The Merry Maidens

The Merry Maidens (grid reference SW432245), also known as Dawn's Men (a likely corruption of the Cornish Dans Maen "Stone Dance") is a late neolithic stone circle located 2 miles (3 km) to the south of the village of St Buryan, in Cornwall, United Kingdom. A pair of standing stones, The Pipers is associated both geographically and in legend.

Description

The circle, which is thought to be complete, comprises nineteen granite megaliths and is situated in a field alongside the B3315 between Newlyn and Land's End. The stones are approximately 1.2 metres high, with the tallest standing 1.4 metres. They are spaced three to four metres apart with a larger gap between the stones on the east side. The circle is approximately twenty-four metres in diameter. To the south is another stone which suggests a possible north-south orientation. In earlier times there was another stone circle located 200 metres away but this had been destroyed by the end of the 19th Century. 300 metres to the northeast are The Pipers – two 3-metre high standing-stones. These have been described as "largest surviving standing stones in Cornwall and probably the best known". The Tregiffian Burial Chamber is nearby.

Dance troupe

A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a spectacle or entertainment. There are many different types of dance companies, often working in different styles of dance.

Roles

In small companies several of these functions will be carried out by the same person without explicit job titles, while a ballet company, for example, is often larger and has a more defined set up.

See also

References