Monday 19 July 2021

'Driftwood by Starlight' in Cornwall: (2) The Penwith Moors

  

I have loved the moors in West Penwith for many, many years. The air is clear and there is a feeling of being almost surrounded by the sea, as it laps around edges of the peninsula below. The wide open spaces (no crowds up here, as you can see!) give rise to a sense of history and prehistory. 

 


Archaeologists and others have long mused over the meaning of the holed stone of granite in the photograph, a stone that has clearly been associated with different purposes at different times in its long existence. I expect a good number of sheep, and possibly cattle, have rubbed up against it over the centuries. The Cornish name for this monument (see signpost above) means simply 'stone with hole'. The orange arrow points to the monument.

 


You can see one of my favourite tin mine pumping engine houses (over the Greenburrow Shaft) from here. 

This particular mine has a very memorable name. My short poem about it features in my new first full collection of poetry, Driftwood by Starlight, published by The Seventh Quarry Press in Swansea, and available at the UK price of £6.99.




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