the pipers of boleigh standing stones.
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a pair of outliers to the merry maidens stone circle on a north east south west orientation and pointing directly towards the stone circle. these impressive stones are among the tallest in west penwith being 4.1 and 4.7m in height, the shorter of the two being furthest from the circle and leaning heavily to the northwest. their name derives from a myth that describes them as frozen pipers so formed for their part in revelries at the merry maidens on the sabbeth. another that they mark the spot where aethelstan and howeth fought in the 10th century and represent the two leaders. howeth was the leader of the cornish celts. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ a double exposure is involved here, one that combines this halt of time – the frozen piper or famed adversaries turned to stone and the photograph’s ability to freeze frame a moment with the instantaneous death like stare of medusa – and make history if it – and separately but no less part of this ability- that of confronting the shock of the old, as it intermingles with the now. the myth of medusa pervades the land-scapes of prehistory with stories of frozen dancers and blinded music makers. reading stones and reading photographs require the same insight. it is a flash of knowledge brought about by the recognition of past-present juxtapositions. a knowledge whose insight is brought to bear on the present. |
