The Pipers, St Buryan

The Pipers at St Buryan are a pair of standing stones near the Merry Maidens stone circle in west Cornwall. The NE Piper stands 4.6 metres tall, making it Cornwall's tallest standing stone, while the SW Piper measures 4.1 metres. Aligned northeast to southwest, they point almost directly at the Merry Maidens circle, a Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age monument of nineteen granite megaliths. Legend holds the Pipers were musicians petrified for playing on the Sabbath, though another tradition says they commemorate leaders Howel and Aethelstan who died in a 10th-century battle.