206 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
famous “Friar’s Heel” at Stonehenge may be taken 
as an example. 
There are several other theories which have at 
different times been accepted as correct namely the 
Water Worship [p.37] Theory and Stukeley’s Snake 
Worship The former’s opinion is upheld by the 
following facts. That in some circles a line of stones 
is found leading from the circle to the nearest river, 
at Stanton Drew this is the case in 2 instances and at 
Coate the line by the road would if continued run to 
water in at [?] direction. Whether this had any 
connection with the worship carried on in he main 
temple is doubtful. 
In conclusion there is one fact to be mentioned 
against the temple theory & that is if all the 
inhabitants of the districts where these circles are 
why should they not be all together instead of being 
scattered about in circles very close to one another. 
Letter to C. H. Goddard Esq 1/1/14. 
[p.40] (In 1914 the Rev. E. H. Goddard was the 
Editor of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural 
History Magazine. He lived at Clyffe Vicarage, 
Swindon). 
Dear Sir, 
I write to tell you of aremarkable coincidence in 
connection with the stone circle at Coate. You will 
remember that the stones | to 6 in the [large] first 
circle are of large size and the other three are very 
small and one could almost [be] say that they were 
not really a part of the circle, if these six stones are 
left and the three small ones struck out, and these 
being put on paper together with the 3 stones of the 
second circle and also the three stones which are in 
a line to the west of the second circle. Having placed 
these in their proper positions on the first clear 
night go out and look in the Northern sky and just 
under the north star [p.41] you will observe half a 
circle of 6 stones exactly like those on your plan to 
the right of these [that is to the west] there are three 
stones exactly like the second circle the only 
difference being [in] that they are on a rather large 
scale and that the middle star is on the wrong side 
of the other two. On the right of these again judging 
the distance by your plan you will see three stars in 
a line exactly like the three in the line mentioned 
above after you have seen these stars you will be 
[struck by the] surprised at the coincidence. I don’t 
wish to say that this is anything more than a very 
remarkable coincidence but if as some authorities 
on stone circles say that they are connected with the 
Worship of the Sun, Moon, & [p.42] Stars one 
would be justified in saying that this is something 
more than a mere accident{[al]. 
If you cannot find out these stars please 
write to me and I will point them to you myself if 
possible. (Pages 43 to 55 blank) 
This marked the end of Passmore’s notes on 
stone circles. 
The stone circles described by Passmore create 
more questions than answers. Six of them form a 
clumsy rhomboid about a mile wide and a mile and 
a half northwards from Fir Clump up the south- 
eastern outskirts of Swindon. Had they been 
contemporaries each would have had a little 
territory of no more than 160 acres (65ha). This is 
so limited that a chronological sequence is more 
likely. 
Why they were erected in such a limited area is 
predictable. As always, prehistoric people used 
whatever local material there was and around Coate 
sarsens littered the ground. ‘Broome Manor must 
have boasted many 1000s... At Coate there are 
many. Here a Bronze Age circle is found of them... 
Ladder Hill... can show many examples’. These 
were the ancient Lower Greensand sarsens unlike 
the later Bagshot blocks around Avebury.'’* That 
stone circles should be put up in such a megalithic 
abundance is understandable. And that there 
should be concentric rings amongst them is not 
unexpected. 
Two were already known at Winterbourne 
Bassett and the Sanctuary. Both of them were far 
above average size for stone circles in Britain. The 
surprise is that Fir Clump, a mere three miles north 
of Winterbourne Bassett, was enormous, over seven 
times the area of the Sanctuary and nearly twelve 
times as big as Winterbourne Bassett. It was almost 
as big as the southern circle inside Avebury and 
must have been an important meeting-place like a 
‘tribal’ lodge for an extensive region. 
It is a criticism of our times that this 
irreplaceable relic of antiquity, perhaps the ritual 
centre of prehistoric generations, could be 
destroyed with the indifference of ignorance to 
make room for that modern passage of convenience, 
a motorway from London to Bristol. 
Its associated concentrics may also have been 
large. The dimensions of Coate Reservoir are 
unknown but the Hodson ring was spacious if 
Passmore’s recorded diameter of 76m is correct. 
Capable of accommodating a congregation of 
hundreds, Fir Clump even more, surely these 
monsters could only have been contemporaries if 
used for ceremonies at seasonal times of the year as 
