Craddock moor circle notes
Craddock moor circle is my most visited place on a weekly basis. First discovered in 1923 By Rev H A Lewis. Unexcavated and unchanged. Unassuming and probably the most significant one in the area. A Focus point for the movement around the altered landscape. It is one of my favourites.
Craddock Moor Circle sits on a saddle which ends in Tregarrick tor, a neolithic enclosed Tor passing numerous cairns on the way and within sight of Craddock moor embanked causeway, a kerbed grounder, a Stone row and a host of hut circles, propped stones and sexy grounders in the vicinity. Apparently, it aligns with the northeast end of Craddock stone row through the Embanked cause way too. What you cannot see from the circle is the Hurlers complex which is about half a mile to the southeast. More details and information about the place and its various alignments at the bottom of this. It
Me and the dog often have it to ourselves. A few horses, cows, sheep, Raven, buzzards, skylarks (I could go on…) but rarely people. Occasionally in summer, people unaware of its presence or people systematically hunting wander around. If anybody turns up, I move on. Give them some space. Its that kind of place. But in the winter. I rarely see anyone. A place to tune into.
The first time I went looking for it, in March 2009, I ended up at Tregarrick tor in the dark.
I’ve since developed pigeon homing instincts for sites around this area but have deployed numerous other finding skills. My favourite, and the most poseury, is calibrating an OS map to magnetic north, like a proper explorer, then following an imaginary bearing line with my much-loved Francis Barker M-75 British army artillery spotters bearing compass whilst wearing my T. C Lethbridge hat. My Francis Barker doesn’t use degrees it has 640 mils unit: smaller divisions making it accurate to 10 metres! Built like a tank to withstand anything. Including tanks. Following a compass always looks cool. Phones mess up. Mist and fog are common. Waterproof maps and compasses can give you hope sometimes.
Craddock circle becomes one of the places identified on “Skylark” walk, part of the Jonathon Heron Skylark Album. I did charcoal and wax rubbings of the stones with my daughter in 2016 for some of the artwork. We did the bark of some hawthorn from by the nearby kerbed grounder too.
Conversation with a pony, at Caradon circle (a track from Skylark) is actually Craddock moor circle and is a true story. Horses and ponies hang around these places. I’m sure they become part of their cultural memory as much as they do for people. A good scratch point, pools of water or to beg for food.
The horses and ponies of Bodmin moor are sort of feral/owned. No contraception. They are dumped too. Sometimes you come across very confused gee gees trying to get their heads around the situation. This is a harsh wet and cold environment. Over 1000ft. Next stop the Atlantic from the southwest. Only marginally lower than the top of Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall. Horses and ponies starve on the moor. There are charities that try to support them. Donate if you can.
Anyway, here are some details about this fantastic circle. Good luck finding it! Maybe you’ll see moving away.
Early- mid Bronze age.1000-2000 BCE. 16 recumbent stones. One stump. The stones ordered in size with the largest in the NNW. The key stone which lines up with Brown willy has a high quartz crystal distribution density. It glows in the sunlight. Some stones are missing but from spacing between stones in the NE, SE and west of the circle indicates the stones were originally spaced 4-5m apart and implies that the circle originally contained 27 stones.
Summer solstice sunrise over Stow hill enclosure. Summer solstice sunset over Brown willy. Winter solstice sunrise over the Barrows of Caradon hill and, on sunset, the sun rolls along the skyline and sets behind Tregarrick tor
National Grid Reference:
SX 24871 71829
Scheduled monument

Info from
Prehistoric Cornwall Paul Barnatt
The Earth Mysteries guide to Bodmin moor and North Cornwall Cheryl Straffon
https://archaeoastronomycornwall.com/2022/07/17/craddock-moor-circle-and-the-summer-solstice/
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1010329