From The Neolithic To The Sea: A Journey From The Past To The Present

Stoke Flat Stone Circle

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Condition
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Stone Circle
Derbyshire
53°17'14.9"N 1°37'37.6"W
SK2495676787
Ruined
3400BC
Free
Map


  • History
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  • Gallery
Stoke Flat Stone Circle is located on the Curbar and Froggatt gritstone edge and is located near Calver and Froggatt, Derbyshire, in the Peak District.

The stone circle is set on a flat shelf, overlooking the picturesque Derwent Valley and is part of a prehistoric field system which consists of a number of clearance cairns, sometimes with linear clearance banks. The features were constructed from stone cleared from the surrounding landscape to improve its use for agriculture. It is thought to have been constructed from the Neolithic period, approx. 3400 BC. There are also a series of Bronze Age cairns.

It consists of an embanked stone circle with two entrances exactly opposite with traces of dry-stone walling. The bank is approximately 2m wide, 11.5m internally and 15.5m externally in diameter.

Both entrances are lined with a set of parallel stones, with four remaining in the southern entrance and three in the northern one. Elsewhere four smaller stones are set at the inner edge of the bank. It is clear that there are quite a few missing and may have been as many as sixteen originally. The majority of the stones are of typical Derbyshire height, about 0.5m tall, while the largest stone, flanking one of the entrances, is over 1m in height.

Excavations here sometime before 1939 by the Duke of Rutland are said to have recovered cremation remains and an urn.