The Pipers (Boleigh)

Nearest town:
Newlyn (5km NNE)
OS reference:
SW435248
OS sheet:
203
Latitude:
50° 4' 2.11 N
Longitude:
5° 35' 5.32 W

Images

Image of The Pipers (Boleigh) (Standing Stones) by Rhiannon

From William Borlase’s ‘Antiquities, historical and monumental, of the county of Cornwall’ (1695).

It says ‘Two stones erect at Bolleit in St Buryan. about a furlong asunder. explained p. 168‘

Image credit: .
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 18, 2017
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Image of The Pipers (Boleigh) (Standing Stones) by A R Cane

Wide shot of the NE stone with one of the many massive recumbent stones in close proximity. Was there ever another structure here as there are a lot of massive stones close by in the hedgerow which have gradually been cleared?

Image credit: A R Cane
A R Cane
A R Cane Aug 17, 2011
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Image of The Pipers (Boleigh) (Standing Stones) by thesweetcheat

The NE Piper, with a backdrop of the West Penwith hills of Chapel Carn Brea, Bartinne and Caer Bran (all to the left of the stone) and across to Sancreed Beacon and the northern Moors, all topped with their own prehistoric remains.

Image credit: A. Brookes (24.6.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 13, 2011
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Image of The Pipers (Boleigh) (Standing Stones) by Mr Hamhead

Taken several years ago on good old Fujifilm...nearing sunset on Midsummers day..I wasn’t that interested in stones at the time, we just happend to find ourselves in Boleigh Farm Campsite and it was one of those evenings.

Mr Hamhead
Mr Hamhead Jan 11, 2010
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Image of The Pipers (Boleigh) (Standing Stones) by pure joy

One of The Pipers as seen from the road – rather spooky mist going on, and the whole right part of the pic came out with a very strange exposure...... – 23.12.2002

Image credit: Martin Bull
pure joy
pure joy Feb 24, 2003
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Articles

The Pipers (Boleigh)

B
Beebon Feb 7, 2015
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On 3rd of Feb this year after a look around The Merry Maidens and Tregiffian Burial Chamber, I finally found The Pipers. i think previous visits to the area had always been in the months where there is more growth in the hedgerows so never managed to peek them whilst driving on the road past.

I clambered over the gate next to the road to get a closer look and was thoroughly surprised just how massive they are up close, really impressive stones!

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The Pipers (Boleigh)

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 18, 2011
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The last day of our holiday (24.6.2011) and the weather is not exactly promising – much as it has been throughout really! We haven’t managed to do the usual open-top bus tour around the peninsula yet, so decide to brave the forecast and go for it, combining with a fleeting stop-off at The Pipers and Merry Maidens.

The number 1 bus (the closed top double decker) drops us near Boleigh Farm, and it’s a quick hop over the gate to see the Pipers. Although we pass them often, this will be the first actual visit for over 10 years. My, haven’t they grown? Well no actually. I think I’ve just got smaller.

These are the whoppingest standing stones you could wish for, despite the lean on the NE stone it’s still a giant. The granite is marked with various vertical cracks and shows no sign of having been worked or shaped. They are what they are, these two.

If it’s necessary to play favourites, I prefer the SW stone, as it has a nice chunky-from-one-side/pointy-from-the-other aspect to it.

Sadly it starts to rain while we’re here, so we head back onto the road for the short walk round to Merry Maidens...

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The Pipers (Boleigh)

C
CARL Apr 22, 2010
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Visited 12.4.10.
These beasts are MASSIVE. Must be at least 12ft high and standing about 100 metres apart in separate fields. Access is easy. Park in entrance to field on the B3315. The first (slightly larger) stone is 50 metres from the entrance into a flat but muddy field. Just before the stone is a gate to your right which gives access to the field in which the other stone stands. As I pondered these two stones a jet flew overhead – I bet these two stones could tell a tale or two?! Definitely worth stopping for a look when visiting the Merry Maidens.

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The Pipers (Boleigh)

S
Schlager Man Feb 6, 2002
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September 2000. These guys could give ya a complex. I’ll say no more on the subject.

They are short distance over the hill from The Merry Maidens. The fiist thing ya’ll see is their HEADS pokin’ over the hedges below.

Had a great chat with an old local chap who was full of stories about witches & the Fogou in the nearby village of Boleigh. He knew loads about the sites, deserted villages & what-not in the area.

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Folklore

The Pipers (Boleigh)
Standing Stones
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Aug 7, 2013
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A few minutes’ walk from the Fogou, immediately after passing the wretched little hamlet of Boleigh, brings the tourist to the two remarkable stones called the Pipers; giant musicians turned into stone for playing on the sabbath to the dance at which the Merry Maidens were similarly transformed.

The pipers are two huge pillars of granite, about three hundred yards asunder, and are conspicuous objects in the surrounding locality. Another tradition reports that they mark the site of a final victory obtained by Athelstan over the Cornishmen; but, unfortunately for the probability of this, there is no good evidence to show that he was ever in this county.

They are figured in Borlase, p. 164. Sometimes they are called the Giant’s Rocks, and are stated to be the sepulchral memorials of two giants; and occasionally the Giant’s Grave, as if they were the head and foot stones of the sepulchre of one giant.

From Rambles in Western Cornwall by the Footsteps of the Giants by J O Halliwell-Phillipps (1861).

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Folklore

The Pipers (Boleigh)
Standing Stones
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Nov 14, 2006
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Although in most cases the gigantic standing stones wherever found, mark the site of graves, this is not invariably the case, for of “the Pipers,” two huge Cornish monoliths, Mr Borlase says he could find no trace of a sepulchral origin after careful examination. These “Pipers,” which measure 15 feet and 13 feet 6 inches in height, stand 85 yards apart, pointing north-east and south-west, and about 260 yards in the latter direction lies the circle called the Nine Maidens, or popularly the Dance (Dawns) Maidens, with which they are traditionally associated, since the legend says the DAnce Maidens were girls turned into stone for dancing on Sunday, the “Pipers” having been the musicians on that memorable occasion.

Another tradition makes these stones to mark the position occupied by the Kings Howel and Athelstane who here fought a great battle.

p 148 in
Notes on Some Cornish and Irish Pre-Historic Monuments.
A. W. Buckland
The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 9. (1880), pp. 146-166.

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Miscellaneous

The Pipers (Boleigh)
Standing Stones
Mr Hamhead
Mr Hamhead Jul 28, 2002
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There is a very basic campsite just over the hedge from the Pipers. Just a field and a toilet plus shower. All you need really. Penzance is not too far away if you do need anything and you have the whole of Penwith to explore close at hand.
If you do find you have some spare time after visiting all the sites from TMA then just take a walk along the coast path from Penberth Cove or Lamorna to St Loy’s Cove where you will find a tea shop/Cafe that serves wonderful home grown food.
Other places worth visiting include Porthgwarra right down on the South West tip where caves have been cut through the cliffs to reachthe beach and as you head west round the headland you come across a giant hole and some of the most dramatic cliffs in Cornwall.
And don’t go to Lands End!

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Sites within 20km of The Pipers (Boleigh)

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