Sperris Quoit

Megalithic Tomb - Cornwall

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ What's New ] [ Scotland ] [ Ireland ] [ Wales ] [ Europe ] [ Methods ] [ Us ]

		Photo Gallery
		VR Panoramas

Almost totally ruined, the Sperris Quoit is difficult to find in the rough moorland it stands on. Lacking the stature of its neighbour the Zennor Quoit, only 500m away, it is easy to miss. The single remaining erect stone is similar to many in the vicinty which seem to be the remains of ancient field walls, only our GPS reading convinced us that we really had found the Quoit.
None of the stones are large, the standing stone is 1.5m high and 1m wide, four other stones lie fallen, all are of grey granite. From what remains today we could not decide what the original form of the tomb had been, unless many stones had been removed, this hardly looks like the makings of a Portal Dolmen.

We later found out that a Portal Dolmen is just what the Sperris Quoit probably was, William Borlase (1) mentions Sperris in a brief account of  the Zennor Quoit. Borlase describes how the stone for Zennor was brought from "a Karn about a furlong off" and that "near this Karn is another Cromleh not so large as that here described, in other respects not materially different". Borlase was writing in 1769 and it is evident that the Sperris Quoit was in a much better state of preservation then, sadly its almost total destruction must have been wrought sometime in the last two hundred years.

(1) Borlase W., Antiquities Historical & Monumental of the County of Cornwall, p232, Bowyer & Nichols (2nd Ed.) London 1769