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Stanton Harcourt: Latest Posts |
Showing 1-10 of 66 posts. Most recent first | Next 10 
Devil's Quoits (Henge) — Fieldnotes |
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Visited 13.11.11 This site has been on my 'hit list' for a few years and at last I had the chance to visit. Following a nice day in Oxford visiting my niece in university (the brains of the family!) and looking around the city at the wonderful architecture, it was time to see something of even more interest to me. The site was easy enough to find (the recycling plant is well sign posted from miles around). Opposite the entrance to the recycling skips is a gravel car park with room for about 6 cars – park here. A gravel path then takes you from the car park, along the side of the lake and directly to the Henge. It is a less than 10 minute stroll and was very pleasant in the unusual November sunshine. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, no wind and definitely T-shirt weather. There were plenty of swans and various breeds of duck to look at while birds twittered away in the bushes and trees. I tried to encourage the others to come but Karen stayed with the children in the car as Sophie was asleep and Dafydd preferred to watch a Scooby Doo DVD!! Arriving at the Henge I was immediately taken by it. I know it is a reconstruction but I thought it was fab all the same. A low outer bank (1 metre high) with an inner ditch f about the same depth. I counted 28 stones ranging in height from 1 metre to 2.5 metres. There was only one other visitor, a lady quietly taking photos from various angles. We said hello but kept our distance so we could each enjoy the Henge in our own particular way. Despite the surrounding landfill I thought this was a cracker of a site and well worth travelling some distance to visit. Despite being a reconstruction it somehow felt very 'real' to me. It certainly gives a good 'feel' of how Henges would have been when newly constructed. When I visit Henges in future I will think back to my visit here and no doubt will have a better appreciation of what I am seeing. Looking at photos in a book is one thing but actually visiting a site gives you that 'extra something'- although I am sure I don't need to tell that to anyone reading this! In short – visit. You won't be disappointed. |
Posted by CARL 16th November 2011ce |
Devil's Quoits (Henge) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
     
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Posted by Ravenfeather10th August 2011ce |
Devil's Quoits (Henge) — Fieldnotes |
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Visited on 17th April 2011 We'd been thinking about visiting this site for a while, so it being a gloriously sunny day we thought it'd be nice to take a trip down to Oxfordshire. Nice and easy to find, just headed for Stanton Harcourt and followed the signs for the landfill site. Parked off at the first available layby (fortunately no problems were encountered from officious men in hi-vis jackets) and trekked off around the lake looking for the stones. Well you can't really miss them as you get near, a huge embanked henge dotted with twenty-eight satisfyingly chunky large stones. The henge has the classic entranceway leading into and out of the circle, and it looked like there was an outlying stone to the south. The stones themselves are of a strange type of local conglomerate rock, which looked as if it was about to come apart at any moment, most of them are modern replacements, the older stones seemingly identifyable by their darker more weathered colour. The monument itself originated as a henge, with evidence of postholes having once been in the centre, before the final phase of the erection of the stones around 2,500 BCE. We had a picnic in the circle, the only sounds the cries of birds and the honking of the geese in the nearby lake, and the ground around us scattered in bones scavenged from the tip by the ever present birds. It certainly has a different atmosphere here, with the landfill site looming incongruously in front of you, somehow you can just tell it's a reconstruction and not an 'authentic' site, even if no-one had told you so, but it is nice that someone has bothered to reconstruct the circle after all it has suffered in the past, and don't let it put you off visiting, for it is an impressive place. |
Posted by Ravenfeather 10th August 2011ce |
Devil's Quoits (Henge) — Images |
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Posted by Ravenfeather 10th August 2011ce |
Devil's Quoits (Henge) — Fieldnotes |
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Visited 22 May 2010 I had arranged to spend today with my oldest and closest female friend for a general potter in the vicinity of Oxford. A beautiful summer's day rolled out before us and I suggested we do a detour to Stanton Harcourt to see the 'reconstructed' stone circle I had read so much about. I knew from previous TMA posts that it was next to a recycling plant near Stanton Harcourt so we were soon tootling around the lake towards the layby opposite a portacabin office. As we pulled up a man in a yellow jacket came out in our direction, my friend said in her best posh voice "We've come to see the stone circle". He was obviously taken with her as he couldn't have been more helpful, telling us where to park and where to walk. A few minutes later he reappeared with a rather attractive information sheet produced by Wardell Armstrong, the engineering company responsible for reinstating the site. The leaflet headed "Dix Pit Landfill Devil's Quoits" explained the background to the project; the Devil's Quoits Circle had been one of the most important Henge sites in Britain dating back four and half thousand years, used by the local people from the Thames Valley Region. The circle was some 75m in diameter with a two metre ditch and outer Henge bank surrounding them. The three original stones were geologically assessed and the new stones were sourced locally from the same conglomerate stone. We set off along the gravel path – lake, willows and wild fowl on one side and fairly new tree plantation on the other. The circle itself was unlike any I have yet seen; even in the brilliant mid-day sunshine the landfill site in the background initially gave it a stark feel, however, this soon disappeared. Within minutes of our arrival a pair red kites soared overhead and glided down as low as I have ever seen red kites. Their interest was clearly the landfill site but what a display. They glided on thermal currents giving us a splendid view of their reddish brown tail feathers which strangely enough echoed the colour of the stones. Seen from the far Henge bank the circle comes to life and the knowledge that it will still be there in another hundred years when the landfill has long since been abandoned was very satisfying. Later we sat on the stones near the entrance stile while I made a few notes - my friend called for me to look up … the kites had returned to give us yet another magnificent aerial display. A great day … and many thanks to the lovely people we met earlier who gave us clear and accurate directions. Footnote: The gates of the recycling plant close at 5.00pm (on Saturday anyway) so only day time visits are viable by car. |
Posted by tjj22nd May 2010ce Edited 23rd May 2010ce |
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