ARBOR LOW EXCAVATIONS IN 19O1 AND 1902. 43 



4^ feet (1-37 m.) in breadth: they are of variable thickness, 

 extremely irregular in form, decayed, and somewhat fractured ; 

 with one exception (No. XVI.), and without considering No. VI., 

 which is tilted up between Nos. V. and VII., and no doubt 

 originally formed part of No. VII., all lie upon the ground, 

 many in an oblique position, all more or less recumbent. It 

 will be noticed at the first glance at the plan that nearly all 

 the stones lie approximately in the direction of radii of the circle. 

 Some of the very small stones and stumps have been numbered 

 separately (Nos. i to 13). Fragments of stones in the ditch 

 and near the southern causeway have not been numbered. The 

 position and slope of the stones, individually, are extremely 

 varied : the majority lie in shallow depressions, although some 

 are quite on a level with the general turf line ; others, again, 

 are surrounded by slight mounds, the turf in many cases grow- 

 ing round and over the sides of the stones. The longest stone 

 (No. II.), which measures 14-2 feet (4-32 m.) in length, is in 

 the centre of the circle, whilst the widest (No. I.), 8-6 feet 

 (2-59 m.) in width, is also in the centre. The largest stone in 

 the circle is No. X., the length of which is 13 feet (3-96 m.), 

 and the width 6-2 feet (i-88 m.). As stated before, there is 

 one exception to the stones being recumbent, and that is 

 No. XVI. on the west side (see photograph, plate II.), which 

 leans towards the north-east at about 35 degrees or 40 degrees 

 with the surface of the surrounding turf; at its highest part 

 it is 3^ feet (1-07 m.) from the depression in which it stands" 

 Dr. Pegge, writing in 1783,! says that "the stones formerly 

 stood on end, two and two together, which is very particular." 

 Glover, in his History of the County of Derby (1829), states 

 that " Mr. J. Pilkington was informed that a very oid man 

 living in Middleton, remembered when a boy to have seen 

 them standing obliquely upon one end " ; tersely adding that 

 " this secondary kind of evidence does not seem entitled to 

 much credit." One of my excavators, an old man, assured 



* Detailed particulars of the stones are given in Appendix I. 

 t Arclucologia, vii. , 142. 



