Celestial Calendar

Welcome Back to the Quarry!

So, now that the Stone Circle is in place we thought to take a bit of time to explain the significance of the placing of each stone.

Just like most neolithic stone circles across the British Isles we have chosen to align our stones to key events in the celestial calendar, and compass points. Each of the 11 main stones now stands exactly where it was meant to be, aligned with the rhythms of the cosmos.

Some mark the rising or setting sun at the solstices, while others point directly to the cardinal directions. Each stone has its own purpose and presence. In this video, you’ll see the view from the central stone and how each placement relates to it and the sky above.

Choosing each stone was a careful and intuitive process. Some seemed to naturally belong in their positions, as if they were simply waiting to be placed. One of our favourite stones ('skull rock', see if you can spot him), really had to be placed in line with the setting sun at the Winter Solstice, marking the start of the longest night of the year. It is thought that this day, not the summer solstice, was the key event for Neolithic people and their structures, indicating both death and rebirth as from now on the sun will gain in strength daily.

The alignments include:
• Summer Solstice: Sunrise, Sunset, Moonrise, Moonset
• Winter Solstice: Sunrise, Sunset, Moonrise, Moonset
• Due East, South, and West

This is ancient knowledge brought to life once again in the heart of the quarry.

In a future post we will explain our choice of rocks and answer some intriguing questions: why was pudding stone known as 'the growing stone'? Where to igneous rocks come from? Why is there a slab of concrete pretending to be a stone in the circle? And intriguingly, how did all these non-local stones end up in a quarry in Essex?