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Stone Circle
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Rempstone Circle – Purbecks 995821
The air was crisp and still when I parked my motorbike in a lay-by on the B3351 between Corfe Castle and Studland. It had been raining during the night so the ground was wet and soft. I crossed the quiet road to a wooden gate and a path that led up the steep bank of East Hill to Nine Barrow Down on the Dorset Coastal Path. Just inside the gate on the right stands Rempstone Woods and the main purpose of my visit, Rempstone Stone Circle. With Samhain recently celebrated the trees were mostly leafless allowing light into the woods that reflected in the puddles that dominated the forest floor giving a surreal atmosphere! Heading into the woods I first come across scattered dark sandstone blocks, believed to be a part of an avenue that led to the stone circle. Corn dollies and flowers sat atop these recumbent monoliths. Further on I was soon standing among several 4 foot high stones that was Rempstone Circle. Most of the circle has disappeared over time and those that are left are half hidden behind undergrowth. Rempstone circle was only discovered as recently as a hundred years ago by Mrs Goddard, a vicar's wife out walking.
Bronze Age man moved the gritstone, a quartz rich deposit from a local Bagshot bed about 3,500 years ago to form a circle around 85 foot in diameter with an alignment on the autumn/spring equinox. These ancient people used ox shoulder blade shovels and deer antler pick axes to erect their temple. A ley line runs from this place westerly through Corfe Castle, Creechbarrow Hill, Chaldon Herring Cross, Combe Bottom and ends at Chalbury Hillfort near Weymouth. I discovered Rempstone Circle through a car guide called 'Exploring Ancient Dorset with George Osborn' and have visited the site several times. My favourite time to visit being late spring when a blanket of bluebells dominate the forest floor and the smell of summer is in the air.
Scott Irvine
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Posted by Dorset Druid
24th November 2009ce
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