Tony Garofalo
Nine Stones Close Stone Circle
Nine Stones Close is the remains of a 45ft diameter unbanked stone circle that most probably dates back to the Bronze Age. It is located approximately 5 miles north-west of the Derbyshire town of Matlock (“oak tree where meetings are held”), where it stands in a farmer’s field on Harthill ("Deer Hill") Moor, adjacent to the narrow road that runs between Alport (“old town”) and Elton (“farmstead where eels are got”). The circle is overtopped by an imposing rock outcrop known as Robin Hood’s Stride, which rises up from the moor a short distance away to the south-west. The outcrop may be the reason why the circle was constructed here. It is capped by two large stone pillars and when these were viewed from the centre of the circle during the Bronze Age, the moon would have been seen to set between them at midsummer.
Opinion is divided regarding the number of stones that originally constituted the circle, but there may once have been as many as eleven. The site was excavated in 1847 by Thomas Bateman who uncovered some imperfectly fired pottery sherds and a worked flint and he recorded that there were seven stones still standing back then. The four stones that remain today are the tallest in Derbyshire and range in height from 4ft to 7ft. Prior to its re-erection in 1936, the 7ft stone measured 11ft 6" long. Both it and its northern partner are now set in concrete. One of the missing stones now stands embedded within a nearby dry stone wall. It was apparently removed to serve as a gate post but the gate has subsequently been walled up.
Nine Stones Close stone circle is sometimes also referred to as “The Grey Ladies”. The name is based on a local tradition that the stones are transformed to dancing women at midnight. Others, however, claim that the transformation occurred the other way around and that the unfortunate ladies were transformed into the stones as they danced here at some late hour. Dancing and transformation are two myths commonly associated with prehistoric stone circles and just a mile away to the east on Stanton (“Farmstead on stony ground”) Moor there is another circle called Nine Ladies stone circle (www.flickr.com/photos/67668518@N08/11344032074/in/photost...) which is associated with a similar creation myth. In addition to all the dancing shenanigans Nine Stones Close stone circle is also said to be a place where the fairies sometimes meet and local folklore relates how fairy music has been heard and hundreds of mystical shapes have been seen dancing around the stones. A tale from the 19th century even tells of a farm labourer who found a clay pipe at the stones and when he smoked it he was able to peer through the surface of the earth near one of the stones and see a subterranean land inhabited by fairy folk.
The picture was taken looking northwards across Nine Stones Close stone circle. The four insets show each of the stones in slightly more detail, starting from the left southern stone and working around the circle in an anti-clockwise direction.
Nine Stones Close Stone Circle
Nine Stones Close is the remains of a 45ft diameter unbanked stone circle that most probably dates back to the Bronze Age. It is located approximately 5 miles north-west of the Derbyshire town of Matlock (“oak tree where meetings are held”), where it stands in a farmer’s field on Harthill ("Deer Hill") Moor, adjacent to the narrow road that runs between Alport (“old town”) and Elton (“farmstead where eels are got”). The circle is overtopped by an imposing rock outcrop known as Robin Hood’s Stride, which rises up from the moor a short distance away to the south-west. The outcrop may be the reason why the circle was constructed here. It is capped by two large stone pillars and when these were viewed from the centre of the circle during the Bronze Age, the moon would have been seen to set between them at midsummer.
Opinion is divided regarding the number of stones that originally constituted the circle, but there may once have been as many as eleven. The site was excavated in 1847 by Thomas Bateman who uncovered some imperfectly fired pottery sherds and a worked flint and he recorded that there were seven stones still standing back then. The four stones that remain today are the tallest in Derbyshire and range in height from 4ft to 7ft. Prior to its re-erection in 1936, the 7ft stone measured 11ft 6" long. Both it and its northern partner are now set in concrete. One of the missing stones now stands embedded within a nearby dry stone wall. It was apparently removed to serve as a gate post but the gate has subsequently been walled up.
Nine Stones Close stone circle is sometimes also referred to as “The Grey Ladies”. The name is based on a local tradition that the stones are transformed to dancing women at midnight. Others, however, claim that the transformation occurred the other way around and that the unfortunate ladies were transformed into the stones as they danced here at some late hour. Dancing and transformation are two myths commonly associated with prehistoric stone circles and just a mile away to the east on Stanton (“Farmstead on stony ground”) Moor there is another circle called Nine Ladies stone circle (www.flickr.com/photos/67668518@N08/11344032074/in/photost...) which is associated with a similar creation myth. In addition to all the dancing shenanigans Nine Stones Close stone circle is also said to be a place where the fairies sometimes meet and local folklore relates how fairy music has been heard and hundreds of mystical shapes have been seen dancing around the stones. A tale from the 19th century even tells of a farm labourer who found a clay pipe at the stones and when he smoked it he was able to peer through the surface of the earth near one of the stones and see a subterranean land inhabited by fairy folk.
The picture was taken looking northwards across Nine Stones Close stone circle. The four insets show each of the stones in slightly more detail, starting from the left southern stone and working around the circle in an anti-clockwise direction.