Lanyon Quoit
OS grid ref:- SW 430 337
Imposing Lanyon Quoit is estimated to date from 2500 B.C. The monument is the remains of a long barrow and is situated close to the road between Morvah and Madron. The huge chamber tomb consists of 3 upright stones supporting a large 17' capstone, which weighs over thirteen tons, it would at one time have been covered with turf. The quoit was originally 90' long and so high that it was said a horse could be ridden under it.
Lanyon Quoit
Reproduced courtesy of Sundial Photographics
Lanyon Quoit is believed to be the burial chamber of a long mound and is is unusual in many ways, it may have been more of a mausoleum than a grave The quoit collapsed after a violent storm in 1815 broke one of its four stone supports, but was later re-erected by public subscription in 1824, which accounts for its present lower height. Also known as the Giant's Table, or Giant's Tomb, local legend states that a giant's bones were found in the tomb.