Trethevy Quoit

Address: Liskeard

Opening hours: Trethevy Quoit admission is free and viewing is anytime that you deem reasonable. Even if there are no strict admission rules, make sure that you still render utmost respect for the spot.

Trethevy Quoit is an English Heritage site managed by the Cornwall Heritage Trust. It is a megalithic tomb that has been preserved well. Around the local area, it is called “the giant’s house”. The tomb stands nine feet (2.7 metres) high. It includes five erect stones with a huge slab on top. There are other interesting objects or sites that you may want to inspect nearby. For example, three stone circles that can be traced back to the late Bronze Age, called the Hurlers, are not too far away. The Trethevy farmhouse is listed as a Grade II building.

Similar to other portal tombs, Trethevy Quoit used to be wrapped by a mound. What remains in the tomb seem to show that the original tomb had a diameter of 6.5 metres. There are seven remaining stones. The cover slab used to be in the covering mound.

The first ever mention of the English Heritage site is by John Norden back in 1584. Norden was giving an account on the history and topography of Britain. The account itself, however, was published in 1728 for the first time.

Even if Trethevy Quoit was first mentioned during the sixteenth century, the type of megalith is believed to have been erected back in the Neolithic period, around 3700 to 3500 BC. It was during that period that this type of grave was used for community graves. A recent excavation was the one able to link the English Heritage site to the period.

For people who do not even know the history of Trethevy Quoit, the burial chamber still commands an air of awe. You know just by looking at it that it had been witness to something special or even sacred many centuries ago. The heavy stones could not have just been carried to form a tomb for nothing. It was not just a tomb but a time marker. The English Heritage and the Cornwall Heritage Trust recognize the tomb’s importance in the history of the English people.

The best thing about an English Heritage site being out in the open like the Trethevy Quoit is that admission is free and viewing is anytime that you deem reasonable. Even if there are no strict admission rules, make sure that you still render utmost respect for the spot. Historians recognize its value. You can also give it the value that it is due by standing by, in awe, respect and meditation.