i don’t know the purpose or name of these 2 ‘markers’ or if they are connected to the circle itself, but if you look between them in the distance there is one more standing stone.
J
jezzer
i believe this is the remains of a prehistoric copper mine – don’t know the age...
Image credit: jezzer
Image credit: jezzer
One of the most intriguing stories about the cross (hinted at but not explained on the Bucks CC website) is that the present day cross shape was originally a large phallic shape. The Bucks CC site mentions that it has almost certainly been altered since the 18th C; I can imagine what both the Church and pious villagers in the Vale below had to say about a hundred foot dick in full view every day. I only wish there was evidence for the original shape, so they could spend their 75,000 quid restoring it to that!
This fantastic site is right on the ancient Ridgeway path, along a section of its eastern end, and is part of the scarp slope of the Chilterns looking out over the Vale of Aylesbury and Didcot, Oxford etc. It (the Ridgeway) is full of power, an important route since at least Iron Age times. I love to stand up here looking out to the West and Northwest in the knowledge that the same path will lead past hundreds of other powerful ancient sites all the way to Avebury. This area is linked with other barrows, camps and sacred sites at for example Pulpit Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon. If you dig for a little background history this whole area comes alive, fitting in with the rest of prehistoric southern England like a jigsaw piece.
I’m just wondering if some of the people getting pissed were me or my friends, mentioned by the previous contributor – nothing wrong with a little ritual libation! What a place to meditate or mark a solstice (we’ve NEVER lit campfires though).