Stripple stones

First recorded by this name during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I{{cite book|author=John Maclean (sir.)|title=Parochial and family history of the parish of Blisland, p. 24|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcgHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA24|access-date=23 May 2011|year=1868|pages=24–}} the circle has been described by William Lukis as "the most interesting and remarkable monument in the county". It is surrounded by a circular ditch and vallum that forms a level platform {{convert|175|ft|m}} in diameter. The circle is {{convert|145.5|ft|m}} in diameter with four granite standing stones and several fallen. In the centre is a giant fallen menhir approximately {{convert|12|ft|m}} long and {{convert|5|ft|m}} at the widest point, split in three places. Lukis suggested that with an average spacing of {{convert|12|ft|m}}, there would have been thirty seven original stones, whilst Aubrey Burl suggested only twenty eight.

The Stripple stones were excavated in 1905 by H. St. George Gray who found a burnt flint, three flint flakes, an ox bone and some charcoal and oak timbers in the surrounding ditch. He also detected an entrance from this facing southwest, directly towards the Trippet stones. Gray noted that the stones had only been set approximately {{convert|1.5|ft|m}} deep into the ground. Four postholes were found surrounding the central stone which was discovered to have been offset from the centre of the circle by {{convert|14|ft|m}} to the south southeast.{{cite book|author=Aubrey Burl|title=A guide to the stone circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, p. 37|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yhWFB1JAjWsC&pg=PA37|access-date=23 May 2011|year=2005|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-11406-5|pages=37–}}

File:The Victoria history of the county of Cornwall (1906) (14590965339).jpg

The vallum surrounding the circle has three semi-lunar projections facing towards the northwest, northeast and east. It has been completely obliterated to the south. Aubrey Burl suggested that from the location of the central stone, when upright, alignments with these bulges in the outer bank mark May Day sunset, Equinox sunrise and the major northern moonrise.{{cite book|author=Norman Lockyer|title=Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ElQJwztVV7EC&pg=PA36|access-date=23 May 2011|date=April 2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-5162-8|pages=36–}} He also suggested that the post holes may have been attempts to establish accurate backsights for alignments.{{cite book|author=Aubrey Burl|title=Prehistoric Astronomy and Ritual|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JCTryg7lKcMC&pg=PA41|access-date=23 May 2011|date=4 March 2008|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-0-7478-0614-1|pages=41–}} Norman Lockyer suggested that sighted from the centre stone, the northeast projection would have aligned with Capella in 1250 BC.{{cite book|author=Norman Lockyer|title=Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered, p. 293|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ElQJwztVV7EC&pg=PA293|access-date=23 May 2011|date=April 2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-5162-8|pages=293–}}

• {{cite book|author=William Borlase|title=Observations on the antiquities, historical and monumental, of the county of Cornwall ...: Consisting of several essays on the first inhabitants, Druid-superstition, customs, and remains of the most remote antiquity, in Britain, and the British Isles ... With a summary of the religious, civil, and military state of Cornwall before the Norman Conquest ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IqUQAAACAAJ|year=1754|publisher=Printed by W. Jackson, in the High-Strand}}
• {{cite book|author=William Copeland Borlase|title=Naenia Cornubiae: the cromlechs and tumuli of Cornwall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-eBAAAAMAAJ|year=1872|publisher=Llanerch|isbn=978-1-897853-36-8}}
• {{cite book|author=William C. Lukis|title=The prehistoric stone monuments of the British Isles: Cornwall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6WbQAAACAAJ|year=1885|publisher=Printed for Nichols and Sons for the Society of Antiquaries}}
• {{cite book|author=Aubrey Burl|title=A guide to the stone circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yhWFB1JAjWsC&pg=PA32|year=2005|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-11406-5

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{{Reflist}}

{{Portal|Cornwall|Astronomy|History}}

• [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=544 Illustrated entry in the Megalithic Portal]
• [http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/299/stripple_stones.html Illustrated entry in the Modern Antiquarian]
• {{oscoor gbx|SX144752}}

{{Cornwall}}

{{European Standing Stones}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stripple Stones}}

Category:Bodmin Moor

Category:Stone circles in Cornwall

Category:Henges in England