Stepping stones or stepstones are sets of stones arranged to form an improvised

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet ...

that allows a pedestrian to cross a natural watercourse such as a river; or a water feature in a garden where water is allowed to flow between stone steps. Unlike

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s, stepstone crossings typically have no

span Span may refer to: Science, technology and engineering * Span (unit), the width of a human hand * Span (engineering), a section between two intermediate supports * Wingspan, the distance between the wingtips of a bird or aircraft * Sorbitan es ...

s, although wood planks or stone slabs can be placed over between the stones (which serve as the

pier Seaside pleasure pier in England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century. A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out ...

s) to improvise as low-water bridges. Although their historical origin is unknown, stepping stones, along with

log bridge A log bridge is a timber bridge that uses logs that fall naturally or are intentionally felled or placed across streams. The first man-made bridges with significant span were probably intentionally felled trees. The use of emplaced logs is now ...

s, are likely to have been one of the earliest forms of crossing inland bodies of water devised by humans. In traditional Japanese gardens, the term "''iso-watari''" refers to stepping stone pathways that lead across shallow parts of a

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or Artificiality, artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% Aquatic plant, emergent vegetation helps in disting ...

, which work like a bridge-like slower crossing. Using ''iso-watari'' for crossing ponds, or shallow parts of streams, one can view the aquatic animals and

plant Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...

s around or in the pond, like

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked ...

s, and waterfowls. Today, stepping stones are commonly used by mountaineers and hikers as a makeshift way of crossing uncharted or unanticipated streams and torrents. They may occur alongside a ford.

Historic stepping stones

The Drukken Steps in the Eglinton Woods of North Ayrshire in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

were a favourite haunt of

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who ha ...

and his companion Richard Brown, while the two were living in Irvine from 1781 to 1782. The name "Drukken" steps derives from a person's gait as they stepped from stone to stone whilst crossing the Red Burn. Seven or more stones were originally set in the Red Burn which was much wider than in 2009. Burns himself used the Scots spelling "Drucken" rather than "Drukken". The ruins of the Drukken Steps are in the Eglinton Country Park. File:SteppingStoneBoltonAbbey.jpg, Stepping stones in Bolton Abbey File:Stucco stone from footbridge.JPG, A stucco stone from The Drukken Steps, stepping stones in

File:Stepping Stones - geograph.org.uk - 5528.jpg, The stepping stones in the Rothay, Lake District, England File:Stepping_stones.jpg, The stepping stones across the Mole at the foot of Box Hill, Surrey, England

In popular culture

A deadly version of stepping stones involving glass tiles is featured in the 2021 South Korean series '' Squid Game'' as the fifth game played in the series.

References

External links

Stepping stones on the River AyrStepping stones on the Annick Water
{{Garden features Footbridges Stone bridges Garden features Stonemasonry Chinese gardening styles Japanese style of gardening River crossings

Historic stepping stones

In popular culture

See also

References

External links