Stone Circles A GUIDE TO PREHISTORIC BRITAIN
T
his Guide to Prehistoric Britain gives, in succinct form, full information about some of the most important ancient sites in Britain. The arrangement is alphabetical with the relevant age, location and Ordnance Survey map reference and diagram of each site.
Inside cover: The megalithic entrance stones to Avebury
The book is divided into two parts; wisdom and gazetteer. Wisdom explores the literature on stone circles while the main body of the book is the gazetteer will be found most valuable. With its help, the keen amateur archaeologist, geologist, astronomist or novel explorer can quickly discover what particular part of the country is especially worth visiting; and having arrived at a site, he will be provided with the vital information as to date, use, excavations and discoveries that will help interpret what can been seen on the ground.
Stone Circles A GUIDE TO PREHISTORIC BRITAIN
Contents WISDOM
————
Introduction
P.07
Current Work
P.08
Stonehenge
P.14
Chronology
P.17
Typology
P.18
GAZETEER
———
Guide-lines
P.31
Sites
P.33
Glossary
P.115
Index
P.119
Julian Cope
‘And so, in their fear They left many clues All strewn round the Land in the forms of a Sign Reminding of Man and Future Man That He was the Superman He was Divine’
Ancient Monuments – In Anticipation of Now
INTRODUCTION
Beginnings
B
ritain is littered with the remains of past lives, civilisations and cultures, many of which remain a source of mystery and conjecture. We may never know the exact reasons why these circles were erected or the peoples and belief systems that led them to complete some of these sometimes massive structures such as Silbury Hill and Stonehenge. These pages are a guide into some of these ancient sites and landscapes with a view to gaining an understanding of the lives of the people who inhabited these islands more than 2000 years ago. It is beyond the scope of this guide to document every British prehistoric circle - there are estimated to be around 1300 stone circles. Whether in northern Scotland standing in the moorland hollow where the stones of Guidebest curve alongside the Latheronwheel river or looking at the desolate circles of Tregeseal six hundred miles to the south amongst the tors of Land’s End one senses an empty stillness about these ancient, ruined circles. It is the realisation of out ignorance about the people who raised the stones— ‘There are no remembrances of the founders, any other than an uninterrupted tradition of their being sacred,’ wrote William Stukeley, one of the first chroniclers of these circles. Over two centuries later his words are still true. What knowledge we have about the circles comes chiefly from the work of
07
archaeologists with assistance from geologists, astronomers and statisticians, some of whom have unfortunately over-emphasised the significance of Stonehenge, which is only one of nearly a thousand stone circles and the most uncharacteristic of them all. Once again Stukeley had a better perspective: ‘Tho’ Stonehenge be the proudest singularity of its sort … yet there are so many others, manifestly from’d upon the same, or kindred design, by the same measure, and for the same purpose, all over the Britannic Isles, that we can have no room for doubt of their being made by the same people, and that by direction of the British Druids’. Druids excepted, it has taken a long time to add much to his observations about stone circles of the British Isles. These are among the most fascinating and enigmatic of our prehistoric monuments, yet very little was known about them until recently. Now we do have a good idea of when they were put up, in which parts of the country, how they were erected, what their origins were, and what is likely to be found in them. What they were used for is, however, a different question. The answer will probably always be elusive and for the present we must be content with our guesses based on the architecture and contents of these weather sites, whose survival for thousands of years is itself a matter of marvel.
CURRENT WORK
Current Wisdom
I
t was over three hundred years ago that the brilliant antiquarian John Aubrey perceived that there were stone circles in regions where neither Roman, Saxon nor Dane had reached. Realising, therefore, that the circles must be native and ancient, he wrote:— ‘All these Monuments are of the same fashion, and antique rudeness; wherefore I Conclude, that they were erected by the Britons: and where temples of the Druids.’
He could not know that the circles were even older that the iron age, when the Druids flourished. Indeed, as recently as 1933 the great prehistorian Gordon Childe, misled by the pottery, wrote that ‘Recumbent Stone Circles may have been erected in Late Halstatt times’ and suggested an iron-age date for the Scottish circles. It is only with the development of objective, absolute dating techniques that we are able to place the circles in their rightful neolithic and bronze age contexts. This helps in an understanding of the stones because the can now be seen against a background of early farming societies existing in dispersed family groups, making pottery, using stone and flint tools and constructing huge monuments in which human bones were stored until they were removed for ceremonies that we can only vaguely comprehend. It was the short-lived people of those times who raised the megalithic rings.
