Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically ConsideredLockyer, Norman, Sir
History
Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered
Lockyer, Norman, Sir
Druids and Druidism; Great Britain -- Antiquities; Stonehenge (England); Sun worship; Temples
I very soon came across two examples in which the sight-line had been
changed in the Egyptian manner. The first is the three circles of the
Hurlers, some 5 miles to the north of Liskeard, a plan of which is given
in “Prehistoric Stone Monuments of the British Isles: Cornwall,” by W.
C. Lukis, Rector of Wath, Yorkshire, published by the Society of
Antiquaries, who were so good as to furnish me with a copy, and also
some _unfolded_ plans on which sight-lines could be accurately drawn and
their azimuths determined. I am anxious to express my obligations to the
council and officers of the society for the help thus afforded me.
The three circles are thus referred to by Lukis in the valuable
monograph which I have already mentioned.
“On the moor, about a mile to the south of the singular pile of granite
slabs, which rest upon and overlap each other, and is vulgarly called
the Cheesewring, there are three large circles of granite stones placed
in a nearly straight line in a north-north-east, and south-south-west
direction, of which the middle one is the largest, being 135 feet in
diameter, the north 110 feet, and the south 105 feet.
“The north Circle is 98 feet, and the south 82 feet from the central
one. If a line be drawn uniting the centres of the extreme Circles, the
centre of the middle ring is found to be 12 feet 6 inches to the west of
it.
“These Circles have been greatly injured. The largest consists of 9
erect and 5 prostrate stones; the north Circle has 6 erect and 6
prostrate, and a fragment of a seventh; and the south has 3 erect and 8
prostrate. In Dr. Borlase’s time they were in a slightly better
condition. A pen-and-ink sketch made by him, which is extant in one of
Dr. Stukeley’s volumes of original drawings, represents the middle
Circle as consisting of 7 erect and 10 prostrate stones; the north of 10
erect and 6 prostrate; and the south of 3 erect and 9 prostrate. The
stone to the east of that marked C in the plan of the middle Circle is
the highest, and is 5 feet 8 inches out of the ground, and appears to
have been wantonly mutilated recently. Two of the prostrate stones of
the north Circle are 6 feet 6 inches in length.
“About 17 feet south from the centre of the middle Circle there is a
prostrate stone 4 feet long and 15 inches wide at one end. It may
possibly have been of larger dimensions formerly, and been erected on
the spot where it now lies, but as Dr. Borlase has omitted it in his
sketch it is probably a displaced stone of the ring.
“If we allow, as before, an average interval of 12 feet between the
stones, there will have been about 28 pillars in the north, 26 in the
south, and 33 in the middle Circle.
“At a distance of 409 feet westwards from K in the middle Circle there
are 2 stones, 7 feet apart, both inclined northwards. One is 4 feet 11
inches in height out of the ground, and overhangs its base 2 feet 7
inches; the other is 5 feet 4 inches high, and overhangs 18 inches.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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