Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 3: Essays on Literature, Biography, and AntiquitiesMüller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Religion
Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 3: Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities
Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Comparative linguistics; Folklore; Literature -- History and criticism; Mythology; Religions
“These stones are from twenty to twenty-five feet above the
surface, and we were told by some folks of Boleit that more than
ten feet had been sunk near, without finding the base. The
Mên-an-tol have both been displaced, and removed a considerable
distance from their original site. They are now placed in a hedge,
to form the side of a gateway. The upper portion of one is so much
broken that one cannot determine the angle, yet that it worked to
an angle is quite apparent. The other is turned downward, and
serves as the hanging-post of a gate. From the head being buried
so deep in the ground, only part of the hole (which is in both
stones about six inches diameter) could be seen; though the hole
is too small to pop the smallest, or all but the smallest, baby
through, the people call them _crick-stones_, and maintain they
were so called before they were born. Crick-stones were used for
dragging people through, to cure them of various diseases.”
The same gentleman, writing to one of the Cornish papers, informs the
public that a few years ago a rock known by the name of Garrack-zans might
be seen in the town-place of Sawah, in the parish of St. Levan; another in
Roskestal, in the same parish. One is also said to have been removed from
near the centre of Trereen, by the family of Jans, to make a grander
approach to their mansion. The ruins, which still remain, are known by the
name of the Jans House, although the family became extinct soon after
perpetrating what was regarded by the old inhabitants as a sacrilegious
act. The Garrack-zans may still be remaining in Roskestal and Sawah, but,
as much alteration has recently taken place in these villages, in
consequence of building new farm-houses, making new roads, etc., it is a
great chance if they have not been either removed or destroyed.
Mr. J. T. Blight, the author of one of the most useful little guide-books
of Cornwall, “A Week at the Land’s End,” states that some eight or ten
years ago the ruins of the ancient Chapel of St. Eloy, in St. Burian, were
thrown over the cliff by the tenant of the estate, without the knowledge
or permission of the owner of the property. Chûn Castle, he says, one of
the finest examples of early military architecture in this kingdom, has
for many years been resorted to as a sort of quarry. The same applies to
Castle-an-Dinas.
From an interesting paper on Castallack Round by the same antiquarian, we
quote the following passages, showing the constant mischief that is going
on, whether due to downright Vandalism or to ignorance and indifference:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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