Rev. William Borlase pursued the study of Cornwall's ancient monuments through fieldwork. As was demonstrated in Chapter 1, he placed great emphasis on the close study of Cornwall's quoits, tolmens, circles, barrows and standing stones in situ and advocated the use of field sketches as the most faithful way of recording ‘what the monument really is’. Although there was something superficially modern about Borlase's attitude, in many ways he remained of his time and was even rather old-fashioned in his approach to antiquarianism. Despite his stern warning, above, against ‘fanciful conjecture’, Borlase's Antiquities was run through with references to the Biblical flood, to the Old Testament and to references to the ancient authors. He was also obsessed with Druids and attributed many of Cornwall's ancient remains to their artifice. For instance, the Cheese-wring – a pile of granite boulders on Bodmin Moor – was a platform from which Druids gave speeches. The stone basins found on top of many of Cornwall's granitetors were created to catch the blood from Druidic sacrifices. The Men an Tol in the Parish of Madern was either for the preparation of children for worship; for the preparation of human sacrifice; or for the restoration of health.

In 1872, the Rev. Borlase's great-great grandson, William Copeland Borlase, published his own contribution to the study of Cornwall's ancient monuments, Naenia Cornubiae. Perhaps to distance himself from the excesses of his late relative, Borlase launched a withering attack on any speculation as to the origins and use of these sites: