Circles long gone, yet sketched or etched?

suave harv Mar 7, 2006 18:06:48

I bought a book the other day from the Speaking Tree in Glastonbury (top bookshop, loads of megalith stuff nice and cheap).
I bought Burl's 'Great Stone Circles', 1999. It looks at a handful of circles in depth. Long Meg, Stanton Drew, a few others. Includes folklore, archeology, piccies, coffee table format, all for a tenner! Job's a good 'un!
I like Chapter four - 'A Cornish Quartet'. The four circles on Land's End. On page 77 there's an old etching by Rev W Cotton. It's one of the Tregeseal Cicles, now destroyed. Never seen this before. I know there were other circles
Come to think of it, I've seen very few pictures (drawings or otherwise) of stone circles that don't exist anymore. Winterbourne Basset springs to mind. . and of course the Sanctuary.
Are there any more I wonder?

Littlestone Mar 7, 2006 19:18:03

Replying to suave harv

>Come to think of it, I've seen very few pictures (drawings or otherwise) of stone circles that don't exist anymore. Winterbourne Basset springs to mind. . and of course the Sanctuary.<

Stukeley did a sketch of Winterbourne Bassett in 1724* and also the famous one of the Sanctuary where he shows himself looking out towards Silbury.

* http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2616

Unless I'm mistaken the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 12th, 13th and 16th images in that link show a sarsen that was erected by local farmhands about ten years ago. From memory, one of the guys who helped stick it up there in the corner said they'd found it when ploughing that particular field and had just put it there because it looked good. Will try to get some more info from him this summer but the stone in question is a bit suspect (note its colour as well) to say the least.

Chris Collyer Mar 7, 2006 19:54:14

Replying to suave harv

I think Paulus has got a whole stash of old drawings, plans and sketches of vanished sites. Here's one for example, Bradup circle in Yorkshire -

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/26514

If you've got any particular sites your after, give him a shout.

-Chris

cropredy Mar 7, 2006 20:39:26

Replying to suave harv

I was not going to put anything on this site again, but it is your own fault, that I do, this site is almost magnetic?
I have good reason to believe that in Cropredy, there is a silted up circle.
They dug up what I consider is an outlier to this circle several years ago, and re-planted it, calling it " the village boundary stone"( Jane has put a mention of this stone on this site )
What I would ask about is this North- East alignment, that I notice at so many circles, cropredy included, have you discussed this setup in the past?
K.