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Books on Cornwall
Men-an-Tol Studio
A set of excellent guides from Men-an-Tol Studio, a gallery and
publisher in the Lands End peninsula (West Penrith) specialising in ancient
sites.
Standing Stones of Land's End
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Standing Stones of the Land's End - An
Enquiry into their Function Ian McNeil
Cooke |
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1998, A5 paperback format of 40 pages with colour cover; 6 photographs,
23 line illustrations.
Bronze Age standing stones are more densely located in the Land's End
Peninsula of Cornwall than in any other area of Britain. Some are thought
to have replaced earlier sacred wooden pillars, possibly representing the
Tree of Life, and known functions of 'holy' stones in early Mediterranean
cultures having fertility and protective phallic properties indicate some
of the possibilities for Cornish menhirs suggested in this booklet.
Andy writes: This is the best little book I have found
specifically about standing stones. The interesting text applies equally
to standing stones in other parts of the world.
£4.50+p&p
Order Now |
"In the centre of most fields in this part of Cornwall
(Land's End Peninsula) stands a pillar of rough granite 6 to 10 feet tall 'stuck
upright' for the cattle to scratch themselves. In the Buryan district, a few
years ago, many of them were removed from the fields because they interfered
with the agricultural implements. It was found, in consequence, that the cattle
knocked or pushed the hedges down, so that it became advisable to reinstate
them." (extract from page 8)
"Once gods and goddesses became identified with mythological humans and
animals, and named as individuals within the extensive pagan pantheon, boundary
stones developed into simple carved angular pillars with the head of the deity
on top and a pair of male genitals, usually erect, added to the front of the
stone to emphasise his generative aspect as protector and provided of produce
from the land. In Greece this god (Hermes) was originally represented as a
mature bearded man who looked after flocks of animals and presided over business
affairs (i.e. trade in livestock): he had the ability to lead souls of the dead
back from the underworld into the world of the living and to restore them to
life, and, as a protector, he was also responsible for dispensing justice and
punishing wrong doers." (extract from page 16)
Antiquities of West Cornwall
and how to get there without a car
A set of four guidebooks written by Ian McNeil
Cooke covering most major prehistoric sites in the Land's End Peninsula. Each
guide is in A5 format with a full colour cover and profusely illustrated with
line drawings and maps. The guides are based around circular walks embracing a
series of monuments with description, alignments, etc., as well as general
background information.
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Antiquities of West Cornwall Guide 1 - The Men-an-Tol holed stone
Ian McNeil Cooke
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1990, 32 pages plus 8 with full colour photographs.
Sites covered include The Men-an-Tol, Men Scryfa Inscribed Stone, The
Nine Maidens Stone Circle, Bosiliack Barrow, Lanyon Quoit, Chun Quoit,
Chun Castle, Bosullow Iron Age Settlement, Madron Well and Baptistery;
plus notes on Stone Circles and Chambered Barrows.
Illustrated with the author's own artwork, see below. £3.99+p&p -
Order Now For all four booklets bound together as a book, with
lots more, seeJourney to the Stones below |
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Antiquities of West Cornwall Guide
2 - The Merry Maidens stone circle Ian McNeil
Cooke |
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1990, 32 pages plus 8 full colour photographs.
Sites covered include St.Buryan Church and Crosses, Boskenna
Cross, Boscawen Ros Menhirs, The Pipers Menhirs, Boleigh Fogou, Merry
Maidens Stone Circle, Nun Careg Cross, Gun Rith Menhir, Tregiffian Barrow;
plus notes on Standing Stones. £3.99+p&p
Order Now |
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Antiquities of West Cornwall Guide
3 - Carn Euny village and fogou Ian McNeil
Cooke |
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1991, 32 pages plus 6 colour photographs.
Sites include Sancreed Church, Crosses and Holy Well, Boscawen-un Stone
Circle, Brane Barrow, Carn Euny Village and Fogou, Chapel Euny Holy Well,
Caer Bran Hillfort, Brane Cross; with detailed notes on fogous. £3.99+p&p
Order Now |
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Antiquities of West Cornwall Guide 4 - The Tinners Way - St.Just to
St.Ives Ian McNeil Cooke
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1991, 48 pages plus 8 colour photographs.
Sites include St.Just Church and Crosses, Kenidjack Cliff Castle,
Tregeseal Stone Circle, Holed Stones, Boslow Inscribed Stone, Boswens
Menhir, Chun Quoit, Chun Castle, Bosullow Iron Age Village, Men-an-Tol,
Men Scryfa, The Nine Maidens Stone Circle, Bodrifty Iron Age
Settlement, Mulfra Quoit, Zennor Quoit, Towednack Church and Crosses,
St.Ives Church, Cross and Holy Well. £4.99+p&p -
Order Now For all four booklets bound together as a book, with
lots more, seeJourney to the Stones below |
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Journey to the Stones - Ancient Sites and Pagan Mysteries of Celtic
Cornwall Ian McNeil Cooke |
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Revised edition 1996, Paperback. 232 pages size 244x184mm, 40
photographs in colour and 29 in black and white, plus a wealth of line
illustrations, maps and diagrams.
