GORDON STRONG

The Secret of Stanton Drew

‘The village of Stanton Drew preserves the third largest collection of standing stones in England. Yet, perhaps because it lies off the beaten track, its remarkable prehistoric stone circles have not received the same level of interest and exploration as the more famous examples at Avebury and Stonehenge.’

Heritage Unlocked

During my long love-affair with Stanton Drew I have often wavered between wanting to share its mystery with as many people as possible and keeping the whereabouts of this ancient site to myself.  I have been writing and lecturing about the place for some years now and the fact that I am still doing so perhaps proves that only a minority of people are familiar with it. I am certain that air of mystery I mentioned continues to permeate the consciousness of anyone who visits the site.  Or is it like The Secret Garden which only reveals its secrets to those who are genuinely worthy.

When the Antiquarians of the Eighteenth Century first noted the stone circles at Stanton Drew they knew they had discovered a unique and remarkable monument. The English Heritage survey of 1996 told of the impressive woodhenge that once stood on this site, and so the tale began to unfold anew. 

Of the three stone circles, the largest is known as the Great Circle.  This has a diameter of about 112m and encloses an area of 2000 square metres, exceeding the dimensions of Stonehenge. As with the Northeast circle (diameter 29.5m), it was once approached by an avenue of standing stones. The Southwest circle has a diameter of 42m and is aligned to The Quoit and The Cove (derived from Old English cofa an alcove, and from the ancient German for hollow place) some five hundred metres away. 

Hauteville’s Quoit (Quoit, coit – round, or quoin corner - Hauteville - high place) was once a standing stone, the remains of which lie behind a hedge on the B3130. The original was supposed to have weighed thirty tons and stand 4m in height. The Victorians chipped off pieces of the Quoit for road mending.  The name originates from the legend of Hakewell, a giant who, given Norton Manor by the villagers, and considering it a paltry offering, stood on Norton Hill and threw the stone to where it now lies.  His adverse opinion of the gift is commemorated in the name of the village, Norton Malreward.  Another version of the tale, slightly more prosaic, has Sir John Hauteville, a crusader, showing Edward I scant gratitude for the gift of the Manor.   In the Eighteenth Century, Stukeley mentions the existence of a second quoit nearby (possibly near Chew Magna), but no trace remains of this.

A few sources mention other stones now missing from the original design.  In the summer of 1664 Aubrey could not visit the site because of ripening corn, but nevertheless he observed that many of the stones (presumably from the Great Circle) had been removed by farmers desiring extra land.  Specific references are made in the nineteenth century to Tyning’s Stones, a pair of megaliths lying in a field called Middle Ham at Lower Tyning, to the north west of Hauteville’s Quoit.[1]  Both were apparently over 5’ in height.  In 1958 Pevsner mentions two stones that are likely to be this pair, and local sources tell of two megaliths in a field adjoining Sandy Lane apparently being removed in the 1960s.

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The stones were quarried a few miles away at Rudge Hill in West Harptree.  As the largest of them has been estimated at weighing thirty tons, it is likely they were transported to where they now stand by raft, as the River Chew runs along side the northern edge of the site.

Maybe rituals of initiation were enacted here involving the use of hallucinogenic drugs - mediums who have sought out the site tell of visions and voices - druids celebrate the Quarter Days here… Stanton Drew still vibrates with ancient magic and powerful earth energies. Some say the stone circles were designed as a lunar calendar, these principles of astronomy and sacred geometry being communicated to those who built Avebury. As you would expect, ley lines meet at Stanton Drew and dragons reside in the surrounding hills, it is a legacy of Neolithic culture.

Its legendary status certainly continued until Victorian times as the celebrated architect John Wood reported,

No one, say the country people about Stanton Drew, was ever able to reckon the Number of the Metamorphosed Stones, or to take a draught of them, tho’ several have attempted to do both, and proceeded until they were either struck dead upon the spot, or with such an illness as soon carried them off.[2]

With the coming of the Beaker People from Europe new beliefs ensured the sudden and dramatic end of Stanton Drew as a sacred centre.  The practice of building barrows for funeral rites eclipsed the role of the stone circles and they were abandoned - yet another mystery to add to the many that surround Stanton Drew.