Hurlers stone circles , Bodmin Moor , Cornwall Near the moorland village of Minions, once prosperous from copper mining but now reduced to a scattering of houses, lies a Bronze Age stone temple known as The Hurlers. This unusual site consists of three large aligned stone circles, running from NNE to SSW, built in a pass, between the River Fowey and the River Lynher, the sides of Stowe's Hill and Caradon rising to north and south. Multiple or associated circles are not unusual in the south-west of England and they often lie between rivers at suitable positions for converging people and traders. The southern circle is the smallest (32.9m/108ft across) and it has only nine stones left; the largest is the central circle, slightly egg shaped, with a diameter of 41.8 x 40.5m (137 x 132ft) and 14 stones, while the northern circle is 34.7 (113ft) across: 15 stones are here, of which four have fallen, and there were probably a further nine. The central and the northern rings were once linked by a granite pathway along their axis. All the stones in the circles have been carefully erected so that they all appear the same height. Some are diamond-shaped, others round, and one has been shaped so that its uppermost edge is cloven. A spread of quartz crystals in the central circle may have come from shaping the stones with hammers. The northern circle was crossed by a boundary bank, and two stones 120m (393ft) to the WSW from the central site could be boundary posts, although astronomical purposes have been assigned them.