Cornwall in winter can be stunning or cruel. Being the tip of the main island of Albion it is amongst the first to get battered by the south-westerly winds and rains. Recently this has caused devastation once again in Cornish coastal towns and villages. Luckily, I was at the tail end of a beautiful day for my visit to Carn Brea – a sacred hill near to St.Just and Land’s End and which overlooks the very finality of England’s land mass.
Up on Carn Brea
Parking is easy, and the walk is gentle. There’s one road up the side of the hill and from the car park there are only a few paths, all of which seem to go to the top. You really can’t miss this one. Neither could ships – the monks that once inhabited the hill’s long-gone chapel used to keep a beacon fire lit to act as a ward to ships.
I was aware from comments by people on this blog that the hill had some sacred connections. The hill has been found to have late Neolithic and Bronze Age remains. It was a pagan hill before it became a Christian one. Beacon fires are still lit on the summer solstice by the Old Cornwall Society. Good on them!
I was also aware that the hill featured in The Sun and The Serpent book – that now famous story of Miller and Broadhurst’s trek across the south of England following the Mary and Michael ley line, tracking the male and female energy leys as they crossed at certain sacred sites. Carn Brea was one such site. I was already thinking that I ought to test that, given that it was such a lovely day and I was on my own on the hill.
Read More “Cornwall Winter 4 – Carn Brea with Mary and Michael” »