|
|
 Log in |
Register
|
|
|
England
The Nine Stones of Winterbourne AbbasStone Circle
|
Show map (inline Google Map)
|
|
|
News |
 Add news |
Tree substantially reduced at Nine StonesA 200-YEAR-OLD tree at the centre of worship by druids and witches has been chopped down to size after it became diseased. The 80ft beech at Winterbourne Abbas has been reduced to a 10-metre stump by English Heritage because of fears it would die and fall over... continues... |
Posted by ShropshireTraveller14th March 2007ce |
|
Tree to be removed from Nine Stones Site... Hi everyone. I live just down the road in the castle-like house nearby to the Stones. Today (10th Jan 07) two men knocked on my door from English Heritage. They proceeded to tell me that a large tree on the site has a deadly fungus and it has to be removed. Although I have full access to the site, (as the woodland backs onto my front garden) I shamefully have never visited it.... so I wonder if removing the tree will make an impact on the ambience of the place?? |
Posted by moonchild84 10th January 2007ce |
Images (click to view fullsize) |
Add an image |
Photographs:
Artistic / Interpretive:
|
Fieldnotes |
Add fieldnotes |
| I visited the site yesterday for the first time thanks to Julian and his advice about parking in the "Little Chef" carpark. The site is so close to the road and the evidence of the tree being culled was obvious. Despite that it was still one of the most perfect little stone circles that i have ever seen. A hedge or some saplings in the ditch next to the road would help to keep it more private and reduce road noise. I can still imagin how beautiful it would have looked 4000 years ago! Lovely really worth a visit. |
Posted by sammie 17th February 2012ce |
|
We took to the sanctuary of the tiny Nine stones stone circle, sheltered beneath the branches of a spectacular mature beech tree, with massive fungus colonies sprouting from its roots. It's a very sweet stone circle which was perhaps used by both local people and travellers using the trackway that is now the busy A35. Some tosser or tossers has chosen to decorate the monument with flowers. One bunch, still wrapped in its sellophane, had been left at the base of the tree. Another bunch had been placed in a log vase in the centre of the circle, around which was arranged some twigs to form the arms of a reversed swastika. Perhaps the same tosser who did this scratched the graffiti at the Hellstone?  Two things: 1. How come the people who apparently have enough 'respect' to lay flowers as some kind of offering at an ancient monument, can't be arsed to respect the 1. environment by taking their sellophane wrappings aways with them? and 2. the feelings of other visitors for who the swastika means nazism and is therefore deeply offensive? You can be sure that the swastika twigs did not stay very long! Moth unwrapped the flowers and took away the sellophane to dispose of correctly. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Dorset dash
|
Posted by Jane5th November 2006ce Edited 5th November 2006ce |
|
I don't know how most other people think with regards to 'ghost orbs' and other digital camera peculiarities but I captured an interesting light anomoly and orb at Nine Stones on my visit. I found Akasha's note about a White Lady by the tree very intriging. I have included the photo here to share with others. The photo was taken at Lammas 2004 and someone has done a ritual earlier with flowers being left at the stones. |
Posted by ODALO 14th August 2005ce Edited 14th August 2005ce |
|
You do risk life and limb getting to this stone circle. When you look at the sketch in the MA you cannot help but think that it is a miracle that the stones survive but a tragedy that they are in this unwanted position where only people like us would dare to visit. Thousands of people roar by every day unaware of the history hidden in the copse by the roadside but at least this way they will survive. One of the stones looks as if it is growing out of the tree which has grown so large beside it. Noise outside but tranquility inside the stones when I visited 15/7/05 on a red hot day with the sun burning down it felt cool in the shade admiring the stones and wondering. |
Posted by jdellis 19th July 2005ce Edited 20th July 2005ce |
|
June 2004. Warm and sunny. The stones are tranquil. The sun is beating down and the traffic roaring past and yet inside the circle, you get lost in the ambience of the setting and forget the world outside. We parked in the farmyard across the road and walked along the roadside verge to the stones and it was a real treat! The manner in which the stones are hidden from the road by the tree cover and low hanging branches hinders the tourist but rewards the stone seeker with a truly fantastic environment. |
Posted by MisterPoo 10th November 2004ce |
|
we (charlie and i) visited the nine stones on the 1st of february. after driving past the site a couple of time found that the layby across the road was indeed the best place to park. apart from the narrow strip of grass leading from the little chef there is/was also a deep water filled ditch to contend with if you park in the little chef car park. being feb there were no leaves on the trees which left a good if little exposed view of the stones. we still found it possible when standing with our backs to the road to forget there was a busy road there at all. There is something very special about this site and the way it made us feel to be there. i took many pictures which i will attept to post should they offer anything not already on this site. |
Posted by texlahoma10th February 2004ce |
|
