pages are correct, Derbyshire is fortunate in her sepulchral remains
illustrating the succession of burial customs from Neolithic to Roman
times without a serious break. But there is still a difficulty to be
faced. The barrows which we have classed as of the Bronze Age are
usually ascribed to the Earlier Bronze Age, upon the evidence of the
bronze implements associated with their interments. While the socketed
axe, which is characteristic of the Later Bronze Age, is perhaps found
in greater abundance than all its forerunners put together, it has
rarely, _if ever_, been found in association with these interments.[30]
But this proves nothing, when it is considered that it has never been
found with any _other interments_. The earlier forms of the axe have
occurred, but only sparingly, with the drinking-cup and food-vase
interments; but of the hundred or more recorded inurned interments of
Derbyshire and the adjacent parts of Staffordshire, not one has yielded
a bronze axe of any kind, and this appears to be generally the case
throughout the country. These inurned interments certainly succeeded
them, so there is no reason to doubt that they represent the Later
Bronze Age among our sepulchral remains.
[30] _British Barrows_, 44; Evans’ _Bronze Implements_, 473.
Having brought the burial customs and remains of our ancient
predecessors in Derbyshire well within the bounds of authentic history,
we here conclude. The few remains of Roman sepulture, and the many and
varied burials of the early Anglo-Saxon period, are outside the scope
of this article, and would involve many pages to adequately describe
them.
THE PREHISTORIC STONE CIRCLES OF DERBYSHIRE
By W. J. Andrew, F.S.A.
Scattered over the world, from India to Peru, from Southern Africa to
Northern Europe, wherever it may be, the megalithic circle marks a
grade in the advance of civilization, for it is man’s earliest attempt
at geometrical architecture. As such, although so uniform in design,
its age must vary by thousands of years, according to the intelligent
progression of the early inhabitants of the country in which it is
present. Old as our stone circles seem to us, those on the shores of
the Mediterranean were probably grey with antiquity when ours were
yet unbuilt; indeed, so far as the old world is concerned, it may be
assumed that the megalithic monuments of the British Isles are amongst
the latest in date.
The circle is but an elaboration of a monolith surrounded by stones.
There is, however, every indication that it was introduced into this
country after it had passed through all its stages of evolution and
assumed its final form. Its builders made their way hither from the
south, spreading more especially over Spain, Brittany and Denmark on
the mainland, and on arriving upon our southern coasts, branching
northward through England and Scotland, even to the Orkneys, on the
one side, and by sea to Ireland and the Western Hebrides on the other.
Thus the date of its advent must have been subsequent to the mastery
of navigation. It has been assumed that because Stonehenge represents
the finished design, it must be the latest of our English examples,
and, therefore, the evolution of those rude, and often unhewn,
monuments of which so many examples have weathered more than two
thousand winters on the high-lands of the Peak. But the very opposite
proposition probably represents the truth. In the whole of our isles
there is no other example of a trilithic design, so the theory of local
evolution must fail. On the other hand, we trace it without a fault
from India, through Arabia, along the north coast of Africa, in Malta
and Minorca, and finally on the coast of Brittany, on its way to this
island. Again, the curious architectural joint of mortice and tenon,
which is so interesting a feature of Stonehenge, is unknown here, but
present in the trilithons of the Mediterranean shores.
[Illustration: Arbor Low: General View of the Southern Half.]
We may, therefore, infer that the builders of Stonehenge were of a
race which originally came from the south, and that the monument was
erected under the direction of men who had seen or had, at least, been
thoroughly instructed in the architecture of the earlier trilithons.
This was their work, but after them came the copyist and the invariable
deterioration. A parallel case is that of the introduction of the art
of coinage into this country about B.C. 200. It found its way to us
over nearly the same route, and in its earliest stages was, therefore,
an imitation of the Greek and Phœnician money then current; but
before many years had passed many of the designs had degenerated into
conventional figures, often of a distinctive character, yet evolved
by the exaggeration of some minor detail upon the prototype. Another
comparison may be made with the customs of burial about the period we
are considering. At first the useful and valuable flint implements
of the deceased were, with a praiseworthy unselfishness, interred or
cremated with his remains; but later, this sometimes became a mere
matter of ceremony, and it was thought sufficient to substitute flint
chippings for these offerings.
