The Merry Maidens also known as Dawn's Men (a likely corruption of the Cornish

Cornish language

Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...

  Dans Maen "Stone Dance") is a late neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 stone circle

Stone circle

A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed across the world throughout history for many different reasons....

 located 2 miles (3 km) to the south of the village of St Buryan

St Buryan

St Buryan is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom.The village of St Buryan is situated approximately five miles west of Penzance along the B3283 towards Land's End...

, in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Site description

The circle, which is thought to be complete, comprises nineteen granite megaliths and is situated in a field alongside the B3315 between Newlyn

Newlyn

Newlyn is a town and fishing port in southwest Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Newlyn forms a conurbation with the neighbouring town of Penzance and is part of Penzance civil parish...

 and Land's End

Land's End

Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....

. It lies close to the Tregiffian Burial Chamber

Tregiffian Burial Chamber

The Tregiffian Burial Chamber is a Neolithic or early Bronze age chambered tomb. An entrance passage, lined with stone slabs, leads into a central chamber. It is located near Lamorna in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is a rare form of a passage grave, known as an Entrance grave...

. The circle is approximately twenty-four metres in diameter, with the tallest stone standing 1.4 metres tall. Stones are regularly spaced around the circle, with a gap or entrance at its exact most easterly point.

Interpretation

The standard interpretation of prehistoric stone circles is that they were used for ritual purposes, and the same applies to the Merry Maidens. This interpretation is based on lack of evidence for more mundane activities. That the stones are placed at the cardinal points of the compass might also suggest an astronomical or calendar

Calendar

A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...

 function, perhaps relating to the agricultural year. The 19 stones at the Merry Maidens is the same as, or similar to, the number of stones at other circles in the Penwith region - it has been suggested that 19 would have been an important number for a people who celebrated the path of the moon through the great lunar cycle.

Myth and legend

The local myth about the creation of the stones suggests that nineteen maidens were turned into stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. (Dans Maen translates as Stone Dance.) The pipers, two megaliths some distance north-east of the circle, are said to be the petrified remains of the musicians who played for the dancers. A more detailed story explains why the Pipers are so far from the Maidens - apparently the two pipers heard the church clock in St Buryan

St Buryan

St Buryan is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom.The village of St Buryan is situated approximately five miles west of Penzance along the B3283 towards Land's End...

 strike midnight, realised they were breaking the sabbath, and started to run up the hill away from the maidens who carried on dancing without accompaniment. These petrifaction

Petrifaction in mythology and fiction

Petrifaction, as definied as turning people to stone, is also a common theme in folklore and mythology, as well as in some works of modern fiction.-Historical:...

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

Tregeseal East stone circle

Tregeseal East is a heavily restored prehistoric stone circle around one mile northeast of the town of St Just in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The nineteen granite stones are also known as The Dancing Stones...

, the Nine Maidens of Boskednan

Boskednan stone circle

Boskednan stone circle is a partially restored prehistoric stone circle near Boskednan, around 4 miles northeast of the town of Penzance in Cornwall, United Kingdom...

, as well as the more distant Hurlers

The Hurlers (stone circles)

The Hurlers are a group of three stone circles in Cornwall, England, UK. The site is half-a-mile west of the village of Minions on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor, and approximately four miles north of Liskeard at .-Location:The Hurlers are in the Caradon district north of Liskeard in the...

 and Pipers on Bodmin Moor. It is likely that these tales were encouraged by the early Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 Church to prevent old pagan

Paganism

Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....

 habits continuing at the sites.

See also

Other prehistoric stone circles in the Penwith district

• Boscawen-Un
  Boscawen-Un
  Boscawen-Un is a Bronze age stone circle close to St Buryan in Cornwall, UK. It consists of 19 upright stones in an ellipse with diameters 24.9m and 21.9m, with another, leaning, stone just south of the centre. There is a west-facing gap in the circle, which may have formed an entrance. It is...
  
  
• Boskednan
  Boskednan stone circle
  Boskednan stone circle is a partially restored prehistoric stone circle near Boskednan, around 4 miles northeast of the town of Penzance in Cornwall, United Kingdom...
  
  , also known as the Nine Maidens of Boskednan
• Tregeseal East
  Tregeseal East stone circle
  Tregeseal East is a heavily restored prehistoric stone circle around one mile northeast of the town of St Just in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The nineteen granite stones are also known as The Dancing Stones...
  
  , also known as the Tregeseal Dancing Stones

External links

• The Merry Maidens stone circle site page on The Megalithic Portal
• The Merry Maidens stone circle site page on The Modern Antiquarian