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<< Our Photo Pages >> Alphamstone - Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature in England in Essex

Submitted by Thorgrim on Sunday, 23 January 2005  Page Views: 13241

Natural PlacesSite Name: Alphamstone
Country: England County: Essex Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature
Nearest Town: Sudbury  Nearest Village: Alphamstone
Map Ref: TL8786835481
Latitude: 51.986009N  Longitude: 0.734491E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
1 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Alphamstone
Alphamstone submitted by Thorgrim : One of the large sarsen stones by the church. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Natural Stones or possible Stone Circle in Essex. Strange sarsen stones in a possible circle around the church and on a mound. See our article The Sacred Stones of Essex.

2006 Update: the Essex Pagans web site appears to be defunct so I have rescured the text of this article, as follows:

There's a stone circle in Essex?

Well there are stones, whether they were part of a stone circle once is up for debate.

To find them, you have to visit a small village on the Essex; Suffolk border called Alphamstone, where you will find a church that sits on the top of a small hill. Surrounding the church are 7 sarsen stones, they're not technically a circle anymore, but you can imagine where it might have been once (see diagram at the bottom of the page).

Sarsen stones are not common in Essex, so where did they come from?

They do occasionally appear in the gravels below Essex clays, which are sometimes exposed in riverbeds, which run deep below the clay layer.

So the most likely source of these sarsen stones is the river stour, which surrounds Alphamstone. There are other various sized sarsen stones scattered around Alphamstone village, although it seems, most of these are knwn to have been taken from the local gravel pits during the 2nd world war.

One thing there seems to be no debate over is that humans moved the stones there, but who put them there and why? Some people believe they were left over material from when the original church was built in the 14th century. I personally can't see how this could be the case, as the stones look like they have been pushed out of the way of the church. Also one of the stones on the west side is buried, with much of its bulk coming out inside the church.

This proves that the stones were there before the church, but surely it couldn't have been a mistake that one of the stones was included inside the church? Maybe this is an example of the time when Saxon beliefs were slowly turning Christian, and this was an attempt of joining the two religions together. If pagan stone worshipping and Saxon beliefs could quietly carry on into the Norman period, surely a secluded place like Alphamstone, cut off by the river stour is where it would happen.

There has also been various Roman artifacts also found around Alphamstone church, so maybe these stones were once part of a Roman home? Perhaps not as the history of this area seems to go back further than Roman times.

There is an interesting story about a Saxon called Aelfham, which mentions the stones.

He came in search of a western land, travelers told of, which was fertile and rich. He climbed up the hill where the church now stands and below his feet there lay a stone. He claimed the hill as his own and the stone as a totem for his clan; a mark of his homestead, which was to be known as Aelfham's tun.

Aelfham couldn't have been the one to put the stones there, as the story says he found them. It was also more like the Saxon custom to settle around something that was already there. In recent years there have been several bronze age burial urns found around the church. These are the earliest artifacts found around Alphamstone, so it is most likely that these bronze age people were the ones to drag the stones from the river and arrange them on top of the hill.

There still remains the question of why? To which there are two possible explanations. The first explains the urns found around the site. It was a bronze age tradition to bury urns surrounded by stones, in a large hole. The hole would then be covered over to make a sort of dome shape.

The other explanation would be that of a primitive sacred circle, like the many found scattered around Britain. If it was an ancient urn burial site, over the years the land would have been eroded to uncover the stones. Though surely if this was the case, the urns would have been uncovered at the same time and not more recently.

Maybe the site was used as both an urn burial site and a sacred stone circle for ancient rituals. Why ever they were put there, they were dragged out of the stour river at least 3000 years ago and certainly had ancient religious pagan purposes. Since then, the Romans have settled around the site, the Saxons discovered the stones and adopted them as idols of their pagan deities and when the church was built they were left in the churchyard and one was even included inside the church.

For years they've been ignored and even forgotten, even people living in Alphamstone don't know they are there! It is however remains of a sacred bronze age circle, which has been re-used through time and is indeed very special.

Yes there is a stone circle in Essex and it's found within one of the counties oldest villages. Is this Essex's best-kept secret? Or are there others?

This is an aerial view of the church and where the stones are in relation to it. [Photo missing, if anyone can contribute this please let me know] We can imagine where the stones probably have been moved from in the circle, and where stones that have been taken might have been. There is a very small stone half buried on right end on the church (marked as a small faint dot on diagram), that protrudes out inside of the church.
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Alphamstone
Alphamstone submitted by Thorgrim : Stone circle at Alphamstone? TL878354. See article on Sacred Stones of Essex (Vote or comment on this photo)

Alphamstone
Alphamstone submitted by durhamnature : Bronze Age urns from near the church, from "Byways in British Archaeology" via archive.org (Vote or comment on this photo)

Alphamstone Church
Alphamstone Church submitted by trui : (Vote or comment on this photo)

Alphamstone Church
Alphamstone Church submitted by trui (Vote or comment on this photo)

Alphamstone church
Alphamstone church submitted by trui : The largest stone by the west wall of St Barnabas' church is about 150 cms long.

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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"Alphamstone" | Login/Create an Account | 6 News and Comments
  
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Re: Alphamstone by Anonymous on Saturday, 14 August 2021
Excellent article, there are several sarson stones in Ingatestone Village, even the name says it all, there is another stone in the church grounds in Ingatestone, were they an ancient circle
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Re: Alphamstone by Anonymous on Monday, 24 May 2021
This church is near us There are many similar stones in this area. We have some in our garden...There is also a farm which has some very impressive stones at its entrance. Entrances are typical. I have been noticing more and more recently.

