Tregiffian Burial Chamber

Tregiffian Burial Chamber stands in west Cornwall, near the village of Lamorna. It is a Neolithic or early Bronze Age tomb shaped like an Entrance grave, with a passage of stone slabs leading to a central chamber. The site lies south of Penzance between St Buryan and Lamorna, close to The Merry Maidens stone circle. Half of the cairn was once cut by a road in the 19th century, leaving only the entrance exposed above ground. A passage covered by four long stones leads down to the grave chamber, which is four metres deep. In front of the chamber a carved stone with cup-and-ring markings once blocked the way, though the original now sits in Truro’s Royal Cornwall Museum. The chamber was first dug in 1871 by William Borlase, who found flints, bones and ashes. Later work in 1932 by Hencken showed it was a special kind of Megalithic grave between dolmen and cist types. Excavations in 1968 and 1972 uncovered urns dated to about 1900 BC, and the remains suggest cremation. These finds point to long use as a community grave for many generations. Tregiffian shares its sacred landscape with the Merry Maidens and other nearby sites. Visitors approach across open ground to the exposed entrance passage. The four great slabs roof the narrow walkway down to the chamber, where upright stones still stand inside. A replica of the carved barrier stone marks the spot where the original once lay. The quiet fields around the tomb hold the Merry Maidens circle just a short walk away. The site is cared for by the Cornwall Heritage Trust on behalf of English Heritage, preserving a rare Neolithic passage grave in its original setting.