Mên-an-Tol

Madron

Map reference SW426349

(Holed stone. Early Bronze Age.) A holed stone with two uprights at either end. The name Mên-an-Tol means stone with a hole in Cornish. Perhaps originally part of a stone circle or Chamber Tomb. Crawling through the hole is reputed to cure infertility and rickets.The site is believed to be the remains of a double chambered Tomb, the hole forming the link between adjacent chambers.

This ancient monument is composed three main stones: two uprights, and between these a 1.3m diameter circular stone, with a 700 mm diameter hole through its centre. A fourth stone forms part of the complex, but has fallen at some time in the past. Old plans of the of Mên-an-Tol site shows that originally these three main stones formed a triangle.

The stones are believed to be the remains of a double chambered NeolithicTomb, the hole forming the link between adjacent chambers. Mên-an-Tol's age in uncertain but the stones in the site are generally assigned to the Bronze Age, between 3000-4000 BCE.

There are many local traditions and rituals associated with Mên-an-Tol - known in the past as the Devil's Eye. The holed stone was thought to cure cure scrofula (a form of tuberculosis) and rickets in children. The naked child was passed through the hole in the stone three times and then pulled in an easterly direction along the grass a further three times. Adults seeking cures to rheumatism or spinal troubles were directed to crawl through the hole nine times, with their backs to the sun.