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  Shown within Cornwall | |
| Location | Bodmin Moor, Cornwall |
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| Coordinates | 50°35′22″N4°39′01″W / 50.589546°N 4.650258°W Coordinates: 50°35′22″N4°39′01″W / 50.589546°N 4.650258°W |
| Type | Stone circle |
| History | |
| Periods | Bronze Age |
Stannon stone circle (also known as Stannon circle or simply Stannon) is a stone circle located near St. Breward on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England.
Stannon takes its name from the nearby farm and is sited between two streams on the gentle slopes of Dinnever Hill, two and a half miles southeast of Camelford. [1] It is overlooked on one side by a massive china clay works that now blights the landscape. The circle's remoteness is part of its charm with only the wild animals of the moor likely to be encountered. [2]
Stannon stone circle is a fine example of a Cornish ring and contains 47 upright stones, 30 recumbent and 2 displaced regularly spaced within an impressive 42.6 metres (140 ft) by 40.5 metres (133 ft) metre circle with four outlying, jagged stones. The stones average size is around 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) with the largest stone in the group having a base width of over 1.2 metres (3.9 ft). [3] Like Fernacre, Stannon is an example of Alexander Thom's Type A flattened circle, being noticeably flattened on the north side. [4] The circle dates from either the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. Aubrey Burl and contended that they may be earlier in date than other circles in the southern area of the moors such as the Stripple stones. [5] John Barnatt suggested this dating and surveyed the site. [6]
Excavations in the area of Stannon Down were carried out by R. J. Mercer in the late 1960s. [7] He was able to study eight unenclosed round house sites that were suggested to be a settlement of over twenty, approximately 6 metres (20 ft) to 8 metres (26 ft) metres in diameter covering an area of approximately 150 metres (490 ft) x 100 metres (330 ft) with fields for farming along with rectangular enclosures tentatively identified as corrals or used for stock control and have shown that the area would have been close to mixed oak woodlands and oaks would have grown in the area that would probably have been cleared in the first phases of settlement. [8] Houses were constructed of posts, supporting thatched roofs, partitioned with wood with paved or compressed earth floors, incorporating drainage and furniture. Pottery, flint tools were discovered along with a whetstone that suggested the possibility of metal blades. The settlement was estimated to have a population of around one hundred people and dated to the Middle Bronze Age, a later date than suggested for the circle itself. [9]
When standing in the supposed centre of Stannon Circle, a point between twenty-two and twenty-eight degrees north from east is marked by Rough Tor. [10] Matthew Gregory Lewis found a relation of these monuments to the neighbouring hills which indicated that they were designed with special consideration of the position of the sunrise at certain times of year. [11] Andy M. Jones reviews studies of the area and called Stannon a Ceremonial Complex. [7]
The Nine Ladies is a stone circle located on Stanton Moor in Derbyshire in the English East Midlands. The Nine Ladies is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circles' builders.
The Hurlers is a group of three stone circles in the civil parish of St Cleer, Cornwall, England, UK. The site is half-a-mile (0.8 km) west of the village of Minions on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor, and approximately four miles (6 km) north of Liskeard at grid reference SX 258 714.
Swinside, which is also known as Sunkenkirk and Swineshead, is a stone circle lying beside Swinside Fell, part of Black Combe in southern Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 recorded stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BC, during what archaeologists categorise as the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages.
The Merry Maidens, also known as Dawn's Men is a late neolithic stone circle located 2 miles (3 km) to the south of the village of St Buryan, in Cornwall, United Kingdom. A pair of standing stones, The Pipers is associated both geographically and in legend.
Boscawen-Ûn is a Bronze Age stone circle close to St Buryan in Cornwall, UK. It consists of nineteen upright stones in an ellipse with another, leaning, middle stone just south of the centre. There is a west-facing gap in the circle, which may have formed an entrance. The elliptical circle has diameters 24.9 and 21.9 metres. It is located at grid reference SW412274.
Doll Tor is a stone circle located just to the west of Stanton Moor, near the village of Birchover, Derbyshire in the English East Midlands. Doll Tor is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circles' builders.
Tregeseal East is a heavily restored prehistoric stone circle around one mile northeast of the town of St Just in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The nineteen granite stones are also known as The Dancing Stones. It is the one surviving circle of three that once stood aligned along an east–west axis on the hillside to the south of Carn Kenidjack.
Boskednan stone circle is a partially restored prehistoric stone circle near Boskednan, around 4 miles northwest of the town of Penzance in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The megalithic monument is traditionally known as the Nine Maidens or Nine Stones of Boskednan, although the original structure may have contained as many as 22 upright stones around its 69-metre perimeter.
St Breward is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is on the western side of Bodmin Moor, about 6 miles (10 km) north of Bodmin. At the 2011 census the parish population including Cooksland and Fentonadle was 919.
Craddock Moor Stone Circle or Craddock Moor Circle is a stone circle located near Minions on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, UK. It is situated around half a mile Northwest of The Hurlers.
Duloe stone circle or Duloe circle is a stone circle near the village of Duloe, located 5 miles (8.0 km) from Looe in southeast Cornwall, England, UK.
Fernacre, also known as Fernacre stone circle or Fernacre circle, is a stone circle located on the slopes of the De Lank River, 1.25 miles (2.01 km) northeast of St Breward on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall in the United Kingdom.
Goodaver, Goodaver stone circle or Goodaver circle is a stone circle located in the parish of Altarnun, near Bolventor on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, UK.
The Trippet stones or Trippet stones circle is a stone circle located on Manor Common in Blisland, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north northeast of Bodmin on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, UK. The Stripple stones are nearby.
The Stripple stones is a henge and stone circle located on the south slope of Hawk's Tor, Blisland, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north northeast of Bodmin on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England, UK.
The Nine Stones is a stone circle 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south southeast of Altarnun, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) west of Launceston on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, UK.
The stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany are a megalithic tradition of monuments consisting of standing stones arranged in rings. These were constructed from 3300 to 900 BCE in Britain, Ireland and Brittany. It has been estimated that around 4,000 of these monuments were originally constructed in this part of north-western Europe during this period. Around 1,300 of them are recorded, the others having been destroyed.
Brown Willy is a hill in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The summit, at 1,378 feet above sea level, is the highest point of Bodmin Moor and of Cornwall as a whole. It is about 2+1⁄2 miles northwest of Bolventor and 4 miles southeast of Camelford. The hill has a variable appearance that depends on the vantage point from which it is seen. It bears the conical appearance of a sugarloaf from the north but widens into a long multi-peaked crest from closer range.
Nine Stones Close, also known as the Grey Ladies, is a Bronze Age stone circle located near Youlgreave in Derbyshire. It sits within a local prehistoric landscape that includes Bronze Age barrows and settlement enclosures, and is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of the monument is unknown, although archaeologists have speculated that the stones represented supernatural entities.
Withypool Stone Circle, also known as Withypool Hill Stone Circle, is a stone circle located on the Exmoor moorland, near the village of Withypool in the southwestern English county of Somerset. The ring is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders.
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