Since the late 1950s, stimulated by the researchers of the late Professor Alexander Thom, who with is son, Archie, surveyed a great number of stone circles, there has been much speculation about the mathematical and astronomical knowledge of their societies. Thom suggested that ‘Megalithic Man’ had developed an ultra-precise measuring rod which he used to lay out triangular temples as the basis for symmetrical non-circular rings like the egg-shapes of Borrowston Rigg and Burgh Hill in southern Scotland. According to Thom this was done to achieve a circumference that was an integral multiple of their unit for length. Many of the circles such as Temple Wood, Argyll, the Ring of Brodgar, Orkneys, and Callanish in the Hebrides were also astronomical instruments for the prediction of lunar eclipses. Some astronomers have reacted enthusiastically to these ideas but many archaeologists remain sceptical of theories of an intellectual elite setting out right-angle triangles and computing the irrational pi two thousand years before Pythagoras. In his Science and society in Prehistoric Britain Euan MacKie has explained how he believes Thom’s hypotheses can be reconciled with other archaeological evidence. Here there is room only to make some general points about Thom’s work and its implications in a study of stone circles.
08
The ancient Callanish Stones on Scotland’s Isle of Lewis
CURRENT WORK
09
Megalithic site Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England
CURRENT WORK
10
Thom proposed that a yardstick, his megalithic year of 2.72 feet (0.829 metre), accurate to an amazing 0.003 feet (0.09cm), was used all over Britain and Brittany and that measuring-rods were sent out from a national centre, perhaps Avebury, whenever a circle was to be built, even in regions as remote as western Wales or the Shetlands. Other primitive societies have simply used body measurements when erecting houses or ritual circles: the span, or thumb to outstretched little finger, of about 9 inches (23cm); the cubit, or forearm, of about 18 to 22 inches (51-56cm); the body-yard, or nose to end of the extended arm, of about 36 inches (90cm); or the body-fathom, tip to tip of outstretched arms, around 6 feet (1.8m). If such measurements were used in prehistoric Britain they would inevitably have varied from locality to locality. It is significant that a recent analysis of Thom’s own data indicates that such local variations exist amongst British stone- circles. Other investigations suggested that the circles builders had only very basic numbering systems of threes or fours, counting 1, 2, 3, 3+1, 3+2, 3+3, 3+3+1 or 1, 2, 3, 4, 4+1 and so on, making it difficult for them to compute large numbers accurately. This accords with hat is known of comparable primitive societies. It has rarely been disputed that there are non-circular stone circles. The real debates are about the techniques for planning them and the reasons for ovals and the like. From the evidence of artefacts there seem to have been a straightforward chronological evolution from circles to oval and perhaps to the elaborate egg and compound shapes. As well as Thom’s Pythagorean triangles, however, there are other methods by which these circles might have been designed, some
CURRENT WORK
even set out by eye alone, none of them requiring advanced arithmetical knowledge. It appears also that some rings such as Woodhenge were laid out as ovals so that the long axis would point to an important solar or lunar event. Since the late eighteenth century it has been believed that people in Neolithic Britain envisaged a relationship between the sun and their own concepts of life and death. The easterly orientation of many long burial mounds reveals this. The passage at Newgrange was directed towards the midwinter sunrise. The entrance of the equally fine chambered tomb of Maeshowe on the Orkneys was aligned on midwinter sunset. This evidence and the apparent alignments at Stonehenge provide powerful support for the supposition that builders of megalithic monuments were aware of the solar ad lunar movements. This is a long way from believing that this knowledge was used for ‘scientific’ purposes. Many of the claimed sightings in stone circles are far too short to diffuse for truly accurate observations. As an example, it has been asserted that the circle and avenues at Callanish were intended as an astronomical calender or computer around 1800 BC but detailed examination of forty-six possible lines there failed to detect even one accurate alignment. The only hint of astronomical precision came from a row of stone 2 miles away, and even there the four surveyors made the conclusion— ‘that the one accurate astronomical indication as Callanish could easily have occurred by chance’. With such uncertainty the traditional interpretation of stone circles as ritual temples may remain the most plausible. The presence of human bone in them,
