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Coate Stone Circle

Stone Circle

Coate Stone Circle (Stone Circle) by thesweetcheat The 1923 edition of the 25" County Series map shows an arc of three stones in a field to the south of the stone circle. Is anything known about these?
thesweetcheat Image Credit: Ordnance Survey 1923
Posted by thesweetcheat
27th January 2012ce
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Comments (4)

A few years back I found a pile of stones at the back of a field close to the lake. I don't have my bearing atm, but certainly could have been those stones. juamei Posted by juamei
29th January 2012ce
I've seen those stones if they were the ones piled up behind the farmhouse. I have never heard anyone pass an opinion on the size of the stones in the circle as they are almost completely buried. There are lots of sarsens in the area, I used to think they had been imported from the Downs but now I think they have always been there - just moved around. Some of the houses in the little village of Hodson (behind Coate Water) have sarsen corner stones and large sarsens are found in the woods nearby. I'll guess we'll never known what was destroyed when the M4 was built. tjj Posted by tjj
29th January 2012ce
Checking the Swindon orange map, it all comes flooding back. I think I was checking for any sign of the other reported circles. I think Burk mentions them in his bible but it was almost 10 years ago and my memory is atrocious.

The stones I saw were against the edge of the field as you go to the lake from the stone circle, possibly around 178921, which fits (ish) with where the arc was if they had been dragged to the side of the field.
juamei Posted by juamei
29th January 2012ce
Thanks both. Looking at the orange map as suggested, a footpath appears to cross the corner of the field where these would be/were, just north of the SE spur of the lake. It follows the braced double feature (presumably a lane) shown running N-S on the 1923 map. Grid ref on the current OS would be approx SU182819. thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
29th January 2012ce
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