Avebury Stone Circle, Wiltshire

Image was taken with Nikon D300 and Nikon 18-200mm VR lens at 95mm ISO 320 1/125th f11

Friday 7th March 2008

And now for something different

Occasionally we plan to have a special edition newsletter, giving us the opportunity to look at a specific topic in greater detail, and this is the first of these. This feature edition is concentrating on one of the earliest parts of our heritage and one that in reality not a great deal is known about. Next week we will be back to our more usual format.

If you asked a load of people what was the oldest or most important heritage site we have in the UK, many would say Stonehenge, and built around the time of the pyramids it's a good starting point for us to consider our heritage within the British islands. Others might select Avebury of about the same age. There is one more similar site that far fewer are aware of, as it's not a tourist destination, although more original and in many ways more interesting. The feature that they, and around a thousand other sites, have is a stone circle. These are likely to be the remains of a number of different structures and have different uses, most are in country locations and represent photographers with a range of challenges.  How to take photographs of them or elements of them, how to try to tell a story and what the story could be.

This weeks photograph was taken at Avebury, it shows a part of the stone circle, and part of the West Kennet avenue beyond, some way away. This photograph is as taken, it's not a piece of cut and paste editing. It uses the technique those of you who have attended the Hands on a Nikon training day will recognise of changing perspective and closing up items by using a telephoto lens. To achieve this I needed to get the position right, so as to still have a curve on the circle, and select the aperture and focus point so as to have both enough depth of field to get it all in focus, as with a longer telephoto you will realise the depth of field is limited. The time of day was chosen so that we had the benefit of shadows, adding to the composition. In other stone circles I have different challenges to overcome, such as how to take a photograph of a very large item when I have no space to get back.

This week we have a number of articles on stone circles and where we usually have only one featured location that you could visit, this week we have 25, 22 of which are locations of stone circles and 3 representing other items that could perhaps be mistaken for them, plus we have a further 6 location guides, most of which have only fallen short of featured status as we haven't yet found a good photo to add, so 31 in total.

Some of this weeks featured location pages introduce a new feature, a photo rotator, this shows a series of photographs, in a single space on the page, but when you click on one, the selected image is shown in a separate window. As before, clicking on many of our smaller images, shows a larger one.

We are replacing the previous featured location symbol, which looked like Ý with a new one an eye , meaning something really worth looking at. We have also extended the Planning Grid including a little more information, and when time permits we will add these extra lines to the previous location guides.

In addition we have several listings of stone circles, and some other useful background information relating to getting locations from a grid reference. This page also has a lot of other useful information.

So what have we to offer you this week.

Stone circles of Britain, is an introductory article looking at what they are, what they may have been used for and covers a range of theories without settling on any one. This is a good place to start.

Stone circle photography, looks at what is involved in photographing a stone circle and how to go about it.

Preparing for a photographic trip to a stone circle, looks at what information you can find out before you go, links to a range of useful resources and other items that you can do in advance, as well as at what to take with you.

National Grid is a page looking at how to convert the Ordnance Survey grid references into other coordinates, and use them to access the same locations in other mapping and aerial photography sites like Google Maps. You can also convert it to a postcode. You may also find this useful if you want to use a Satnav to get you near to the location using the postcode or exactly there using the latitude and longitude. This page also has links to gazetteers, and some other information that may make finding places easier. It also explains a little about the mapping system and maps available.

Listings of stone circles

A selection of stone circles, lists some of the stone circles in England, Scotland and Wales that a variety of people have recommended, and gives the county, nearest place and a grid reference. Some of the sites we have featured are linked from this page.

All known stone circles - in alphabetical order (large file).

All Known stone circles - sorted by grid reference (large file).

Location Guide Pages

Up to now we have been bringing you 1 featured place a week, this week we have 25, including:-

Stonehenge, Wiltshire - World famous and unique, very much on the tourist trail.

Avebury, Wiltshire  - the largest and most spectacular, popular with tourists, but less restrictions and being such a large site, you don't notice the numbers.

Stanton Drew, Somerset - second largest after Stonehenge, not visited by many, you are likely to be on your own when visiting, far more natural and not reconstructed. 3 circles including very large circle, and one with very large stones, an avenue, another feature with large stones, a small circle and another group of stones conveniently situated in the garden of a pub nearby. The main circle has its own magnetic field. This site is easy to get to, but you will find you spend a lot longer there than you expect to.

Rollright, Oxfordshire - interesting nearly complete ring of stones weathers into interesting shapes. Two other nearby groups of stones.

Merry Maidens, Cornwall  

Torhouse Stone circle, Dumfries & Galloway

..... and a lot more stone circles, ........ plus .......

3 Other stone features that are not stone circles but perhaps could be mistaken for them

Cairnholy - Dumfries & Galloway . The remains of a long barrow with standing stones that at first sight look as if it could have been a stone circle.

Carn Euny Ancient village - Cornwall

Chysuaster Ancient village - Cornwall

Plus a whole load more.......

Alpha Listing of all additions this week, the items marked are featured items that contain far more details and pictures.

Abor Low Stone Circle  Derbyshire

Avebury, Wiltshire

Boscawen-Un Stone Circle near Lands End, Cornwall

Callanish, Isle of Lewis, Scotland

Carn Euny Cornwall

CairnHoly, Dumfries, Scotland

Castlerigg Stone Circle, Cumbria

Chysauster Ancient Village, Cornwall

Cullerlie Stone Circle, Echt, Aberdeenshire

Doll Tor Stone Circle, Derbyshire

East Aquorthies Stone Circle, Aberdeenshire

Hurlers Stone Circle, Cornwall

Kingston Russell Stone Circle, Dorset

Some helpful tips:
  • To reduce the size of the top of your browser so as to be able to see larger pictures press F11, pressing F11 again will get you back to the normal screen.
  • Most of our smaller pictures you can click on to see a larger version.
  • Where you see a photo rotater (showing a series of photographs) clicking on the photo of interest will throw up a still version of this image in another window.
  • With the latest version of Windows Explorer browser you can right click on a link and throw it into a new tab.

Little Meg Stone Circle, Cumbria

Loanhead of Daviot Stone Circle, Aberdeenshire

Long Meg and Daughters, Cumbria

Merry Maidens, Cornwall

Mitchells Fold, Shropshire

Nine Ladies Stone Circle, Derbyshire

The Nine Stones of Winterbourne Abbas, Dorset

Ring of Brodgar Stone Circle, Orkney, Scotland

Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire

Stanton Drew Stone Circle, Somerset

Stenness Stone Circle, Orkney, Scotland

Stonehenge, Wiltshire

Swinside Stone Circle, Cumbria

Tomnaverie Stone Circle, Aberdeenshire

Torhouse Stone Circle, Dumfries

Tregeseal East Stone Circle, Cornwall

Twelve Apostles Stone Circle, Dumfries Scotland

Tyrebagger Stone Circle, Aberdeenshire

 

News Section

No News section this week as this is a special Themed week, so watch out for more news next week.

 

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