The Tristan Stone
Tristan Stone
To me the odd thing about the Tristan Stone is that I must have driven past it a dozen times, on my way to Fowey, without even noticing it in its prominent roadside position. It was only when, on a sunny summer day, I did the second of two walks looking for antiquities in the area around Fowey, that I eventually saw it. The stone originally stood near Castle Dore, was moved south to the east lodge of Menabilly and later to its present more southerly position just north of Fowey. Its now illegible inscription once read Drustans hic iacet Cunomori filius, 'here lies Tristan son of Cunomorus'. Legend has it that Tristan (heir to the throne of Lyonesse in the Arthurian stories) was in fact the nephew of Marcus Cunomorus - King Mark of Cornwall, who is said by some to have had his palace at Castle Dore, by others at Lantyan - and was sent to Ireland to bring back Mark's bride-to-be Iseult or Isolde. On the voyage the two accidentally drank a love potion with the inevitable result. A bitter feud followed Mark's discovery that his nephew was his wife's lover. Could the Tristan referred to on the stone be the same as in the legend of Tristan and Isolde? Certainly the stone inspired two Cornish authors. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch began the novel Castle Dor and, after his death, Daphne du Maurier completed it. Both lived nearby, Q in Fowey, du Maurier first at Bodinnick, then Readymoney, then Menabilly and later at Kilmarth. The story also became a Wagner opera. Another Tristan location to visit is Roche Rock just to the south-west of the village of Roche. Lantyan Farm, the more likely location of King Mark's palace is on the Saint's Way, on a lane just to the south of the railway at Milltown, between Lostwithiel and Fowey.
Shock, horror - December 2012. There are plans to move the stone, to suit a new housing estate! If so, I hope it goes to nearby Castle Dore, where it really belongs.
On OS Explorer at grid ref: 112/522
Tristan Stone in its setting
More in Antiquities
Tregeseal Circle on Carnyorth Common, south of Trewallard
In early July 2006 I headed for West Penwith in search of more antiquities. After spending some time at Sancreed, I parked at Geevor Mine in Trewellard - not far from St. Just and Cape Cornwall - where I returned later to make a report on the museum, and enjoyed a pleasant and an easy four or five mile walk. I found more than I bargained for - at Sancreed Cornish crosses, a holy well and a bronze age barrow; on and around Carnyorth Common, boundary stones, a line of holed stones, a stone circle, an abandoned farmstead and a relatively contemporary farm with ancient field walls. I have to confess that I failed to find the stone circle first time and had to drive up rutted tracks later to find it from a different direction! I was back later on foot, walking the Penwith Round. On the way I drove through Tregeseal village which itself was quite a delight, its colourful cottages and gardens nicely tucked away from the St. Ives - St. Just road. Sadly this circle of around twenty stones, having been restored, was rapidly being engulfed again in bracken. It had turned quite dark and drizzly when I got here, so I got no worthwhile photo then. However, I have been back many times since and discovered that the site is being maintained again, by Cornish Heritage Trust, and is in much better shape.
Tregiffian Vean Chambered Cairn near Land's End
The fact that there is a better known Tregiffian neolithic long barrow close to the Merry Maidens in the Lamorna area confused me for a long while. So in April 2008, when doing a walk from Land's End, I looked at the OS map, saw that 'chambered cairn' was shown between Higher Tregiffian and Tregiffian farms, and decided to include it in my walk. It was easy to find, in a long field through which a path runs between the farms and, despite its small size, visible from quite a distance. When I got to it, my first thought was that this was no chambered cairn at all but just a heap of stones that a farmer had piled in a field. However, when I got home and looked it up on the web I found a posting by Pure Joy on The Modern Antiquarian , quoting Craig Weatherhill's book Belerion, Ancient Sites of Land's End as follows: "This barrow has suffered dreadfully and it is only a shadow of the fine and unusual monument excavated by W.C.Borlase in 1878. It was then a kerbed mound 6.4m in diameter, containing a rather odd-shaped chamber. This was 2.4m long, 0.9m wide and just 0.5m high, but its inner end opened out to a width of 1.2m and a height of 1.0m. Like the tomb at Tregeseal the entrance was blocked by a single slab. The roof of the chamber consisted of three slabs and the tomb contained ashes and an urn". Sad that an important ancient monument - it is of the Scillonian type - should have been allowed to be so badly damaged.
Treryn Dinas Cliff Castle
This must be the largest of Cornwall's cliff castles. Depending on who you believe, there are either three or four lines of ramparts. I make it three. A massive landward rampart (right on the coast path) as much as twenty feet high, an inner double bank and ditch, and a small seaward rampart, which is approached by a 'bridge', just before the incredibly rocky headland. There are said to be remains of two hut circles beyond this seaward defence. I find this a puzzling place. Why should anyone who could build the vast outer defences risk being trapped between their tiny final rampart and this rocky headland, with no way to escape. Is it possible that 2000 years have seen massive erosion here, changing the headland beyond recognition. Whatever the reason, it is a most impressive place. It is worth climbing the rocky headland to find the famous Logan Rock - I couldn't make it in the high winds of late March 2008. The National Trust has made a fair job of clearing the site and there is an easy level path from Treen village. For once I disagree with Craig Weatherhill's thoughts on place names. Treen may not mean 'the farm by the fort', it more likely means 'the farm by the (bank and) ditch'. But I do agree that the cliff castle's name is now derived from the village name - 'the fort by Treen'.