Tregiffian Burial Chamber, Penwith, United Kingdom

The Tregiffian Burial Chamber is a Neolithic or early Bronze Age chambered tomb. It is a rare form of a passage grave, known as an Entrance grave. It has an entrance passage, lined with stone slabs, which leads into a central chamber. This type of tomb is also found in the neighbouring Isles of Scilly.

The large stone grave, half of which was covered by a road in 1846, was, unlike Cornish quoits, for the most part covered with soil, with only the entrance exposed. From the edge of the site a passage, covered by four 3 m long stones, led to the 4-metre deep grave chamber. In front of the chamber, a cross-lying ornate stone, with cup-and-ring markings, formed a barrier. The original stone is in Truro, in the Royal Cornwall Museum, the local stone is a replica. Inside the tomb there was the chamber grave, which consisted of upright stones and a cover slab. Tregiffian probably formed a holy place with the Merry Maidens and other sites.

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Cemeteries, mausoleums and burial places in United Kingdom

User Reviews

torr macfarlane (6 months ago)
Fabulous site. Well maintained. Information board. Easy parking. Great

Kevin Wilkinson (21 months ago)
I found this fascinating. It sits by the side of a road that I have driven many times but I never knew it was there! A shrt walk from the Merry Maidens it's so interesting. Basically around 4000 years ago they creamated people here and it's still there. Really enjoyed visiting

professorclee1 (2 years ago)
The best Neolithic or Bronze Age sites are the ones directly by the side of the road, not requiring a mile uphill through brambles. Good energy here, and interesting to look at. We were the only ones here on a weekday afternoon. See the Merry Maidens a short walk up the road.

Zobo 75 (2 years ago)
Tregiffian Burial Chamber is a Neolithic or early Bronze Age entrance grave. Two stones mark the entrance to the chambered tomb. One is decorated with 25 hollows or 'cupmarks' which are a rare type of prehistoric rock art. This stone has been replaced with a cast replica. The original stone can be seen at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. A cremation was found when excavated in 1871. And Merry Maidens Stone Circle

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