Black and white

Acc.no: PEZPH : 2016.50.978

Identification

Item: Ruins of Constantine Church, Constantine, Cornwall.

Description: "The ruins of Constantine Church stand near a kitchen midden" (a prehistoric refuse heap which marks an ancient settlement, chiefly containing bones, shells, and stone implements). Online source: Harlyn Bay and the discoveries of its Prehistoric remains by R Ashington Bullen 1912. "The church was built in a hollow in the sand. Underneath the ruined tower is a large boulder of Cataclew stone weighing apparently nearly a quarter of a ton. The nearest locality for this rock is Cataclew about a mile and a half distant in a straight line. This stone seems to have been a sacred object around which the tower was built, perhaps 1600 hundred years or more ago (14th Century). We have a similar instance in Maplescombe Church near Faringham, Kent, in which is a large mass of tertiary conglomerate at the NE corner. And Prof T. Rupert Jones FRS, considers the so-called Chair of Bede at Jarrow Church to have been a sacred stone of an early date, but known to have been chiselled by modern masons into its present rectangular shape. If the whole surrounding mound at Constantine Church is a continuous kitchen midden, as it seems likely, consisting of successive accumulations, the great boulder marked the meeting point for whatever religious or ceremonial rites were practised. The Christian Missionaries who built Constantine Church made the spot the centre for the new religion, including the stone within their edifice in a position of honour".

Condition: Good

Description

Material: Photographic paper

Production

Method: Printed

Category: Photography

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