Clare
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Re: Alphamstone by Celticsam on Monday, 25 July 2016
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This church once had a tower, which judging from the positions of the stones in the base of the church wall inside, would have been built within the circle perhaps upon a barrow. Subsidence in the barrow made have been what caused the tower to fall and put paid to the standing circle.
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Re: Alphamstone by Andy B on Monday, 29 February 2016
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Photos of some of the stones, and a plan of their locations around the church at

http://www.megalithia.com/places/alphamstone/
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Re: Alphamstone by Anonymous on Friday, 06 March 2015
I TOOK MY FAMILY TO ALPHAMSTONE ABOUT 1979. AT THIS TIME AT THE SOUTH SiDE OF THE CHURCH WERE FOUR OR FIVE VERY LARGE STONES, REDISH IN COLOUR FROM MEMORY 2 METRES LONG BY .75 OF A METRE WIDE ABOUT THE SAME IN DEPTH. RETURNED A FEW YEARS AGO AND THESE STONES HAD VANISHED. WAS AT THE CHURH THURSDAY THE 5TH MARCH 2015 AND MET A LOCAL MAN WHO REMEMBERS THE LARGE STONES I HAVE JUST DESCRIBED. WE WERE IN THE CHURCH TALKING AND I EXPLAINED THE STONES WERE NO LONGER THERE. HE LED THE WAY OUT OF THE CHURCH AND AROUND TO THE SOUTH SIDE AND POINTED OUT WHERE THEY HAD BEEN ALONG SIDE THE HEDGE EXACTLY WHERE I HAD SEEN THEM. HOW ANY ONE COULD HAVE MOVED THEM IS A MYSTERY. EACH ONE MUST HAVE BEEN ABOUT 2 TONS IF NOT MORE.

CONCERNING DOWSING. A FEW YEARS BACK EAST ANGLIAN TV (IT MAY HAVE BEEN BBC) REPORTED THAT AN ARCHAEOLOGIST WHO WAS DIGGING AT CRESSING TEMPLE WAS ASKING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO DOWSE AT THE SITE DURING THE COMING WEEK END TO LOOK FOR FOUNDATIONS. HAD TO HAV E A GO. SO WITH MY WIFE ARRIVED TO BE WITH 15 OTHERS. ALL GIVEN BENT COAT HANGERS FOR WANT OF A BETTER DESCRIPTION AND WALKING ACROSS A LAWN WE ALL STUCK OUR WIRES IN THE LAWN ALL IN A STRAIGHT LINE. THE ARCHAEOLOGIST WAS VERY PLEASE WITH THE RESULTS AS IT WAS EXACTLY WHERE THEY EXPECTED THE FOUNDATION TO BE. HE DID MENTION THAT DEAF PEOPLE ARE UNABLE TO DOWSE(?)

LARGE STONE. GO TO ALDHAM IN SUFFOLK. FIND THE CHURCH AND YOU WILL SEE A VERY LAGE STONE THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VALLY
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Re: Alphamstone by Andy B on Wednesday, 17 June 2009
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A Qualified surveyor claims a picturesque village on the Essex/Suffolk border might boast the only proper stone circle outside the west of England.

For generations the sarcen stones at Alphamstone near Sudbury have been at the centre of hot debate as to whether they were ever part of a stone circle.

There are two stones marking the entrance to St Barnabas Church and a number of others further back near - and in - the church, but they form neither a circle nor part of a circle.

But Paul Daw, a surveyor who has visited more than 300 of the 400 or so stone circles, timber circles and henge sites in England, believes he might have found the original location of a stone circle in the churchyard using the ancient technique of dowsing.

He believes the stones which visitors to the church can see have been moved away from a once-standing circle in a corner of the churchyard.

His claims have been questioned by Suffolk County Council's archaeology team, which said whenever it has investigated the claims of dowsers they have never found archaeological remains.

But Mr Daw said he has had successes in the past and claimed he has had positive readings at Alphamstone suggesting a near-perfect circle of 10 stones.

“The find of a stone circle in East Anglia is unique, as all of England's other stone circles, of which there were nearly 400, all occur in the West Country, the area once known as Wessex, the Pennines and in Cumbria.

“On the eastern side of England, circular earth monuments such as henges and causewayed enclosures, and the occasional timber circle, were built during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age periods.”

Mr Daw, who is looking for funding to continue with his work and who wants to open a national museum devoted to stone circles, said he hoped there may be a possibility that part of the site which sits just outside the area of consecrated ground might be excavated in the future to see whether his findings using divining rods stands up.

Nobody from the church was available for comment at the time of going to press, but Edward Martin from Suffolk County Council's archaeology service said while he had an open mind about dowsing's ability to find water he had not experienced a positive result for stones or archaeological remains.

“Finding archaeological remains with dowsing doesn't seem to work,” he said. “I would have great doubt about this being real. In south Suffolk you do get boulders which are very often used in foundations. But they would not make much of a monument because they are not huge stones. If we do get anything like that, we would have a timber circle rather than a stone circle.”

Divining rods used for dowsing have been used in various forms for thousands of years.

Scientific Dowsing has its supporters and its sceptics and research into the use of divining rods have not tended to prove it works.

During the 1960s some US Marines used dowsing to try and locate weapon stores beneath the ground.

Source: Evening Star (Archive Link)
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