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<< Our Photo Pages >> Devils Quoits - Stone Circle in England in Oxfordshire
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Submitted by Celia_Haddon on Tuesday, 30 June 2009 Page Views: 30536
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England
Site Name: Devils Quoits Alternative Name: Devil's Quoits
Country: England County: Oxfordshire Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Oxford Nearest Village: Stanton Harcourt
Map Ref: SP411048 Landranger Map Number: 164
Latitude: 51.740404N Longitude: 1.406169W
Condition:| 5 | Perfect | | 4 | Almost Perfect | | 3 | Reasonable but with some damage | | 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site | | 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks | | 0 | No data. | | -1 | Completely destroyed |
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Ambience:| 5 | Superb | | 4 | Good | | 3 | Ordinary | | 2 | Not Good | | 1 | Awful | | 0 | No data. |
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Access:| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access | | 4 | Short walk on a footpath | | 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk | | 2 | A long walk | | 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find | | 0 | No data. |
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Accuracy:| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates | | 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map | | 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map | | 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village | | 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town | | 0 | no data |
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Internal Links:    
External Links:            Image: Devils Quoits submitted by h_fenton
Fully restored Stone Circle in Oxfordshire. The site is believed to be between 4000 and 5000 years old, and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The Quoits were restored between 2002 and 2008, with stones which had been knocked over or had fallen over being re-uprighted, and the surrouding earthworks re-built.
Access:
Hamish Fenton writes: you can visit pretty much any time you want depending on where you park your vehicle. There are currently no signs saying "This way to the Devils Quoits".
Route 1. (c.450 metres from the car). Just outside Stanton Harcourt of the B4449 a "Recycling Centre" is signposted if you follow the signs to it, then continue just past it you will see a small parking area on your left next to the lake (almost opposite a weighbridge), I think this is where you are supposed to park. the parking area is at the southern end of the lake, there is a gravel path with a wire fence on either side leading off around the lake from the corner of the parking area, follow this path and it will take you around the lake to the Devils Quoits, there are some newly planted trees that you will walk past, when the trees on your right finish, turn sharply around the end of the trees and walk up the slope, you should be at the entrance to the Devils Quoits, there is an information board here.
note: the road to the recycling centre is gated and will be locked when the recycling centre is shut.
Route 2. (1100metres from the car) Go southwards out of Stanton Harcourt immediately as you leave the village there is a footpath sign on your right, continue a short distance along the road there is a cemetery on your left with some parking outside (also some parking on the other side of the road) park your car here. follow the footpath you just saw though the gate and follow the concrete roadway straight until it ends, at the end of the roadway there is a big fence with a path through it and the trackway bears round to the right, follow the trackway for a few metres and there is a stile with a 'permissive footpath' arrow, taker this route it will lead you to the lake, then walk southwards (to your left) down the side of the lake and you will come to the Devils Quoits.
If you walk in from Stanton Harcourt you could potentially visit pretty much anytime you like, there were plenty of people walking their dogs around the henge.
The rabbits are having a great time burrowing in the ditches and banks.
Description of the site prior to restoration, by Celia Haddon:
This is the site near Stanton Harcourt on land worked by Hanson Waste Management belonging to All Souls. Nothing much to see - a largish mound (landscaping thanks to Hanson rather than nature, I suspect), a vague outline of a henge, one huge stone on its side, two other big ones half buried, and some large boulders carefully preserved by the waste people, which are stacked up in case they might be needed for reconstruction. Group visits are possible, but by appointment only.
Note: British Archaeology Magazine July/August 2009 issue has an article about The Devil's Quoits.See comment.
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 Devils Quoits submitted by NickyD
IMG_3809The whole circle in sunshine
(NickyD)Image copyright: stonesearcher, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.
 Devils Quoits submitted by NickyD
IMG_3803Half of the Devil's QuoitsImage copyright: stonesearcher, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.
 Devils Quoits submitted by NickyD
IMG_3787A holed stone (I think natural!)
(NickyD)Image copyright: stonesearcher, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.
 Devils Quoits submitted by NickyD
IMG_3783The Devil's Quoits info board
(NickyD)Image copyright: stonesearcher, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.
 Devils Quoits submitted by Flickr
Devil's Quoits stone circle. Thames Path. River Thames. England
My photos on canvas @ www.experimentalist.co.uk/category/travelphotosImage copyright: ttwff, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.
 Devils Quoits submitted by neolithique02
Devil's Quoits - Image copyright: Néolithique02, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.
 Devils Quoits submitted by neolithique02
Devil's QuoitsImage copyright: Néolithique02, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.
 Devils Quoits submitted by neolithique02
 Devils Quoits submitted by Bladup
Devils Quoits henge.
