A little stone circle lies almost unnoticed on the windswept moor under Stanage Edge in the Derbyshire Peak District. Hordrons Edge is the next cliff along from Stanage and so this site was given that name. It used to be known as the Seven Stones of Hordrons Edge which is an odd title as there are around twenty stones here with some lying recumbent and almost hidden.
This is a typical Peak District circle, very small stones placed close to each other in a very tight diameter. It was probably built around the beginning of the Bronze Age as the age of the megalith builders was coming to an end. The largest stone is known as either the Witch Stone or the Fairy Stone depending on who you are talking to, and it is said that it may once have been carved to replicate one of the two iconic peaks visible far into the distance – Lose Hill and Win Hill.
This is a very atmospheric location, in fact the worst of the weather brings out the best in the character of Hordrons Edge, as standing there in the wind and drizzle seems to create some kind of connection – imagined or otherwise – between the visitor and the folk who built this little circle. The wild and primitive feel of the place is made stronger by the stunning views all around, this is a view almost unchanged from that which our ancestors would have seen, reservoirs aside, and the smell of the air and the feel of the weather reinforces this.
Somebody had fashioned a kind of standard from twigs and feathers and stuck it in the ground next to the Witch Stone, I have no idea of the symbolic intentions of its maker but it seemed appropriate for the place, and a welcome change from some of the litter and tea-lights I have encountered at other such sites.
Hordrons Edge stone circle has long been associated with the strange phenomena of the groups of lights that have buzzed the northern Peak District for centuries now. No explanation has so far been offered that satisfactorily explains what people have been seeing on the hills and moors since the 1880s. Some of these lights have “buzzed” cars driving through the south Pennines while others have followed hikers coming down off the hills, long before head torches, drones or Chinese lanterns were in use. David Clarke conducted a lot of research into this phenomena in his Supernatural Peak District Book but could reach no conclusion. I have heard a story at first hand where a pair of young men visited Hordrons Edge stone circle at night and saw moving lights in a place where nobody could walk – most definitely not at night - as it was in the middle of a bog.
Hordrons Edge is near Cutthroat Bridge which I have posted about before so if you are able to – why not make a Sunday walk out of it and visit both places?
If you like these posts you might like my book The Mystery Of Mercia, available here -
Hordrons Edge stone circle with Lose Hill and Win Hill visible in the far distance
The Witch Stone
Hordrons Edge stone circle
Bones found next to the circle
I have no idea who made this or why, but is seemed to fit in with the feel of the place
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