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FALKNER’S
CIRCLE
By Karen Douglas & Steve Alexander
SU111692
There is a little known stone circle that lies to the
North West of the Avebury Stone Avenue. There is now only one remaining
stone and it was discovered by Mr Falkner, of Devizes, in 1840 along
with two other fallen stones alongside it.
Falkner’s Stone
Kayleigh found the name hilarious – Mr Falkner was her head teacher!
© Steve Alexander 2000
| The site is
now marked with a simple wooden sign, which reads "Site of
Falkner’s stone circle", and despite its obscure status
it is very easy indeed to reach. If you park your car (or walk)
to the small pull-in right at the southern end of the Avebury
Avenue and cross the road you will see that there is a right of
way down the side of the field. Follow the hedgerow for about
350 yards you will reach a gap and just on the other side of the
hedgerow you will find quietly tucked away a low but wide stone,
with its accompanying sign. |
The surviving Stone
© Steve Alexander |
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The stone
is now nested in a great many stinging nettles and other wild
plants, during our visit (in May 2000) they were of such as
height as to obscure a far part of the stone,
which despite its low stature is really quite beautiful.
Growing on the stone are several different kinds of lichen and
possibly mosses, which create contrasting patterns and colours
all over the face of the stone.
Contrasting Patterns & Colour
© Steve Alexander |
| At the top
of the stone there are two small indentations, which look as
though they have been holding small pools of water since time
immemorial. Although empty at the time of our visit they had a
distinct red colour to their interior, we wondered if this had
to do with either the stone itself or weather it was something
about the water.
Water Pools?
© Steve Alexander
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Behind the stone was a
small pile of smaller broken stones, again we wondered if these were
the broken remains of the other two fallen stones Mr Falkner had
discovered or if they were just large boulders that the farmer had
cleared from his field. We had noticed other large sarsen type
stones in the hedgerow as we had walked to the site, were these also
cleared or were they remains of the stone avenue of Avebury.
Broken Stones
© Steve Alexnader |
Digging through our books we found little information about this site.
Mr Falkner had also observed nine hollows which marked out a circle of 36m
(120ft) wide. None of the hollows are now visible and it is impossible to
tell where this remaining stone would have stood within the circle. Mr
Falkners plan had no compass bearings or field boundaries marked on it.
However archaeologists believe that the surviving stone stood on the
western side of the circle with the rest of the circle lying further up
the slope.
From this position good views were possible of the barrows near West
Kennett House and an unusual view of the Avenue. From here, you could
almost feel something of this ancient landscape with out the trappings of
the modern busy road and the car parks full of tourists. This was a
delightful spot and regardless of the size of our find, a place we would
no doubt visit again. This charming place felt like something of secret
sanctuary, a place to sit and think.
Karen Douglas & Steve Alexander
Have you seen the CROP
CIRCLE YEAR BOOK 2000
A pictorial tour of crop circles and their landscapes
By Steve Alexander & Karen Douglas? |