Assuming Stonehenge to be the prototype of our rude stone circles,
it may be well to remember its general features, and particularly
the dimensions of its plan. Its architecture consisted of an outer
circle of ditch and earthen bank of an approximate diameter of three
hundred feet, broken at the entrance from the north-east, where the
banks are continued in that direction, and form an avenue of approach
fifty feet in breadth. Within was a concentric circle one hundred feet
in diameter, of upright stones supporting a continuous lintel. These
stones are roughly squared, and the pillars now measure about fourteen
feet above ground, whilst the lintels are about eleven and a half feet
long. Ten feet within was a minor concentric circle of pillar stones,
a few feet in height, arranged in pairs. Again, within were five huge
trilithons arranged in the plan of a horse-shoe with a diameter of
about fifty feet, and composed of stones similar in form to those of
the outer peristyle, but varying in height to nearly twenty-five feet
above the turf; one stone, for example, measuring, when exposed by
excavation, twenty-nine feet eight inches in length. Finally, within
the whole is the “altar-stone,” some sixteen feet by four, lying prone
and within a broken, or horse-shoe shaped ellipse of a diameter of
forty feet, composed of pillar stones about five or six feet high.
Without the whole, and at a distance of two hundred and fifty feet from
the centre, is a monolith, or “pointer,” sixteen feet high, known as
the Friar’s Heel. It stands to the north-east and a fraction to the
south of a line drawn from the altar-stone along the centre of the
avenue. Another stone, now fallen, lies on the line just within the
enclosure.
From this very superficial description it will be noticed that there is
a certain geometrical proportion to scale. The diameter of the outer
bank is three times that of the peristyle, which, in turn, is twice
that of the trilithons. The space betwen the peristyle and the outer
bank equals the diameter of the former. The diameter of the outer
circle of small pillar stones is twice that of the inner ellipse of
pillar stones, and the distance of the Friar’s Heel from the peristyle
is twice the diameter of the latter. Even admitting a wide margin
for inaccuracy, the impression must remain that there is ground for
the suspicion that some attempt at a decimal system prevailed in the
general plan of this mysterious monument.
These proportions are so obvious that it seems unlikely that they have
escaped the attention of those who have studied the plan of Stonehenge.
It was not, however, in relation to the great monument of the south
that a possible system of geometrical mensuration suggested itself;
but in the survey of our own hill-circles of Derbyshire, when it
appealed so forcibly to observation that it prompted a reference to the
prototype for possible confirmation.
No other county in England is so prolific in prehistoric circles as
that of Derby. Many, probably, are still undiscovered, for the writer
has been able to add several to the list. Yet at least twenty can be
visited with the assistance of an Ordnance map, another dozen have
disappeared in modern times, but are recorded by old authorities,
and, no doubt, as many more lie hidden by the heather on our
little-frequented moors. All are in the north-west quarter of the
county, within a space of less than twenty miles square, and at an
altitude of not less than a thousand feet.
Although differing much in dimensions and details, there was a common
purpose, and consequently there is a uniform character in all.
Commencing with the smallest, and measuring the diameters from stone
to stone, we find: (1) a plain circle of standing stones, ten feet
across, and with either a single stone or heap of stones at a short
distance outside the circle, which, for convenience of reference, may
be called the “pointer”; (2) similar, but with a diameter of twenty
feet, and an encircling mound, or vallum, of earth, in the inner edge
of which the stones are usually set; (3) the same, but with diameters
of thirty, forty, sixty, eighty, one hundred, and one hundred and
fifty feet. It is probable that, originally, all had a cromlech of
some description in the centre, or, as at Ford, a small circle in the
north-eastern quarter. At Park Gate this remains as a central cone of
stones; at Arbor Low as three great stones, which, with the rest, have
fallen; on Offerton Moor it was four stones, and at the Wet Withens a
single stone. Outside the circle at Arbor Low is a raised causeway of
earth extending in a curved line from the circle towards its artificial
mound, Gib Hill, a thousand feet away, which once it probably joined.
At Stadon a similar causeway leaves the circle, but returns to it again
in the form of the lower half of a triangle, and at the Wet-Withens Mr.
Trustram called attention to the remains of what was, very possibly, an
avenue of stones arranged in parallel lines at equal distances towards
the south-west. These alignments must be considered with reference to
the avenue at Stonehenge.
The circles are never present on the actual summit of a hill, but are
almost invariably on the hillside near the highest point. Hence on one
side they have a sharp and near horizon and on the other a distant
view. All have, or presumably have had, a “pointer” outside the circle;
that is, an artificial mound of earth or stones or a smaller circle to
the larger examples, and a single upright stone to the smaller.
It will have been noticed that the diameters of the circles have
evidently been planned according to a geometrical scale, of which
the unit seems to have been equivalent to ten feet of our measure. A
reference, for example, to the plan of Arbor Low will again demonstrate
this point. The average diameter of the circle of the stones is one
hundred and fifty feet, the width of the fosse is twenty feet, and
that of the vallum on the ground level is thirty feet, and its height
above the _excavated_ fosse is ten feet; the total diameter of the
monument is two hundred and fifty feet, and Gib Hill, its pointer,
stands one thousand feet away south-west by west. But the stones at
Arbor Low, and, indeed, those of all the other examples, do not form
a true circle; there is always an elliptical variation. At Arbor Low
this variation is about ten feet; at the Wet-Withens it is only three
or four feet. At the former there are in the centre three fallen
stones, which in all probability formed a dolmen, of which the capstone
measures fourteen feet in length; it may be assumed, therefore, that
its supporters occupied a space of about ten feet. At the Wet-Withens
we read that there was originally a single large stone in the centre,
which we may assume was not more than three or four feet in diameter.
