Chapel Carn Brea is an elevated

Hercynian The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan'', come ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

outcrop, owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

at the southern edge of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of St Just,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The hill is south of St Just and east of

Sennen Cove Sennen Cove ( kw, Porthsenen) () is a small coastal village in the parish of Sennen in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the Penwith District Council, the population of this settlement was estimated at 180 persons in 2000. The ...

, and just to the north of the A30 London to

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

road, which runs through the village of

Crows-an-Wra Crows-an-Wra ( kw, Krows an Wragh, meaning ''the witch's cross'') is a hamlet in West Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the civil parish of St Buryan, Lamorna and Paul approximately four miles (6 km) northeast of Land's ...

. It should not be confused with another Carn Brea, the hill overlooking the Camborne–Redruth area. Chapel Carn Brea is often described as the first hill in Cornwall (from a westerly perspective) and rises above sea level.

History

The hill is an important historical site showing evidence of neolithic and early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

activity, as well as the remains of the thirteenth century chapel from which it is named. On the slopes and summit there were once eleven barrows, but only seven now remain, mostly in a poor state. To the west of the summit is an

early neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

long cairn with dimensions of long and built within a natural granite outcrop which extends it length by . On the summit is a diameter entrance grave (also known as chambered cairn) which had a south-facing entrance and was built in the late neolithic. The chamber was long, wide and high. This type of cairn is unique to west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and consist of a long narrow chamber covered with large slabs and surrounded with a kerb of large stones; they are thought to be communal burial places. The entrance grave was later covered by a large cairn high and across with three concentric retaining walls and a secondary

cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Ea ...

. The chapel, which was built on top of the cairn, was pulled down in 1816 and was said to be the home of holy men or monks. A manuscript from 1396 kept at the County Records Office,

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

records the ′beaconage′ received from fishermen for the burning an ′ecclesiastical light′, normally a brazier or fire basket at the ″Chapel of St Michael of Bree″. This is the earliest record of a navigational light in Cornwall. In 1868 and 1879

William Copeland Borlase William Copeland Borlase (5 April 1848 – 31 March 1899) was a British antiquarian and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 until 1887 when he was ruined by bankruptcy and scandal. Early life Borlase was born at Castl ...

excavated the site and built a new cairn which was destroyed by the building of a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

radar observation post, which was manned by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. A plaque, near the car park is dedicated to those that served there. The

Old Cornwall Society The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies (FOCS) was formed in 1924, on the initiative of Robert Morton Nance, with the objective of collecting and maintaining "all those ancient things that make the spirit of Cornwall — its traditions, its ol ...

continues to light a beacon fire for the summer solstice on 23 June each year. ChapelCarnBreaplaque

References

External links

The Megalithic Portal

Chapel Carn Brea
{{Cornwall, state=collapsed Archaeological sites in Cornwall Bronze Age sites in Cornwall Hills of Cornwall Lighthouses in Cornwall National Trust properties in Cornwall Neolithic England Penwith St Just in Penwith