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altarnun |
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ALTARNUN is a pleasant, granite-grey village snugly sheltered
beneath the eastern heights of the moor. Its prominent church ,
dedicated to St Nonna, mother of David, patron saint of Wales, contains
a fine Norman font and 79 bench-ends carved at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, depicting saints, musicians and clowns. Accessed by a
private gate from St Nonna's (and also from the road), Penhallow Manor (tel
01566/86206, ; £90-110), originally the vicarage, now offers tasteful
accommodation and a set three-course dinner at £20 (book ahead if you're
not staying); morning coffees and afternoon teas are also available.
Cheaper rooms can be found 500 yards towards the A30, where the King's
Head (tel 01566/86241; under £40) has beams, saggy ceilings and meals
for under a fiver.
South of Altarnun, Withey Brook tumbles four hundred feet in less than a
mile of gushing cascades before meeting up with the River Lynher, which
bounds Bodmin Moor to the east. Beyond the brook, on Twelve Men's Moor ,
lie some of Bodmin Moor's grandest landscapes. The quite modest
elevations of Hawk's Tor (1079ft) and the lower Trewartha Tor appear
enormous from the north, though they are overtopped by Kilmar , highest
of the hills on the moor's eastern flank at 1280ft.
Withey Brook starts life about six miles from Altarnun on Stowe's Hill ,
site of the moor's most famous stone pile, The Cheesewring , a
precarious pillar of balancing granite slabs, marvellously eroded by the
wind. A mile or so south down Stowe's Hill stands an artificial rock
phenomenon, The Hurlers , a wide complex of three circles dating from
about 1500 BC. The purpose of these stark upright stones is not known,
though they owe their name to the legend that they were men turned to
stone for playing the Celtic game of hurling on the Sabbath.
The Hurlers are easily accessible just outside MINIONS , Cornwall's
highest village, three miles south of which stands another Stone Age
survival, Trethevy Quoit , a chamber tomb nearly nine feet high,
surmounted by a massive capstone. Originally enclosed in earth, the
stones have been stripped by centuries of weathering to create
Cornwall's most impressive megalithic monument. Bus #73 from Liskeard
calls at St Cleer and Darite, both of which are close to Trethevy Quoit;
alternatively, it's a three-mile walk from Liskeard.
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