Stone Circle Sunday

What a busy and awesome few weeks we've had here! We had just gotten back from the Netherlands and Whitney's whirlwind tour and it seemed we were off again to Malta. Before that trip, Justin and I took advantage of a free Sunday afternoon to visit some stone circles up in this part of the country.

Our first trip was to Arbor Low, a stone circle on a private farm in the Peak District. One of my favourite things about sightseeing in the UK is that so many amazing things are on private land, and not signed in any way. We had to park on the side of the road, walk up the long farm driveway, then through a few gates and fields to find this circle. Here is the family's cars and laundry, juxtaposed with their ancient-looking stone wall:

Arbor Low is a stone circle and earthen wall that was built before 2000 BC. There is some disagreement as to whether the stones were originally standing upright and fell over, whether they were knocked over on purpose (by people scared of their power, or authorities trying to erase the Druid religion), or whether they were always meant to be flat on the ground. We were there just before a tour started walking through the middle of it, and had a few minutes to get some pictures from the raised earthen wall around the site.

I've been working on being able to catch cloud detail as well as the foreground of the shot, and was really happy with this one!

Not quite as successful. However, at least we lucked out with a beautiful day!

I loved this tiny bouquet left on one of the rocks and am kind of happy that I can only speculate about the story behind it

Tour group moves in

We saw this church as we were driving to our next site and had to stop. Don't know much about it (in fact I'm not even sure what town we were in) but the grounds, graveyard, and inside were all really pretty.

I was really confused that this church wasn't set out on a straight cross/cruciform pattern (I'm standing in the choir and it's offset from the transept in the background). Pretty much every church I've been in before has been practically laid out with a ruler. Due to the age of the building, settling of the ground, difference in building styles (or Anglican churches instead of Roman Catholic?). There was no one else in this church so I had no one to ask.

Interesting skull detail on the gateposts

Next we went to Robin Hood's Stride. This is a formation of soft rock which has been weathered by rain (and lots of grafitti) and is a really popular area for bouldering. I think the more popular area a few hundred meters away had at least 30 people who had schlepped in their own kit and pads through yet another farmer's field. I didn't know this at the time, but Robin Hood's Stride is where Wesley and Fezzik fight in The Princess Bride ('sleep well, and dream of large women').

Justin was not really outfitted for bouldering

You can see a bit of the scratched graffiti here, I didn't actually think to get a specific picture of it

 

We actually came to this field to find Nine Stone Close, also called the 'Grey Ladies' stone circle, and lucked into having a good time looking at the Stride. We almost missed this stone circle, which has the tallest standing stones in the Peak District area. Luckily Justin saw it a few fields over as we were leaving! I can't find any information on how old this stone circle is - just that the stone circles in the area are all thought to date back to the Neolithic Age (3,000-1,500 BC), and this circle was described in books written in the mid 1800's. A local legend states that the stones come to life and dance at midnight.

I didn't know this until afterwards, but apparently the tall stone in the wall in the foreground is thought to be part of the original stone circle and moved by some farmer in years long past. I'm happy I took a picture that includes the wall!

Justin has clearly never read or watched Outlander, and is therefore not worried about touching the stone circles

Looking back towards Robin Hood's Stride

We had a break at this point for the traditional Sunday roast in a small village nearby. I was too hungry to get any pictures of the food (but it was homecooked and much better than the microwaved travesty from a few weekends back), but here are a few pictures to give you a feel for the area.

Pulling up towards the inn

Doll Tor was next on our list. This was the hardest stone circle to find. We had to make a specific turn from an intersection, count the number of meters on the odometer, park on the side of a road, hop a fence and head through a field until we found a large altar rock, then head into woods from there. Literally not one sign or even a well-worn footpath to be found.

The pheasants in this field were handsome, but not very happy to see us

 

"Run Away!"

Here is Andle Stone, a stone altar in the field near the circle. Some helpful soul has added metal handles and footholds that allow you to climb to the top, and the view from there is very nice. I didn't take my camera up for fear of breaking it and/or falling.

We wandered into the woods and found this tiny stone circle. I think it was my favourite because it was so well-hidden and secretive. You can almost picture the fairies dancing at midnight here.

Information and layout of the stone circle and burial cairns

Our last stop, just as the sun was starting to set, was the Nine Ladies Stone Circle on Stanton Moor. There are nine small stones, and one outlier known as the 'king stone'. The legend goes that nine ladies and a fiddler came up to the moor to dance and were turned to stone for this insolence. I'm not really clear on why this was such a terrible thing.

This circle was so large that it was actually hard to get it in one shot, as there was no high ground anywhere

It was getting dark at this point and we had hiked much farther than the car than we had planned, so we made a pretty hurried descent back down the forested hill and through the muddy/swampy area below the stone circle back to the road. We did take a few neat pictures along the way through.

Gives you an idea of how damp the surrounding countryside was

I don't know why I was so taken with all of the nests in these trees, but I loved the look of them

 

While trying to find a shortcut down the hill, I found these carvings in the rock face. I haven't been able to find any information about who made them, but they were very impressive and I hope the artist was attached to a solid tree or rock, as they would have been hanging over a steep drop!

Stanton Tower, overlooking the edge of the cliff

That was the end of our day. The next day, coming home from work, I pulled over to get a few pictures of this awesome sunset. Maybe we can pretend it happened on the way home from Stanton Moor?  Imagine this sky over one of those stone circles.

Next up are pictures from our amazing scuba trip in Malta!