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Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: Celebrating Golowan in Cornwall

Celebrating Golowan in Cornwall

09/07/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Celebrating Golowan in Cornwall

Helen Mark lights the midsummer bonfires on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall to celebrate Golowan.

Helen Mark visits Kit Hill and Minions near Bodmin Moor to find evidence of man's earliest habitation and discover how that history continues to be celebrated today with Golowan.

Golowan is the Cornish tradition of lighting Midsummer Bonfires. This ancient tradition which hopes to prolong the summer sun for a good harvest was revived by The Old Cornish Society. Helen Mark meets some of their members to learn how they hope to keep the unique identity of this place alive and well. 

On Bodmin Moor and Kit Hill there are reminders of man's habitation going back 5000 years. The fires they light on Bodmin Moor each year hark back to pre-historic times and scattered around the moor are Neolithic monuments which bear testament to man's long history in this 'ritual landscape'. Writer Philip Marsden explains how his search for the 'Spirit of Place' began on the moors and then spread deep into the heart of the Cornish landscape and its people.

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