Folklore of the Stones: Stanton Drew

For as long as I can remember I have been interested in the prehistoric stone monuments that are prolific in the British Isles. From Beorgs of Housetter in the North of the Shetland Isles to the Men-An-Tol near Lands End in Cornwall. They have not just fired my imagination but for all of recorded history people have marvelled at these mysterious monuments and wondered what they might of once been, what ancient peoples were behind their construction? I don’t think there is a single person in the UK who does not have their own theory when it comes to these megalithic monuments. Some will tell you that they are calendars to mark the passing of the seasons. Others will have you believe that they are cemeteries or temples. There are even those who are certain they are the places where aliens once landed to commune with human beings.

But it is not really the history (however interesting) of these stones that I will be addressing in this and subsequent blogs. It is the many folk tales that have grown up around them that we will be searching out. It seems for every prehistoric monument there is a folk story to go along with it.

So now I’d like to take you to the picturesque village of Stanton Drew in North East Somerset. With a population of under 800 and just one pub, The Druids Arms (which I can personally recommend), you could call it a bit of a sleepy little place when compared to the city of Bristol which lies a few miles to the North.

It is here in this village tucked away just behind the the 800 year old Church of the Virgin Mary that we find three wonderful stone circles. The one named The Great Circle is one of the largest of its kind in the UK second only to Avebury (which I will be covering in a future blog).

These Circles are in fact not alone in the immediate landscape and in the beer garden of the afore mentioned Druids Arms can be found what is known locally as The Cove. It is thought that this monument may have once been a long barrow which is a sort of semi cylindrical burial mound. It is said that The Cove predates the circles by around 1000 years with the circles being erected somewhere in the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age (3000 to 2000 BCE). Not a great deal of archaeological work has been done at Stanton Drew but a geophysical survey has shown that like its more famous sister Stonehenge there was once concentric circles of wooden posts that were later replaced by the stones we still see there today.

Another interesting archaeological fact is the lack finds uncovered there. There was a good assemblage of worked flints found outside of the circles with some microliths dating back to the Mesolithic. Inside the circles themselves it appears to be very clean which is not in keeping with other similar sites. It is almost as if it was made, then for some reason seldom used or perhaps only a select few were allowed to enter and even then only on special occasion. Which is a very tantalising mystery in itself.

This of course is a very brief explanation of Stanton Drew and is by no means exhaustive. I will include some links below and would strongly encourage you to read more about this fascinating place.

As I mentioned earlier nearly all of the UK’s megalithic monuments have some sort of folktale associated with them and of course Stanton Drew is no exception…….

For you see the story goes that many years back on a warm midsummers eve, which on this date happens to fall on a Saturday, a wedding party had gathered to celebrate the marriage of a young couple. All of their family and friends had joined them in a field behind the village church for music and dancing. And we have to assume more than a few sips of the local brew as has always been customary at occasions such as these.

Once all had gathered a harper struck up a merry tune and they laughed and danced into the night. The merriment continued for some hours until the poor harper could pluck his strings no more and informed the happy couple that he could no longer strum his harp. He went on to remark that they should beware as it was getting close to midnight and if they danced on the Sabbath the devil may take them. With that said he collected his harp and headed home to rest.

The bride and groom took no heed of the harpers warning and with a carefree laugh the bride called out to a passing piper to play and along with their guests they continued to dance long into the night. The piper played and played and the dancers danced and as they grew tired they realised that they couldn’t stop. They had become entranced by the pipers music. They called out to the piper to stop but the piper just kept playing and the dancers now danced against their will long into the midsummer sabbath.

The next morning the harper returned to the field that had been filled with such laughs and merriment only a few hours before to collect a hood that he had forgotten. As the sun rose and the early morning mist was rising from the field he was greeted by a sight most baffling. Where the bride, groom and guests had danced the night before there was now a circle of stones, one stone for each of those who had dared to dance on the sabbath. To the harper it was clear, the revellers had paid no attention to his warning and indeed the devil had cast the the happy couple and their guests into stone for ever doomed to stand in that Somerset field for ever more.

Often a folk story will come will come with a message encoded with in it and this one is of course no different. Within Christianity working or playing on the Sabbath is strictly forbidden and it is easy to see that this is a story created to perhaps remind to observe the rule. But thankfully it is only a story, because if it were not this writer would have been turned to stone many years ago for partying late on a weekend.

I think this is also a play by the Christian church to cast a dark shadow over pagan solstice celebrations which have traditionally been held at stone circles like Stanton Drew in the UK and still are to this day. In fact if you are ever in the area of Stanton Drew (or any other stone circle) on the summer solstice you could freely go along and join in the celebrations, they really are a lot of fun. And although we have no idea what would have happened at these places on the solstice when they were built or even if they were originally intended to be used for that sort of celebration you do get a strong feeling of being connected with your very ancient ancestors.

I’d like to leave you now with a little folk song about the story I just related to you in this version the piper is changed for a fiddle player and I am sure if you have even a passing interest in folklore you can recall numerous stories of devilish antic being associated with fiddlers.

Cover Photo Credit: Steve Keirestu