The Hurlers
Location
Near Minions, Cornwall, England.
O/S SX 258 714
(50° 31' N, 04° 27.5 W)
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The Hurlers - (Triple stone-circles)
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Description - Near the moorland village of Minions, lie the Bronze Age stone circles known as The Hurlers. This site consists of three large aligned stone circles, running from NNE to SSW, built in a pass, between the River Fowey and the River Lynher, the sides of Stowe's Hill and Caradon rising to north and south. Multiple or associated circles are not unusual in the south-west of England and they often lie between rivers at suitable positions for converging people and traders.
The southern circle is the smallest (32.9m/108ft across) and it has only nine stones left; the largest is the central circle, slightly egg shaped, with a diameter of 41.8 x 40.5m (137 x 132ft) and 14 stones, while the northern circle is 34.7 (113ft) across: 15 stones are here, of which four have fallen, and there were probably a further nine. The central and the northern rings were once linked by a granite pathway along their axis.
All the stones in the circles have been carefully erected so that they all appear the same height. Some stones are diamond-shaped, others round, and one has been shaped so that its uppermost edge is cloven. A spread of quartz crystals in the central circle may have come from shaping the stones with hammers. The northern circle was crossed by a boundary bank, and two stones 120m (393ft) to the WSW from the central site could be boundary posts, although astronomical purposes have been assigned them.
The name The Hurlers refers to an old tradition that the circles are men or women turned to stone, such as The Pipers
, The Merry Maidens, Stanton Drew, The King Stone and The Rollright Stones. As the historian William Camden wrote in 1610: The neighbouring inhabitants terme them Hurlers, as being by devout and godly error persuaded that they had been men sometime transformed into stones, for profaning the Lord's Day with hurling the ball. According to another legend, it is difficult to count the number of the Hurlers at Minions, but should you do so correctly, a misfortune will befall you.Less than 0.8km (0.5mi) away from this circle lies the Rillaton round barrow and Trethevy Quoit, a fine portal dolmen, is 3.2km (2mi) south.
Alignments - The three circles are aligned NNE to SSW. There are several other examples of 'triple circles' in Britain, a design feature which can be seen to date back to the earliest stages of circle building, at the Thornborough henges in Yorkshire which date back to around 3,000 BC. The feature of building three structures, slightly aligned off-centre, and orientated NNE to SSW can be seen at other ancient structures around the world such as the pyramids of Ghiza, Egypt and Tiahuanaco for example.
(Click here for more about Triple-circles)