merrivale double stone rows.
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these slightly converging double rows -the southern row is offset by 2 degrees from the general east west orientation – are thought to align across from one another with significant positions of the sun and moon and in turn with points on the horizon. the shadows from the rising and setting of the sun at the solstices are said to touch the major stones of the opposite row. this complex however would have had implications beyond these orientations and while its importance is undeniable it would not be limited to it. for it doesn’t in itself explain its extensive context or its ceremonial ambitions. that would suggest a larger intention for its existence and its cosmological importance to its creators and users. but intention changes over time and with it its meaning and usage. what might have been true for its creators would have been reinterpreted of reformed by its later users. the ceremonial complex predates by some 500 years the extensive settlement site that lies to the northeast of the stone rows across longash common. that suggests it was in continual use from the late neolithic well into the bronze and possible later. the settlement includes some 40 bronze age hut circles or round houses and four large enclosures first down from the complex and as it makes its way eastwards uphill towards rundlestone. most of the houses lie outside of the enclosures perhaps suggesting a different preserve. cordoned off from the rest of the population for special tribal purposes or designed to pen in livestock with the internal huts being used for shelter. |
