Falkner’s Circle

Nearest town:
Marlborough (8km E)
OS reference:
SU109693
OS sheet:
173
Latitude:
51° 25' 19.43 N
Longitude:
1° 50' 35.59 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by postman

Looking over the lone stone to the Ridgeway.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Dec 28, 2016
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by postman

Stones as goal posts, but ones missing, what didnt miss is the big barrow on the Ridgeway, what a goal.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Dec 28, 2016
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by postman

The lone stone of Faulkners circle and part of the West Kennett Avenue.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Dec 28, 2016
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by thesweetcheat

Looking towards Monkton Down and Avebury Down Barn, where there are loads of fine round barrows.

Image credit: A. Brookes (7.2.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 3, 2014
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by thesweetcheat

There is a sizable dumped stone next to the survivor. Field clearance, or removed from the circle?

Image credit: A. Brookes (7.2.2014)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 3, 2014
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by Whoop_John

Combined 2002 university excavation diagram, aerial photo taken in 2002 and Google Earth map. The centre of this circle can now be plotted with some accuracy.

W
Whoop_John Dec 30, 2008
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by Whoop_John

Combined 2002 university excavation diagram, aerial photo taken in 2002 and Google Earth map. The centre of this circle can now be plotted with some accuracy.

W
Whoop_John Dec 30, 2008
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by Zeb

The last remaining stone of Falkner’s Circle seen in relation to the West Kennett Avenue in the distance.

Zeb
Zeb Apr 16, 2005
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by ocifant

The stone in the hedge, sans vegetation. Apparently, the ‘cup marks’ are due to natural erosion.

Image credit: Alan S>
ocifant
ocifant Dec 30, 2003
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by ocifant

The stone from the ‘back’ – field clearance can be seen bottom left.

Image credit: Alan S>
ocifant
ocifant Dec 30, 2003
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by Moth

With ‘Pogles Wood’-style sign

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Oct 1, 2003
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by Moth

The remaining stone – this supposedly Scottish tradition of placing a stone on top of standing stones seems to be taking off!!!

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Oct 1, 2003
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by Moth

Circle stone in modern context of break in hedgerow

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Oct 1, 2003
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by Kammer

Taken 10th May 2003: The remaining stone from the north west, with a distinctive round barrow on the horizon (not sure of it’s name but I believe it’s at SU117692).

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer May 28, 2003
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by Kammer

Taken 10th May 2003: My good friend Flotsky standing next to what remains of Falkner’s circle.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer May 28, 2003
Image of Falkner’s Circle (Stone Circle) by stubob

09/02 In the Hedge on the way to Falkners Circle there are several large stones....

stubob
stubob Sep 5, 2002

Articles

Falkner’s Circle

postman
postman Dec 28, 2016

I’ve been wanting to come here for simply years, it wasn’t until I finally decided upon a return to Avebury that I had a look exactly where it is, and well, blow me down, but I’ve only driven past it about a dozen times. Heaping upon the feeling of my inadequateness I spotted the stone from the road, it was there all the time, practically yelling at passers by to come over and have a look, but oh no, eyes are always well and truly glued upon the avenue stones.
Parking in the aforementioned layby by the avenue stones, cross over and follow the hedge to the site of the circle. As easy as the peasy.
Passing on the way, as you do, the hedge stone, a hefty stone that looks large enough to have once belonged to the very nearby circle, but it is part of an old wall, and is a completely different colour to all the Avebury stones, which are a decidedly pale white, the hedge stone is brown. What this means I can only guess at in an uneducated kind of way.

I can see how someone might just be a touch disappointed with Faulkner’s circle, there is after all only one stone, which may not be in it’s correct position. But not me though, I liked it a lot.
Firstly I was taken a back as to where it actually was, hardly equidistant, but between Ridgeway and the Avenue of stones, barrows crown the horizon on the Ridgeway. Secondly, why did they put a stone circle here, so close to the Avebury whopper, it doesn’t make much sense, it’s like building a church in a cathedral porch. But then nothing round here makes much sense, it’s a sensory overload, stoney saturation point was reached some time ago, about another dozen trips to Avebury and I might get to see it all.
Still haven’t walked along the Ridgeway to have a closer gander at them big barrows, nor have I been to East Kennett long barrow, the polisher or the spring. But there’s still time today to take in one more never been to, and it’s up hill.
Bye stone.