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the traces of fires, the fragments of pottery sometimes deliberately broken, the nearness to water, the internal structures reminiscent of megalithic tombs, the associations with the sun, all combine scenes of communities engaging in seasonal ceremonies, making offerings in rites made powerful by the manipulation of the dead. That rhythmic, almost hypnotic dancing occurred in the circles suggests not only by many legends of petrified dancers but by the very shapes of the circles. It is fitting to end with a word of caution. A visitor to a stone circle today almost certainly does not see what the original builders erected. This is not just because four thousand years of weather and men have toppled stones, changed ground levels and worn down banks, although all of this is true and makes good surveys of unexcavated circles very difficult. More important is what happened to the circle in antiquity. Excavations at the Sanctuary in Wiltshire, at Croft Moraig in Perthshire and Machrie Moor have shown that frequently the first circles on a site was an unsuspected setting of posts, often of a different number and diameter from the later stone circles. In other instances, circles were altered. At Stenness some stones may have been abandoned halffinished. This may have happened at Callanish, explaining why there are off-centre rows there, the uncompleted sides of intended avenues. At Cultoon on the island of Islay the circle-stones had never been set up and were left lying near the holes that had been prepared for their bases. Geometrical and astronomical theories obtained from circles like these could be misleading. Even more distracting to the archaeologist are the circles that were destroyed in prehistoric times, perhaps by members of another sect. It happened to
CURRENT WORK
Stonehenge’s bluestones which came from over a hundred miles in Wales, and at Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey. At Berrybrae in north-east Aberdeenshire a little recumbent stone circle with central ringcairn was desecrated around 1700 BC. The cobbles of the ring-cairn were piled untidily against the bank that supported the standing stones. The tops of these stones were smashed, leaving their stumps leaning unevenly amongst the rubble. Only the recumbent and its flankers were left entire. But then, as fearful of the disturbed and vengeful spirits, the wreckers placed a neat stack of freshly broken urn-shreds in a niche by one stone and set a beaker upright by another. It was people just as insecure and superstitious who built and used the stone circles of the British Isles.
12
Prehistoric Avebury, the largest of all stone circle.
CURRENT WORK
Ariel view of Avebury, stone circle.
13
3200 - 1000 BC
Stonehenge
S
tonehenge with its incredible shaped lintels was unlike any other stone circles in the British Isles. This is not surprising. There weren’t any good building stones on Salisbury Plain, and the nearest megalithic tomb was over 14 miles away at Tisbury and Fosbury. Stonehenge was not simply a stone circle. It was a representation in enduring stone of a timber building that had been erected on the site over a thousand years earlier around 3200 BC, a vast roofed mortuary house nearly 100 feet across in which the Neolithic dead lay until their skeletons were removed for burial in many long barrows in the vicinity. The banks and ditch of a henge 320 feet in diameter were laid out around the building. There was a causeway at the exact south. There was also a wider northeast entrance aligned upon the midwinter moonrise, the outlying Heel Stone standing midway between the swing of the moon from north-east to NNE and back again over its 18.6 year cycle. In the late Neolithic period burials were added. Twenty-five cremations have come from the Avebury Holes, the ring of fifty-six chalk-cut pits dug around the inner edge of the bank. With them were long bone pins, flints and shards of pottery. There were also some thirty other cremations in the ditch and near the bank, one of them with a lovely stone macehead that was meticulously deposited in line with the southern moonrise. Then, near 2400 BC, Stonehenge was deserted.
Two centuries later Welsh bluestones where brought to the site from about 150 miles away something that still remains a mystery. The bluestones were brought to stand in two concentric circles where the decayed mortuary house had been. An earthbanked avenue led up to the north-east entrance, which was narrowed to be in line with the midsummer sunrise, suggesting a radical change from a lunar to a solar cult. Just inside the bank the short sides of the rectangle of four stones known as the four stations pointed to this midsummer sunrise, the long sides of the northwestern setting of the moon (Fig 1). This was possible, by coincidence, Stonehenge was built close to the latitude where these celestial phenomena occurred at right-angles to each other. It is arguable that the designers chose to construct a rectangle rather than a square so that the ESE-WNW diagonal could point to sunset on 1st May, an occasion that iron age Celts still celebrated two thousand years later in their great fire-festival of Beltane. There was more disruption. The work stopped. The bluestone rings, still unfinished, were uprooted and, around 2100 BC, ponderous sandstone slabs known as sarsens were laboriously manhandled from the Marlborough Downs 20 miles to the north. Five towering archways known as trilithons were set up in a horse shoe shape open to the north-east and were enclosed in a great lintelled circle 97 feet across. Visual effect was everything. Despite the monument’s appearance of
14
Stonehenge from the south facing north.
