Three generations in the household, gentle bitching going on, what are we going to do today? Hebden Bridge and tea and cakes have been dismissed there is a Pride festival going on. Chicken roast and everything else under the sun has been decided for lunch and then a walk around Tod and try and find a decent café for cake and tea.
I have been toying with writing about Stanton Drew stone circle, visited many a time in the bleak months of winter, why I don't know. Such places appeal to the soul, the steadfastness of the stones in their landscape.
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| The 'jumble' |
It was like the photo of the stone in Switzerland, unless the farmer could move it, or worse, blow it up, these stones remain forever dotting the landscape.
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| My favourite stone which I nicknamed the Lion Stone |
Things I remember about the stone circle is the two young men standing in the lee of a stone out of the wind, one playing a harmonica, the thin piercing noise seeming so light against the weight of the stones. Once in summer with Paul we came across a 'dowser' called Paul Daws someone who believed in magnetic forces under the earth, mostly to do with water. In leyline terminology you could join up churches with stones many miles distant. Try doing it with a ruler, it is easy, too easy some might say. Both skills are decried by woo-woo people, but then plain fact can be boring.
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| The remains of the avenue |
Stanton Drew largest circle of the three, is the second largest in the country, and yet it stands outside the mainstream of importance, Stonehenge and Avebury dominating.
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| See how the church tries to dominate the stones. These three stones are in the local pub and called 'The Cove' though now they are seen as part of a Neolithic barrow. |
Intriguingly, the stones are on top of an earlier wooden circle, nineteen concentric circles.
Whilst looking for Paul Daws, I came across the 'Solstice Operation'. It was the time of the stand off between police and travellers at the Stonehenge Festival. A time in history that marked change in how we viewed the police in 1985.
And magic mushrooms grow in abundance within Stanton Drew stone circle.
ReplyDeleteI have seen many a magic mushroom but never any at Stanton Drew, there were always sheep or young cattle grazing Tom.
DeleteThey always grow where sheep graze. Trust me, I know. The sheep maybe all off their heads throughout the late Summer.
DeleteI have found many at Stanton Drew.
DeleteThe unwarranted heavy-handedness of the police supported by the so-called "authorities" reminds me very much of what happened here in South Yorkshire during the miners' strike. And I think: Why? The festival goers were peace-loving travellers or "hippies" or just people who believed in other realities. Why were they so feared? The "authorities" should have been setting up a campground with portaloos and a water supply. This would have cost far less than helicopter surveillance and busing in cops who were looking for a punch-up with such soft targets. They thought they could get away with it. Bastards!
ReplyDeleteThe heavy handed vicious approach of the police was terrible, and it was spotlighted at the time by many people who spoke up. They have changed their behaviour now, but the putting down of strikes by the police was another stain on the character of PC Plod. They beat people up for the pleasure of it given rein.
DeleteIt all reminded me of a day when my first husband and I went somewhere in the Yorkshire Dales with friends while we were staying with them. We went to an area absolutely covered with erratics I think they were called. Have you any idea where they are? It must have been fortyy ears ago. They were very impressive and had been there since the ice age.y
ReplyDeleteGoogled it Pat maybe it is the Norber Erratics, near Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales. Labelled the finest glacial erratics in England.
DeleteI've just watched a good bit of that programme as I wait for a friend to arrive. How the Police got away with that thuggery beggars belief. On what grounds could they justify such an ambush? The convey was just driving on a public road. How does that break the law? Then beating people up to the point of hospitalisation. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteI think the Wiltshire police had a bit of a reputation at the time Jennie. They were given freedom to run rampage and they did, treating the young folk like second rate inferiors.
DeleteI just switched on Thelma because (like things do when you get to my age) the words Norber Erratics popped into my head. Yes - they were very impressive.
ReplyDeleteNorbert erratics.I remember them well from my A level geography days 50 plus years ago at least.It is not a name you forget.
DeleteI'm smiling at the thought of 'gentle bitching.' My husband's large family are known for what I term recreational argumentation. When challenged they call it 'discussion.'
ReplyDeleteArgument can be very creative I think, my grandfather used to say of me arguing, that I would argue black was white even knowing all the time that it was black.
DeleteThat sort of argumentation sounds familiar!
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