Tregiffian Burial Chamber

OS grid ref:- SW 430244

Tregiffian Burial Chamber (Cruk Tregyffian) is situated two miles south east of St. Buryan in south Cornwall and lies very close to the more famous Merry Maidens Stone Circle and the standing stones known as the Pipers. The Gun Rith menhir is located just metres away to the north.

The Burial Chamber measures 4.9 metres long and is estimated to date to either the Neolithic period or the early Bronze Age. It consists of an entrance passage, lined and roofed with stone slabs, which leads into a central chamber. Inside, an iron girder supports the rear stone.

The burial chamber is surrounded by low oval kerb stones that gradually become higher as they approach the entrance. A heavily cup-marked stone stands at the entrance to the passage, this is not the original, but a concrete replica, the original stone is now kept at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro for safe keeping. The B3315 road now cuts through the structure. The mound and ring of the burial cairn were partially ruined during construction of the road in 1846.

The burial chamber has been excavated several times and quantities of ash and splintered and cremated bone and a flint flake discovered at the site. The second excavation revealed that the monument was constructed in two phases.

The monument is managed by Cornwall Heritage Trust.