Andy Burnham's Blog, page 111

Beckhampton Penning circle

William Stukeley i wrote: “Upon the heath south of Silbury Hill was a very large oblong work like a long barrow, made only of stones pitch‘d in the ground, no tumulus.” In 1878 A C Smith excavated, or rather in typical antiquarian fashion he ‘set a careful man to dig’(!) “We triumphantly vindicated our impression that it was a circle, by unearthing in that one day no less than twenty-two sarsens, lying from two to 12 inches below the surface”. Leslie Grinsell was the last writer to see any megalithic traces in 1950 when the stones lying in heaps about the area with probably none in situ. Today there is the slightest trace of the bank and ditches in the site’s southernmost sector. The evidence used to classify the Beckhampton Penning site as a stone circle is at best conjectural. But evidence for a long barrow is good,

3rd Stone Issue 29, January-March 1998 for Free Download

Sister Wives Band playing London, 6th April and it's free!

We don't usually put bands in our main news but this is a bit special. Sister Wives are a fantastic, psych, heavy, stone-tinged band from Sheffield and Wales who are playing in London for the first time. 6th April, Shacklewell Arms London, FREE. Organised by Baba Yaga's Hut. The band are ancient site enthusiasts like us, in the photo here they are at Creswell Crags and they have a song about the witch there. They have also done promotional photos and cover photos at Arbor Low.

The Sun Chariot (Nørre Asmindrup)

The location close to where the Sun Chariot was found has a modern commemorative stone and information board. This famous artefact was found in 1902 by Frederik Willumsen whilst he was ploughing Trundholm Bog. He let his hildren play with the horse as he thought it was a piece of an old toy he had found. When a neighbour saw the sun chariot a few days later, he quickly realized it was something unique, and the discovery was reported to Nationalmuseet, where it is now on display.

The Cockpit

The Cockpit Stone Circle ‘includes a circular kerbed stone bank 2.8m -11.2m wide and up to 0.5m high which encloses an area approximately 27m in diameter. There are 27 (?) standing and recumbent stones set largely into the internal face of this bank, thereby creating the stone circle. The tallest standing stone measures about 0.95m high and some of the recumbent stones are up to 1.9m in length. Within the eastern side of the stone circle, abutting the internal edge of the stone bank, is a 5m square foundation of stones.

Cehnice Stone Circle

There are practically no prehistoric monuments similar to stone circles in Bohemia existing today. Several reports and illustrations mostly from 19th century show evidence that circles were pretty common, but as many other megalithic monuments, did not survive till our times unfortunately. Today we can talk just about fragments at most.

Hügelgrab Barkvieren

A small burial mound located in a lovely and peaceful landscape in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The single oak tree living here is looking very healthy. This site seems to be in a good condition and is easy to get to.

Medieval Keep Smrk

A distinctive circular earthen object in the forest west of Čočkův pond, Bohemia. The structure is very similar to so called "ringval" which mostly occur in western Bohemia. In this particular case it is rather an object of the "motte" type (wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground).

The Cobstone

The folklore of Minchinhampton Common is fascinating, particularly in relation to ancient stones which seem to have moved - or may still move when church bells strike midnight and black dogs and evil horse riders (often headless) are at large. There are two famous stones: The Long Stone and The Tingle Stone of which much has been written (not only on this site) but there are other stones which seem to have faded from human memory.

Menhir dit le Grave de Roland

Menhir in Corrèze