Ballowall Barrow

Ballowall Barrow, also known as Carn Gluze, is one of the largest and most complex of the prehistoric funerary monuments strung along the West Penwith coast, set in a dramatic cliff-edge position about a mile west of St Just. It lay hidden under tin-mining debris until 1878, when the antiquarian William Copeland Borlase uncovered a Bronze Age mound ringed by drystone walls, with small stone-lined cists holding pottery and burnt bone, an outer stone platform and an entrance grave. Borlase then built walls to display his finds, creating the circular passage seen today and radically changing the monument, so what survives mixes original work and Victorian rebuilding. Reviewers find that puzzle intriguing and praise the views over the cliffs and sea, with Cape Cornwall close by. The National Trust manages the site. Dogs on leads are welcome, and the South West Coast Path runs about 20 metres below the barrow. Tip: parking is limited to a very small layby opposite.