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Zennor Quoit is in Zennor, Cornwall, South-West England Burial Mounds.
Celtic, Druidical and Roman Remains. There are five of these ancient monuments in the west of Cornwall, all in a good state of preservation. The remains of one may be seen in a field about half-a-mile from the Lanyon cromlech [Map], and of another at Bosprennis, in Zennor [Map]. There are two other cromlechs beyond the limits of our inquiries, - one at Trevethy [Map], in St. Cleer, and another, now fallen, at Coit, in St. Columb.
Archaeologia Cambrensis 1857 Chapter 4. VIL.—The great and celebrated cromlech of Zennor [Map] (plate II. fig. 3) lies in a croft on a very elevated plain, and nearly half a mile east of Zennor Church. Although its distance from Penzance is scarcely more than 5 miles (north-by-west), its locality is so unfrequented that few persons seem aware of its existence. Mr. Cotton, in his Celtic Remains, printed in 1827, actually states (p. 36) that it was "totally destroyed;" but the destroyed cromlech which he heard of was probably that in Trewey, already noticed. The kist-vaen is about 6½ feet long, 4½ wide, and from 8 to 9 feet high; the supporters on the north and south sides, and at the east end, being 9 feet, that at the west end only 8 feet high. The single slab, which forms the south supporter, is 11½ feet long. This, and the two slabs on the north side, run on beyond that of the east end, until they come almost into contact with two other large slabs, (each nearly 11 feet long,) placed at right angles with them, thus forming a second kist-vaen, 5 feet long from north to south, 2 from east to west, and 9 feet high. Into this second kist-vaen is an entrance, 2 feet wide, between its two eastern slabs. The cover-stone of the two kist-vaens measures 18 feet in length, 11 in breadth, and 48 in circumference; its average thickness being about 1 foot. At present, however, the cap-stone rests with its west end on the ground, the supporter at that end having been broken into two parts, neither of which bears any mark of a tool. In Borlase's time the heap of stones, 14 yards in diameter, beneath which this cromlech was buried, "almost reached the edge of the quoit," or horizontal slab, when resting on its supporters.
Note 7. Antiq. p. 218.
Archaeologia Cambrensis 1857 Chapter 4. Chûn Quoit [Map], Lanyon Quoit [Map] and Zennor Quoit [Map].
Nænia Cornubiæ by William Borlase Zennor Cromlech. Zennor Cromlech [Map].
Zennor Quoit, as the Cromlech in the parish of that name is usually called, was, when Borlase wrote his History, the most interesting and perfect specimen of a Kist-Vaen in Western Cornwall. In all probability it had been freshly disinterred from its cairn, or rather the gigantic structure had just succeeded in shaking off, or piercing up through, the crust of loose debris which had been piled over it; for in the middle of the last century, "a stone barrow, fourteen yards in diameter, was heaped round it, and almost reached to the edge of the Quoit."1 Care had been taken, however, in its erection, that no stone should get into the chamber, and it was with great difficulty that a man could squeeze himself into it. Since then, progress and destruction, working together as usual, have much impaired the monu- ment; the cap-stone has been rolled off, and the other stones otherwise damaged by being made to serve as the supports of a cart-shed. Fortunately an original drawing and a plan were made for Dr. Borlase's work, and these the author has been able to reproduce in woodcut from copies of the identical copper-plates then used. They will be found much more accurate and valuable than any sketch of the ruin, as it is at present, could possibly be.
Note 1. The word "Quoit" is here used for the cap-stone only.
The Antiquities of Cornwall by William Borlase Chapter IX. In several parts of Cornwall we find a large flat Stone in a horizontal position (or near it) supported by other flat Stones fix'd on their edges, and fasten'd in the ground, on purpose to bear the weight of that Stone, which rests upon, and over-shadows them, and by reason of it's extended surface, and it's elevation of fix or eight feet, or more, from the ground makes the principal figure in this kind of Monument. The situation which is generally chosen for this Monument is the very summit of the hill, and nothing can be more exact than the placing some of them, which shews, that those who erected them were very sollicitous to place 'em as conspicuously as possible. Sometimes this flat Stone, and it's supporters, stand upon the plain natural soil, and common level of the ground; but at other times it is mounted on a Barrow made either of Stone or Earth; it is sometimes plac'd in the middle of a Circle of Stones-erect, and when it has a place of that dignity, must be suppos'd to be erected on some extraordinary occasion; but when a Circle has a tall Stone in the middle, it seems to have been unlawful to remove that middle Stone, and therefore we find this Monument of which we are speaking sometimes plac'd on the edge of a Circlec. But we find fome Cromlêhs erected on such rocky situations, and so distant from houses, (where no Stones-erect do stand, or appear to have flood,) that we may conclude, they were often erected in places where there were no such Circles. Some of these Monuments are quite inclos'd, and buried, as it were, in the Barrow; As that of Senor [Map] in Cornwall (Plate XVIII. Fig. iii.) and that at Chûn [Map] (Plate XX. Fig. x.) and that mention'd by Wormius, pag. 4. Mon. Dan.d
Note c. Sec Pl. XIII. Fig. iii. a, and b, in Boscawen-ûn [Map] from which we may draw this Consequence; that the Cromlêhs was posteriour in date to the Circle, and the former erected there for the sake of the latter.
Note d. One only which I have yet heard of, has it's Supporters, or Side-Stones, fix'd on a solid Rock. State of Downe, pag. 199.
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