Itinerarium curiosum (centuria II) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain. To which is added, the Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, monk of Westminster. With an account of that author and his workStukeley, William
History
Itinerarium curiosum (centuria II) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain. To which is added, the Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, monk of Westminster. With an account of that author and his work
Stukeley, William
Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Early works to 1800; Great Britain -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
The four parts which make up this monument, as we said, are the cove,
two single circles, and a quincuple circle. The cove, as most commonly,
consists of three stones, set in a half-moon figure, or, to be more
exact, upon the end of an _ellipsis_, whose _focus_, I suppose, would
be in a line upon the foremost edges of the two wings. This is situate
in the south-west part of the oval knoll of ground that contains the
whole; at present in an orchard south of the church, and west of the
nunnery before mentioned. The wings are standing, but much diminished
by age or violence; some great pieces being broke off: the stone on
the back is fallen down, being a larger one: it is 13 foot long, and
8 broad; therefore of the same dimensions with Hautvil’s Coyt, before
spoken of. This cove opens to the south-east. Four hundred foot from
this, going eastward, and with an angle of 20 degrees southward, in
another orchard east of the dove-cote, is a lesser single circle,
which is 120 foot diameter: this stands upon the southern side of the
knoll, and consists of 12 stones, consequently set at the interval
of 30 foot, the same as those of the circles at Abury. Here are all
the stones left upon the spot, but prostrate, half being within the
hedge, half without. This I call the Lunar Temple. This circle is the
same diameter and number of stones with the inner circles of the two
temples in the work at Abury. Five hundred foot distant from this,
going north-easterly, viz. with an angle of 20 degrees northerly from
the east, and across the orchard, and a pasture, is the circumference
of the greater single circle: the centre of it is in the next pasture
to the north-east: it is 300 foot in diameter, and composed of 30
stones, set at the distance of 30 foot, as before: about 20 of the
stones are remaining, but of that number only three standing. The whole
circle is contained in three pastures: the plain on which it stands
descends gently toward the river, and keeps it constantly dry. But 30
foot from this circle is the circumference of the outer circle of the
quincuple one, or five concentric circles, the centre whereof is in
an angle of 20 degrees more southerly from the line that connects the
centres of the two single circles; so that it bears a little northerly
of the east from the solar circle. The manner of thus conjoining five
circles in one is very extraordinary, and what I have no where else met
withal; and its primitive aspect must have had as remarkable an effect,
by the crebrity of the stones, as their intervals: and, upon moving
towards them, or sideways, they must have created the same beautiful
and surprising appearance to the eye, as the more learned architects
have endeavoured by the multiplicity of columns in their portico’s,
_forums_, and the like, of which Vitruvius speaks: yet I think, in
my judgement, this circular work must needs vastly have exceeded, in
this particular, those most celebrated works of the Greeks and Romans;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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