STONEHENGE
15
North
Fig 1. THE FOUR STATIONS ‘RECTANGLE’ AT STONEHENGE. Of the four original stones, No. 91 is fallen, No. 92 and 94 have been removed, and only stone 93 remains standing. A indicates the direction of the midsummer sunrise. B indicates the direction of extreme moonset. C indicates the direction of May Day sunset. The circle in the centre shows the position of the later sarsen circle.
stability, it was an architectural disaster. To ensure that they were of the desired height some stones had foundations that were dangerously insecure. The result was an impressive but ramshackle edifice. Before their erection these monstrous sarsens were treated just as carpenters would have dealt with wood — smoothed, chamfered, rebated, mortise-and-tenon jointed — to imitate the ring-beans of the vanished mortuary house. It is this that sets Stonehenge apart. It was the accomplishment of woodworkers who chose
STONEHENGE
to build in lasting stone. The result was the intriguing and awesome circle that looms in shattered magnificence today, a megalithic triumph. Carving of axes and a dagger on the stones link in the last phase of Stonehenge with the cult of a protectress of the dead in Brittany. The sombre, heavy temple stood in precarious dominance for a few centuries before the wind, rain and snow ravaged the unsafe south-western stone, they fell. Like all other stone circles, by 1000 BC Stonehenge was abandoned.
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9000 – 1500 BC
Chronology WITH APPROXIMATELY 1,000 STONE CIRCLES in the British Isles, there is no question that the islands were host to a people for whom the circular shape it was the homeland of the stone circle builders for thousands of years. In Britain, the stone circle building phase was preceded by a short period of ‘Henge’ building. However, there are also stone circles outside the British Isles, and some are considerably older. The table below give an idea of other stone circle sites. (Fig. 2).
Time
Site
9,000 BC 4,500 BC 4,000 BC 3,800 BC 3,300 BC 3,250 BC 3,200 BC 3,100 BC 2,950 BC 2,600 BC 2,500 BC 2,400 BC 2,350 BC 2,300 BC 2,200 BC 2,000 BC 1,900 BC —
Gobekli Tepe, Turkey — The oldest megalithic stone circle in the world. Nabta, Egypt — Oldest known stone circle, placed on the Tropic of Cancer. Cromleque dos Almendres, Portugal — Possibly the oldest in Europe. Xaghra circle, Gozo, Malta. First British circular enclosers of earthen banks. New Grange stone circle & Llandegai Henge. Stonehenge I, Barford Henge & Arminghall Henge. Ballynoe, Carles. Stennes stones. Stonehenge II, Avebury. Early Recumbent Cirles — Lunar observation Arbor Low Merry Maidnes Stonehenge II, Rollrights, Woodhenge. Llandgai II Henge, Drud’s Circle. Callanish Berrybrae Recumbent No stone circles appear to have been built in Europe after 1,500 BC.
Fig 2. Table shows a time line of other stone circle sites around the world.
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Rollright Stones: Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.
TYPOLOGY
18
TYPOLOGY
19
Kilmartin Glen: Kintyre, Argyll, Scotland
TYPOLOGY
20
Long Meg: Penrith, Cumbria
TYPOLOGY
21
Callanish: Isle of Lewis, Scotland
TYPOLOGY
22
Callanish: Isle of Lewis, Scotland
TYPOLOGY
23
Neolithic Orkney: Scotland
TYPOLOGY
24
Castlerigg: Keswick, Cumbria
TYPOLOGY
25
Castlerigg: Keswick, Cumbria
TYPOLOGY
26
TYPOLOGY
27
Julian Cope
‘Everywhere Megaliths Everywhere I see Stone circles Everywhere Jesus and Mary – huh That was only yesterday’
Ancient History – I can’t contain ya I got Megalithomania!
