PARKING

Limited parking at
The Cove and short-
term at farm gate.
PREHISTORY
ENGLISH HERITAGE TEACHERS KIT

Stanton Drew Stone Circles
Summary
A complex of three stone circles, two avenues, a cove and a standing stone
From the Late Neolithic period 3000-2500BC
The largest stone circle in Britain after Avebury in Wiltshire
The Cove is open to the public with free admission
The landowner charges 1 for admission to the stone circles
The circles are on a working farm with livestock, so no dogs are allowed
There are three stone circles at Stanton Drew. The Great Circle, at 113
metres (370 feet) in diameter, is the second largest in the country. It has 26
surviving upright stones, although there may once have been up to 30.
Plan of Stanton Drew
showing The Cove, The
Great Circle, two Avenues
the South West Circle and
the North East Circle.
The South-West Circle and the North-East Circle, are smaller. Both the Great
Circle and the north-east circle were approached from the north-east by short
Avenues of standing stones, most of which have fallen.
In the garden of the village pub is a group of three large stones called The Cove,
and to the north, across the River Chew, is the site of a standing stone known as
Hautvilles Quoit (no public access). Their closeness to each other, and the
alignments between some of them, indicate that together these stones formed a
single complex.
PAGE 1 1 4

BOOKING AND SITE INFORMATION

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PREHISTORY
ENGLISH HERITAGE TEACHERS KIT
Stanton Drew Stone Circles
PAGE 2 1 4
An illustration of The Cove
by William Stukeley c.1776
First recorded by antiquaries John Aubrey and William Stukeley
Folklore tells of a wedding party turned to stone
The circles were probably first noted by the famous
antiquarian John Aubrey in 1664, and the first plan was
published by William Stukeley in 1776. They have
changed very little since they were recorded over 300
years ago. In the absence of many facts about them,
the stones attracted a rich tradition of folklore.
The most persistent tale is that the stones are the
petrified members of a wedding party and its
musicians, lured by the devil to celebrate on the
Sabbath who were then punished for their revels.
Stone circles are known to date to the Late Neolithic
(c.30002500 BC), and there are many examples.
Such circles are believed to have played an
important part in contemporary social and religious
life, and there is evidence that some were aligned with
major events of the solar and lunar calendar.
The Dancers of Stanton
Drew. Cigarette card from
the Churchman Legends
of Britain series, early
20th century.
Look and Learn
BOOKING AND SITE INFORMATION
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The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 2EH T 0870 333 0606 F 01793 414926
PREHISTORY
ENGLISH HERITAGE TEACHERS KIT
Stanton Drew Stone Circles
In 1997 English Heritage initiated a geophysical survey of the large field that
contains the Great Circle and North-East Circle. The survey used magnetometry,
a non-invasive technique which picks up magnetic anomalies in the ground, to
indicate the presence of buried features such as pits, ditches and hearths.
The survey results were astonishing. At a stroke, they demonstrated that the
remains at Stanton Drew are just the ruin of a much more elaborate and
important site than had previously been imagined.
Lying under the pasture within the Great Circle are the remains of a complex
pattern of buried pits, arranged in nine concentric rings within the stone circle,
and further pits at the centre. It is difficult to make out individual features, but the
pits seem to be about a metre or more across and spaced about a metre apart
around the outer circle.
PAGE 3 1 4
Geophysical survey reveals nine circles of pits inside Great Circle
A geophysical survey of the
Great Circle and NE Circle at
Stanton Drew carried out by
the English Heritage Ancient
Monuments Laboratory 1997.
BOOKING AND SITE INFORMATION
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The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 2EH T 0870 333 0606 F 01793 414926
PREHISTORY
ENGLISH HERITAGE TEACHERS KIT
Stanton Drew Stone Circles
Just as remarkable was the discovery that the Great Circle is itself encircled by a
very large ditch, about 135m (440 ft) in diameter. This is about 7m (23 ft) wide
with a broad gap or entrance facing north-east. Such enclosures, or henges, are a
well-known feature of later Neolithic Britain, and are assumed to have been
centres of ritual activity.
There are several stone circles enclosed by henges and some feature rings of pits.
Sites that most resemble the patterns at Stanton Drew include
Woodhenge and Durrington Walls in Wiltshire: at these and other sites the pits
are known to have held timber uprights, although it is not clear whether these
were part of roofed or open structures. It seems likely that at least some of the
pit circles at Stanton Drew once held massive posts.
The geophysical survey of the north-east stone circle found at its centre a square
of four pits aligned with the opposing pairs of the eight stones that comprise the
circle. These may be ritual pits, or might perhaps be the holes for stones that
have since been removed.
The pit-circles are the largest and most numerous yet recorded at any site and
surely indicate the investment of immense effort and enterprise in the service of
prehistoric beliefs.
PAGE 4 1 4
Geophysical survey reveals massive henge ditch around the Great Circle
The survey also shows pits for posts or stones in the North-East Circle
An illustration showing how
the Great Circle may have
originally looked, with nine
timber rings enclosed by
the stones and great ditch.
Image courtesy of Michael
Bott and Rupert Soskin.
BOOKING AND SITE INFORMATION
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The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 2EH T 0870 333 0606 F 01793 414926