Summit Cairns on Brown Willy

Summit Cairns on Brown Willy

These are amongst the most intact cairns on Bodmin Moor due to their remote and inaccessible location. The larger cairn has been postulated to have a calendric function as the sun rises over the Brown Willy cairn from the Stannon Stone Circle at the Equinox. Unless the weather on Bodmin Moor was significantly less prone to mist and cloud in Bronze Age times than it is now, it's unlikely this would have been very effective, as on a misty day seeing the other side of the stone circle is hard enough! An alternative hypothesis is that this is a burial mound; it has never been excavated so whether this is true remains unknown.

However tempting it might be, don't stack rocks on the summit cairns! This would be desecrating an ancient monument which is a criminal offence.

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