Two books are essential reading for stone hunting in Dorset - “Ancient Stones of Dorset” by Peter Knight (Power Publications l996) and “The Ancient Monuments of Dorset”, by NH Field and J. Bugler, Dorset Natural History and Archeaeological Society, 1972. As well as standing stones it’s worth going to see the platform of the old MizMaze mentioned in the latter book.

THE BROAD STONE, WINTERBORNE ABBAS. SY 598904 [back to top] This lies flat, level with the grass verge, west of Black Down, just near Dangerous Corner sign on the roadside of the A 45 not far from the Nine Stones circle. A worse site for an important prehistoric monument would be hard to find. The only thing that can be said about the road sign is that it may afford the stone some protection, but the crassness of the highways authority is staggering. John Aubrey sketched this as a circle eight paces in diameter with three stones, adding that “the stones of both these monuments (ie the Nine Stones and the Broad stone) are petrified clumps of flints; there are one or two stones wanting.”

GREY MARE AND HER COLTS, LONG BREDY. SY 611904 [back to top] Off the path to Kingston Russell stone circle, to the left on the way to the circle across an intervening field. This is a long barrow similar to West Kennet with large stones blocking the entrance. The barrow mound is still visible. Though there are signs that a small fence once kept off stock, when I was there in spring 2004 young cattle were all over the barrow.

HAMPTON HILL STONE CIRCLE, PORTESHAM. SY 596865 [back to top] A lovely hillside setting with a view of the sea but barbed wire and mess ruin the site. Aubrey Burll in “A Guide to The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany” (Yale 1995) says that in l939 there were 16 stones, but by l964 there were 28. Excavations the following year suggested that the stones had been moved and that the original ring may have only had eight or nine stones. He suggests the stones may have been the remains of a devastated round barrow.

HELLSTONE BURIAL CHAMBER, PORTESHAM. SY 606867 [back to top] A reconstituted dolmen tomb. In 1860 the stones had all collapsed and it was then that they were put into their present condition. They’re probably not correctly replaced. On your way back from the tomb towards Hampton barn, in the last field before the road, is another stone at SY 602873. This looks to me like a half fallen standing stone rather than just an ordinary boulder. I would be interested to know more.

KINGSTON RUSSELL STONE CIRCLE SY 577878 [back to top] Right on the top of the hill this stone circle has wonderful views. Difficult to photograph well except from the air. The footpath to the circle has one or two boulders in the hedge – possibly standing stones cleared there by a farmer.

MAYNE OR LITTLE MAYNE STONE CIRCLE, WEST KNIGHTON. SY 723870 [back to top] One large stone is visible from road near Little Mayne farm off the A 352 to Wareham. In 1847 there was a 30 ft diameter circle of 10-11 stones with two avenues. Charles Warne who visited in l868, after the circle had been destroyed, wrote: “the few lichen-covered stones around me were all that the ignorance and destructiveness of men had left of a temple, within whose enclosures, in ages far beyond our ken, their forefathers had been accustomed to worship.” Best account of this site in “Ancient Stones of Dorset” by Peter Knight (Power Publications l996).

NINE STONES, WINTERBORNE ABBAS, SY 611904 [back to top] Terrible setting just near the road but a well preserved stone circle. No official parking. It may be necessary to walk back from the village. The roar of traffic and nearby fast food restaurant is typical of the indignity wreaked on our prehistoric sites. Only the Broadstone is in worse shape. John Aubrey notes: “Stones, nine in number, circularly in this form. The highest of them almost six foot; the others are broken; and, now not above a yard high more or less.”

REMPSTONE STONE CIRCLE, CORFE CASTLE. SY 995821 [back to top] In a beautiful wood with mossy banks, Rempstone stone circle is just beside the modern road. Drive past Corfe Castle towards Lulworth and passing Rempstone House on the left it is on the right in woodland. Park on the grass verge and walk into woods. The old roads ran through the circle and the ditches remain. Half the circle got lost when they were mining clay. “Ancient Stones of Dorset” by Peter Knight (Power Publications l996) suggests there may have been an outlier stone and an avenue. The same little wood contains several boulders that may be the remains of the avenue moved into the wood. In spring the mossy banks are enchanting.

TWO GATES STANDING STONE, WEST COMPTON. SY 553938 [back to top] On map as ruined burial chamber, these two megaliths are the remains of a long barrow. The mound is now ploughed out and the plough is running close to these stones, despite their being a scheduled monument. They stand south east of Eggardun hill and can be hidden by growing crops since both are fallen.

VALLEY OF THE STONES, LITTLE BREDY. SY 596873 [back to top] A drift of sarsens in the valley bottom shows what the landscape looked like before farmers started clearing the fields. There is a distinct circle of stones in this valley that looks man made. Some archeologists have suggested this is an “enclosure” rather than a stone circle.