Posted: 07/01/04 We visited 9 stones last night, to find someone had done a ritual recently for the good of the circle which is always nice to see... last time I visited (about a month ago) it wasnt so positive to see that someone had scrawled pentacles on the stones (leave only footprints..? comes to mind.) I agree that when you first enter the circle its a very unique experience.. very heady and dizzy with energy it takes some getting used to and grounding yourself before you are ready to meditate or work in the circle! A white lady stands under the tree. x |
Posted by akasha 7th January 2004ce |
|
Access difficult. We parked at the Little Chef, as suggested by Julian in the big papery TMA. What he fails to mention is that it's a fair distance (mebbe 300-400 yards) along the very narrow verge of the pretty busy A35. So add my voice to the others saying 'park at the layby'!!! The very small layby is on the opposite (north) side of the road to the circle but much closer. To actually get to the circle, you have to cross the road and a roadside ditch by a short but rather narrow concrete 'walkway'. Once into the trees surrounding the stones, the ground is fairly uneven. Thursday 18 September 2003 It might be me, or it might have just been the day I was there, or maybe I was uncharacteristically fazed by the running of the A35 'gauntlet', but I can't agree that this circle had any peace to it!!!! At all. Which is a shame, because it's a cool little circle of wildly differing stones, the largest of which is a great example of the weird 'gravel-and-flints-welded-together' stone that appears in some of the other 'monuments' in the area. (That's the geological name for it, honest.) I think I'd be saying that the trees ruin it anyway actually. Don't get me wrong though, I liked it and it's still certainly WELL worth a visit. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Moth flies south - part 3
|
Posted by Moth3rd December 2003ce Edited 8th January 2004ce |
|
Visited 3rd October 2003 Even at 7:30 in the morning, the A35 is a damn dangerous place! Parking on the wrong side of the road in the 'makeshift layby', I precariously made my way the 50 yards along the road to the small concrete bridge across the ditch to the oasis of calm that is the stones. Despite laying only feet from the roar of the traffic, I was surprised at how little it intruded upon the stones. A ritual had obviously been performed here the previous evening, as a clear swept circle of leaves remained in the middle of the stones. Unfortunately, the light was all wrong for photographs, and I encountered the same difficulties in taking pictures that I had when trying to photograph the Hoar Stone at Enstone. All were out of focus, with a strong colour cast, despite using a monpod. Access: Dodgy, even for the fully fit, due to the traffic hazard. This post appears as part of the weblog entry What we did on our holidays...
|
Posted by ocifant12th October 2003ce Edited 12th October 2003ce |
|
I say Park in the lay-by and brave the psychos in lorries. The site is very sheltered and very missable when charging down the A35. Me and my best friend love this small circle and have visited it 7-8 times in the last half a year. We both agree that there is a calm feel to the sight and five of the times that we have been there we have both felt like we were being watched! Would reccomend this site to be visited at night as the stones take on a different feel. If you do decide to visit at night don't forget to wear some light clothing that shows up un the dark! P.s in the spring and summer there is alot of wild garlic plants that give the sites a unique smell!! |
Posted by Chicken 1st August 2003ce |
|
Winterbourne Nine Stones (4.9.2002) Lovely once you get there, but a very uncomfortable journey before you get to the safety of the wooded glade. I would strongly suggest ignoring most other instructions and to actually park at the makeshift lay-by by the entrance to what is listed on the OS Explorer Map OL15 as Grange Farm Dairy (OL15: 621905). It's a much shorter and safer walk to the Stones. The OL15 OS map alone does not make it clear EXACTLY where the Nine Stones are (I didn't have the OS grid reference with me at the time - doh!), and we were not happy at walking up the road / racetrack from the Little Chef not even knowing if we were definitely going in the right direction! So we went and found a better place in the lay-by. If you really want to park at the Little Chef, rest assured that if you turn left as you walk out of the car park and walk along the road for 400m, you will find the Nine Stones, which are on your left as the woods start. Ps. The English Heritage website gives these instructions: The parking is located in a small lay-by opposite, next to the barn. Cross the road with care. By barn I guess they mean the dairy / farm buildings? |
Posted by pure joy24th November 2002ce Edited 25th November 2002ce |
|
Made it to this one at last, what a treat(if you survive the road) No feelings of unease for me , the sheltering trees helping to forget the road and traffic. Imagine this Dorset landscape without the roads and new(ish) trees .The ridgeway close by and the multitude and variety of barrows. We travelled down to the nine stones from a vist to the Cerne Giant ,a wonderfull ancient landscape!! |
Posted by minchin hampton 9th September 2002ce |
| Visited The 9 on sept 11th (hmm....).While patient wife and baby Liberty waited back at the Little Chef.Nearly got killed by roadraged truckers on route back to the stones...serious autogeddon!Met lovely old couple looking for the site, who'd wisely parked at the nearby barn. Rushed visit, but still was a relaxed feel to these sleepy old stones under the trees. |
Posted by ruskus 24th November 2001ce |
|
As soon as I set foot within the boundary of this circle I was stopped dead in my tracks and overwhelmed with an unexpected demand for respect and reverence. The sense of power is immense and very alive. (visited 3rd October 2001) |