GUIDELINES
Sacred Principles GET PERMISSION to visit monuments on private land. Permission is usually granted if asked for, but repeated trespass could lead to access being denied to future explorers, and prosecution of the trespasser. Remember, the right to roam extends only to roaming so you need additional permission to leave stuff, which in most cases won’t be granted. Treat the countryside around the monument with care. Irresponsible behaviour on either public or private land could lead to access restrictions, or complete denial of access to the monument such as is the case at Stonehenge most of the time. No valuable objects are likely to exist at, in or under the monuments. Do not dig or disturb the site in any way. Any discovery made at a monument should be reported to the local museum or via the Portable Antiquites Scheme. Every clue that aids in the understanding of these places can then be shared by all who wish to know.
But do not move, mark or alter the monument in any way, even temporarily. This specifically includes moving or rearranging stones, digging in or around the site or hiding caches within the immediate environs of the site. Also do not use metal detectors, leave things behind in fields full of livestock, burn candles or night-lights anywhere near the stones or daub paint anywhere. Much damage is done accidentally by people who mean no harm. Think twice, and don’t do anything which would cause degradation to the monument such as climbing on it or lighting fires nearby. Through adherence to these simple guidelines we hope that the stones which have survived the countless centuries to remain to us now, will not fall victim to the generations of the 21st century. We who are the most knowledgeable and capable of people are thereby mandated to be the most responsible.
Use the monument in whatever way you choose, for: Sightseeing Scientific investigation Experiential satisfaction Religious practices
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A Appletreewick Arbor Low Ash Cabin Flat Avebury
P.34 P.36 P.39 P.41
Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Bronze Age East of Hebden, North Yorkshire SE06436304
Appletreewick ALSO KNOWN AS FANCARL TOP CIRCLE, this is a ring of 6 stones measuring about 10 metres in diameter that sits on a slightly northwards sloping hillside overlooking Hebden Moor and Grimwith Reservoir. One of the stones here appears to be a natural earth fast boulder that is partly covered with grass and with a flat front facing into the circle, almost like it was addressing it-it could be that this stone was picked deliberately when the builders were deciding on the location of the circle. There are also some depressions on the top of this boulder that could well be cup marks and it is interesting that
there is a concentration of carved stones nearby to the southeast on Skyreholme Moor. While there are some fine views to the north and west at Appletreewick the views to the south that are visible from the nearby road are just about hidden at the circle itself with only the tops of the distant hills still in sight. Could it be that this circle was meant to be hidden from those living to the south and that it was only meant to serve the people living on the moors to the north?
Appletreewick looking towards the south. The natural boulder is at the top of the picture.
34
The large boulder that faces into the circle, with possible cup marks on its top surface.
APPLETREEWICK
35
Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Neolithic/Bronze Age Southwest of Bakewell, Derbyshire SK16036355
Arbor Low HIGH UP IN THE DERBYSHIRE Peak District on Middleton Moor ‘the Stonehenge of the North’, Arbor Low is the most important monument in this area. The area itself is rich in prehistoric remains, there are many round barrows in the surrounding fields as well as a later Roman road that runs northwest to southeast about 500 metres to the west. The henge is huge with the bank having an outer diameter of between 85 and 90 metres and originally standing to a height of about 3 metres and being 8 to 10 metres wide, there is a later round barrow partly built on the southeastern side of the bank. Cutting through the bank were wide entrances to the northwest and southeast which makes this a Class II henge and there is evidence that these entrances could once have been flanked by portal stones—a stump and fallen stone still remain just outside of the southeast entrance. Within the outer bank is a 2 metre deep steep sided ditch which varies from 7 to 12 metres in width and which would have required the removal of an estimated 4000 tons of limestone, here the entrances continue as causeways over the ditch. The central plateau measures roughly 50 metres along a northwest to southeast axis and about 40 metres wide and contains a rough oval or egg shaped arrangement of 50 fallen and broken heavily eroded
limestone blocks. It is thought that there were originally about 40 stones, the breakage of some of the blocks leading to the increased number seen today. The tallest stones which were close to the entrances would have stood 3 metres tall with the heights of others decreasing to about 1 metre. Although some people have claimed the stones never stood upright, it seems more probable that they simply fell due to being placed in sockets that were too shallow - the possibility that any remaining uprights were pushed over or smashed in historic times by over zealous Christians or superstitious locals also cannot be ruled out. At the centre of the circle was a rectangular or horseshoe setting of stones. This ‘cove’ consisted of at least six stones and those that believe it to have formed a horseshoe shape suggest that the open end would have faced a midsummer moon setting to the south-southwest. Coves are very rare at British prehistoric sites with only three other examples in England - at Stanton Drew, Avebury and Castlerigg. There have been many finds from Arbor Low which has been subject to several excavations over the last 150 years and possibly earlier, these include cremation remains as well as many flint, bone and antler tools and pots.
