CHAPTER XIV

CROWS-AN-WRA, THE BEEHIVE HUTS, ST. EUNY'S WELL

AKING the motor 'bus from Land's End, which

8.20 a.m., and passing the Quakers' Burial-ground, the cross-roads at Crows-an-wra are soon reached. This is a good place to get off and see some of the interesting antiquities which lie thickly strewn about in the immediate neighbourhood. This interesting hub in an antiquarian wheel is four and a half miles from Land's End, three from St. Just, and five and a half from Penzance.

At the crossroads of Crows-an-wra, or Crowz-an-wra ("Cross by the Wayside "), one sees at once whence the name is derived. An old cross here stands out in the roadway on a pedestal of two steps. It is grey-lichened, and much weather-worn. Few crosses are so roughly executed," and it is difficult to say whether the outline of the head was originally left in its present chipped condition or became so afterwards. On the front facing the road the head has an embossed Celtic cross of four equal arms, with a slight inclination to the left, looking like a conventional Maltese cross, and at the back, facing the little Wesleyan chapel, a Latin cross has been cut or incised into the granite. This Latin cross, I imagine, was cut later than the other. The height of this most interesting and venerable relic, from the top of the pedestal or platform upon which it stands, is 4 feet 6 inches, and the diameter of the rounded head 2 feet 4 inches.

Cheek by jowl with this relic of prehistoric ages is the comparatively (only) modern milestone, or directing granite block, which is more ornate than is usual. Evidently the cutter or maker of this wayfarer's blessing expended some artistic labour in its production over and above the minimum recording work he was paid for. The angle towards Pen

CORNISH COURTESY

137 zance has a cable pattern embossed upon it- -a work which must have entailed considerable toil on this hard granite -and the word "Miles" on the "St. Just" side of the monolith is embellished with flourishes cut in the stone such as one sees around the word "Debenture on parchment deeds. The stone-mason evidently had some knowledge of legal documents, and he must have lived at a happy time when workmen took pride in their work.

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But the main object of this excursion was to see the old Celtic beehive huts in the neighbourhood, which the Ordnance Map records as Ancient British village"-a noncommittal phrase which is certainly judicious. I may here at once say that the Ordnance Map of the Land's End district is of little, if any real, use to the antiquary. It is impossible to find these absorbingly interesting antiquities without a guide. And as a good deal of walking is necessary over rough ground, through fields with crops growing in them, brambles and high bracken, gaiters are desirable for the legs, and strong boots. Mr. Charles H. Eddy, of Breane Farm (which as far as I can make out is the "Bran" of the Government Map), very kindly showed me the way and accompanied me.

And here let me record how pleasant it is to travel about in the country districts in Cornwall. Few of the people you meet cross your path without passing the time of day. If you ask the way you are invariably answered civilly. You are not told to go straight on and then ask again. No, you are directed with great minuteness of detail as to the proper course you should take. The turnings to the right, to the left, the hedges to walk upon, the rocks to keep on this hand or on that, are impressed upon your memory with painstaking particularity. Often an informer will shout after you some further particulars as you leave him, to prevent your making any mistakes, and keep repeating them till you have turned the corner. As likely as not, so I have found it, your casually picked up friend will say, after an elaborate explanation of the right way, that you will never find it alone and set off with you to the point you wish to gain.

A little further on from Crows-an-wra towards Penzance, where a side road to St. Buryan branches off from the

main road, is an extremely interesting cross at the road juncture there formed. Every visitor on a motor to Land's End buzzes by it, but no stop is ever made to examine it, so that the impression it imparts to the retina is very slight. Those who do notice it just remark, "What, another cross?" and relegate it to the general mental jumble of Cornish crosses with which they leave the county. These wayside crosses were made to rest at, to say a prayer at, to remind us that our life here is temporary; they belong not to the age of motors and aerial flying.

The cross stands on the top of three steps of granite in pyramidal form, the bottom being seven feet square. The cross itself is twenty-six inches high, and the width across the head nineteen and a half inches. The south side, or the Buryan-road side, presents a plain Maltese cross in relief very much defaced. The north side facing the Land's End road has upon it a rude representation of the Crucifixion. The face of the figure is quite flat, the arms are extended, there is no tunic. The feet are turned out. The cross is seven inches thick.

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The so-called beehive hut is certainly one of the most perfect structures of the sort I have ever seen in this district, for it still has the roof on. Its isolated position, in the far corner of a field, removed from all roads or easy mode of access, has fortunately been its salvation during the iconoclastic periods which have dilapidated similar structures. When first approached, one sees merely a high rounded mass of vegetation rising from the level ground of the field amidst (when I saw it) a fine crop of turnips. Trees, ferns, and brambles completely covered it. The casual observer might pass it by and think it was merely a heap of stones, collected from the surface of the land to aid agriculture, over which rank vegetation had run riot. The outside measurement I found to be about eight feet in height, and the diameter twelve and a half feet. The entrance is small and square-3 feet 1 inch across, 3 feet 2 inches high, and five feet in depth. The sides of the opening are composed of two large granite stones, one on either side, and the top or covering of the entrance of two stones. As the hut" is now, it therefore could not have been used for habitation; there is practically no room in it at all,

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