Posted by soulsong 9th October 2001ce |
| I used to pass this site often when I lived on the outskirts of Dorchester and one day I decided to stop and have a proper look. Shortly after entering the circle I had a tremendous feeling of unease. Even though I still think it is a wonderful site hidden away and missed by so many which is probably not a bad thing. |
Posted by Hally24 16th September 2001ce |
|
This is one of those 'blink and you'll miss it' sites tucked away at the side of the road. I've never actually stopped here but from the road the stones look like huddled ancient conspiracists cloaked in the cover of the encroaching trees. You can almost imagine them coming alive at night and heading outwards in the security of the night. What shouldn't be forgotten though is the surrounding countryside is littered with barrows of all kinds. Hundreds of them! I have also read somewhere that there used to be another circle in this area - I think Stukeley mentioned it. Certainly, as you head further down the A35 towards the next town, there is a solitary standing stone in a field at the bottom of the road's embankment (you can only see it heading back the other way though!). Can't be sure this is ancient, but its location in the field, and the surrounding landscape it probably is. |
Posted by johan 3rd October 2000ce |
|
This circle is so small that it is entirely sheltered by the branches of the beech tree at its southern edge. Situated right beside the A35 (on the south side), visiting this place requires a precarious walk along the pavementless edge of the trunk road. (As well as the Little Chef to park in, there's a nearer spot at the entrance to an inactive farm, across the road and a little east). There's several things I found to be slightly at variance with the Modern Antiquarian's impression of this place. Stukeley's drawing (reproduced in The Modern Antiquarian) shows only eight stones, but there are definitely nine (albeit the smallest one barely a foot high and being slowly enveloped by the beech tree's roots). John Aubrey reportedly called the stones 'petrified clumps of flints', but only three stones have this flinty-pebbledash look to them. Tellingly, it's the three largest stones. And although Julian Cope is correct in saying that there are massive differences in the heights of the stones, two nearest the road stand way taller than the rest and provide a gateway effect. Between these two stands a tiny stone, looking to me like an arrowhead shape pointing outwards from the gateway. Despite the rush and roar of the fast traffic on the adjacent main road, there is a heady peacefulness and a tangible tingle to this place. (Visited 3 August 2000) |
Posted by Merrick 6th August 2000ce |
Folklore |
Add folklore |
.. a Druidical circle called the Nine Stones, 28 ft. in diameter. It stands on a bare spot, which, in the belief of the country people, is likely to continue in the same condition, as there is a popular notion that trees will not grow within the circle.p118 in 'Handbook for travellers in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire and Somersetshire' by John Murray (1859) - on Google Books. |
Posted by Rhiannon30th September 2007ce |
The Stones are but a tiny hop from the Winterbourne spring. Is it too imaginative to think the two might be connected? Ok possibly."Folks say that no man ever saw a 'winter-borne break. It is dry one day and running the next, but its first downpour was never beheld. Many years ago watch was kept day and night for a fortnight for the breaking of the Winterborne Abbas stream. One night the watchman on duty found that his pipe had gone out. 'Bridehead-lodge - he bean't 'bove hundred or two yard - can't do any harm to get light there.' But in those three minutes the winter-borne broke unseen."Some might also be keen to read meaning into the nearby house being 'Bride-head lodge'. p117 in Dorset Folk-Lore J. J. Foster The Folk-Lore Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2. (1888), pp. 115-119. |
Posted by Rhiannon 14th December 2006ce |
| Westwood and Simpson suggest in 'Lore of the Land' (2005) that an alternative name for these stones is 'Lady Williams and her little dog Fido'. What can this mean? They give no explanation. Surely no-one can miscount stones that badly. Does anyone know what this is about? |
Posted by Rhiannon 24th February 2006ce |
|
The Nine Stones have been regarded by local folklore to be the Devil, his wife and children. Though another tale suggests that the stones were once children who where turned into stone by the Devil while playing five-stones on the Sabbath. http://www.darkdorset.co.uk |
Posted by Mizmaze 1st October 2002ce Edited 20th July 2005ce |
Miscellaneous |
Add miscellaneous |
At Winterbourne Abbas, four or five miles from Dorchester, is a small circle called the "Nine stones," 28 or 30 feet in diameter (not in height as stated by the Post Office Directory); six stones only remain, two of which are 6 feet high, the others half that size or less; there are a road and a ploughed field close to the north of this circle, so that if there were ever an outlying stone there it has probably been destroyed or buried; according to Gough's Camden's "Britannia" there were formerly a large single stone half-a-mile to the west of this circle, and four smaller ones half-a-mile west of that, but I could hear nothing of them.You can't get the staff these days. p119 in Remarks on Some Archaic Structures in Somersetshire and Dorsetshire. A. L. Lewis The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 11. (1882), pp. 117-122. |
Posted by Rhiannon 15th December 2006ce Edited 15th December 2006ce |
Top of page