Note 110 — Chapter XXV · THE MERRY MAIDENS CIRCLE (LAT. 50° 4′ N.)
Reading edition
I may here remark that “9 maidens” is very common as a name for a circle in Cornwall. It is a short title for 19 maidens. Lukis implies that Dawns-Maen once consisted of 20 stones. If all the circles followed suit it would be interesting to note if the present number of 19 is always associated with a gap on the eastern side. The “pipers” are, of course, the musicians who keep the maidens merry, as does the “blind fiddler” at Boscowen-un Circle.
[111] Prehistoric Stone Monuments, Cornwall.
[112] The Land’s End District, p. 46.
[113] Antiquities, p. 274.
[114] Nænia, p. 214.
[115] In A.D. 658 a council assembled at Nantes decreed:—“As in remote places and in woodlands there stand certain stones which the people often worship, and at which vows are made, and to which oblations are presented—we decree that they be all cast down and concealed in such a place that their worshippers may not be able to find them.”
“Now the carrying out of their order was left to the country parsons, and partly because they had themselves been brought up to respect these stones, and partly because the execution of the decree would have brought down a storm upon their heads, they contented themselves with putting a cross on top of the stones.”—Book of Brittany, by Baring-Gould, p. 20.
[116] With regard to this Mr. Horton Bolitho has sent me the following note:—“The rising ground here is called locally ‘Lanine Hill’ (spelt Lanyon and pronounced Lanine); this is worth noticing, as it is the same name as the dolmen six or seven miles away from Boleit, and in the same district as the Men an Tôl and Boskednan Circle, to say nothing of Lannion in Brittany. Lan signifies something sacred, the place of the saint, or belonging to the saint.”