|
|
 Log in |
Register
|
|
|
England
Trippet StonesStone Circle
|
Show map (inline Google Map)
|
|
|
News |
 Add news |
Trippet Stones 'repaired'"One of Bodmin Moor's most attractive and accessible stone circles is to undergo repairs this week.The Trippet Stones stand on Manor Common, between Bodmin and Blisland, just a mile north west of the A30... continues... |
Posted by baza12th October 2006ce |
Images (click to view fullsize) |
Add an image |
Photographs:
Artistic / Interpretive:
|
Fieldnotes |
Add fieldnotes |
|
Visited 20.4.12 Now here’s a problem you don’t encounter very often trying to visit an ‘old stone’ site (particularly in Cornwall) – a Highland cow!!! Yes, as odd as it sounds it is true. Making our way to the Trippet Stones we approached the hamlet of Bradford. As we turned a corner, there in the middle of the lane, completely blocking it was a Highland cow! Luckily Karen wasn’t driving fast and immediately opened the window and got her camera out. At this point Hannah stated to scream to close the window. ‘What are you expecting it to do?’ I asked her ‘climb in?’!! We stared at the cow – the cow stared at us. Eventually the cow started to move towards us and tried to squeeze past the car. I was concerned his/her long horns would take out a window but luckily the cow leaned in towards the drystone wall and took a couple of stones out! Phew…. (try explaining that to Auto Glass!) We continued onto the stones and parked on the grass at the junction of the cross-moor roads a little to the east of the circle. What did we then see? A small heard of 5/6 Highland cows! Karen jumped out of the car, camera in hand, whilst myself and Dafydd headed off towards the stone circle. (Hannah decided to stay ‘safe’ in the car) As we walked along the track towards the circle (and Hawk’s Tor Farm) we were approached by the farmer on his quad bike but he passed by without saying anything. The circle itself is wonderful – a great setting – very atmospheric. We took turns touching/counting the stones to see if we came up with the same figure – we didn’t! The Trippet Stones are easy to access and well worth a visit. Unfortunately our visit was cut short when my phone rang and Karen asked if we could come back to the car asap as a man needed help. When we arrived it turned out a chap was lost and despite having an O/S map wasn’t sure where he was. I was happy to help but slightly miffed as we had left the circle a lot sooner than I would have liked – but there you go. Karen and Hannah were very excited as the chap was a photographer for a fashion designer label (I can’t remember the name but needless to say meant nothing to me!) and that he was looking for photo shoot locations. I did suggest the standing stones but he said he was looking for something with ferns!! |
Posted by CARL 10th May 2012ce |
|
Paid my first visit to the Trippet Stones today on the 1st April 2012. A fantastic day all round with wonderfully sunny weather and clear views in every direction. Took OC's directions which were spot on and easy to follow. For such a lovely day there were few people out when I arrived but plenty later as I was leaving. As usual my first thoughts were, 'What on earth did they want to build a stone circle out here for?', but we all know full well that we may never know the answer to that question! I didn't concern myself so much with how many stones were left standing or fallen, but how many there may have been originally. I calculated it at 28 and not allowing for any 'entrances'. What I found a little strange was that many of the craters that were formed around the stones by sheep while they were still in place are still there even though the stones themselves have been gone for many many years I would have thought that as the soil is very peaty and wet for most of the year it would have encouraged the craters to backfill, especially as cattle/sheep/ponies walk aross there as a matter of course on a daily basis! The central stone is interesting but I wondered if it was an original feature or a boundary marker because it has the letter C carved out on one face and M on the opposite face. I wondered about this for some time until I noticed, as I was walking away, two outlying stones reaching away from the circle and about 100 yards apart on an ongoing line. On investigation I discovered that they also had the letters C and M carved into them, so it increased the possibility of them being BM's. Quite why the central stone was a marker opens up a question so one can only speculate on the 'ownership' of the circle being in dispute so the landowners settled on half each! If so then does this mean that there was never a central stone to the original build? Took loads of pix and video but have added some aerials to get a different perspective to those already contributed. Summing up, a cracker of a circle in lovely surrounds and east peasy to find and park up. I could have driven right up to the circle but common sense and respect tells you to stay next to the road itself which leads direct to Hawkstor Farm. |
Posted by Sanctuary 1st April 2012ce |
|
These stones are easy to find as long as you have an OS map and can read it whilst driving, I can, which is why Ive been here twice now, but unfortunately not to the Stripple stones henge located on the south flank of Hawks Tor, it looks a fair old yomp from the Trippet stones here past the farm and up the hill, i'll definately be back, my day on Bodmin has been wild, strenuous, wet, enlightening and sometimes scary. As I approached the stones I heard a noise behind me, upon turning I saw a big red pickup truck and farmer, the cynic in me groaned. But it shouldn't have for the red faced rotund agrarian was not only a comedic genius but a life lesson all in himself, we talked of the stones themselves, the government, new agers and of course the weather, after twice using my lighter to relight his gnarled roll up he coaxed the old truck back into life and bid me good day, I watched him drive away whilst removing my camera from it's bag, I thought to myself something had just happened, something to remember. The stones as ever are widely spaced, grey, tall and shapely, the two nearby tors are Carbilly and Hawks and both need you to clamber over and explore every rock and crevice, but the star of the day was either King Arthurs hall or old farmer chappie. |
Posted by postman24th November 2010ce Edited 24th November 2010ce |
|