 Devils Quoits submitted by Bladup
 Devils Quoits submitted by Bladup
 Devils Quoits submitted by Bladup
 Devils Quoits submitted by Bladup
 Devils Quoits submitted by Bladup
 Devils Quoits submitted by pab
Panoramic view - a complete surprise after the walk along the landfill site fence!
Photo, 12 March 2014
These are just 15 photos of Devils Quoits.
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Re: Devils Quoits (Score: 1)
by NickyD on Monday, 16 November 2015
(User Info | Send a Message) | Obviously a huge amount of effort has gone into restoring this site and I'm grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to see it. However it's surrounded by a noisy recycling centre and tractors turning over/hiding our waste in the fields next to it. It does have a lovely lake on one side with good wildlife and lots of young trees have been planted too. I'm sure in years to come when the area around it is wooded and when there’s little trace of the once landfill site, then this will be a magical place (with still maybe the distance hum of the recycling centre to contend with!!).
It would have taken me much longer to find the site if I hadn't had Hamish's route descriptions (thanks for that). I initially went for route 1 (as it looked the quickest!) but the parking area had a big sign up saying 'private' (there were also lots of people milling around so I couldn't really be discrete!!). I resigned myself to route 2 and parked fine. I was quite anxious going that way though (hence walking very briskly and sweating a little!!). The area that the concrete drive is on is very dodgy (for a woman walking on her own) as there's lots of derelict buildings for strange people to hide in (maybe I have an over active imagination!!). This would be fine if there's two of you but I think if I'd known this about route 2 then, I would have gone with my first choice and parked next to the recycling centre.
It's definitely an impressive site though and worth a visit. | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Devils Quoits (Score: 1)
by PAB on Wednesday, 12 March 2014
(User Info | Send a Message) | The kite photos from Hamish Fenton looked so interesting that we visited the Devil’s Quoits today – a very odd visit!
Luckily, I had remembered Hamish’s clear access description, or I would never have persisted. The high fence he mentions encloses an active landfill site – you will know you are getting near to the circle when you can hear the machinery and see the gulls.
Perhaps there is a better ambiance when the tractors aren’t moving the refuse next to the henge, with other lorries deading for the refuse treatment centre on the other side. When we visited, there was a fair amount of traffic bringing refuse in on 2 sides of the henge – to get a good picture, imagine Toy Story 2! OK – that’s possibly a bit strong...but until this phase of landfill ends, the site won’t score highly on Ambiance...but I don't want to be too critical, as many people will have put a lot of time & effort into rescuing this site.
I am not sure whether access option 1 as described by Hamish is still viable, but his route 2 is the one we followed – still no direction signs en route to indicate that the circle is there. Perhaps they are planned for when the circle can be enjoyed to the full - perfectly legitimate aim, so perhaps merely delay your visit until someone can report a more welcoming & less fragrant experience?
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Re: Devils Quoits (Score: 1)
by Runemage on Tuesday, 19 July 2011
(User Info | Send a Message) | No idea about marriage or a ceremony like a register-office but at a site, you'd be better asking a Registrar, they deal with ceremony as an official legal process which can't be held just anywhere. Handfastings are a form of legal marriage legal in Scotland, check with the PF for details.
However, Handfastings aren't a legal ceremony in England and Wales, so there's a lot of flexibility. I've seen them done at many ancient sites and they can be beautiful celebrations.
Do you follow any particular Path? There's usually someone in each community who is willing to officiate and organise handfastings, or at the very least give guidance, not just on the ceremony but how to respect the site as well. | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Devils Quoits (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Tuesday, 19 July 2011 | | hello I was wondering if there is any chance that marriage/ handIasting ceremonies can be held at this venue? =) zara and squig. | [ Reply to This ]
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British Archaeology Magazine July/August 2009 - The Devil's Work (Score: 1)
by Andy B on Friday, 04 December 2009
(User Info | Send a Message) | There were once striking prehistoric ritual monuments beside the Thames in Oxfordshire. But quarrying, an airfield and centuries of farming all but wiped them from the map. Then archaeologists decided to rebuild the most impressive. Could it be done? Gill Hey reports.
"Few areas in Britain", wrote Don Benson and David Miles in their archaeological survey of the upper Thames in 1972, "present a more dramatic saga of discovery and destruction" than that to the south and west of the village of Stanton Harcourt, 10km west of Oxford. The late neolithic stone circle and henge monument known as the Devil's Quoits has had a particularly chequered history.
More at
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba107/feat2.shtml | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: British Archaeology Magazine July/August 2009 (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Wednesday, 01 July 2009 | Hurrah - more mighty stones to venerate and more publicity for ancient monuments. There will be several people coming from Derbyshire to show our support and give thanks for all the hard work.
