Nine Maidens stone row is an ancient monument in the parish of St Columb Major,

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. The Nine Maidens () are also known in Cornish as ''Naw-voz'', or ''Naw-whoors'' meaning "the nine sisters". This late

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 ...

stone row A stone row or stone alignment is a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones set at intervals along a common axis or series of axes, usually dating from the later Neolithic or Bronze Age.Power (1997), p.23 Rows may be in ...

is north of St Columb Major.

Site description

The row comprises nine stone megaliths and is situated in a field alongside the A39 between St Columb Major and Wadebridge. The row is approximately long, with stones varying in height from (a stump) to . The northernmost stone is recumbent and broken. The stones are irregularly spaced and aligned in a north easterly direction. They are aligned towards a stone known as the Fiddler, which lies on the moorland approximately 800 metres away.

Myth and legend

The local myth about the creation of the stones suggests that nine maidens were turned into stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. The Fiddler, a megalith some distance north of the row, is said to be the petrified remains of the musician who played for the dancers. These

petrifaction In geology, petrifaction or petrification () is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals. Petrified wood typifies this proce ...

legends are often associated with stone circles, and is reflected in the folk names of some of the nearby sites, for example The Hurlers and

The Pipers The Pipers are a pair of standing stones near The Hurlers stone circles, located on Bodmin Moor near the village of Minions, Cornwall, UK. They share the name with another pair of standing stones near the Merry Maidens to the south of the ...

Bodmin Moor Bodmin Moor ( kw, Goon Brenn) is a granite moorland in north-eastern Cornwall, England. It is in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. It includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough Tor, a s ...

. The stone row was first noted by historian Richard Carew in 1605. He said:- "Wade bridge delivereth you into waste ground, where 9 long and great stones called The sisters stand in a ranke together, and seem to have been so pitched, for continuing the memory of somewhat, whose notice is yet envied us by time." The stones were the inspiration for the Celtic opera ''Iernin'' by British composer George Lloyd. The opera, first performed in 1934 at the Pavilion in

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

, tells the story of one of the Maidens who comes back to life as a fairy.

References

External links

Nine Maidens
On The Modern Antiquarian website.
Nine Maidens
On The Megalithic Portal website. {{coord, 50.47161, -4.90933, type:landmark_region:GB, format=dms, display=title Buildings and structures in Cornwall Megalithic monuments in England Prehistoric sites in Cornwall Stone Age sites in Cornwall Grade I listed buildings in Cornwall St Columb Major Scheduled monuments in Cornwall