The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 1 (of 4)
History
The Parochial History of Cornwall, Volume 1 (of 4)
Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Geology -- England -- Cornwall (County)
“With respect to the stones called the Hurlers being once
men, I will say with Hals, ‘Did but the ball which these
Hurlers used when flesh and blood, appear directly over them
immoveably pendant in the air, one might be apt to credit
some little of the tale;’ but as this is not the case, I
must add my belief of their being erected by the Druids for
some purpose or other, probably a court of justice; long
subsequent to which erection, however, they may have served
as the goal for hurl players. And indeed a finer spot for
such a game could not be fixed on perhaps any where. But I
believe the Hurlers took their names from some other source
than that of the game of hurling the ball being used there.
“After sufficiently viewing Dungerth’s monument, we directed
our course towards Cheese-wring, and soon came to the
Hurlers, but first we rode up to the High Cross before
mentioned, which at a distance looked somewhat like a man.
Under its cross it has an oblong square, as if the border of
an inscription, but at present there is not the least
vestige of a letter on it. Soon after we came to the
Hurlers, which we found to be moorstones of about five or
six feet high, forming two circles one without the other
(not as represented in Hals’ Parochial History, but like
that in Borlase), the circle nearest Cheese-wring less than
that of the other. Some of the stones are fallen down, and
remain where they fell, and others have probably been
carried off for gate posts and other purposes. The areas of
the circles are not level, there being many pits in them, as
if the earth had sunk over large graves. I confess I was not
much struck with the appearance of these famous stones, not
having faith to believe they once were men. Near this place
we fell in with a man going to Cheese-wring, and were glad
to follow him as a guide. Among other questions, I asked
him, as we passed along, whether he could tell me the name
of the tenement on which Dungerth’s monument was; he
answered Pennant. I also asked him whether he knew where the
source of the Looe river was; he said in a field next below
Dungerth’s monument. I was sorry to hear this, as we could
not conveniently return to see it, but I learned from him it
was a mere spring of water uninclosed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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