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Post by rowanberry on Aug 9, 2020 12:16:15 GMT
We stopped to see the stone circles in Stanton Drew- they are standing in a farmer's field, (along with a herd of dairy cows.) According to English Heritage, they are "...the third largest complex of prehistoric standing stones in England, the three circles and three-stone ‘cove’ of Stanton Drew in Somerset are surprisingly little known. The Great Circle, 113 metres in diameter, is one of the largest stone circles in the country and has 26 surviving upright stones. Yet recent surveys have revealed that the circles and cove were just part of a much more elaborate and important ritual site than had previously been imagined." The stones themselves seem to contain quite a lot of iron, (I'm guessing that's causing the red on them?) and are very pitted. The upright ones are well over head-high- not as tall as the ones at Avebury, but still impressive and well-worth seeing if you're out that way! Our visit was slightly marred by a large group of ramblers who arrived with four dogs in tow, (despite a notice on the website and signs on gates saying 'no dogs allowed) and who then proceeded to clamber all over the stones and shout into their mobile phones.  We waited until they left.  Stanton Drew Stones Aug2020 by Wabi Gallery, on Flickr  Stanton Drew Stone Somerset Aug2020 by Wabi Gallery, on Flickr  Stanton Drew Stone Closeup Aug2020 by Wabi Gallery, on Flickr |
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Post by Cotham Marble on Nov 11, 2020 15:50:05 GMT
Great photos ! I know Stanton Drew quite well, it’s one of my very favourite prehistoric sites although I no longer live in easy travelling distance. It is very unusual, perhaps unique (?) in being a complex megalithic site located on a valley floor, and while there's been a lot of recent academic writing about the relationship of prehistoric sites to water (Mike Parker Pearson – Stonehenge etc) in the case Stanton Drew the two larger circles are exceptionally, right next to a stream.
The circle stones are indeed an amazing red colour, certainly due to the presence of iron but key to the colour is the arid conditions the rocks where laid down under - rule of thumb iron produces red colouration (Fe2) under aridity or greenish/black colouration (Fe3) under waterlogged conditions. The Stanton Drew stones are Triassic Breccias formed on the slopes of eroding Carboniferous and Devonian rock uplands under dessert conditions – similarity to modern central Australia is often quoted. The most likely source of the Stanton Drew stones is the steep slopes of the Mendips to the south, however it is possible that some might have come from a closer location to the west. The pitting in the stones comes from hard pebbles of older rock erroding unevenly out of the face of softer breccia matrix.
The small southern circle used not to be publicly accessible, though perhaps it is now ? It has likely been messed about with and its much smaller stones make it far less visually impressive, however it is set at the highest point of the whole site and therefore likely originally a key component. I think the NT now own the site of the larger circles but that used to be owned by a couple who lived in a nearby bungalow, they charged some small price - 20p I think, to get in, and no access on Sundays because of their religious views. The Cove, which is on the other side of the church from the circles, is made of massive slabs of Carboniferous limestone – the commonly proposed chronology is that the Cove predates the circles by many centuries, I’m not sure what the current thinking is though. The Circles were previously considered Bronze Age while the Cove is clearly a common Neolithic chambered tomb form; it’s one of a small group that includes the Waterstone about ten kilometres to the west and the Wimblestone further away to the southwest, and an unnamed monument located in a suburban garden in north west Bristol.
There is a single breccia outlier stone in the hedge of the main road to the north, called Hautvilles Quoit - the legend attached to it is of a local hero lobbing it from some great distance. On the ridge to the south is a large univallate Iron Age hillfort with a massive west rampart, the east side of the hillfort is the western limit of the series of linear earthworks collectively know as the Wansdyke though it's debatable if it really is a single archaeological feature. The hillfort's southern rampart is eroding away in places and there are (or were) large amounts of clinker and ash visible where the rampart was burned presumably over 2000 years ago. The ploughed fields to the west of the hillfort can yield lots of Inferior Oolite fossils, although specimen condition is usually poor as they are redeposits in ancient turbid conditions and were mashed up before getting to their final resting place. I did though once find a reasonably well preserved nautilus.
I was always selfishly very pleased the Stanton Drew never gained an Avebury or Stonehenge status, even though archaeologically it deserves it, having the chance of quiet enjoyment even in high summer was great, especially when the kids were young - I might even have allowed them to do a little surreptitious climbing on the sacred stones 
Ha turned into a veritable memoir - hope it's of interest !!!
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Post by rowanberry on Nov 12, 2020 20:28:57 GMT
Thanks for all that info, Cotham Marble! I find stone circles fascinating, and we were lucky the weather was relatively good the day we visited them.
They are in the care of NT now, but the field seems to belong to a farmer who had cattle in the field with the stones. There was a box on the gate asking for donations.
They are good-sized impressive boulders! and I did wonder how the pitting on the surfaces had come about. I didn't know about the Cove, but it was already getting late so I doubt we would have had time to visit it.
Whenever we take away-breaks out away from London we always look to see if there are any megaliths or circles in the area. I like coming across ones off the beaten path; one of my favourites is Trethevy Quoit in Cornwall, which is practically in someone's back garden. We saw it and Lanyon Quoit when we went on holiday there some years ago.
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We waited until they left.
