Cornwall has a rich astronomical heritage. Megalithic sites with links to astronomy are found throughout Cornwall, but primarily on; Bodmin Moor, West Penwith, the Lizard and also the nearby Isles of Scilly. Many of the sites within the area are linked to the solar and lunar cycles. Some have links to the stellar cycle.

Just as we do today, though, without the technology, the people of the Neolithic and Bronze age would try to make sense of the motions in the sky. The stone monuments in our landscape leave us clues as to how they did this. Many, we know, have been aligned to indicate positions of objects in the sky. The most common being stones that are aligned with the solar cycle, such as the Heel Stone at Stonehenge marking a solstice point. Other stones are linked to the lunar cycle and some are suggested to have links with other celestial objects such as planets and stars. Archaeoastronomy attempts to understand the secrets that have been locked into the stones by studying the position and design of the monuments and linking them to the sky and landscape around them.

Much more can be found out about the archaeoastronomy of Cornwall in my book Celestial Stone Circles of West Cornwall. Otherwise, come and join me for a tour of the sites, you can book by contacting me through this website.