Page:Cornwall (Salmon).djvu/90

 CORNWALL stood near ; its chancel is partly E.E. Part of the church fell in after morning service about thirty years since. Boscawen-ihi (4^ m. W. of Penzance) is mentioned in an ancient Welsh Triad as one of the three places of poetic contest and judg- ment in Britain (the " Gorsedd of Boscawen in Damnonium"). Such contests may fitly be associated with the circle of stones known as the "Nine Maidens" — a Bronze-Age monument which the Celts doubtless utilised. Nineteen stones are left with a monolith in the centre. Barrows, kistvaens and pottery have been dis- covered near. Another " Nine Maidens " is found to the N., at about the same distance from Penzance at Boskednan. Bosplwoniis or BosportJioniis (about 5 m. N. of Penzance) has an excellent specimen of an ancient beehive-hut, much resembling some of the monastic round-huts of Ireland, and probably dating from the same age. Appar- ently it is the only survivor of several, whose stones have gone to make the neighbouring " hedges ". Near is a fallen cromlech. The hut consisted of two chambers, one circular, the other rectangular. Similar huts are found at this very day in the Hebrides, and though monuments of an early age abound near, we may feel safe in dating the dwelling from the early days of British Christianity. Bossiney {i m. E. of Tintagel) is a small fishing village that once, together with Trevena, returned a member to Parliament, and can boast 68