If, therefore, the central cromlech was first erected, and the radius
of the circle of stones measured from its outside walls instead of from
the true centre, we have the probable explanation of the elliptical
variation in every case. The variation, in turn, should give us some
idea of the central cromlech when, as in so many instances, it has been
destroyed.
This suggestion is supported by another distinctive feature in the plan
of stone circles, of which, also, no explanation has been offered.
Nearly every circle has two entrances, or an entrance and exit, cut
through the mound, and when a fosse is present it is broken at the
causeways; but these entrances, although on opposite sides of the
circle, and usually towards the north and south, are never directly
opposite each other. If, therefore, the central cromlech was the
dominant purpose, the roadway would pass alongside it, and not have
to deviate around it, as it certainly would if it truly bisected the
circle.
The three principal examples in the county are Arbor Low, the Bull
Ring, and the Wet-Withens. Arbor Low is situate on the hillside, 1,200
feet above the sea, a mile to the east of Parsley Hay Station, eight
miles south-east from Buxton. It has been termed the Stonehenge of
the Midlands, and as a megalithic monument, the very grandeur of its
loneliness appeals to memories of the days of old and the race that is
gone. Its dimensions have already been given, but its general features
are a circular plateau, averaging about one hundred and sixty feet
in diameter, and surrounded by a broad fosse, enclosed, save at the
two entrances, within a high vallum of earth. In the centre of the
plateau are three limestone blocks, of which one is fourteen feet
in length, and another, now broken, about twelve feet by eight feet
six inches; these, before destruction, probably formed a dolmen, or
trilithon, similar to those of Stonehenge. Arranged around the edge of
the plateau, and seemingly in pairs, which also allows the possibility
of a trilithic formation, are forty-six similar stones, all, with one
exception, lying prone, and measuring from thirteen feet by six to
comparatively small dimensions—the exception referred to, however, lies
at a very low angle. They seem to have been selected from the _surface_
limestone of the district, which explains the many weathered and holed
stones amongst them; and it must be remembered that a holed stone has
always claimed a superstitious veneration. It is present in the circle
at Stennis, in our chambered barrows, and in the dolmens of France,
Russia, and India. The trilithons of Stonehenge may be its elaboration,
and in later times King Alfred caused the Danes to swear their treaty
according to their most solemn custom upon the holy ring. Even in
mediæval days the superstition connected with St. Wilfred’s Needle at
Ripon may probably have been but a survival of this archaic tradition.
Although not shaped in the usual sense of the word, some of the stones
at Arbor Low show indications of rough dressing, particularly at the
base, which was, no doubt, for the purpose of stability when they were
originally set upright. That once they were erect there can be no
doubt, for it is essential to a stone circle that they should be so
placed. As they lie, it will be noticed that, with very few exceptions,
the top of every stone points to the centre of the plateau, whereas
the natural fall of the stones would be towards the ditch, on the edge
of which they were placed, for their foundations on that side would be
the weaker. The obvious explanation must be that they were pulled down
by ropes, and as the vallum would impede the process on the outside,
it followed that the crowd of haulers necessarily required the full
width of the plateau, and so caused the stones to fall inwards, like
the radii of a circle. Similarly the central stones were hauled down in
a straight line with the entrance to the circle, which thus gave the
necessary leverage of length. When and by whom was this done? It is
unlikely that the Romans would interfere with customs which in no way
clashed with their own. When, however, the first waves of Christianity
passed over the land, and Christian stone crosses were erected
throughout our county, it is unlikely that the stone monuments of a
pagan race would be tolerated amongst them; and in the seventh century
an edict of the Church was passed in France exhorting the clergy to
stamp out the idolatry of stone-worship. In Northumbria, which country
then included the county of Derby, King Edwin, upon his conversion to
Christianity in A.D. 627, authorised Paulinus to destroy “the altars
and temples, _with the enclosures that were about them_,” at which he
had previously worshipped.[31]
[31] _Bede_, chap. xiii.
