Porth Hellick Down

Porth Hellick Down is a prehistoric site on St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly. It sits above Porth Hellick Bay, overlooking the water and the surrounding islands. The Neolithic and Bronze Age remains include a large cemetery of burial cairns and a field system that stretches across the northern slopes. At least six entrance graves stand here, forming the world’s largest surviving group of these monuments. A linear boundary of upright stones crosses the eastern slope, a rare feature in prehistoric Britain. The site also contains remnants of an ancient field system used thousands of years ago. The site is worth visiting for its remarkable collection of entrance graves, the largest and best preserved being The Great Tomb. Excavated in 1899 by George Bonsor, this Bronze Age grave revealed fragments of late Bronze Age pottery and a piece of pumice. The tomb’s restored mound measures over twelve metres across and stands nearly two metres high, with a D-shaped chamber roofed by four massive capstones. Another notable grave, the coffin grave, has a boat-shaped chamber lined with stone slabs. One grave even incorporates a natural rock outcrop into its structure, a distinctive feature of Scillonian sites. Visitors walk among the grassy mounds and low stone walls that mark the graves and field boundaries. The Great Tomb sits on a circular platform with a kerb of large slabs, its entrance passage open to the sky. The coffin grave’s chamber curves inward, creating a narrow western end, while another grave uses a massive boulder as part of its roof. Heather covers much of the ground, softening the outlines of the ancient stones. The linear boundary of upright slabs runs straight across the slope, a silent reminder of the people who organised this landscape centuries ago.