Page:VCH Cornwall 1.djvu/477

 STONE CIRCLES The five circles in the hundred of West Penwith lie, as we have seen, close together in a district strewn with megalithic remains, and it might be assumed that other moorland districts would also yield examples of this class of monument, but here, in the Carnmenellis region, the Wendron Circles stand alone ; the neighbourhood of Carn Brea is with- out one, also the wide stretch of moor north of St. Austell, and no other is found till we get 10 miles east of Bodmin. TRIPPET STONES No. Height Length Breadth Thickness No. Height Length Breadth Thickness ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. I 4 9 leans in i 3 I 4 7 4 4

3 9 I 2 fallen 5 ii 2 3

8 4 7

2 O I O 3 4 9

3 5 o 7 9 broken off

4 o

4 fallen 6 9 2 10 5 2

I IO I 2 5 4 4 i 9 i i 1 1 fallen 5 6 I IO

6 5

i 6 i 4 12 4 9

4 3 i 3 Trippet Stones is the name of a circle standing on Blisland Manor Downs, Bodmin moors, close to the road from Temple to Bradford Bridge; it is in Blisland parish, and the landowner is Mrs. Collins of Blisland Manor House. The diameter is 103 ft.; twelve stones remain out of a possible twenty-six and of these eight only are erect, but the cattle have so worn away the turf and soil round the base of the standing stones that it is to be feared that others will shortly fall, a danger threatening nearly every circle on these moors. The stones are of granite and rather larger than the type prevailing in West Cornwall ; indeed this circle approxi- mates in character to those of Dartmoor. One stone (9) has been broken, and the largest which remains standing (10) measures 5 ft. 2 in. out of the ground. There is nothing specially noticeable about the position of the circle, unless it be supposed to have some relation to Stripple Stones, visible across the moor (N. 79 E.), while the Cheesewring on Carbilly Tor makes a conspicuous object on the north-west (N. 57 W.). The name Trippet Stones has no reference to any farm near, but is probably descriptive ; in all probability also it is English and not Celtic in its origin. None of the early county historians have mentioned this or any other circle on the Bodmin moors, and it appears that the late J. T. Blight was the first to call attention to it ; he gives a sketch and says that nine stones were standing in 1858, the date ot his book. 1 Sir John Maclean refers to it (i873), 2 and Lukis and Borlase (1885) give a plan and sketches of the stones, one of which (u) has fallen since their day. 8 1 Ancient Crosses, etc., in East Cornwall, 131. * Hist, of the Deanery of Trigg Minor, i. 24. 3 Prehistoric Monuments, pp. 3-30, pi. vii. 389