Broad Stones, Clatford, Wiltshire

Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SU 161 684

Also Known as:

  1. Clatford Stone Circle

Archaeology & History

John Aubrey’s early drawing (soz about the crap quality)

Also known as the Clatford Circle, it was described by both of the old pioneers, John Aubrey and William Stukeley: Aubrey saying the monument could be found “in a lane leading from Kennet to Marlborough… (consisting) of eight huge large stones, roughly hewn… in a circle, which never could be by chance.”  Will Stukeley reckoned that four other stones close by, “may possibly have been the beginning of an avenue.”  We might never know for sure.

The local Avebury authority, Pete Glastonbury, showed us a spot which he thinks may have been the where the circle stood, and where a couple of decent-looking stones lay by the side of the track that could have once been a part of this circle.  It looked as good a contender as anything else.  Has all trace of this monument truly been destroyed?

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, Prehistoric Avebury, Yale University Press 2002.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian