been moved from the north part of the circle to be used as a boundary stone for the parish boundary.{{PastScape |num=435365 |desc=Nine Stones Stone Circle |access-date=4 August 2015}}
Archaeology
There are hut circles {{convert|550|m|ft}} to the northeast and another to the south.{{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=PA36|access-date=23 May 2011|year=2005|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-11406-5|pages=36–}}
Alignments
Alexander Thom proposed a lunar alignment with a nearby stone row which leads towards some cairns, although this has been considered doubtful as the row is likely of medieval construction.{{cite book|author=John Barnatt|title=Prehistoric Cornwall: the ceremonial monuments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OWBAAAAMAAJ|access-date=23 May 2011|year=1982|publisher=Turnstone Press|isbn=978-0-85500-129-2}}
Literature
- {{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
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Cornwall|History}}
{{Commons category|Nine Stones (Bodmin Moor)}}
- [http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=435365 Pastscape - Nine Stones Stone Circle]
- [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=561 Illustrated entry in the Megalithic Portal]
{{Cornwall}}
{{European Standing Stones}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nine Stones, Altarnun}}