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On a gray afternoon in November, a group of 19 people gathered outside St. Burien’s Church, an iconic medieval parish with a 92-foot granite tower that dominates the skyline.
These residents wearing raincoats, reflective vests, waterproof shoes and some wooden sticks cornwallThe coastal south-western counties of England were ready for a different kind of spiritual experience – not in a church, but in a stone circle.
Caroline Kennett, an astronomer who was leading a 3.2-mile walk to the stone circle Boscawen-Ann, explained why she organized the trip for the full moon, November 5. She was curious to see if the moon rising opposite the sun cast a special light on the high inclined stone – made of quartz.
“This would have been a really cool thing to see,” he told the group, pointing to the cloudy sky. “Hopefully we’ll just have to imagine it, but you never know, we might find a small difference.”
The group gathered in front of him was relaxed. With one or two exceptions, he had made the trek to Boscawen-en several times.
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This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. RNS and AP partner on some religious news content. RNS is solely responsible for this story.
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There are many stone circles in Cornwall, and about 800 throughout the United Kingdom, which are the remains of the prehistoric people who lived there. is the most famous stonehengeEstimated to be 3,500 to 5,000 years old, it attracts over a million visitors per year and is now a managed site, closed and requiring tickets.
Boscawen-en, set amidst emerald green pastures, is much less well-known, more rugged and inaccessible, with no defined roads to reach, only a short footpath. Its configuration – 19 evenly spaced straight stones and one inclined stone – resembles a sundial.
Walkers regard Boscawen-en and other stone circles as sacred.
“There is some kind of spiritual presence in these sacred places,” said Jane Weller, one of the hikers who lives in Marazion, a small coastal town nearby. “To be happy there is quite magical to me.”
Weller, like many in the group and across Britain, no longer considers herself a Christian, although she grew up in the Anglican Church and attended regularly until adulthood. In 2020, Christians accounted for less than half of the UK population (49%). During the same time, the share of the religiously unaffiliated increased to 40%, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
Throughout Britain, some people have turned to history, folklore, and nature as sources of spiritual nourishment. The stone circles in particular have become places of pilgrimage. These megalithic structures from the Bronze Age (3300-1200 BC) and sometimes earlier Neolithic Age (10000 to 2200 BC) are an absolute mystery. The apparently upright stones were laid out carefully and systematically at regular intervals. But because they were constructed before the use of written language, there is no record of how they were used.
Scholars believe they had religious significance and were used to mark astronomical events such as solstices and equinoxes, or more common events such as sunrise or sunset, a particular fascination of tour leader Kennett. But there is no consensus.
“This whole part of the British Isles and Ireland holds the past that our regions had, but we don’t know much about it,” said Suzanne Owen, associate professor in the philosophy, ethics and religion program at Leeds Trinity University, who studies Druidry.
People’s attachment towards these mysterious stones is increasing. In 2021, a Cornwall couple started a group, the Stone Club, to run ad-hoc walks, concerts and exhibitions for a network of enthusiasts, now comprising around 3,000 people who share tips and stories about their stone finds.
On the way to Boscawen-Ann (the name is Cornish), the group passed alternating fields of grass and brown bushes. They talked in small groups, stopping to admire the native plants, sloughs and gorse. At the edge of each field they slowed to help fellow walkers climb the stairs separating the fields.
Some, like Andy, a 55-year-old solar panel installer penzanceWho asked to be referred to only by his first name, proudly identified as Pagan. He and his wife organized an old-fashioned handfasting – an ancient Celtic wedding ritual in which the couple’s hands are tied with ribbon – in Boscawen-en about 30 years ago. Since then, he has been visiting stone circles and other ancient sites on a weekly basis.
He said, “I can’t really worship in a church in a kind of sterile environment.” “I worship nature.”
Modern Paganism originated in Britain, when people began exploring prehistoric sites in the mid-20th century. Today, scholars such as Ethan Doyle White consider Paganism as a family of related religions, including Wiccans, Druids, Heathens, and Goddess spirituality.
The official 2021 census put the number of UK Pagans at 105,809 – including those who identified themselves as Pagan, Wiccan and more – but scholars do not trust that number.
Religious identity was a voluntary question in the census. And many people who hold some pagan beliefs do not self-identify with them for various reasons. They may not have membership in a particular Pagan group or may feel stigmatized for professing their beliefs.
Additionally, some of the marchers said they had read about recent scholarship on Paganism, concluding that its current practices are mostly apocryphal and have no historical history.
Some said they still had immense reverence for prehistoric sites but a healthy dose of skepticism about pagan ceremonies and rituals. Others criticized the romantic and nationalistic aspects of paganism that sought to recapture a great pre-Christian golden age.
Scholars call these “liberal pagans” or “cultural pagans”.
“There is a cultural milieu that draws heavily on Paganism but that is not necessarily reflective of people who would actively practice a set of traditions,” said Doyle White, a visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, Britain.
That group now also includes many people with strong views on protecting the environment.
Gayle Charman, a 66-year-old retired hiker, likes to call herself a nature lover.
She still attends a church service at Christmas, but her community of fellow believers on such trips are fellow environmentalists.
“I just love nature,” Charman said. “So, I love the opportunity to socialize with people while walking and then visit these old sites and learn all about it. When you’re there with a group of people with a mutual interest, that pleasure is doubled.”
The hikers fell silent as they entered the stone circle on a narrow fenced path. There was no one else on the site. Apart from the occasional bird overhead, and some rubbish left over from other walkers – including a woolen hat hidden under the central stone – the circle was quiet and undisturbed. Some people wandered meditatively around the stones, alone or with a companion.
Tamsin Floyd, a former nurse who now sells spices, pesto and jams that she makes from foraged ingredients, walked straight up to the central quartz pillar, wrapped her arms around it and rested her head.
“It’s really comfortable to put your arms around it,” she said. “It feels great. It feels extremely comforting. I love the feeling of connecting with my ancestors, with something that’s really old and ancient.”
Floyd and his partner are planning a wedding in Boscawen-en next July. She also likes to visit holy wells and springs around Cornwall, which are believed to heal those who dip in their waters.
Kennett gathered everyone around him in the center of the circle and offered some observations from archaeologists and astronomers about how the site evolved. Was the tilted stone always tilted? Was this the original slab around which other standing stones were erected?
What about the carving on the bottom of that stone? Do they represent ax heads or perhaps legs? Did ancient people come to watch the sun set at one end and the moon rise at the other?
It raised questions and allowed for more quiet time. Then, as evening approached, he signaled the group to begin the journey back through the fields to St. Burien’s Church.