A trip to Derbyshire for the wedding of two of my favourite people, who also enjoy visiting the stones, was a great opportunity to see some of Derbyshires great sites. The day after the wedding I took off up north to see some of the amazing sites in Cumbria (The Lake District) before heading home. The five days I spent there with some great friends, who'd also come along for the wedding, were fantastic.
One of the 'must see' sites for me in Derbyshire is Five Wells (SK 124 711). This tomb is always presented as a passage tomb, and indeed this is what it appears to be. However, looking at it through the eyes of someone who has seen over 150 Irish portal tombs something isn't right. There are two passages here. One is small and leads to an undifferentiated chamber, the other one leads to a massive chamber that to me seems to be a portal tomb. There is a single back stone, two evenly matched side stones and two portal stones (see fig. 1). The site over looks a river in the valley below and the entrance faces east.
It would appear that an Irish-style portal tomb was built here at some point and it was later converted into a passage tomb by adding a passage to the front of the main portal tomb chamber and another passage to the west of it.
Next on the itinery; Arbor Low. Where do you start with this? This monument is a large henge, a circular raised bank with an internal ditch. The inner ditch creates a secluded inner platform within this enclosure. A lot of henges are empty within, but this one has what appears to be a fallen stone circle (see fig. 2), with all the stones lying flat upon the platform area. I have never seen a definite report saying whether the stones were ever once raised or not. This question adds to the mystery thatsurrounds such places.
The bank reaches over 2m abover the external ground level and over 6m above the base of the silted-up inner fosse, which is over 5m wide. The work-effort that went into constructing this is massive.
In the shadow of the great tor of Robin Hood's Stride we find Nine Stones Close (SK 225 626), also known as the Grey Ladies. From the name it must be presumed that once nine stones stood here, but now there are only four, each one around 2m tall (see fig. 3). A fifth stone can be spotted in a field wall a short distance away. Each stone seems to have its own character or personality. Each one is of different size and proportions. Taking what remains the circle would only have been 12m across, which with such large stones would have been a very impressive, but enclosing circle.
As mentioned above, Nine Stones Close is built in the shadow of the fabulous proto-temple like tor known as Robin Hood's Stride (SK 224 624). When you stand below this huge outcrop you can understand why a monument such as a stone circle should be built in its presence (see fig. 4).
From here it is not too far to reach Stanton Moor, where many fabulous monuments are situated. Sadly this area is much quarried and is currently threatened by further quarrying. Court battles rage to protect this area which is sacred to many and beautiful to all.