36
Ariel view of Arbor Low stone circles and henge, with large mounds surrounding the site.
Adjoining the southern edge of the henge bank is a much lower earth bank and filled ditch which have been interpreted as an avenue that extends south-southwest for about 300 metres before curving round to the west to pass to the south of Gib Hill, a Bronze Age round barrow built on top of an earlier Neolithic oval barrow.
ARBOR LOW
37
Side views of Arbor Low stone circle and henge facing south
ARBOR LOW
38
Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Bronze Age West of Sheffield, South Yorkshire SK26938625
Ash Cabin Flat THIS SMALL STONE CIRCLE is situated on a shelf of flattish land on the eastern side of Hallam Moors about 200 metres before the land drops away sharply to the valley of Wyming Brook with Rivelin Dams to the north and Redmires Reservoirs to the south. As can be seen from the photograph above the low stones (less than half a metre tall) are frequently lost in a thick covering of heather - presumably why the circle was not discovered until 1981. When I was there somebody had recently cut back this heather around the stones otherwise the site would have been almost impossible to find. What is revealed is a an oval of stones measuring between 4.5 and 5.5 metres set into the inner edge of an earth and stone embankment which measures a further 1 to 2 metres in width. Despite the stones being visible it not necessarily easy to count them - they are small in size and it is not certain whether some are fallen standing stones, large packing stones from the embankment or the remains of a kerb. English Heritage list two as standing, three fallen and three slabs from a kerb, I counted eleven recognisable stones but made no differentiation between their different uses. A short distance away to the northeast is a wide standing stone that is now tilted back at an angle which may have formed an outlier to the circle, there are also reported to be several cists or cairns close-by, although I have yet to locate these.
39
Ash Cabin Flat, notice stones circling trees in the centre
40
ASH CABIN FLAT
Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Neolithic Age Avebury, Wiltshire SU10246999
Avebury CONTAINED WITHIN A giant circular henge about 430 metres across, the site of Avebury rivals, and some would say surpasses Stonehenge for its sheer scale and impressiveness. The antiquarian John Aubrey certainly agreed and wrote in the mid 17th century:— “It does as much exceed in greatness the so renowned Stonehenge as a cathedral doeth a parish church�. Avebury is certainly calmer and more accessible than Stonehenge as although the A361 road passes through the middle of village the whole area can be easily viewed on foot and the visitor is free to wander amongst the stones. Constructed during the Neolithic, probably around 2500BC, the banks of the henge earthwork that surrounds the whole site are around 5 metres high - originally they would have been nearly 7 metres tall, between 20-30 metres thick at the base and enclosed an area of some 30 acres (12ha). Within them an internal flat bottomed ditch that would once have been up to 9 metres deep and over 20 metres wide was cut into the underlying chalk and an estimated 200000 tons of chalk rubble hauled up to construct the bank with the central area of the henge accessible by four entrance
causeways which are now used by the road and village street. Today this mammoth construction is carpeted in a layer of grass but when built the white of the chalk would have stood out in dramatic contrast to the green of the Marlborough landscape. Just inside the henge stood about 100 unworked local sarsen stones ranging in height from 3-6 metres and weighing up to 20 tons that formed the Outer Stone Circle. Many of these stones were pulled down and buried in the 14th century while William Stukeley recorded that others were broken up in the early 18th century and used for building material as the village grew about them. The monument descended into a sorry state but thanks to the restoration work of Alexander Keiller in the 1930s there are now 30 stones to be seen in this circle, mainly towards the south and northwest with the location of missing stones marked with concrete blocks. Inside the outer circle stand the remains of the smaller North and South Circles. To the south of the modern High Street the South Circle had a diameter of just over 100 metres and originally contained 29 large stones of which 5 remain. At its centre a fallen slender pillar known as the Obelisk was recorded by Stukeley but this also fell victim to the 18th century need for building stone and all that
41
Stones of the southwestern sector with the southern entrance behind
remains is the concrete marker erected during Keiller’s restoration. Excavations have revealed that the Obelisk was associated with several pits, one of which contained a pottery vessel, and was set within its own rectangular or ‘D’ shaped stone setting. On the other side of the road the North Circle is thought to have been slightly smaller at just under 100 metres diameter, with an original 27 stones of which only 4 remain although 2 of these are now fallen. Within it there was possibly another smaller circle which contained a triangular arrangement of stones known as the Cove - two huge sarsens remain which are amongst the largest of the stones at Avebury, the third stone having fallen and been removed in the 18th century.
