Garden megaliths

Pagan couple move their stone circle into suburban home

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk The stone circle megalith was originally erected in the grounds of Abbotts Court by Burberry fashion house founder Thomas Burberry in the early 1900s. The couple - who teach magic and witchcraft - uncovered the stone circle shortly after they bought Abbotts Court in 1980 and planned to leave it as an historic landmark when they downsized. But the property developer who bought the mansion threatened to dump the monoliths if they were left behind.

Well, if the stones were prehistoric, they had already been removed from their original context by the former owner of the couple's house (Thomas Burberry), and the Pagan couple have saved them from destruction by the property developers that bought their house. It does suggest that this kind of garden feature should be protected by heritage legislation, as the fashion for (supposedly) "druidic" garden features was very popular at one point (especially in the Gothick phase of Romanticism), though 1900 seems quite late for this kind of thing. I wonder where the stones came from originally?

Update: I am reliably informed that by the Edwardian period the law would have stopped even a plutocrat from uprooting a genuine stone circle, and that this is a modern one, made of quarried Portland stones. Nevertheless it still seems wrong that the property developers could just do away with such an interesting garden feature.

Morris, megaliths and beer

The University of Bristol's Morris Dancing side, Rag Morris, are doing a special dance to mark the Summer Solstice, on Saturday 21st June at the Stanton Drew Stone circle. They will be dancing among the stones from around 7.00pm onwards, then going to dance outside the Druid Arms pub from 8.00pm onwards.

Morris dancing, megaliths and beer - an irresistible combination for Pagans and archaeologists.