Jane

Hackpen Hill affords glorious views from the top where the Ridgeway intersects the road. I came here in 1991 with my then-husband and then-baby daughter the morning after a crop circle had appeared the night before. You can see why the circle makers would choose this place to practice their art, the views down into the field below are clear and close.

Today, we saw the remnants of a harvested crop circle and went down to investigate the white horse, carved in 1837 to celebrate Victoria’s coronation.

We could clearly make out the field to the west in which Winterbourne Bassett stone circle lies in the distance. Everything here is interconnected.

Curious, indeed.... couldn’t get my head around this one at all. A great outlier at the corner on the road tells you something great once stood hereabouts, but enter the field and prepare to be initially underwhelmed. But give it time, walk around the fallen remaining stones and you’ll soon feel that this was once *massive*. To me it felt like the gigantic Avebury-sized megaliths hadn’t just fallen – they were pushed! They didn’t sit on the ground, they were now almost flush with ground level and it felt like at any minute the earth could have swallowed them up again.

A whopping great outlier to the east hints at something else going on here...

Moth and me had the place completely to ourselves. It seems to be quite forgotten for a site so close to Avebury.

The gentle rise of the hill gives you no clue as to how far up you actually are when you get to the top, and it won’t make you break into a sweat either. What a great place to blow the cobwebs away! A series of earthworks, round barrows, saucer barrows and a cracking bell barrow set in a hummocky landscape and all the while one’s gaze is pulled towards the looming figure of Silbury Hill....

Mmmmm... groovy! Ooooh.... smooth!

This big old rock is so soft to the touch and worn so completely smooth it’s absolutely staggering! To consider just how many people’s actions upon this stone created the way it is today makes my head spin.... But why this stone and why here, exactly? I wondered has it fallen or been moved or was it always thus? (I now see from baza post below that it has indeed been moved)

I lay in the sunshine pondering these questions and drew a complete blank. This is a stone with secrets never to be revealed.

It’s a bit of a hike up to find it but with good directions is actually pretty easy to find. (Moth used me as a guinea pig to test whether his written directions were clear or not. Well, I found it, which either proves I’m not as stupid as I thought or Moth writes well. Or possibly both.)

If you can find it, see this! But take your time once you have. It’s very rewarding.

A small circle of six stones, not tear-jerkingly cute in a Doll Tor way, and not dramatic or breathtaking either, it’s just there, comfortable with itself and it’s rather nice. Cracking views of dales all around, this little survivor is absolutely worth a peep. When we saw it there were patches of blue dye all over them, all at a certain height. Immediately I thought ‘bloody graffiti vandal bastard-types!’ but then I realised that the sheep, sprayed with blue identification dyes cuddled up against the stones as they sought shelter from the wind, which fortunately wasn’t howling the day we went.

A gratifying short walk from the car, this is highly suitable for people who find walking either difficult or rather tedious.

What appears to be a teeny weeny stone circle at Yockenthwaite is in fact the retaining kerbstones of all that remains of a once-impressive cairn. What a great place to just be. Today I had the energy to paint, but not enough time so I only made a really rough sketch. The circle nestles at the bottom of the valley right next the river (just over the wall) and is quite lovely in a ruinous way.

Oooo.... but this is nice! This pretty stone circle has been badly damaged over the years, but such is the feeling for it that people continually re-erect the stones, propping them up with whatever they can find.

I was breathtaken by it and not just cos I’m unfit: bright, lofty ‘John Constable’ skyscapes and a 270 degree view! The Twelve Apostles sit in a green clearing amid the purple heather and sing to the heavens! Flopping down absolutely shattered I opened my flask, lit a fag and thought I had died and gone to heaven. Sadly, I was too pooped to paint anything at the time.* Next time, then!

*though I did make a little study when I got home.

Three very distinct and one a bit flattened tumuli of giant proportions run in a line north/south just to the west of Popham airfield. I went to Sutton Hoo recently and was mightily underwhelmed by the ploughed out barrows there – to think they may have once stood tall as tall as these at Popham! Definitely worth a visit.