 View of the circle, looking west from the cairn. 1999. |
Doll
Tor is a wonderful stone
circle and cairn
that is hidden beneath the dappled shade of a small wood (of much later
date) a short distance from the natural rock outcrop of the Andle Stone
and the circles and cairns of Stanton
Moor beyond. The tiny circle of six stones, with a diameter of around
6 metres surrounding a central leveled platform is unusual for this
area as it has no bank, although the stones were once connected with
a low drystone wall. The circle itself was first excavated by Thomas
Bateman in 1852 who found bucket urns
and small
cups. Heathcote re-excavated between 1931-1934 and discovered 5
cremations and more urns, there were further discoveries in the low
cairn that is built on to the eastern side of the circle incorporating
one of the circle stones. It was found to consist of a central rectangular
stone grave pit which contained a female cremation along with a segmented
faience
bead, with 4 other cremations having been placed round the inner edge
of the stone bank before it was all eventually filled in to form the
cairn. Sometime during 1993 somebody attempted to restore the circle and cairn, re-erecting some of the stones as well as bringing in others to replace missing ones. In 1994 an annoyed English Heritage and Peak National Park authority restored Doll Tor to what is thought to be its original Bronze Age condition.  Plan of the site from the 1930's excavation |
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Various
views of Doll Tor - Winter 2010
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