PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESVVOLD CLUB 73 



some years ago the circles were much more complete 

 than they now are, and there is a tradition that at one time 

 thev were regarded with something akin to superstitious 

 awe. More important, however, is the size of the circles. 

 The only one that can be measured with any approach to 

 accuracy has a diameter of lOO feet. This is exactly the 

 diameter of the well-known Rollright circle, near Chipping 

 Norton, and also of stone circles in Cumberland ; and one 

 of the circles at Stanton Drew and another in the 

 Orkneys are of nearly the same diameter.* If, therefore, 

 the Leckhampton circles are due to natural causes, it is a 

 remarkable coincidence that one of them is of the 

 same size as stone circles elsewhere which are un- 

 questionably the handiwork of man. 



In a small coppice, known as Nutter's Wood, on the 

 slope almost immediately beneath the well-known Clceve 

 Hill Camp, are about half-a-dozen small stone circles. 

 The stones are two or three feet square, but irregular in 

 shape, and some if not all of the enclosed spaces have 

 apparently been excavated. About fifty years ago,. Mr 

 Gomonde, a Cheltenham antiquary, printed for private 

 circulation a small pamphlet treating of archaeological 

 remains near Cheltenham, and to it appended a map on 

 which he marked the undercliff at Cleeve Cloud as the 

 site of a British village. It is therefore possible that 

 excavation in the wood may reveal further traces of 

 human occupation than are now to be seen. 



The purpose of stone circles is a matter of conjecture. 

 Fergusson contends that they are entirely of a sepulchral 

 nature. Tylor, while recognising that they have often to 

 do with burials, says that " considering how tombs are apt 

 " to become temples where the ghost of the buried chief 

 " or prophet is worshipped, it is hkely that such stone 

 ''circles should also serve as temples.""'' 



* " Uudf Stone Monunieiits," pp. 124, 149, 159, 241. 

 f "Anthropology, " p. 348. 



