Mên-an-Tol Standing Stones, Cornwall.
On the wildest, most westerly moors in Cornwall there is a group of standing stones quite unlike any others in Britain. The central stone of Mên-an-Tol (Cornish for “the hole stone”) is a hollowed out circle. Thought to date back to Neolithic times, local folklore says that the hole in the stone is guarded by a piskie who will bring good health to any child who passes through the stone. Well, I didn’t see the fairy when I went there… but I did have a lovely walk and took a couple of photos for you 🙂
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It looks like a very beautiful place, but what about car-parking provision? Will there be enough room for a Corsa?
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There’s a lay-by at the start of the walk – maybe it holds two or three cars. No problems for small cars, but maybe a bit tricky for Cadillacs 🙂
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As we heard the tale, you had to pass through it nine times. Since it was guarded, the first time we went, not by a piskie but by two mud puddles, one on either side of the stone, my partner only made it through once, to the tune of a lot of screaming.
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Yes, nine times works a charm! I think my parents sent me through nine times too, when I was a child. I remember nearly getting stuck at one point, and feeling quite scared. Seriously – it’s in the middle of nowhere… what if I had got stuck? It would be ages until the emergency services got to me. And then if they had to split the rock, I would have been “the chubby girl who got stuck in the sacred hole-stone”. Would never have lived it down!!! I haven’t tried going through as an adult – did your partner make it through when he was a grown-up?
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She made it through. The problem wasn’t weight, although she’s no lightweight, it was how to get out on the far side without getting covered in mud. I have a photo of her somewhere, clinging to the middle, helpless with laughter.
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What a wonderful photo! I have to admit, I got rather muddy too. When is it not muddy at Men-an-Tol? I think it’s always been muddy when I’ve been, even if it was an otherwise dry summer’s day. Maybe the piskie keeps watering the mud… 😉
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