considered by some as a sign of connection with the watching of solar
phenomena.


Dolmens of simple type are not common in England, though they occur with
comparative frequency in Wales, where the best known are the so-called
Arthur's Quoit near Swansea, the dolmen of Pentre Ifan in Pembrokeshire,
and that of Plas Newydd on the Menai Strait: in Anglesey they are quite
common. In England we have numerous examples in Cornwall, especially
west of Falmouth, among which are Chun Quoit and Lanyon Quoit. There are
dolmens at Chagford and Drewsteignton in Devonshire, and there is one
near the Rollright Circle in Oxfordshire.

Many of the so-called cromlechs of England are not true dolmens, but the
remains of tombs of more complicated types. Thus the famous Kit's Coty
House in Kent was certainly not a dolmen, though it is now impossible to
say what its form was. Wayland the Smith's Cave was probably a
three-chambered corridor-tomb covered with a mound. The famous
Men-an-tol in Cornwall may well be all that is left of a chamber-tomb of
some kind. It is a slab about 3-1/2 feet square, in which is a hole
1-1/2 feet in diameter. There are other stones standing or lying around
it. It is known to the peasants as the Crickstone, for it was said to
cure sufferers from rickets or crick in the back if they passed nine
times through the hole in a direction against the sun. The Isle of Man
possesses a fine sepulchral monument on Meayll Hill. It consist of six
T-shaped chamber-tombs arranged in a circle with entrances to the north
and south. There is also a corridor-tomb, known as King Orry's Grave, at
Laxey, and another with a semicircular façade at Maughold.