Porth Hellick Down Burial Chamber

Visitor Guide

Porth Hellick Down lies on the south-eastern side of St Mary's, reached via footpaths crossing open downland above Porth Hellick Bay. There is no dedicated parking at the site itself, and visitors typically approach on foot from Old Town or from the network of coastal and inland footpaths that cross this part of the island, making comfortable, grippy footwear well worth having underfoot on the often uneven, gorse-studded ground.

The main chamber is easily the most substantial monument on the down, its mound and capstones clearly visible from some distance, but visitors with time to explore further will find the scattered remains of the wider cemetery worth seeking out too, a rewarding way to appreciate just how significant this stretch of downland was as a burial landscape across the Bronze Age. The views from the down, out over Porth Hellick Bay and the open Atlantic beyond, add considerably to the experience.

Allow around thirty minutes to explore the main chamber and its surroundings, longer if seeking out the wider scatter of smaller graves and cairns across the down. There are no facilities at the site itself, but Old Town and Hugh Town, both a manageable walk away, offer shops, cafes and toilets for a fuller day exploring this quieter side of St Mary's.

History

Porth Hellick Down Burial Chamber was constructed around 1500 BC, during the early Bronze Age, as part of a wider tradition of entrance-grave building that is unusually well represented across the Isles of Scilly compared with the Cornish mainland, where such monuments are considerably rarer. Entrance graves of this type consist of a stone-built chamber, roofed with substantial capstones, set within a round mound and reached via a short entrance passage, and they are thought to have served as collective burial places used and revisited over an extended period rather than single interments.

The Porth Hellick Down chamber is notable both for its scale, a mound around 39 feet in diameter and standing up to five feet high, enclosing a chamber some twelve feet long, and for the unusual design of its entrance, an angled passage marked by a distinctive projecting jambstone rather than the more typical straight approach seen at other island sites. Four capstones survive in place over the chamber, making it one of the better-preserved examples of its type on St Mary's.

What makes the site especially significant, however, is its position within a much larger funerary landscape. Rather than standing in isolation, the main chamber is the largest and most prominent element of a dispersed cemetery spread across the down, comprising six further entrance graves and two low cairns, several now reduced to little more than low mounds or scatters of displaced stone through centuries of erosion and, in some cases, earlier antiquarian disturbance. Together they represent one of the most extensive concentrations of Bronze Age burial monuments anywhere in the Isles of Scilly, comparable in scale to the cemetery on Knackyboy Carn on neighbouring St Martin's.

The main chamber was excavated in 1899, part of a period of renewed antiquarian interest in the islands' prehistoric monuments around the turn of the 20th century, alongside investigations at other Scillonian sites including Bant's Carn. Today Porth Hellick Down Burial Chamber and its surrounding cemetery are cared for by English Heritage, a landscape of real archaeological importance that continues to shape understanding of Bronze Age burial practice on the islands.

The sheer density of entrance graves clustered on this single stretch of downland has long interested archaeologists studying Bronze Age Scilly, since it suggests Porth Hellick Down functioned as a dedicated burial ground for a community, or succession of communities, over a considerable period rather than as a single, isolated act of monument-building. Comparable clusters exist elsewhere in the islands, notably at Knackyboy Carn on St Martin's, but the combination of scale, preservation and the unusual angled entrance of the main chamber makes Porth Hellick Down one of the most studied and archaeologically significant of these Scillonian cemeteries.

Important Features

• The main entrance grave: a mound around 39 feet across enclosing a twelve-foot chamber, roofed with four surviving capstones.
• The angled entrance passage: an unusual design marked by a distinctive projecting jambstone.
• The wider cemetery: six further entrance graves and two low cairns scattered across the down.
• Its scale: one of the largest concentrations of Bronze Age burial monuments in the Isles of Scilly.
• Views over Porth Hellick Bay: outlooks across the bay towards the open Atlantic.
• 1899 excavation: part of a wave of antiquarian investigation of the islands' prehistoric sites.

Visitor Information

Things to Do Nearby

Frequently Asked Questions

Official English Heritage Site

For the latest access information, events and any temporary restrictions, check the official English Heritage page for Porth Hellick Down Burial Chamber before you travel.

Visit the official English Heritage website