
Looking down on the Derwent Valley from the rock basin behind the Gorse Stone.
Looking down on the Derwent Valley from the rock basin behind the Gorse Stone.
The Gorse Stone with Stanton Moor rising behind.
Nice rock basin behind the Gorse Stone, looking over the edge of the moor towards Darley Dale.
Looking towards T2 cairn and the southern circle.
The Gorse Stone, November afternoon.
01/07. From the south.
Viewed from the stile on the track that leads northeast-southwest near the eastern edge of the moor.
Looking northwest with the moor behind.
03/02
Visited 27.5.13
On the way to the Nine Ladies stone circle the path Dafydd and myself took went right past the Gorse Stone.
Two large rocks sat on top of each other on a large rock outcrop.
The rocks stand approximately 2m high.
Unlike the Cork Stone this was easy enough to stand on top of and we both enjoyed the great views.
A nice sized boulder perched in a commanding position on the east side of the moor. From here there are views southwest and northeast along the moor edges while straight ahead to the northwest the land immediately drops away slightly before rising up to the gently rounded plateau where the modern track (which based on the proximity of the many monuments must have been where the prehistoric track lay) winds down towards the Nine Ladies. I can quite believe this formed a meeting point for people in the distant past to view the circles and cairns in front of them, it still does today, there were several walkers resting around the stone when I got there.
Can be seen from the Southern circle, on the eastern edge of the moor.
In J.P Heathcotes 1926 book on Stanton and Birchover. He says ’ according to Druidicial antiquarians ’ the Gorse Stone was the Gorsedd-dau, where the Druids spoke to the people from.