Residents fight to save their own ‘Stonehenge’

RESIDENTS of a Cornish village have formed an action group, after learning that a developer could build up to 70 houses on a field which contains two ancient monuments, one of which has been described as their own Stonehenge.

- LEE TREWHELA

Legacy Properties is aiming to submit a planning application in late 2025 or early 2026 for the development of land owned by Lord Falmouth’s Tregothnan Estate, off Old Coach Road, in Playing Place, near Truro. The field contains the remains of a plain an gwarry - an amphitheatre which gives the village its name - and an Iron Age settlement.

A plaque on a footpath next to the field marks the remains of the two round enclosures. Plays celebrating the life of St Kea would have been performed at the plain an gwarry in medieval times.

Villagers are also concerned about the possible traffic impact on Old Coach Road as well as the added pressure a large housing estate could have on the already oversubscribed Kea Community Primary School, near the field, and the local GP surgery. They feel it will add to road safety concerns at the school.