Head To Head
Log In
Register
The Modern Antiquarian Forum »
Alton Priors »
Circles under churches
Log In to post a reply

272 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
Littlestone
Littlestone
5386 posts

Re: Re St.Arilda's church at Oldbury on Severn
May 06, 2009, 23:02
And how big are the stones?


The stones mentioned at the sites above, Gordon, are not that big; 3-4 foot long (originally high?) by a couple of foot wide as a general rule (please see http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2065/ingatestone.html where the largest stones there are now used as buffers on the corners of Fryerning Lane. These stones could have quite easily been bunged into a wagon and moved to Essex from further afield. I'm not saying they were moved but that, even today, there is a tendency for us to pick up a stone, pebble, shell etc from one place and take it home (in Hawaii there's still a tradition that says anyone who removes even a small stone from any of the islands will be cursed).

Just another idea to play with - ie the idea that the removal of a sacred piece of stone/earth/land from one place to another (from Wiltshire to your own land [circle] at Alphamstone in Essex for example) or the transportation of a piece of your own (sacred) land in the form of a stone to Silbury for example, formed part of an act of pilgrimage - we're in the Neolithic after all, there's not a lot that's going to last other than stone.
Topic Outline:

The Modern Antiquarian Forum Index