 Looking northeast across Hordron Edge Circle with Stanage Edge to the right. |
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View southwest from the 'Fairy Stone' with Win Hill to the left and Lose Hill to the right.  360 Degree Panorama |
This stone circle stands close to Hordron Edge on a shelf of land known as Moscar Moor with the imposing mass of Stanage Edge less than a mile to the east. Although it is also known as the 'Seven Stones of Hordron' there are in fact 11 stones here plus another three that were discovered below the peat during investigations in 1992 - gaps between the stones would suggest that there were originally several more. Unlike many Derbyshire circles the stones are not set into a bank but instead form a free-standing ring of between 15-16 metres with heights ranging from about half a metre to the largest one metre tall stone to the southwest. This stone (known as the Fairy Stone) could provide an intriguing insight into the Bronze Age builders world view. The top of the stone bears a curious similarity in shape and angle to two distant hills also to the southwest - Win Hill two miles away and particularly Lose Hill, four miles away. This apparent mirroring of distant landscape features by a prominent circle stone is also seen at Wet Withens a few miles to the south where the hill mirrored is Higger Tor. Was this an attempt by the builders to 'draw' the power of a sacred hill into the circle or was the fact that while the midsummer sun seen from Wet Withens rises over Higger Tor, the midwinter sun here sets almost behind Win Hill? Whether these were deliberate or just coincidental there is no dispute that there are some impressive views from Hordron Edge to the southwest across the flooded valleys of the Rivers Derwent and Ashop which now form Ladybower reservoir. |