Bodmin Moor, the largest of the Cornish granite uplands, preserves one of the most extensive and best‑recorded archaeological landscapes in England. Detailed survey has revealed relict field systems, settlements, ceremonial monuments and later industrial remains spanning the prehistoric, medieval and post‑medieval periods. The survival of these features in close association provides direct evidence for long‑term human exploitation of the upland environment and allows successive phases of land use to be traced with unusual clarity.
Stone circles form one of the most distinctive elements of this landscape. They consist of one or more rings of upright or recumbent stones, sometimes accompanied by earthworks, ditches or outlying stones. Avenues may radiate from the circle, and burial cairns are often found nearby. Although distributed across England, they are concentrated in western uplands such as Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and the Lake District. Excavation has shown that they date from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2400–1000 BC). Their construction was deliberate and precise, with careful spacing and attention to the height of individual stones. Their original purpose is not fully understood, but they clearly held ritual significance, often associated with burial, commemoration or the marking of seasonal events. Sixteen stone circles are known on Bodmin Moor, making them a rare and important monument type.
The Nine Stones, sometimes called the Altarnun Stone Circle, is one of the smallest stone circles on Bodmin Moor. It stands on a broad natural shelf on the lower north‑west slope of Ridge Hill, 1.9 miles south‑south‑east of Altarnun and close to the parish boundary between Altarnun and North Hill. The setting, surrounded by higher land, is characteristic of many circles on the Moor. The monument lies near broadly contemporary funerary and settlement sites, demonstrating the close relationship between ritual activity and agricultural settlement during the Bronze Age.
The circle consists of eight granite slabs arranged around a near‑circular course approximately 15 metres (49 feet) in diameter. The stones range from 1 to 1.3 metres high and up to 1.05 metres wide. Their surfaces and edges are weathered, showing no signs of dressing. The stones are irregularly spaced, with gaps of 4 to 6.5 metres between most uprights. A larger gap of 11.5 metres in the northern sector marks the position of two stones recorded in the 19th century but now missing. A surface hollow slightly within the circle marks the site of one of these slabs.
The north‑eastern stone has fallen outward, but the remaining stones stand upright with packing stones visible at their bases. A ninth stone stands slightly south‑east of the centre. This is not prehistoric but a parish boundary stone, part of a line marking the boundary between North Hill and Altarnun. It is 1 metre high with sharp, angular edges and comparatively fresh surfaces, distinguishing it from the prehistoric slabs.
The circle was recorded and partly reconstructed in 1889 by the local landowner and antiquary Francis Rashleigh Rodd of Trebartha Hall. By that time only two stones remained standing. Rodd re‑erected six fallen slabs and also re‑erected and slightly re‑sited the fallen parish boundary stone. Further restoration took place in 1906, though some stones were incorrectly repositioned. Despite this, the monument retains its essential prehistoric form and setting.
Beyond the circle lie extensive prehistoric field systems and settlement sites on Ridge Hill, reaching to within 400 metres of the monument to the south‑east and north‑east. The prominent Clitters Cairn is visible on the skyline 540 metres to the east. Other nearby prehistoric sites include hut circles to the north‑east and the Goodaver Stone Circle to the south near Bolventor. Together these features form part of a wider Bronze Age landscape in which ceremonial, domestic and agricultural elements are closely interwoven.
