West Lanyon Quoit

West Lanyon Quoit stands in a quiet field near Madron in Cornwall. It is the ruined remains of a prehistoric dolmen, a type of burial chamber built with large stones. The site lies 300 metres southwest of the Madron–Morvah road and 700 metres east of the more famous Lanyon Quoit. All that survives today are two upright stones and a leaning capstone. The standing stone is about 1.6 metres high and 1.5 metres wide. The capstone measures roughly 4.1 metres long and 2.6 metres wide. The monument was first uncovered in the late 18th century when a landowner ordered servants to remove earth from a burial mound for compost. After removing nearly a hundred cart-loads of soil, they found the stone supports of a cromlech. The chamber was rectangular, measuring ten feet by five feet by five feet, and opened to the north-east. Excavators discovered a broken urn, ashes, and human bones inside, suggesting a later Bronze Age cremation had been placed there. Archaeologists now believe the tomb had already been disturbed before this burial. Visitors walk across farmland to reach the quiet spot where the stones stand. The two remaining uprights and the leaning capstone form a simple portal shape. The open north-east end faces the rising sun. The surrounding fields stretch away to low hills under Cornish skies. The site is protected as a scheduled monument, recognised for its place in prehistoric Cornwall.