The Blind Fiddler

Also known as:
Trenuggo or Tregonebis Longstone
Nearest town:
Newlyn (4km ENE)
OS reference:
SW425281
OS sheet:
203
Latitude:
50° 5' 47.15 N
Longitude:
5° 36' 3.52 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Chris Bond

The Blind Fiddler menhir at Trenuggo. Photographed from the east on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Sep 1, 2024
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Chris Bond

The Blind Fiddler menhir at Trenuggo. Photographed from the south-south-west on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Sep 1, 2024
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Chris Bond

The Blind Fiddler menhir at Trenuggo. Photographed from the south-west on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Sep 1, 2024
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Chris Bond

The Blind Fiddler menhir at Trenuggo. Photographed from the west-north-west on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Sep 1, 2024
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Chris Bond

The Blind Fiddler menhir at Trenuggo. Photographed from the north on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Sep 1, 2024
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Chris Bond

The Blind Fiddler menhir at Trenuggo. Photographed from the east on 24 January 2004.

Image credit: Chris Bond
Chris Bond
Chris Bond Sep 1, 2024
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by tjj

Very tall standing near to Boscawen un stone circle – approximately 4 metres high.

Image credit: tjj
tjj
tjj May 18, 2021
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Ravenfeather

Photo taken 7th March 2014. The Blind Fiddler under welcome blue skies.

Image credit: Paul Kesterton
Ravenfeather
Ravenfeather Mar 7, 2014
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by thesweetcheat

Don’t you love stones that are a completely different shape from each angle?

Image credit: A. Brookes (18.6.2010)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 19, 2010
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Meic

The Blind Fiddler – 10th May 2004

Image credit: Michael Mitchell
Meic
Meic Oct 17, 2006
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by hamish

Looking to the North. No lichens on this side.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Mar 19, 2006
Image of The Blind Fiddler (Standing Stone / Menhir) by hamish

Looking South. The lady by the stone shows just how large this is.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Mar 19, 2006

Articles

The Blind Fiddler

Ravenfeather
Ravenfeather Mar 8, 2014

Visited 7th March 2014

The Blind Fiddler is visible over the top of the hedge which borders the A30, just up the road from the Sisters at Drift. Also handily, almost directly opposite is a layby for convenient parking to visit the stone.

Once over the stile into the field the stone is satisfyingly chunky, and surprisingly tall. The sun glints from flecks of quartz embedded in the menhir, as I approach to give the stone a customary hug. The landscape is too enclosed with hedges to get a proper view so it’s difficult to see any alignments, but the Drift stones seem to be pretty much directly to the east, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a link in the past.

The top of the stone is shrouded in lichen, which wraps around its top, like a mossy blindfold, and the stone from one aspect almost resembles a hunched figure stumbling forward, like a petrified Blind Pew (although it has been said I anthropomorphise stones too much!) but standing in this lovely meadow the Fiddler has a lot of character, and deserves more attention than just a cursory glance on a hurried drive.

The Blind Fiddler

postman
postman Aug 23, 2013

A perfect example of peoples laziness and unwillingness to walk long distances to see a stone or two, Altarnun’s nine stone circle has half as many pictures even though it’s not that hard to find or to get to.

That said this is a very fine and very tall standing stone, as easy to view as it gets, a little further from the road might have been nicer though. It’s been fifteen years since my first visit, ahhh those happy uncomplicated days, all gone now, but the stone remains happily the same.

The Blind Fiddler

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 29, 2010

This magnificent stone stands over 3m tall, one of the tallest in the peninsula. It’s one of those stones that assumes an entirely different character from each angle, being very thin on the southwest/northeast faces and broad and tapering on the others. The views are somewhat restricted by hedges and trees, and apart from Sancreed Beacon it doesn’t appear to be intervisible with any other obvious prehistoric sites (I’m not sure if the Drift stones would be visible if you removed all the intervening hedges). Great stone though.

The Blind Fiddler

C
CARL Apr 21, 2010

Visited 12.4.10.
This is a HUGE standing stone visible behind the hedge on a bend on the A30. There is a layby opposite you can park in and a stone stile takes you into the field in which the stone stands. The standing stone is about 50 metres into the field from the stile.

The Blind Fiddler

hamish
hamish Mar 19, 2006

This lovely lichen covered stone stands along the road from The Drift stones.You can park opposite in a layby. Take care crossing the road, remember these drivers are Cornish and dangerous!!!!! Access to the field is easy, just remember the country code and you will be amazed by this stone.

The Blind Fiddler

Jane
Jane Mar 16, 2004

Whooo! This one’s a whopper! Amidst an area teeming with standing stones, this one really stands out – and its the sheer bulk and height that does it. It was flatter and wider than I first thought and perhaps 3 or 4 metres high.

When we saw it, it looked beautiful surrounded by rows of scented narcissus. Lovely!

The Blind Fiddler

pure joy
pure joy Jan 6, 2003

The Blind Fiddler – 23.12.2002

There is a small lay-by on the North side of the bend in the road where you can pretty safely park. A small concrete stile leads into the field. The footpath leads through the field so officially you are trespassing by going to the stone, but considering that the footpath goes straight through the crops, whereas to look at the stone you can skirt round the field and do no damage at all, I would hope that any sensible landowner would take that into consideration. The field looked like it was planted with winter wheat.

The Blind Fiddler stands alone at the edge of the field, stunning in its quartz studded, triangular tooth-like grandeur. It measures 320cm (H) x 205 (W, at the base) x 50 (D). It’s’ also known as the ‘Trenuggo Stone’ or ‘Tregonebris Stone’.

Early 19th century excavations near its foot uncovered fragments of bone. Ian McNeil Cooke in his ‘Standing Stones of the Land’s End’ (1998 Men-an-Tol Studios) says that “cremated remains were found by a labourer while digging for treasure in the early 19th century”.

The stone gets its name from 18th century Methodist preachers telling their flock that the stone is a wayward musician, struck into stone for performing on a Sunday. Some people link The Blind Fiddler to the Higher Drift stones, and tell a similar tale of two sisters struck into stone for not obeying the Sabbath.

The Blind Fiddler

G
Gazza Jun 9, 2000

The Blind Fiddler is one of the most impressive stones in Cornwall, mostly for it’s sheer size (11.5 feet) and bulk and graceful triangular tapering shape. It stands just inside a field next to the main road to Land’s End and there’s a parking space very close by. Apparently it has never been officially excavated, but a trasure seeker in the 19th century dug up bones and ashes by the stone. Well worth a visit.

Folklore

The Blind Fiddler
Standing Stone / Menhir
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Apr 8, 2021

As to the searching beneath ancient monuments for treasure there was a story that years ago when search was made near the large stone just above Catchall for a crock of gold, the stone groaned fearfully and the pit was filled with blood.

Mentioned at the annual meeting of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society in 1881, and reported in the Cornish Telegraph (17th November).

Sites within 20km of The Blind Fiddler

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