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 think it possible that in the Stalldon Moor row we have the mixture of
religious and practical intention at which I have before hinted. Both
Mr. Lukis and Mr. Hansford Worth have studied this monument, which is
two miles and a quarter long. There is a circle at the south end about
60 feet in diameter, while at its northern end there is a cairn.
Where the line starts from the circle the direction of the row is
parallel to many sight-lines in Cornwall, and Arcturus would rise in the
azimuth indicated. But this direction is afterwards given up for one
which leads towards an important collection of hut circles, and it
crosses the Erme, no doubt at the most convenient spot. More to the
north it crosses another stream and the bog of Red Lake. All this is
surely practical enough, although the way indicated might have been
followed by the priests of the hut circles to the stone circle to
prepare the morning sacrifice and go through the ritual.
But there is still another method of discrimination. If any of these
avenues were used at all for purposes of worship, their azimuths should
agree with those already found in connection with circles in other parts
of Britain, for we need not postulate a special race with a special cult
limited to Dartmoor; and in my inquiries what I have to do is to
consider the general question of orientation wherever traces of it can
be found. The more the evidences coincide the better it is for the
argument, while variations afford valuable tests.
Now, speaking very generally (I have not yet compared all my numerous
notes), in Cornwall the chief alignments from the circles there are with
azimuths N. 10°-20° E. watching the rise of the clock-star, N. 64°-68°
E. watching the rise of the May sun, N. 75°-82° E. watching the rise of
the Pleiades. The variation in the azimuths is largely due to the
different heights of the horizon towards which the sight-lines are
directed.
The conclusion I have come to is that these alignments, depending upon
circles and menhirs in Cornwall, are all well represented on Dartmoor
associated with the avenues; and further, so far as I have learned at
present, in the case of the avenues connected with circles, there are
not many alignments I have not met with in connection with circles in
Cornwall and elsewhere.
This is not only a _prima facie_ argument in favour of the astronomical
use underlying the structures, but it is against the burial theory, for
certainly there must have been burials in Cornwall.
In order, therefore, to proceed with the utmost caution, I limit myself
in the first instance to the above azimuths, and will begin by applying
a test which should be a rigid one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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