Down Tor Stone Row

A different day, a different route and, perhaps most importantly, a different interpretation.

With Clover, Jack and Clover's Mum accompanying, we skirted Down Tor - rather than moving along the combe further down the slope - and climbed up to the Stone Row so as to see it emerge over the ridge. Not surprisingly, we missed the true line by a good thirty metres, but that was as much to do with the line of the path running over the ridge as it was to do with my guesstimate.

A quick traverse along the slope then and we were standing along the line of the row looking along and past it to where, according to reports, the sun would rise on a Summer Solstice. Here's that view:



A few interesting items here. Firstly you can see a distinct kink in the row. Did this have a function? Is it due to drift in the soil? Or was it because the stones were put back wrong? Who knows? Well if you look closer at the image you'll see a nice couple examining the associated cist who might well.

It seems firstly that the row is not on an alignment with sunrise on the Summer Solstice, but rather with sunset on the Winter Solstice - meaning that the view in the image is actually the wrong perspective entirely. Secondly, that the row was used to measure the seasons in conjunction with a bank that sits on the ridge line above the row. Also involved, in my reckoning, is a cairn that was sited exactly in the line with the row and from where you get a view along the line, over the bank and on to the far horizon. The question then becomes whether it is the position of the setting sun as it sits on the banked ridge close to the row or on the far horizon. Streetmap gives you a good idea of the layout.

Now it so happens that the Winter Solstice falls in just about a week's time. Another post and a better photo perhaps? Maybe we'll get a full turnout.

And to finish, a view back from where we came from, Down Tor sloping up to the right and the Winter sun shining from behind, turning the late bracken golden.