Details

The monument includes a standing stone, situated on the upper slopes of a prominent ridge overlooking St Ives Bay. The standing stone survives as an earthfast upright monolith measuring up to 3.2m high, 1.2m square at the base and tapering upwards with a sloping top. It is known locally as the Beersheba Longstone.
It is Listed Grade II (68917).

Sources: HER:-
PastScape Monument No:-424813

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Standing stones are prehistoric ritual or ceremonial monuments with dates ranging from the Late Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age for the few excavated examples. They comprise single or paired upright orthostatic slabs, ranging from under lm to over 6m high where still erect. They are often conspicuously sited and close to other contemporary monument classes. They can be accompanied by various features: many occur in or on the edge of round barrows, and where excavated, associated subsurface features have included stone cists, stone settings, and various pits and hollows filled in with earth containing human bone, cremations, charcoal, flints, pots and pot sherds. Similar deposits have been found in excavated sockets for standing stones, which range considerably in depth. Several standing stones also bear cup and ring marks. Standing stones may have functioned as markers for routeways, territories, graves, or meeting points, but their accompanying features show they also bore a ritual function and that they form one of several ritual monument classes of their period that often contain a deposit of cremation and domestic debris as an integral component. No national survey of standing stones has been undertaken, and estimates range from 50 to 250 extant examples, widely distributed throughout England but with concentrations in Cornwall, the North Yorkshire Moors, Cumbria, Derbyshire and the Cotswolds. Standing stones are important as nationally rare monuments, with a high longevity and demonstrating the diversity of ritual practices in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age. The standing stone 140m north west of Beersheba Farm remains earthfast and appears to be in-situ. As a result it will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its erection, function, ritual and funerary practices, social and cultural significance, longevity and overall landscape context.

Source: Historic England