My phone has been pinging a lot this morning, my daughter and Andrew are having a short break, firstly in an Airbb in Hull over the weekend and then today driving to Ilkey Moor. I mentioned that the Twelve Apostle stone circle was somewhere, and sure enough a very short video of them at the windswept stone circle has just arrived, triumphantly I might say;) Also she found me a curlew atop a weather vane. Like sending children off on a treasure hunt for goodness sake.
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| Twelve Apostle stone circle on Ilkley Moor. By Adam Guy, Wikipedia |
Stone circles are dotted all over Britain, but, and this may become a surprise, I reckon the North ruled rather than the South. The Isle of Lewis with its great Callanish complex is an advanced temple of sophistication and the archaeology of settlements and burial around Scotland are striking.
Many go to stone circles in expectation of a religious experience, as I have already pointed out earlier at Stonehenge. Though we cannot say for certain stone circles were centres for worship. Paul always reckoned make some hurdles, fit them round the circle and you have a cattle pound, they do have a profound sense of something that appeals to the soul though, maybe because they have survived in isolated places and the landscape enfolds them in an embrace. It is said that the mountains ranged round Castle Rigg stone circle just outside Keswick in the Lake District are imitated by the stones.
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| Callanish stones on the Isle of Lewis. attr; to Netvor - Wikipedia |
Yesterday I wrote in a hurry, such a busy life I don't think! But one of the things I wanted to put down on my blog, if not on paper, was the fact that Callanish maybe have been hailed by the Roman writer Diodorus Siculus ...... But there again speculation reigns!
This island...is situated North and is inhabited by the Hyperboreans... And there is also on the island both a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollo and a notable temple which is adorned with many votive offerings and spherical in shape.... They say that the Moon, as viewed from this island, appears to be but a little distance from the Earth and to have upon it prominences like those of the Earth, which are visible to the eye. The account is also given that the God visits the island every nineteen years, the period in which the return of the stars to the same place in the heavens is accomplished.
I have tucked that away in my little storehouse of knowledge for my next trip through. I'd like to see one of these stone circles with my own eyes.
ReplyDeleteWell don't go to Stonehenge it costs a bomb. Avebury stone circle is free but not the car park.
ReplyDeleteYou have captured my interest again, thank you!
ReplyDeletePrehistoric stones have many stories to tell. For instance where there female and male stones, you can almost see it down the Avenue at Avebury. Why did they drag bluestones from Wales to Stonehenge (or did they?) was it for aesthetic value?
DeleteWe need some mysteries in our lives. Making up theories is a great pastime.
DeleteWonderful layouts.
ReplyDeleteThe more you study the stones the less like the people of the stones are seen as 'The Flintstones' Joanne.
DeleteThat is the latest thinking from many archaeologists; that civilisation in those distant times may well have been centred on Orkney rather than somewhere further south. Stonehenge would be an awful lot of trouble to go to just to pen up some cattle overnight, wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes, but speculation is fun! Enter the world of leylines and trail around the magnetic pull of the Earth. I have just added Diodorus Siculus the Roman writer words on the subject of the 'Great temple up North'
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