Country diary: A midwinter visit to a remote stone circle | Alex Pearce-Broomhead

Penwith, Cornwall: These 19 standing stones were likely a place of ceremony, and one contains offerings - a posy of red campion, a lock of hairThe sun is already low in the sky when I arrive. The heath looks bleak in its winter shroud, but the hawthorns are decorated with lichen tinsel and crimson-berry baubles.Penwith is the land of bracken and bramble. Mostly agricultural and heathland, it is raw, wind-beaten and ancient. In a remote spot is Boscawen-Un. Erected between 2500BC and 1500BC, it comprises 19 standing stones, including one that's white with quartz, which form a circle around one central leaning stone with two axe heads engraved into its base (something that only becomes wholly visible during the midsummer sunrise). Near the entrance lie a few horizontal slabs, potentially part of a burial chamber. Continue reading...