More information : (SY 14248840) Stones (NAT) (Three shown) (1)
"Five blocks (of stone) in a curve with one hole outside" are described by Hutchinson (a) and depicted on his map. After ploughing in 1962 only four scattered pieces of breccia remained, all irregularly shaped and between two and three feet in maximum diameter. They are now hidden in dense scrub bordering a conifer plantation. (2)
Hutchinson mentions and depicts on his plans (3,4) a group of 6 stone (5 are in a slight arc with one stone inside the arc and a hole on the outside from where a stone was removed a few years before 1873). "The curved l;ine measured 30 feet 8 inches, and from the side stone (on the west) to the hole (on the east) is 20 feet". (3-4)
Three of these stone (a,b,c) remain; centred at SY 1424488420 (see GP from the north) laid in an almost straight line NNE-SSW. They fall between two rows of trees in a conifer plantation. They are earthfast blocks of flint conglomerate, 1.8m apart.
(a) SY 1424588420 is triangular 1.2m by 1.2m by 0.8m and 0.4m high.
(b) SY 1424484416 the central stone, just protruding, is about 1m in diameter and 0.15m high.
(c) SY 1424388414 is 0.9m by 0.8m and 0.5m high.
No trace was seen of Hutchinson's 'inner' stone but an area of flint nodules about 6m west of (b) possibly marks its site. No trace was seen of the other two stones in the arc or of the hole on the 'outside'. The stones were not upright in Hutchinson's day (if they ever were) but as he says appear too regular to be natural. He suggests they may be part of a circle but this appears doubtful. The field in which they were situated was ploughed by the Forestry Commission in 1962.
Purpose and period unknown.
NB. The OS 25" 1959 shows a stone at SY 1428388454 which is similar to these, a flint conglomerate earthfast block 0.5m and 0.2m high and still in situ. Another, shown by the OS at SY 1423888381, was not located and was possibly destroyed during ploughing for the plantation. These stones do not appear on Hutchinson's plans and are probably natural. (5)
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