More information : Miss Dudley mentions a stone circle (other than SX 17 NW 26) at Leaze, planned by Flinders Petrie in 1860, and Crawford states that Leeds found a circle in 1935 near field 1729 (Area SX 135774). This circle does not appear in the survey of stone circles in this area carried out by H St G Gray in 1908, and was not located by the SS reviser in 1958; but is shown on the OS 2" drawing. (1-4) SX 13467751. A stone circle 23.0m diameter comprising seven earthfast upright or broken stones and two recumbent stones. Two recumbent stones near the centre of the circle and four slabs 25.0m to the southeast are probably all displaced from the circle. Surveyed at 1:2500 and 1:500. (5) SX 13457751 and SX 13487750. It is likely that two ruined circles exist here, close together in a WNW/ESE line, both with diameters of about 23.25m. The western circle is better preserved with eight remaining stones and stumps, one upright indicating a deviation from a true circle. Slightly off centre is a low damaged mound, about 4.5m in diameter, which may be prehistoric. The eastern circle has only six stones placed in a half circle. Flinders Petrie planned the sites in 1860 and noted seven uprights and two recumbents. He probably omitted three recumbents as displaced not realizing the eastern circle existed. Despite poor preservation it is clear the circles had very irregular spacing of stones. The uprights also varied in height and each ring has an exceptionally large stone to the SSE. The circles align on King Arthurs' Hall to the WNW. (SX 17 NW 27) (6) The western circle depicted on AP transcription. (7) Two stone circles exist on the south east part of King Arthur's Downs. Situated in unenclosed moorland pasture at about 257m above OD and on a very slight south east slope. Both have diameters of about 22.8m and are separated by 2.5m. As Barnatt has observed their WNW/ESE alignment points directly to King Arthur's Hall (SX 17 NW 27) though the monuments are not intervisible. SX 13467751. Six upright and two fallen stones lie on the perimeter of the western circle, one in the southeast being 1.6m long. Additionally there are two, and possibly three, depressions indication the former positons of stones. With spacing of 4.5m to 5m there may have been about 15 stones originally. Another two fallen and perhaps displaced stones are near the centre of the circle. One is 1.4m long, the other triangular with sides of 1m though one side has clearly been wedge split. With the exception of one stump, 0.3m square, all stones are slabs, 0.7m to 1.3m wide and from 0.15m to 0.35m thick. Four uprights, between 0.15m and 0.45m high may have been broken off, but two in the north west quadrant 1.1m and 1.2m high appear to be untouched. A flat topped, turf covered, mound with no visible stone content lies 3m to the east of the circle's centre, measuring 4.5m by 3m overall and 0.4m in eight. Its west side has been removed by one of three shallow cuttings which cross the circles from north to south. Between 2m and 5m wide and 0.1m to 0.2m deep they are of a late date but obscure purpose. They appear too flat bottomed to be holloways (though the OS 2" drawing of 1808 shows a trackway to the circles), and too irregular to be trial turf cuttings. The plan confirms Barnatt's total of perimeter stones but not that the circle is distorted by one upright. This could only be that the ESE, originally included in the 1973 OS sketch survey, but which is evidently a part of the eastern circle. SX 13487750. The eastern circle has four upright stones and one fallen stone on the deduced perimeter. Outside, at distances of 1m and 4.5m there are two recumbent slabs and inside in the SSE quadrant and 5m from the perimeter there is a fine slab, 3.3m long, with a chisel angle to its northern end. All stones are similar to those of the western circle, the uprights varying in height from 0.1m to 0.7m. No depressions indicative of stone robbing can be discerned around the perimeter. In total there are eight stones, not six as Barnatt observes. The area exhibits no surface stone and robbing is probably related to the construction of intake walls. The wall 150m to the NE is revetted with a large number of tall, pointed and 'chisel' ended slabs. Surveyed at 1:2500 and 1:100. (8)
(SX 13457751 and SX 13487750) This site was first mentioned as a possible circle by AL Lewis in 1898. A detailed examination establishes the fragmentary remains of two circles.
The Western circle is better preserved and circular in plan, the Eastern circle appears to deviate from a circular plan, both originally comprised of between 16-23 stones. The surviving stones are between 0.5m - 1.0m in height. Each circle also has an exceptionally large fallen stone to the east of south (originally about 1.5 - 2.0m high), but it is not certain if this is significant.
These stone circles are much smaller than most on Bodmin Moor, and are less regular in plan. (9)
A plan and discussion can be found in the published report of the Bodmin Moor project. (10)
As of 2013 it has been brought to English Heritage's attention that the stone circles are actually located on Emblance Downs. (11) |