Friday
Last time I explained how sunset at the summer solstice did not appear to take place behind St Twynnells church, or over the Devils Quits, as observed form the Harold Stone. If all this is incomprehensible to you, then you have not read the previous episodes. You will also recall how I had learned that due to variations in the earths motion around the sun, the angle of the sunset would have been different in the Bronze age. The problem for me was to find out where you would see the sun set from the Harold Stone several thousand years ago. The answer was with a computer and a piece of software called Sky Map Pro.
Skymap allows you to visualise the night sky (and the day sky come to that) at any time in the future or past. But what time period should I be looking for?
Luckily, the Dyfed Archaeological Trust carried out an extensive excavation on the Devils Quoit on Stackpole Warren in between 1977 and 1979, and this was reported on in Current Archaeology No. 82, in May 1982. Carbon dates from the excavation ranged from 1390 BC to 160 BC, so I decided to go for 1200 BC, which seemed to be the fairest Bronze age date to take from the evidence of the dig. The first surprise to me (a novice in these matters) was that using our modern dating system, the solstice was not on 21 June in 1200 BC. It was on 3 July, with the sun setting at 2038GMT. The bearing of the sun at the time of setting, relative to the Harold Stone was just over 312 degrees (312 degs 1 min 15 secs to be precise).
I eagerly plotted this on the map only to find that this placed the sun just to the right of the church on the horizon, but precisely in line with the Devils Quoit. In truth I had hoped that the sun would set behind the church as I felt tempted to believe that the church was, somehow, part of a grander scheme of alignments, and its location on the horizon, more or less in line with the two standing stones was more than just a coincidence. This was not to be! The sun, in the Bronze age, set to the right of the church, over the roof of the much later cottage abutting the east of the churchyard. You can see the cottage in question in a photo in an earlier post, showing the view eastward from the top of St Twynnells church tower.
I had to be content with the Harold Stone and the Devils Quoit being aligned on the summer solstice sunset, but whether by chance or design was arguable.
As part of my researches into the history of St Twynnells parish, I was keen to have a look at the remains of Lay, which was a very derelict house in a copse on the land belonging to Loveston Farm, which sits about half a mile south of St Twynnells church. I duly made arrangements with the farmer, Mr Morris, to gain access to the site, and whilst walking through the farmyard at Loveston stopped to look at the Loving Stone, that had sat in the yard seemingly for ever.
.jpg)
The stones under discussion are shown in the Google Earth extract below.
Google Earth file can be downloaded here, and this will give you then bigger picture!
http://sdrv.ms/SJ8c4h (This link broken at the moment! I am on to it!)
The Loving Stone has several stories attached to it, the main gist of them all being that it was customary for local lads and lasses to "pledge their troth" to one another at the stone, just like at the church alter........Hmmmnnnn.... Also, there is the suggestion that if it is ever moved, the farm will fall on hard times. It is not a "local" stone, but seems to be an igneous erratic from further north in the county.
This is where William Poyer's particular wishes for his burial shed much light on the origins of the stone in Loveston farmyard. Here is part of his will:
He asks........ for my body to be buried in the east [en]d of the the churchyard of the parish church of St Twynnells by the Long Stone which does there stand
As I have suggested before, if, in 1200 BC, you were sitting with your back against the face of the Harold Stone, and were looking northwest at the setting sun on the day of the summer solstice, you would see it drop below the horizon over the Long Stone mentioned in William Poyer's will. Did William know this? Is it coincidence? Is the alignment by design? Where is the Long Stone now?
The last question is perhaps the easiest to answer. It is in the farmyard at Loveston. It was probably dragged down the hill from the church yard, sometime after William Poyers death. Why move it? Did its pagan associations cause affront to a puritanical congregation? We will probably never know, but the clue to the Loving Stones original place is the tradition that local lovers "pledged their troth" at the stone. Of course, they probably did this on their wedding day at the church and the tradition moved, through half-heard tales, when the stone was dragged to Loveston.
What do you think?
Luckily, the Dyfed Archaeological Trust carried out an extensive excavation on the Devils Quoit on Stackpole Warren in between 1977 and 1979, and this was reported on in Current Archaeology No. 82, in May 1982. Carbon dates from the excavation ranged from 1390 BC to 160 BC, so I decided to go for 1200 BC, which seemed to be the fairest Bronze age date to take from the evidence of the dig. The first surprise to me (a novice in these matters) was that using our modern dating system, the solstice was not on 21 June in 1200 BC. It was on 3 July, with the sun setting at 2038GMT. The bearing of the sun at the time of setting, relative to the Harold Stone was just over 312 degrees (312 degs 1 min 15 secs to be precise).
I eagerly plotted this on the map only to find that this placed the sun just to the right of the church on the horizon, but precisely in line with the Devils Quoit. In truth I had hoped that the sun would set behind the church as I felt tempted to believe that the church was, somehow, part of a grander scheme of alignments, and its location on the horizon, more or less in line with the two standing stones was more than just a coincidence. This was not to be! The sun, in the Bronze age, set to the right of the church, over the roof of the much later cottage abutting the east of the churchyard. You can see the cottage in question in a photo in an earlier post, showing the view eastward from the top of St Twynnells church tower.
I had to be content with the Harold Stone and the Devils Quoit being aligned on the summer solstice sunset, but whether by chance or design was arguable.
As part of my researches into the history of St Twynnells parish, I was keen to have a look at the remains of Lay, which was a very derelict house in a copse on the land belonging to Loveston Farm, which sits about half a mile south of St Twynnells church. I duly made arrangements with the farmer, Mr Morris, to gain access to the site, and whilst walking through the farmyard at Loveston stopped to look at the Loving Stone, that had sat in the yard seemingly for ever.
The stones under discussion are shown in the Google Earth extract below.
Google Earth file can be downloaded here, and this will give you then bigger picture!
http://sdrv.ms/SJ8c4h (This link broken at the moment! I am on to it!)
The Loving Stone has several stories attached to it, the main gist of them all being that it was customary for local lads and lasses to "pledge their troth" to one another at the stone, just like at the church alter........Hmmmnnnn.... Also, there is the suggestion that if it is ever moved, the farm will fall on hard times. It is not a "local" stone, but seems to be an igneous erratic from further north in the county.
.jpg) |
| Loveston farm, from the tower of St Twynnells church. |
This is where William Poyer's particular wishes for his burial shed much light on the origins of the stone in Loveston farmyard. Here is part of his will:
He asks........ for my body to be buried in the east [en]d of the the churchyard of the parish church of St Twynnells by the Long Stone which does there stand
As I have suggested before, if, in 1200 BC, you were sitting with your back against the face of the Harold Stone, and were looking northwest at the setting sun on the day of the summer solstice, you would see it drop below the horizon over the Long Stone mentioned in William Poyer's will. Did William know this? Is it coincidence? Is the alignment by design? Where is the Long Stone now?
The last question is perhaps the easiest to answer. It is in the farmyard at Loveston. It was probably dragged down the hill from the church yard, sometime after William Poyers death. Why move it? Did its pagan associations cause affront to a puritanical congregation? We will probably never know, but the clue to the Loving Stones original place is the tradition that local lovers "pledged their troth" at the stone. Of course, they probably did this on their wedding day at the church and the tradition moved, through half-heard tales, when the stone was dragged to Loveston.
What do you think?
Ref Harold Stone and Devil's Quoit - they are popular names around here. Would be helpful to know which ones you are talking about, and their location. But, interesting stuff, Adrian, keep going.
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