AVEBURY
Emerging from the southern entrance of Avebury is the West Kennet Avenue which runs 1.5 miles to The Sanctuary on Overton Hill. This would originally have consisted of 100 pairs of stones facing each other 15 metres apart, each pair consisting of a tall narrow stone opposite a shorter squatter stone possibly representing male and female symbols. Stukeley recorded another avenue running from the west entrance towards West Down that passed through a pair of large sarsens known as the Longstones, for years this ‘Beckhampton Avenue’ was disputed but continuing excavations since 1999 have vindicated Stukeley by uncovering several buried stones and stone pits from this western avenue.
42
Portal stones of the southern entrance
AVEBURY
43
B Bamford Moor Barbrook I Barbrook II
P.45 P.47 P.49
Barbrook III Boscawen-Un Boskednan
P.50 P.52 P.54
Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Bronze Age North East of Bamford, Derbyshire SK22118453
Bamford Moor THIS STONE CIRCLE can be tricky to find on this rather featureless part of Bamford Moor. Set on a small levelled platform on a gently eastward slope towards the southeastern edge of the moor the small size of the circle and low height of the stones mean that you have to be quite close to the circle before it becomes apparent. When it does it reveals itself to be a lovely little site with six stones of about half a metre in height set into the inner edge of a earth embankment. The diameter of the ring of stones is about 8 metres by 7 metres with the embankment extending between 1.5 to 2 metres beyond while English Heritage suggest that there may also have been some kind of kerb or retaining wall. The circle offer some fantastic views from the north round to the southeast taking in High Neb and Stanage Edge and it it quite possible that this was taken into consideration by the circle builders although the close proximity of several cairnfields (presumably of a contemporary date) may have been more important.
Just less than 200 metres away to the northnorthwest at SK22018469 is a fallen standing stone known as the Old Woman Stone which may have formed an outlier to the stone circle. This highly fluted stone would have measured over 2 metres tall and amazingly stood until the early 20th century when it was felled to prevent its use as a way marker by ramblers over the moor, which is private land. You can now wander across the moor under the Countryside and Rights of Way (crow) Act but please be aware restrictions may apply at certain times of the year to protect nesting birds
45
Looking north towards the Crow Chin area of Stanage Edge
BRAMFORD MOOR
46
Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Bronze Age North of Chatsworth, Derbyshire SK27867558
Barbrook I THIS IS A TYPICALLY small Derbyshire embanked stone circle with a nearby cairn in an area that also contains two other circles - Barbrook II and Barbrook III, as well as Bronze Age settlement sites, cairns and field systems. This is the southernmost of the circles and contains a flattened ring of twelve or thirteen small stones with only one (to the southwest) over a metre tall. This stone seems to form an entrance with its neighbour but whether this is original or not is unclear - there is a large gap in the stones to northeast too, this could either have been an entrance or just missing stones. The ring measures between twelve and fourteen metres in diameter and is
surrounded by the remains of a rubble bank about seventeen by nineteen metres at its widest point. Barbrook I stands on gently southwest sloping land on the west side of Ramsley Moor as it leads down to the stream of Bar Brook - from where the three circles on the moor take their names. From here there are views west across Big Moor and the settlement sites around Swine Sty with more distant vistas over Derbyshire to the southwest. While there have been few finds from the circle, the cairn that stands a short distance to the north was excavated and then restored during the early 1980’s and was found to contain four cup marked rocks, one which also had a ring.
