Hoarstones

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The Hoarstones, with Corndon Hill in the background

The Hoarstones (or Hoar Stone Circle) form a stone circle in the civil parish of Chirbury with Brompton in Shropshire. The circle comprises 38 stones, all less than three feet high.[1]

Description

The stone circle comprises 37 stones and one central stone, all composed of dolerite.[2] The circle has a diameter of 72 feet.[2] The site lies upon a south-east slope of marshy ground, not far from the north end of a former glacial lake, of which the Marsh Pool is a remnant.[2] There are two small mounds in the north-west of the circle that may be the remnants of barrows.[2]

The circle is also known as Black Marsh, Hemford and Marsh Pool Circle.[3] There are holes drilled in some of the stones, but these date from a much later period, when local miners would use the stones during wedding celebrations by filling the holes with gunpowder and setting it off.[3]

The Hoarstones may have a connection to the similar circle nearby at Mitchell's Fold, and a third circle formerly to the south known as the Whetstones.[4]

References

  1. Castleden, R. Neolithic Britain: new stone age sites of England, Scotland, and Wales, Routledge, 1992, pp.163-4, ISBN 978-0-415-05845-2
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Historic England. "Hoar Stone Circle (107454)". PastScape. http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=107454. Retrieved 4 August 2015 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Burl, A. A guide to the stone circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press, 2005, p.74
  4. Burl, p.75

Outside links

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