Falkner’s Circle

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Mar 22, 2015

By now the threatening skies of earlier have turned to a persistent drizzle, and contact with any vegetation leads to an immediate soaking. I decide to leave the road and Avenue and instead head east to look for the scant remains of Falkner’s Circle.

A path leads round the margin of the field, eventually reaching a gateway where a single standing stone marks the position of the poor old circle. Nettles surround it, neglected and lost, a sad survivor with no-one to talk to. I’d like to come back on a less gloomy day, perhaps in the winter when the nettles have gone. It doesn’t feel like a place to linger today though.

Falkner’s Circle

C
CARL Jun 18, 2014

Visited 14.6.14

Directions:
Park in the lay-by at the end of the remaining stones of the Avenue.
There is a wooden sign directing you across the road and along the edge of a cultivated field. This takes you straight to the remains of the circle – 5 minute walk.

This is another one of those sites that I have wanted to visit for some time. When visiting Avebury I usually get sucked in by the lure of the stone circle / Silbury Hill / WKLB etc but this time I was determined to visit Falkner’s Circle – or more to the point, what remains of it.

I headed down the side of the field with Sophie and Dafydd in tow. The edge of the field was a sea of nettles and as all 3 of us were in shorts we had to tread carefully. On the way both myself and Sophie got our legs stung. Dafydd was far too sensible for this to happen to him as he beat the nettles back with a stick!

We soon reached the remaining stone from the circle which is next to a hedge and an old wooden gate post. Such were the mass and height of the nettles around the stone that we could see, but not touch the stone. A winter’s visit would be easier on the legs.

It may not be much to look at but it felt good to have finally visited this site.

Falkner’s Circle

ocifant
ocifant Dec 30, 2003

I was amazed I’d not seen this before given how close it actually is to the road. On return to the car, I found that the remaining stone of the circle can actually be seen from the road. I’d expected it to be much further up the hill toward the Ridgeway for some reason.

I’d parked at the end of West Kennet Avenue and just followed the new signpost to “Falkner’s Circle 1/4 mile”.

On the way I saw the hedgerow stone pictured by stubob, but devoid of the vegetation in his photo (see my picture). Oh, and there was a crop circle just to the south, but it looked a bit ‘amateurish’ to my eye, kind of incomplete...

Falkner’s Circle

Moth
Moth Sep 30, 2003

Access pretty short distance (a few hundred yards?) along a fairly rough field edge track.

Monday 15 September 2003
Well I’ve been to a fair few damaged, ruined, wrecked and virtually non-existent circles, but this is right up there with the most underwhelming. Still worth a visit though.

As well as the general lack of stones, it’s difficult to even imagine which direction the circle would have lain, though I felt the angle of the stone gave a strong clue. My mate John wasn’t so sure – making the point that the stone only needs to have moved a relatively tiny amount to be totally misleading....

I feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t know exactly what they should expect! I knew exactly what to expect and if it wasn’t for the little ‘Pogles Wood’ style sign by the remaining stone, I still might have been disappointed!

Falkner’s Circle

Kammer
Kammer Jun 2, 2003

Visited 10th May 2003: We parked at the end of the restored stretch of the West Kennett Avenue and Flotsky and I took a brisk stroll to what remains of Falkner’s Circle. The weather kept changing while we were there, and when it chose to be sunny the light was brilliant and crisp. Surprisingly pleasant, given the amount of destruction this place has had inflicted on it.

Falkner’s Circle

F
flotsky May 10, 2003

Visited 10th May 2003: Taken here with Kammer, this is a blink and you’ll miss it spot from the road. There is a little layby to the right of the road here where you need to stop, turn to your left and see the hedgerow that you will need to follow to get here.

As you walk along the hedgerow, you can see the remnants of a wall made from a reddish-brown stone. Bare this in mind as you get there. You come across the little wooden sign and stone. It is at an angle to the hedgerow, and you get a feeling for the idea of the curve of the stone circle. It does seem embedded in the ground to a similar degree as the older placed stones at Avebury, so you can feel it is what is left there may be where it was originally. It is in parts the same colour as a lot of the stones from the aforementioned wall.

If you are taking in the wider surroundings of Avebury, it would be a shame to miss this stone.

Falkner’s Circle

juamei
juamei Apr 24, 2003

[visited 19/4/3] Another ruined circle with Sarsens in hedge rows nearby and lonely survivors standing proud. Bizarre to find it so close to Avebury however, WK avenue is clearly visible, yet somehow seems to ignore this circle.