47
The view of Barbrook I stone circle looking northeast from in front of the largest stone
Looking north towards the Crow Chin area of Stanage Edge
BARBROOK I
48
Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Bronze Age North of Chatsworth, Derbyshire SK27757582
Barbrook I I JUST 260 METRES to the northnorthwest of typical of the area, all less than a metre Barbrook I circle lies its sister Barbrook in height, with a larger stone to the west, II. Although it is embanked, like other very similar to Barbrook I and the circle Derbyshire stone circles, what sets this has a diameter of around 14 metres with one apart is that the stones are now set an entrance to the northeast. Inside the into drystone walling contained within a circle, but to the west are the remains of rubble bank. Although it may have been a stone piled cairn and just next to this built like this originally, what can be cairn is what is believed to be a cist seen today is the result of rebuilding cover that has 3 or 4 cups and a faint work undertaken around 1989. chevron carved into it. The nine stones (it is thought there were originally 10) within this wall are
Barbrook II embanked stone circle looking southwest
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Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Bronze Age North of Chatsworth, Derbyshire SK28347729
Barbrook I I I THE THIRD OF THE THREE true stone circles on Barbrook Moor (there are also two circles which are now thought to be ring cairns), Barbrook III is also known as Owler Bar and stands on a plateau in the northeast corner of the moor close to a reservoir. Looking like a secluded stone fairy-ring this Bronze Age circle almost seems to disappear beneath clumps of grass during the summer as the tallest stone is little more than half a metre in height. Despite the small stature of the stones, it actually one of the largest circles in Derbyshire, consisting of a flattened circle of 21 remaining stones set within a very faint bank, the diameters of the ring being 26 metres by 24 metres. It is suggested by Victoria and Paul Morgan that there are three breaks in the bank and that one to the east-north-east may have formed and entrance. There are fine views from the southeast round to the
northwest but the height of the stones make photographing the site tricky, and finding in the first place can be just as difficult. To reached it, park on the east side of the moor near to the junction of the A621 and Owler Bar roundabout. From here follow a track westwards that leads to the reservoir. After about 500 metres, a track leads off to the north - take this and continue on for around 300 metres, the circle is now a short distance away to your west. While there have been few finds from the circle, the cairn that stands a short distance to the north was excavated and then restored during the early 1980’s and was found to contain four cup marked rocks, one which also had a ring.
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Arc of stones to the east
BARBROOK III
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Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Bronze Age St. Buryan, Cornwall SW41222737
Boscawen-Un BOSCAWEN-UN REWARDS THE persistent circle seeker who manages to find this, my favourite of the Cornish stone circles. After finding a suitable place to park the car, the visitor has to wade chest deep through bracken and gorse and ever present airborne stinging beasties down the hillside to the clearing that is the home to this fine fairy ring of 19 granite blocks and its titled centre spire, looking like some kind of prehistoric sundial. Aubrey Burl speculates that this two metre proto-gnomen could have stood here before the circle itself, as this whole area near the tip of Cornwall is heavily populated with Bronze Age standing stones that must have been sacred places and often have circles built close-by. It would be nice to think that this stone was
meant to stand at 45 degrees as some kind of pointer, in fact its present angle was caused by treasure seekers in the past digging under the stone in search of the pot of gold said to be buried there. The circle itself has a diameter of around 24 metres, the stones standing between 1 and 1.4 metres tall. These are fairly regularly spaced and dressed and appear uniform until a stone in the Western arc is examined more closely, and reveals itself to be a clearly special block beautifully rich in quartz. During Medieval times this circle was recorded as being one of the three major Druidic meeting places, and even today it continues to be the place of worship of the modern Cornish Gorsedd.
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Boscawen-un Circle
BOSCAWEN-UN
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Age: Location: OS Map Ref:
Bronze Age Northwest of Penzance, Cornwall SW43433512
Boskednan— Nine Maidens BOSKEDNAN CIRCLE STANDs on a windswept hillside some distance from the Menan-Tol. Unlike many of the more popular circles in Cornwall it is in a poor state of repair, and this is probably the reason that it appears in few guides to the area. The 22 metre diameter Bronze Age circle now consists of 6 standing stones- others remain fallen or falling, and most of the stones to the north are missing, There is some confusion over how many stones once stood here, Aubrey Burl says 22, Julian Cope says 19. What is certain is that when the circle was recorded in 1754 by William Borlase there were 13 stones standing with a further 6 laying where they had fallen, however by 1825 another writer mentions that a further 5 stones had fallen, 2 were learning badly, and 3 had disappeared completely. During Medieval times this circle was recorded as being one of the three major Druidic meeting places, and even today it continues to be the place of worship of the modern Cornish Gorsedd.
The tallest stone stands to one side of the entrance.
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Boscawen-un Circle
BOSKEDNAN
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