The New Oxfordshire 'Stone Circles'

For the start of the 3rd Millennium (on whichever date you chose for that to start), Oxfordshire acquired two new stone 'circles'.

[For all pictures, click on the thumbnail for a larger image]

 

hagbourne_circle.jpg (37043 bytes)The Circle at East Hagbourne was completed in late 2000, and in the focal point of Didcot's Millennium Wood.

 Unfortunately, as the woodland is still very young - they were only able to plant much of the wood this year, due to the very wet winter of 2000/2001.  This means that the view from the circle is hardly awe-inspiring - Didcot is not very photogenic!  While this is a true circle of 12 stones, and was apparently aligned with certain energy lines, it has been laid out more in a 'clock face', and doesn't offer any sight alignments to the sunrise and sunset of the solstices or equinxoes etc. 

The accompanying photo is about the best view to be had at the moment - hopefully as the trees grow, the atmosphere will improve as the circle becomes more secluded.

 

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The West Lockinge circle is much more impressive, even if its not actually a circle, but a semi-circle! 

The idea has obviously been given a lot of thought, as its laid out as a sundial/solar observatory - the 12 stones are all really pairs, as each has a 2cm slit down the middle - it is thru this slit that sunlight shines as a thin shaft of light at the (solar) 'hour' - which of course will look more impressive in midwinter with the low sun.  There are also markers behind the 'midday' stone, where the shadow midday falls at the two solstices and equinoxes. 

Another stone is set up along the alignment of the winter/summer solstice sunrise/sunsets, and another neat touch of a hole bored right thru both stones that lined up with the sunrise for 1st January 2000 - the start of the 3rd Millennium - all pretty neat. 

There are another two stones on the avenue leading up from the road.  The one at the bottom is a sort of marker where you should stand at the solar midday - on any day.  The stone up the hill has a stainless-steel curved reflector that shines the sun's rays back to the lower stone at solar midday, so causing a burst of sunlight - this place wasn't thrown together! 

This very interesting set of stones isn't all, though, as in the middle of the stone semi-circle, on the ground are flat stones (actually concrete circles) with stainless steel outer rings - that depict the solar system as on 1st January 2000 - although not to scale (the representation of Pluto is commented that it should be the size of an apple positioned at Greenwich!).

Well worth a visit, and what struck me was that it may be a possible skywatch site, as the stone semi-circle is in a 'clearing' on top of a small hill, so there is a good view all round - at least until the trees grow higher.

The accompanying photos will hopefully give a flavour of this very interesting and well thought out site. (Apologies for the difficulty in reading the inscriptions on the stainless-steel plaques - but very shiny steel isn't easy to photograph!)

 

 The New Stones at Blewbury ;-)

Suitably inspired by other new standing stones, I have now commenced erecting 'megaliths' in my back garden - how impressive do they look?