Abstract
I AM sure your readers will pardon me for drawing their attention to the very perilous situation of that remarkable pile of rocks, six or seven miles north of the town of Liskeard, in Cornwall, and known as the Wring-cheese or Cheesewring. Wilkie Collins, in his “Rambles beyond Railways,” thus describes the general appearance of this natural curiosity:—“If a man dreamt of a great pile of stones in a nightmare, he would dream of such a pile as the Cheesewring. All the heaviest and largest of the seven thick slabs of which it is composed are at the top; all the lightest and smallest at the bottom. It rises perpendicularly to a height of thirty-two feet, without lateral support of any kind. The fifth and six rocks are of immense size and thickness, and overhang fearfully all round the four lower rocks which support them. All are perfectly irregular; the projections of one do not fit into the interstices of another; they are heaped up loosely in their extraordinary top-heavy form on slanting ground, half way down a steep hill.” Of late years this hill has been so extensively quarried for granite that the workmen are now within a few paces of the Cheesewring itself. When a lease of the ground was first granted, it was stipulated that no stone should be removed within a certain distance of this well-known landmark, so as to prevent any possibility of its being destroyed. Now, however, the boundaries of the quarry have been so extended that powerful blasting operations are continually being carried on within a short distance of it, not without very great risk to the whole structure. In fact, it is on the eve of being destroyed, unless a vigorous and influential attempt is made to save it. Six months ago the Royal Institution of Cornwall sent a deputation of its members to report on the exact state of the Cheesewring; and although a memorial was addressed to the authorities of the Duchy of Cornwall, the owners of the property, praying that some means be adopted for the preservation of this extraordinary geological formation, no satisfactory reply has been hitherto received. Since, therefore, local influence appears to be of little or no avail, it is to be hoped that the matter will be taken up by those who are especially interested in the preservation of remarkable objects of this kind, The untimely fate of the great Tolmên last year should be remembered; and measures immediately adopted to avoid a repetition of a similar catastrophe within so short a period. Whatever is done should be begun speedily, or in the meantime the impending calamity may actually take place.
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DUNKIN, E. Anticipated Destruction of the Cheesewring. Nature 2, 101 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1038/002101c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/002101c0
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