We may, therefore, assume that the great circle of Arbor Low was too
prominent a monument to be allowed to remain, but the lesser circles,
no longer frequented by the people, would pass unnoticed by the
Reformers; yet the circle on Harthill Moor, only four miles away, was
left standing, although some of its stones were nine or ten feet high,
and nine stones still stood a century ago, but now only four remain,
varying in height from about four feet to eight or nine feet. Perhaps
the late interment, discovered by Mr. St. George Gray during the
excavations at Arbor Low in 1902, may have dated from the time of its
destruction, for its selection as a place of sepulture would naturally
offend the tenets of a Christian people, and call attention to the
superstitions still associated with this mysterious monument. It was
not the first interment there, for built upon the vallum adjoining the
southern entrance are the remains of a large tumulus, which yielded
to Mr. Bateman, its excavator, urns of coarse clay and other evidence
of cremation, with relics of flint and bone. Again, the summit of the
great mound of its satellite, Gib Hill, had been selected for a similar
interment in the days before the shadow of mystery was cast over Arbor
Low.
The Bull Ring almost adjoins the modern church at Dove Holes, three and
a half miles north-north-west from Buxton. So far as the ground plan
of the circle is concerned, it is identical with that of Arbor Low,
save that the vallum is now, perhaps, not quite so high. No doubt it
is the work of the same architects, and originally contained a similar
arrangement of great stones. Unfortunately these were entirely removed
nearly two centuries ago for building purposes, and its very existence
is to-day threatened by approaching lime works. With the circle itself
its similarity to Arbor Low ends, for instead of lying on a northern
slope it faces south-east, hence as the natural conditions are varied,
so are its adjuncts. Instead of a high mound a thousand feet away,
its pointer is brought close to it, and, therefore, lower in height,
although a mound of about the same circumference; but its direction is
nearly the same, namely, to the south-west.
The Wet-Withens is on the northern slope of Eyam Moor, 1,002 feet above
sea-level, and is the best example of the type in which the fosse is
absent. To-day it is represented by a circular mound of earth, one
hundred and twenty feet in diameter, and about ten feet broad by two
feet six inches high, broken for the entrances in the usual positions,
namely, due south and nearly north. Set in the inner margin of the
mound remain ten stones of millstone grit, most of which are upright,
and probably fifteen or sixteen originally completed the arrangement,
and some may be hidden by the heather. They stand at nearly equal
distances, but the largest only measures, as exposed above the turf,
four feet three inches long, one foot nine inches broad, and nine
inches deep. It has already been mentioned that a monolith once stood
in the centre, and there is still a considerable depression in the
ground whence it was excavated—for the hand of the quarryman has
been ruthless amongst the prehistoric monuments of our county. Forty
feet due north of the circle are the remains of a great cairn, or
tumulus, with a base seventy feet by forty feet, composed entirely
of stones averaging over a foot in length. This may have served the
purpose of the pointer, or, like the tumulus on the vallum at Arbor
Low, may merely have been a sepulchral mound, for it also yielded a
half-baked urn containing cremated remains and a flint arrow-head. If
Mr. Trustram’s theory be correct, the stone-marked avenue leads to the
south-west, and thus conforms with the pointers of Arbor Low and the
Bull Ring; also with the general direction of the avenue or causeway of
the former.
The relative position of these three circles is certainly curious.
They form an inverted isosceles triangle, of which the base line from
the Wet-Withens to the Bull Ring is nearly due east and west; to be
accurate, it is almost the true magnetic orientation, and the apex at
Arbor Low is due south. The Ordnance map discloses the length of the
base line to be nine miles, and that of each of the sides ten miles;
in fact, the compasses pivoted in the centre of Arbor Low bisect both
the circles of the Bull Ring and Wet-Withens. It is needless to remark
that the megalithic builders had not the knowledge nor the appliances
to measure distances otherwise than on the ground level; but as the
valleys run north and south, and the line east to west is therefore
much more broken and undulating, it is not impossible that there was
a measured intention to construct these three circles as nearly as
possible in the form of an equilateral triangle, of which the circle
of Arbor Low was to be due south, according to the sun’s then apparent
meridian. Indeed, it is an interesting question of fact whether, if
measured on the ground level, these three circles would not prove to be
equidistant one from another.
Reduce the compasses to the equivalent to eight miles, and a series of
coincidences follows. They exactly span Arbor Low and Stadon; Arbor Low
and an unmarked circle near Park Gate on East Moor; the latter and the
double circle on Abney Moor, and, again, the same circle and two others
on Brassington Moor; the Nine Ladies on Stanton Moor and the circle on
Froggatt Edge; that on the Bar Brook and the most northern of the two
on Bamford Moor; the southern circle on Bamford Moor and the double
circle on the Ford estate near Chapel-en-le-Frith; the latter and the
circle on Abney Moor, and so on, until it would seem to be worth one’s
while to follow the eight miles radius from any given circle in search
of its colleague. If there is any variation in the distances quoted
above, it is so slight as to be scarcely perceptible on the one-inch
scale Ordnance map. This is, at the least, tentative evidence of that
careful system of mensuration which seems to pervade the mystery of
these interesting memorials.
[Illustration: Arbor Low: General View of the Southern and Western
Part.]