Contains all the information in
the above four booklets, but as a bound book.
Eight comprehensively described walks with detailed maps take you to
over 60 prehistoric and early Christian sites in the Land's End
Peninsula including all the quoits and stone circles, as well as a selection of holy
wells, inscribed stones, standing stones, barrows, hillforts, crosses, fogous and settlements.
The esoteric associations
of certain trees, plants and flowers; mermaids; phallic moonstones; the Celtic
Sun God Bran; midsummer and midwinter sacrifices; pagan festivals and the magic of metals are
all woven into the walks and linked to the ancient stones.
Other sections investigate the symbolisms of sun, moon and certain numbers
- why are there always nine maidens, never eight or ten? And how does the
crescent moon appear to give new life to the dying sun?
£14.95 +p&p - Order Now |
Ian writes: The idea of structuring the book around a series of walks stems
from my belief that it is only by experiencing the local landscape on foot that
a deep and intimate acquaintance with this unique peninsula can be attained.
Eight circular walks are described in detail but there is ample scope for the
less energetic to shorten, combine, or otherwise amend routes to suit individual
abilities and desires; wherever practicable I have made use of footpaths rather
than using a possibly shorter route by road in the hope that this will prove to
be both more interesting and at the same time help to keep tracks open for
others to use.
Antiquarian reprint from 1827
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Illustrations of Stone Circles, Cromlehs and other remains of the
Aboriginal Britons in the West of Cornwall William Cotton (1827),
reprint edited by Ian McNeil Cooke |
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Re-published by Men-an-Tol Studio in 1998. A4 paperback
format of 75 pages including 11 pages of black and white line
illustrations.
"During a visit to Cornwall, in the autumn of 1826, I was led to notice
the various remains of the superstition of our Ancestors, consisting of
Circles of Stones, Cromlehs, Hill Castles, and singularly shaped Rocks,
which there abound: and having made sketches of several near the Land's
End, I was induced, by a curiosity to know something more about them, to
read through Dr.Borlase's learned work on the Antiquities of Cornwall." (
W.Cotton: extract from his preface)
£9.99+p&p Order
Now |
 Editor's Preface: Despite a few minor surveying errors
(see his plan of Boscawen-un circle) and his mistaken report of the total
destruction of Zennor Quoit - he had probably been informed of the pulling down
of a large quoit at Trewey not far away - his drawings owe far less to artistic
licence than the engravings in Dr.Borlase's monumental work three quarters of a
century earlier and are a valuable record of the state of the sites in the early
19th century. Cotton was the first person to publish drawings of the Merry
Maidens, West Lanyon Quoit, and the two circles at Tregeseal - one of
which is now completely destroyed.
Cotton recognised his debt to the work and opinions of Dr.Borlase, and makes
reference to Classical and Biblical sources, as well as to the religions of the
Eastern Mediterranean, in his discussion on the origins of the inhabitants of
Britain and their Druidical 'opinions, manners, and customs'. Although Druids
were only recorded during the Roman era they must have existed as an indigenous
priestly caste for many centuries before written history began, and Cotton
acknowledges that, despite their practice of human sacrifice - a common enough
custom in many contemporary cultures - they were, nevertheless, 'a studious and
learned body of men'.
As the author of my own Journey to the Stones I have much pleasure in
republishing this much earlier journey: the text has been retyped while
retaining Cotton's spelling and punctuation, and keeping to the original layout
as much as possible; only pagination and reference numbers have been
altered."
Ian McNeil Cooke, Penzance 1998
New: Saint Priapus
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Saint Priapus by Ian McNeil Cooke |
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Newly published in 2002, Paperback
An Account of Phallic Survivals within the Christian Church and some of
their Pagan Origins
More information at Men-an-Tol
Studio
£25+p&p
Order Now |
A huge number of ancient churches throughout Western Europe are still adorned
with sculptures that would surprise and, in many cases, totally disgust many a
sophisticated 21st century viewer. Men and women blatantly display their
genitals as well as performing all manner of explicit sexual activity
copulation, masturbation, fellatio, homosexuality. Such images, apparently in
complete antithesis to all that is taught by, and about, the Church, are usually
explained away as a warning to parishioners against indulging in sins of the
flesh. But Saint Priapus argues that some, at least, of these images reflect the
popularity and importance of the ancient god of fertility and protection who
continued to be invoked under auspices of Catholicism until well into the 19th
century.
Ian McNeil Cooke author of Journey to the Stones and Mother and Sun—the
Cornish Fogou, is privately printed by the Men-an-Tol Studio and contains 262
pages that include over 220 black and white illustrations as well as a
comprehensive index and referenced bibliography.
The title is printed in black on white 100gsm A4 Rey Text and Graphics
paper using a Ricoh Aficio 1015 digital photocopier, and bound in a 'green
linen' thin card cover using a Prima hot glue binder.
The first edition is be limited to 200 paperback and 20 hardback signed and
numbered copies.
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