Bant’s Carn

Bant’s Carn
Watercolour on Paper
34cm x 24cm (13.5" x 9.5")

Bant’s Carn is a Bronze Age burial chamber on St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly. It sits on the crest of Halangy Down and on the slope towards the sea lie the remains of an Iron Age village.

The weather wasn’t quite as bad as the picture suggests, but Elaine and I considered sheltering in the tomb for a few minutes while the rain was particularly heavy. The conditions gradually improved and we enjoyed our walk around the island which packs a lot of variety into a relatively short circuit: ancient sites, wonderful coast scenery, an out of the way and unexpectedly good cake stop, the only traffic lights I’ve ever seen on a coastal footpath, a pub with a beer festival and Harold Wilson’s grave.

Coastal Path Traffic Lights 

We would have enjoyed the walk with the sun and blue skies we had on other days (see Garrison Bell), but ancient sites are sometimes best appreciated in the rain.