Keep rockin' | [ Reply to This ]
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British Archaeology Magazine July/August 2009 (Score: 1)
by coldrum on Tuesday, 30 June 2009
(User Info | Send a Message) | There is an article about The Devils Quoits in the July/August edition of British Archaeology.
Entitled the Devil's Work it describes the sorry history of the site and the recent reconstruction.
Also in this edition, Crathes Warren Field: A Neolithic complex in Scotland, Finding Lindow Man: Bog body from Cheshire found 25 years ago, Hambledon Hill: Neolithic excavations at the Hillfort plus other archaeology news and articles.
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba107/feat2.shtml | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Devils Quoits (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Friday, 12 September 2008 | News on this re-erected stone circle, borrowed from elsewhere.
Word has just been heard about the Devils Quoit's Re-Opening Day which is Saturday, 13 September, at the Quoits, Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire. (Follow the signs to Dix's Pit Waste Disposal Centre at the west of the village).
Opening is at 12noon and events continue until 4pm.
Granville Laws (who excavated the site) states that engineers and archaeologists who worked on the project will attend, and will talk about how they managed to pull off this reconstruction, and what they found.
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Reconstructing the Devil's Quoits (Score: 1)
by Andy B on Tuesday, 08 July 2008
(User Info | Send a Message) | Reconstructing the Devil's Quoits
By Liam Rogers
Place 7/8, Winter 2001
About six miles west of Oxford is a ruined circle-henge known as the Devil's Quoits at Stanton Harcourt (OS reference SP 411 048). Within a bank once around two metres high and around one hundred and fifty metres in diameter was a ditch and a circle of around thirty-five megaliths. The stone circle was around eighty metres in diameter. Assays from the ditch have yielded radiocarbon dates of 2060 +/-120 B.C.E. and 1640 +/-70 B.C.E., and suggest use from the later Neolithic until well into the Bronze Age. Late Neolithic grooved ware was found in a posthole[1].
The site has been largely destroyed, from Romano-British agricultural use, the construction of an airbase runway in 1940 and extensive gravel quarrying ever since. Now only part of the ditch fill remains, along with two buried stones and fragments of another.
The Reconstruction Plan
In 1940, Grimes excavated the site, leading to the scheduling of one of the three remaining stones which he left buried for safety. Further excavations in the early seventies and late eighties enabled the plan of the monument to be ascertained "with sufficient detail to allow a reconstruction of the stone circle and associated earthworks". Further stones were recovered during the investigations, although most have been lost during quarrying[2].
The Brief for Reconstruction Works[2] submitted by the waste company Greenways (now Hanson), which operates the site, to Oxfordshire County Council was approved in October 1998. Three specific aims were stated:
1. Restoration of the monument to a state of visual attractiveness;
2. Re-establishment of the setting and features of the monument;
3. Presentation of the monument to the public in an informed and meaningful way.
More at:
http://www.the-cutting-edge.freeserve.co.uk/place/quoits.htm | [ Reply to This ]
Re: Reconstructing the Devil's Quoits (Score: 1)
by Liam on Tuesday, 15 September 2009
(User Info | Send a Message) | | I wrote the article referred to by Andy here. It was a very general piece written quite early in the reconstruction process. A later, more detailed article of mine appeared in 3rd Stone #44 in 2002 (back issue available from from the Megalithic Portal shop!). |
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[ Reply to This ]
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Excavations at the Devil's Quoits report (Score: 1)
by Andy B on Tuesday, 08 July 2008
(User Info | Send a Message) | This volume reports on three seasons of excavation conducted in advance of gravel extraction in 1972, 1973 and 1988 at the Devil's Quoits circle-henge monument near Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire. While the stones have gone, evidence has been uncovered for the complete plan. The stratigraphy of the henge ditch (including analysis of sediments and soils) is described.
Investigations in the interior uncovered very little pottery, but struck flint and animal bone was found. The construction and significance of the monument is discussed. A gazetteer and review of local pre-Iron Age sites places it in its ancient context, while proposals for its preservation and partial reconstruction as a cultural amenity look to its future.
Only £8.50+p&p Published price £18, a saving of over 50%
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/shop/archaeology_books_2.htm | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Devils Quoits (Score: 1)
by TheCaptain on Saturday, 05 July 2008
(User Info | Send a Message) | This henge and stone circle has now been completely reconstructed using original stones and original sockets where possible. A full "re-opening" is to be held sometime in August, I believe.
Time for some nice new pictures and descriptions of this re-born circle. | [ Reply to This ]
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 We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
 Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
 Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
 Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma. |
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