Page:VCH Cornwall 1.djvu/478

 A HISTORY OF CORNWALL STRIPPLE 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 fallen, IO O 4 9

8 fallen, 10 3 5 4

half buried in grass half buried 9 5 8 leans out 3 6 i 6 2 3 " leans in 2 5 o 8 IO fallen 6 6 3 o

3 on edge 6 o i 6 O IO ii

8 ii 3 o

against hedge 12 6 8

4 o O I I 13 fallen 9 6 i 8

4 split, 6 6 2 O O IO H

9 i 2 II

portion against hedge 15

6 10 4 o

16 fallen, 6 10 2 I I

buried 5 buried 8 o 3 9

17 fallen 6 9 I II

stone 18 centre 13 3 4 2

6 4 10

2 9 on stone, 7 fallen, 9 o 5 o fallen and broken broken ' 1 (a and c) Buried fragments. (f) Stone shown by Lukis and Borlase, now removed. Stripple Stones, at once the finest and the most injured of our stone circles, stands on the south-eastern slope of Hawk's Tor, within sight of Trippet Stones. The parish is Blisland, and the landowner is Sir W. Onslow, hart. The striking feature of this monument is that it stands on a circular platform, 178 ft. in diameter, which again is surrounded by a ditch and bank, each about 10 ft. wide. Owing to the ruined state of the circumvallation these dimensions must be taken as approximate only. The surrounding bank expands at three points, as will be seen by the plan, into curved extensions or ' demilunes,' the one on the west side being still clearly distinguishable, while the other two have all but disap- peared ; an entrance is cut through the bank on the west in the direction of Trippet Stones. The whole structure, as depicted by Lukis and Borlase in 1885, is faintly outlined in this plan, and the thicker lines show such portions of it as could be distinguished in 1902. Time, exposure, the feet of cattle, and neglect have all done their worst, but the crowning injury is the work of the landowner, who has erected a hedge cutting off a segment of the circle itself and obliterating much of the earthwork ; this hedge was made about the year 1885. On the platform stood a circle about 1 45 ft. in diameter, mostly of large stones and perhaps number- ing originally about twenty-eight, with a tall and massive central monolith. Now four stones remain standing, twelve (including the central one) are prostrate, two are buried, and there are some buried fragments. One fallen stone (<), shown by Lukis and Borlase, has been taken away, and two others lean against the new-take hedge ; No. 7 has been broken, probably by its fall ; No. 1 5 has fallen since the date of Lukis and Bor- lase's visit, and the massive central stone has had a slice cut out of it, most likely to make a gatepost. All the stones are of granite, and the table of dimensions will show that they are large, and that the average 390