No purpose is apparent given the location, but who said anything had to make sense.

Falkner’s Circle

Merrick
Merrick Apr 12, 2002

How strange that a stone circle only 500 metres from the great henge at Avebury should be so unnoticed.

Every day dozens of people walk down the West Kennett Avenue, unaware that this circle was ever here, let alone that a stone still stands.

The OS map marks it as ‘Stone Circle (rems of)’, with a single black dot to indicate the remaining stone.

If you come down the Avenue from Avebury, look across the road to your left. About 200 metres along the tree line in the field you’ll see the stone. If you go to the end of the stones (as they stand today), cross over and follow the hedge/fence.

At a bend in the tree line there’s a gap in the hedge for access between the fields. This access runs right through the site of Falkner’s Circle. A small wooden sign is nailed to the fence post to mark the spot, and several large sarsens lie around. The one remaining stone is wider than it is tall, being about 6 feet by 4 feet. Sadly, it lies just on the north side of the field boundary, i.e. just outside the National Trust owned land, and so vulnerable to farming mistreatment.

And what a strange spot. Right on the valley floor, the squat stone suits the snug location.

But what was this place? Some two hundred metres off-route for the Avenue to Avebury lacking the commanding and/or central feeling that is so common in other stone circles.

In ‘The Avebury Cycle’, Michael Dames suggests that it is perhaps to do with the midsummer sunrise. The sunrise would come over the eastern horizon (directly between two Bronze Age barrows), and a line could come through this circle, the stone in the Avenue known as 35N (uniquely not set flat-side inwards, but at a right angle to the others with a pointing edge to the east), across Waden Hill and to the summit of Silbury.

To me, this place is another discovery that makes me believe I really will never be fully familiar with all the monuments and features of the Avebury landscape, let alone divine their purpose.

(visited 4 April 02)

Folklore

Falkner’s Circle
Stone Circle
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jul 27, 2006

I read in Maud Cunnington’s ‘Introduction to the Archaeology of Wiltshire’ (1949) that “Falkener’s Circle [sic] formerly stood in a field called Waylen’s Penning.”

I know. It could have just been a man called Waylen who owned the field. But what if it’s to do with Waylen = the mythological smith Wayland? and the original circle was where he penned his animals? Information to confirm / deny this is welcome...

Miscellaneous

Falkner’s Circle
Stone Circle
Chance
Chance Oct 29, 2012

Details of the Stone Circle on Pastscape

(SU 10976931) Stone Circle (NR)(remains of) (1)
A standing stone is all that remains of a former circle of stones known as ‘Falkner’s Circle’. (2)
It is situated about 280 yds east of the West Kennett Avenue, and was described by Falkner in 1840 as consisting of one stone standing, and two recumbent, with the holes of nine others visible (see plan). The ground within the 120 ft diameter circle was completely flat.(3) No change. Published 1:2500 survey correct. (4) Falkner’s Circle described simply by Burl as “12 stones set in a 36.6m ring. One stone has survived the intensive farming of the 19th and 20th centuries” (5). Barnatt notes that any stoneholes are now untraceable due to ploughing. (6) Malone (7) refers to the monument as the ‘Faulkener ring’, and states that it was associated with a neaby barrow (presumably SU 16 NW 44 or 67) and further suggests that the circle ‘may date from the early Bronze Age, or the Beaker period’. No excavation has occurred, so dating and association with nearby monuments as well as the original form of the monument, remain uncertain. (5-7)

Miscellaneous

Falkner’s Circle
Stone Circle
fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Dec 23, 2004

From English Heritages Website

Falkner’s Circle, Wiltshire. Report on Geophysical Surveys, 2002 and 2003
Martin, L
Number of: Pages 7 Figures 8
In March and May of 2002, geophysical surveys were conducted around a standing stone believed to be the last remnant of Falkner’s Circle, near Avebury, Wiltshire. Several discrete anomalies lying on an arc approximately 44m in diameter were identified and found to be either post medieval destruction pits or possible stone sockets when excavated in the summer of 2002. An extension to the survey area in 2003 has revealed further similar anomalies, although no obvious patterning was evident.

Topics

Waylen? 3
Pete G
Pete G
Jul 2006
Cup marks, or weathering? 28
ocifant
ocifant
Dec 2003

Sites within 20km of Falkner’s Circle

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