"St Michael and All Angels, Church, in Houghton-le-Spring, has been a site of Christian worship for nearly 1,000 years, but a stone circle found on the site suggests that it may have been used by pagans in Neolithic times."
You can see why there is this long history of continuous building on the one spot it is 'Le-Spring' that made it special, also it was on higher ground. Anyway this piece of news culled through the Stone Pages caught my eye, and I was not sure of whinstone but noted that it was a boulder circle (which could mean a cairn rather than stone circle) and reminded me of Alphamstone stones down here in Essex and of course Alton Priors in Wilts....
"First an Anglo-Saxon doorway and walls were discovered, but then earlier stonework which archaeologists believe suggest the remains of a Roman temple lie beneath the church chancel and also a whinstone boulder circle which suggests the site was used for worship 4,000 years ago.
Further evidence supporting this theory is that Romans tended to build temples on old pagan worship sites. Additionally, the site was originally a mound in the midst of boggy land which would leave it as the only location suitable to build on."
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10171904.Stone_Age_circle_found_at_historic_church/
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