I had stopped and asked for directions from Blisland and told to go up to the hamlet of Bradford, right at the phone box and follow the road toward the A30. This I did, although locating the stones was going to be trickier now I had killed the GPS and the map had gone missing. I nearly crashed trying to keep an eye on the road whilst looking along the sight line for the circle. The rudimentary A-Z of Cornwall's Visitor's map I was working by listed the stones near the track but I knew it wasn't so straightforward. I'd headed down the track towards the farm but couldn't see anything so headed back and over toward Hawkstor. Again nothing. I spent over an hour searching, my eye led toward any stone formation, which when you've been up there, you'll see is a lot. Finally they revealed themselves, as if having grown bored with mocking me were now prepared to grant me an audience. They were further away from the road than I had expected but I raced the 300 or so metres to the circle. What a place! A good mile from the A30 they are located ¼ mile to the left of the road, 100 metres before you hit a cross roads. Luckily I was upwind from the main road so couldn't hear the traffic. Just the silence of the moor. I had to brave a herd of bison but having heard they're vegetarian, walked past them with no incident. I counted nine stones and a smaller central stone with a carved 'C'. To me it looked as if they were alternate male and female stones. The beauty of this place is overwhelming and even the weather felt sorry for me and relented, the sun prying out to see what I was doing, allowing me to take some pictures in peace. The only company were the bison and ponies and this suited me as I acquainted myself with my new friends. I was sorry to leave, I could have stayed there all afternoon. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Jacksprat's Big Old Tour of Mistakes: Cornwall, June 2007
|
Posted by jacksprat18th June 2007ce Edited 14th July 2007ce |
|
7.3.04 After spending most of the day hunting down 19th C archaeology on the western edge of the moor there was just time to take a walk over to this wonderful circle. Easy to reach from the A30 but still gives a feeling of being away from the modern world (if you turn your back on the telegraph pole). The sun came out for me to take a few photo's (won't bother submiting, same as others on already), but then the rain came down and I had to run for the car. Such is March on Bodmin Moor! Has anyone found out what the M and C carved on the centre stone denote? I would think it has been used as a boundry marker, any idea's? |
Posted by Mr Hamhead11th March 2004ce |
|
Trippet Stones- 4.10.2003 On the way back to London I only had time to go to something close to the road, so the Trippet Stones were an ideal stop off. Really easy to access circle, and a very lovely looking one, with good views around bits of Bodmin Moor. It was also blowing a gale for me, but was worth it. A tip - the turnoff from the A30, when travelling eastbound is the last turn-off on this single carriageway, just a few metres before the dual carriageway starts again. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Kernow again - Part 2 - Land of the Giants
|
Posted by pure joy15th February 2004ce |
| Spent a good hour looking for this site and never found it - wish I'd read the previous entry first as it gives great directions! Another time maybe???? |
Posted by Vicster17th June 2003ce |
|
Yay! I get to write the first notes for this site! Coming from the East, the stones are easy to find. Having passed the Jamaica Inn, continue west on the A30 to the end of the dual carriageway. Opposite a left hand turn to Temple, turn right (signposted St Brewards). Pass over the cattle grid and continue along the single-track road for about half a mile. At the crossroads (signposted Treswigga), turn right onto a farm track. The stones are on the left about a quarter of a mile along. The earlier rain having stopped, the wind was blowing a gale, and the telephone wires which run close to the stones were really singing, giving an eerie feel to the site. Each of the stones was in its own small pool of water, like so many islands, having obviously been used as rubbing stones by the local ponies. The circle consists of 7 uprights with a few recumbent/fallen stones, and a small centre stone. A cist lies just outside the circle to the southwest. This post appears as part of the weblog entry A Week in Cornwall
|
Posted by ocifant16th March 2003ce |
Miscellaneous |
Add miscellaneous |
|
Whilst reading "The English Year - A month-by-month guide to the nation's customs and festivals, from May Day to Mischief Night" by Steve Roud, I came across an item in the section about traditional sports which could point to a possible origin of the name of the Trippet Stones. "Tipcat was once and internationally popular game with children and adults alike, but is now largely forgotten in England. The 'cat' was a piece of wood, placed on the ground, so shaped at the ends that when a player hit it with their bat (or catstaff) it would fly into the air. As it came up, the player tried to hit it as far as they could. A large ring had been marked out, or agreed, and if the player failed to hit the cat out of the ring they were out. If they succeeded, then a score was awarded, depending on the distance the cat had travelled. Variant names for the game are 'Cat', 'Trippet', 'Nipsy', 'Piggy' or 'Peggy'. The earliest reference to the game so far discovered in Britain is in an Anglo-Latin lexicon of c.1440, but wooden 'tipcats' were found in the ruins of Rahan, Egypt, dating from about 2500BC. In a variant form, a number of evenly spaced holes were made round the circumference of a circle, and a player was placed by each hole, armed with a stick. The cat was thrown to the nearest batsman and if they hit it the players ran on from hole to hole until the cat was retrieved, scoring a point for each hole reached." Holes with people in? In a circle? Sounds like a Pipers-/Hurlers-/Merry Maidens-/etcetc type legend to me! |
Posted by goffik18th August 2010ce |
|
..just visible, the circle known as the Trippet Stones, 105 ft in diameter with nine stones in situ and the rare adition of a central stone. "Is there not some ancient lettering on the central stone?" I asked " a C or a G?" The farmer smailed. " I mind the time" he said, "when that C was put there by Mrs Collins, the landlady" C Lewis-Hind: Days in Cornwall. Methuen 1907 |
Posted by Mr Hamhead 13th March 2006ce |
Top of page