NINE LADIES Stone Circle

Nine Ladies stone circle is probably the best known of many Bronze Age monuments on Derbyshire’s Stanton Moor and one of four stone circles on the moor. The others - Stanton Moor I, III and IV - are largely overgrown and hard to pick out. Nine Ladies is roughly in the centre of the moor, a low circle of worn gritstone blocks about 3 feet (1 metre) above ground. The circle is approximately 36 feet (11 metres) in diameter. According to legend, the stones are nine ladies, petrified for dancing on the Sabbath. A short distance away is the King’s Stone, which in life was the fiddler. Nine Ladies stone circle is some 4000 years old and originally there were ten stones. It is speculated that it was used for rituals and ceremonies, a fairly meaningless observation when you think about it, because it must have been used for something. The reality is that we simply do not know.

There is no postcode and the postcode given by English Heritage is misleading. There are various ways to Nine Ladies and the address here is for guidance only. Find a lay-by on the east side of Birchover Road, where there is an information board. A short distance through some woods is the Cork Stone. Nine Ladies is to the north east; take a map.