372 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



Fernacre Circle fall in the same line precisely ; and a line connecting the 

 Stripple Stones with the Leaze Circle and extended in a N.W. direction 

 passes through the Stannon Circle. 



The remains of hut-circles abound in the vicinity of the Stripple 

 Stones. There are large groups to the E.S.E. and S.E. on Brockbarrow 

 and Blacktor Downs, and there are many good examples on the downs 

 near Blisland and on Kerrow Downs. ^ It seems to be highly probable 

 that these were the dwelling-places of the people who constructed and 

 used the neighbouring stone circles, but as yet we have no absolute proof 

 that the same race erected the circles and the huts, 



II. Description of the Circle. 



The plan encloses an area 280 feet from due N, to S.- by 260 feet 

 from E. to W., the ground covering 1*67 acre. The original plan was 

 plotted to a scale of 192 to 1 ; in other words, 16 feet to an inch. The 

 magnetic variation for January 1, 1905, at Temple was 17° 35' west of 

 true north.'* The plan with its 6-inch contours shows a maximum fall 

 of 10_feet from the highest ground in the N.W. corner to the lowest at 

 the S.W. corner. The area encompassed by the stones is almost level at 

 the centre and at the N., N.E., and E. ; the greatest fall of this plateau, 

 viz., 2| feet, is from N.N.E. to S.S.W. 



The Stripple Stones circle was selected for excavation by the Com- 

 mittee, being one of the fe^v stone circles surrounded by a vallum and 

 fosoe, the latter within the former. The other circles of this type, all of 

 which have better-defined valla and fossaj than the Stripple Stones, are : 

 Avebury (Wilts), Arbor Low (Derbyshire), and Stennis (Orkney). 



The vallum and fosse enclosing the Stripple Stones are very irregularly 

 defined, and from external appearances at the present day it cannot be 

 stated that any fosse exists except on the W., N.W., N., and N.E. At 

 these points the surface of the silting in the middle of the ditch is 1'5 foot 

 lower than the adjacent central area on which the monoliths rest. The 

 highest part of the existing vallum is on the N.W., where it rises to 

 3 feet above the surface of the silting of the ditch and 1-5 foot above the 

 central area. It is about the same height on the N.E. near the wall, but 

 on the N. there is a considerable flattening of the bank, which appears to 

 be a modern mutilation.'' ' Bays,' or recesses, in the outer margin of the 

 fosse are seen by the contours to exist at the present time on the W.N.W. 

 and a little W. of true N. These features are very unusual. Mr. Lukis 

 stated that there were three ' semi-lunar projections in the vallum on the 

 N.W., N.E., and E.' '' The two former still exist, but the eastern one 

 has been destroyed with the rest of the earthworks on that side, owing to 

 the formation of the modern enclosure, previously referred to. 



Coming round to the W.S.W. side, there is a gap in the vallum for a 



' I photographed one of the Kerrow hut-circles. 



2 My plans of the Trippet Stones and the Leaze Circle have margin.s due N. and S. 

 and E. and W. 



' My thanks are due to the Director- General of the Ordnance Surveys, 

 Southampton, for this information ; also to Capt. J. E. Acland aiid Mr. C. H. 

 Samson for the loan of levelling- rod and prismatic compass. 



* Carts going from Hawkstor Farm to the main Bodmin and Launceston road 

 {m& the disused china-clay works) traverse the middle of the circle from N. to S. 



* Prehistoric Stone Mu/iumenls of Cornwall, p. 3 and pi. viii. 'Mag. N. Mer. 

 taken to be 20° 30' W. of N.' (Lukis, 1879.) 



