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KippsDolmen / Quoit / Cromlech (Destroyed)
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Described as a druidic temple on old maps, later as a cromlech (1891). It does not appear on present day O.S. maps. Originally consisting of three stones supporting a larger fourth that was apparently broken before 1698. In its original form it is compared with the Chun Quoit in Cornwall. Ratcliffe Barnett T in 1943 states that the cromlech was set within a stone circle. Unfortunately, he does not state his source and there is certainly no indication of a stone circle today. This site is pretty neglected and a bit overgrown with rank grasses. It is also seems a wee bit lost in terms of location although I can't explain why. It may be that the surrounding landscape may have been cleared of woodland and more open at the time of building or maybe it is the absence of other ancient features nearby. Source: West Lothian District Council (198?) The Bathgate Hills, Robert MacLehose & Co. Ltd. Scotland Source Ratcliffe Barnett T. (1943) Border By-Ways & Lothian Lore, John Grant Booksellers Ltd, Edinburgh |
Posted by Corbie29th January 2004ce Edited 29th January 2004ce |
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It is said that local lads and lassies used to plight their troth by clasping hands through the gap made by the two pieces of the split, top boulder. Source: West Lothian District Council (198?), The Bathgate Hills, Robert MacLehose & Co. Ltd., Scotland |
Posted by Corbie 29th January 2004ce |
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Sir James Young Simpson, as long ago as 1861, said, "Almost all the primaeval stone circles and cromlechs which existed in the middle and southern districts of Scotland have been cast down and removed. . . . In the beginning of the eighteenth century Sir Robert Sibbald states that near the Kipps cromlech was a circle of stones with a large stone or two in the middle, and he adds, 'many such may be seen all over the country.' They have all disappeared, and but lately the stones of the Kipps circle have been themselves removed and broken up, to build, apparently, some neighbouring field walls, though there was abundance of stones in the vicinity equally well suited for the purpose." The Stone Circles of Scotland A. L. Lewis The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 30. (1900), pp. 56-73. (perhaps this is the source that Crombie (above)'s author was referring to? The last sentence is rather interesting, suggesting a definite anti stance against the stones, rather than just a disinterested one bent on wall building?) |
Posted by Rhiannon16th October 2006ce Edited 16th October 2006ce |
| RCAHMS NMRS record no. NS97SE 17 has this site at NS991739 and it is now put down to a shattered glacial boulder with the nearby circles as merely erratics . Of course they could be wrong . |
Posted by wideford29th January 2004ce |
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The nearby steading known as "Kipps". may take its name from the nearby cromlech as it is derived from the Gaelic "ceap" which literally translates into either "block" or "cap". Source: Wilkinson, John Garth (1992), West Lothian Place Names, Torphin House, Harburn, West Lothian, EH55 8RT |
Posted by Corbie 29th January 2004ce Edited 29th January 2004ce |
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Ancient StonesBrief details and picture. |
Posted by GaryB 14th September 2005ce |
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