The Great Stone Circles – How they Work Part 5b

Submitted by JACKME on Thursday, 30 June 2005 Page Views: 3518

**Swinside** submitted by JACKME : The 'lying dagger' stone at Swinside. See The Great Stone Circles - How they Work, for further information. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Shapes of Stones part 2

This week we continue with the theme of the shapes of stones at the Great Stone Circles which have either been very carefully selected or laboriously worked into their desired shape. All of the diagrams following are not to scale as the size of the stones varies from circle to circle, but they will hopefully provide a guide to the rough shapes which commonly occur and give an idea of what each one signifies.

Multiple Use Stones

All of the stones have more than one use, normally two or three. Some stones have several lines passing through them in different places from a common back sight, due to the fact that the moon travels further north and south in its 27.5-day cycle than the sun does in its yearly cycle. This provides lines which are very close together, passing through one stone, and makes it necessary for those stones to have several points, edges, and dips acting as sight line markers. A good example of this is the chair shaped stone at Wet Withens on Eyam Moor in Derbyshire.

Moon shapes

As you can see from the following diagram, there are several shapes generally marking the ends of the moon sectors. The last two shapes appear to be moon markers and in those circles that do not have one of these, the Long Meg type takes its place. This stone normally has a diagonal line on it, perhaps representing the central leg of the Z. This Z with a line looks as if it could be the origin of the Pictish symbol.

All of these moon shapes are often found in ‘stand alone’ observation sites and it is their shape which is often the first clue to the complex. Examples include The Shepherd and Two Dogs in Caithness .

Sun Types

Similarly there are several types representing the sun as seen here. The foresight for the full sun, both rising and setting is often a flat topped stone with a slight hump somewhere along its top, normally not central. A good example of this is The Bullstones at Wincle near Macclesfield as can be seen in this photograph taken this year at the midsummer sunrise. All of these descriptions have to be taken generally as each circle appears to have had its own interpretation of the building regulations! In other places the sun tops are flat and nearly level, having been broken across the grain of the stone.

Finally we will take a look at those stones designed to represent the sunrise or sunset at the solstices.

Solstice sunrise or sunset at full orb

This type of stone, which is fairly rare, is marked by a spoon shaped stone as pictured here. Examples can be found at Swinside , Barnhouse Stone, Maeshowe and Drizzlecombe. The largest of this type is seen at Carnac.

Solstice sunrise or sunset gleam,

The solstice sunrise or sunset gleam is marked by a ‘lying dagger’ shaped stone. These were never standing and are found in the Great Circles of the Swinside series, and at some prediction sites.

The best example is seen at Swinside (see photo above) with the thickest end normally lying towards the sun. The quality of the shaping of these stones varies tremendously. That at Lacra is very rough. Others I had been referring to as ‘ridge backed coffin stones’, not realising that this stone shape represented both solstice sunrises and sunsets until the 19th December 2004 when a well shaped stone was seen at the Cloven Stone , a prediction site on Thwaites Fell, at sunrise. This must have been a very early site as a natural rock is used as the pointer stone.

Next week I shall begin to look at the moon cycles.

Contents page for the whole series is here

Note: This is the seventh of a series of previously unpublished articles by retired farmer, Jack Morris-Eyton.

Contributor Bio for JACKME: Based in CUMBRIA, contributing since 2004. Favourite site: SWINSIDE. Occupation: RETIRED.

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