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England
StannonStone Circle
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I'd already been to King Arthurs hall and Leaze stone circle, and as this one was only a 10 minute drive I just had to come, even though I had no idea which one it was. I was able to park the car really close, which is always nice, and as I approached it felt like christmas, "Yeeesss"! I said "it's Stannon." A large ring of many many low stones, how many I dont know I got a quarter way round lost count and gave up....there's lots. Never saw another soul all the while I was here, unless ponies count, they might do in there spare time when no-ones watching. Upon leaving the stones i went past the car and jumped the fence and stream and climbed up the china clay pit earthwork to look down upon the old stones, it was good place to sit, the moor stretches off into the mist and over my shoulder rugged and craggy Brown Willy winks at me through the low clouds, and asks why dont you climb me. No time thats why. |
Posted by postman24th November 2010ce |
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I can't believe it is three years since I was last up here, and it's still bloody cold! Stannon circle is in danger of being hidden by the grass. When I last visited it was being grazed by a flock of sheep that watched over me like hawks. It is fast approaching dusk as I drive up to the circle and I must admit I drove right up the track to get as close as possible. Good job too, as my battery in my camera chose to go flat after about three shots! After running back to the car and changing batterys, and having a sip of coffee, I venture out again into the biting wind. No sheep, no people... a dozen or so ponies cross the horizon to the south east and a flock of stirlings head towards Roughtor... and me. The sky starts to turn pink as the sun drops behind the cloudbank building in the west... will I get a sunset? No! I decide that it is not worth the wait and head back to the car and the coffee. As I am about to leave a people carrier turns up and family and dog fall out... I leave the circle and the fading light to them. As I drive home a huge moon rises over the moor... if only I had remembered... |
Posted by Mr Hamhead29th November 2004ce Edited 30th November 2004ce |
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20.7.03 Once again I stand in this wonderful circle. It calls me back every time I am in Cornwall. I have visited many other circles since but this one is closest to my heart. Once again the man I love is not with me but he is closer to me now. I hope next time I return he will be with me in this magic place. There is no mist today, no sun, no rain but the impact of this circle of stone needs no enhancement. |
Posted by debbie 23rd July 2003ce Edited 25th July 2003ce |
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Stannon Stone Circle - 26.12.2002 I thought I would visit Stannon, Louden Hill and Fernacre Stone Circles all in one go. I drove up through numerous lanes and parked just before Camperdown Farm. As I walked past the farm entrance there was actually a plaque saying that the rest of the track is for use only by Fernacre Farm (presumably the buildings at SX151798?). A few hundred metres along the track (i.e. to the East) quite a strong grass/mud 4x4 track ran across the moor towards Stannon Stone Circle. This is quite a good marker, especially in bad weather, and neatly skirts around the marshy ground. Stannon is a really nice circle but it is now slightly out of place next to the HUGE China clay works. I found it very difficult to count the stones! I counted 89, plus 2 inside the circle, 5 just outside the circle and quite a lot further outside the circle, especially to the South West. |
Posted by pure joy11th January 2003ce |
| 3.11.02. Today I stood in Stannon in the pouring rain. I have stood in this circle in the sun. Once I stood in this circle in the mist with a man that I loved. The mist is gone and so is he but the stones are still here. |
Posted by debbie 4th November 2002ce |
| Armed with our map we went in search of this site in the fog,again, does the fog just follow us or are we been paranoid?, then bang, the four stones appeared in front of us, inviting us to greater things, were they some kind of entrance originally?, who knows.They felt like it to us. The fog isolated us from the world around us, but by no means spoilt the thrill of this place, of a matter of fact it enhanced our visit, this surely would have been how our ancestors saw this place on a regular basis, and this made me feel closer to the past than I have ever felt, it even made me want to get really native, but it was to cold!!!!!!!!!!, dispite some active encouragemment from my girlfriend. We strolled inside the circle with glee in our hearts, this felt really real. Well worth it. |
Posted by finbar 24th March 2002ce |
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You're looking at a landscape trashed by people in prehistory: the clay works are just an extension of that and when they're closed there'll be one more wild and exotic place on the moor. Turn your back on the works and you are alone. The last phase of rescue archaeology on the works site excavated a couple of ring cairns and a reave-type boundary. The best feature however was a small unremarkable stony cairn that turned out to have a long stony tail made up of two or three large orthostats with smaller stones in between. If you stood at the end of the tail and looked beyond the cairn you were staring straight into the jaws of Rough Tor. Apparently a number of similar cairns were excavated before previous works expansions and all bar one had tails pointing to the same dominant feature. |
Posted by SeanT 20th March 2002ce |
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15 Dec 2001 It is one of those days on the moor when there is not a cloud in the sky but it is bitterly cold. Driving from south coast to north coast I decided to take a detour and ended up here. The stones are easy to find, walk up the track from the works gate and they are on your right. Shame about the clay works, they are supposed to be closing down but will no doubt be worked for waste products in near future. The circle is perfect, one can imagine what it was like years ago before the works was here, sitting in the shadow of roughtor (which is looking amazing today). I wonder why it was sited here? what was destroyed by the clay works? any thoughts. A large flock of sheep decide they should check me out, one inparticuler with a black face and large twirly horns keeps a close eye on me all the time I am within the circle. She never goes more than 4ft away , but no closer....if i move she moves...... will post photos when I get film back |
Posted by Mr Hamhead 16th December 2001ce |
| I can ignore that. There is a real sense of place here and in the whispering winds I can still feel it. Less of a pretty site and more of a place of raw power- awesome and rugged. So much imagination can be put to the other stones which surrond, standing and lying. I'm sure we passed through at least two ruined circles on the road leading up, too. Lots to think about and this large and impressive circle still here and central to it all. Rough, tufted fun. |
Posted by thebaz 30th September 2001ce |
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Lovely little circle which can be seen from Louden Hill (q.v.). Nearly all stones seem to be present if a little on the small side there is an alignment of four strange stones inbetween Stannon and Louden Hill. The immediate surroundiings are somewhat spoiled by the huge china clay mine to the north. |
Posted by Marky Mark 10th July 2001ce |
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| A large number of cairns are sited on Stannon Down with four small upright stones to the north-west of the circle that may be part of an orientation through Stannon towards Lauden circle. A several orientations can be seen between circles and other monuments; a line from Stannon circle via Fernacre circle leads to a cairn on the northern side of Brown Willy. A line from Roughtor's northern summit through Fernacre circle passes through the cairn cemeteries and natural tor on Garrow Hill. There is also a convincing astronomical alignment from Stannon to Rough Tor around May Day and Lammas time when the sun rises through the gap between the two summits of the tor. At the equinoxes the sun rises over the tip of Brown Willy. |
Posted by faerygirl30th May 2010ce Edited 1st June 2010ce |
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