Wednesday 30 March 2011

My World - Mitchell's Fold


Taking you to Stapeley Hill and the Bronze Age Monument of Mitchell's Fold I am transporting you more than 3000 years into the past, into a time and a land of Celtic power and myth. Mitchell's Fold is a stone circle, a focus of many legends, set in dramatic moorland on Stapeley Hill; the area is a large and important remnant of common land, where all men had the right to graze their animals; today the stones and the area are maintained and cared for by English Heritage




Even on a misty day in March you can get an idea of the wide open spaces, where  sounds are as important as sights. Prehistoric man probably felt his heart uplifted as much as I do by the trilling of skylarks, the bubbling of curlews and the croak of the ravens. Up here, listening to the silence and the calls of the wild provides solace for the spirit too often and persistently beset by the noise of modern life.



It is difficult to photograph the fifteen remaining uprights out of the original thirty, millennia of unfettered wind and rain have worn them down to stumps, with only a few standing proudly erect. The circle measures 23 m in diameter. Why these circles were built, nobody knows for certain, but they were probably of religious and astronomical significance.




The site and the surrounding hills are exhilarating walking, with splendid views to the west, and you are never far from ancient history. There are burial sites up here, barrows and tumuli - there are remains of a tumulus no more than 20 m away from the circle itself;  nearby is  Cwm Mawr or Hyssington Axe Factory, where Bronze Age man quarried a distinctive volcanic rock which he worked into axes.



Legend has it that a cow was enfolded in the stone circle, destined forever to give a pail of milk to all who asked for it. One day the wicked witch Mitchell milked it into a sieve, whereupon the cow disappeared and the witch was turned into a pillar of stone. The stone remains to this day, much worn, alas, but still imprisoning the spirit of the witch.



This is instalment No 3 in an occasional series of posts on the hidden beauties of the South Shropshire Hills on the border between England and Wales in the wider context of That's My World.



33 comments:

  1. The perfect setting for my last Magpie flight of fancy! Looks like a fantastic place...

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  2. How fortunate you are to live in the midst of all this splendor. I love this period of history and am very happy the UK government has set aside these wonderful places for all to see in the years to come. Dianne

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  3. I felt transported. You live in a place that seems to have retained the magic and mystery of what, elsewhere, has disappeared in the mist of time.

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  4. Looking forward to the warmer weather so we can enjoy our fabulous location. Great photos Friko.

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  5. There are so many standing stones in these islands, each arrangement buried in myth and legend.
    This looks a wonderful, wild place to walk, reflect, dream.

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  6. I have been fortunate enough to see several of these stones and circles (though not these particular ones). I rather like the idea that we have no idea of their original purpose.

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  7. The photos were beautiful. The area really does seem to have the ability to inspire one. Thanks for sharing this interesting post with us.

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  8. From Australia, about as far away as one can get, my Celtic genes are still excited by these remnants of my ancestors!

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  9. I find the mystery of the Celtic religion to be a fascinating topic. I visited Stonehenge and was transported in imagination to a long gone culture. It is an eerie feeling to be near these places and I could almost feel the ghosts of the ancient worshipers.

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  10. What a rich, and yet sparse, history. I think places like this are fascinating to explore. I am so sorry they are not being protected from erosion in some way.

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  11. Looking at the photos I could almost feel the wind blowing through my hair and hear the voices from the past. Such mystery. What a beautiful land you live in, Friko.

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  12. friko on my walk along the pennine way twenty five years ago we came across several circles and were left to wonder at the world and the people of that world. your words here draw a careful circle around those same thoughts and wonderings. steven

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  13. this is a beauty...would love to take that walk...cool grave markers too!

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  14. What a wonderful tour you took us on. I so love that land. Wales is where my HH ancestors came from. Always looking for movies made in those areas. Thanks for sharing.
    QMM

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  15. I was there with you. Those places have the ability to transport me back in time. Thanks for sharing.

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  16. What beautiful photos of such a beautiful and mysterious land. Love this.

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  17. Love that dog! Benny, the faithful sleuth... Interesting story, Friko! I didn't know about Mitchell's Fold. I've been to Stonehenge (when you could walk all around the rocks). Glastonbury is big in New Age parlance: supposedly it is the fifth (heart)chakra of the earth. I knew that because I am originally from the area near the first (root) chakra: Mt. Shasta, California. The cow story sounds so Celtic! Great info and images!

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  18. so much past and history. standing stones and circles. ancient reminders of people past.

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  19. by what fairey magick have you transported us ?



    Aloha from a suddenly mundane Waikiki


    Comfort Spiral

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    ><}}(°>

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  20. Deine Bilder sind nicht nur wunderschön, sondern durch Deine lebendige Beschreibung werden diese fast wahr und man kann die Stimmung in der dortigen Landschaft spüren und so freut man sich dann auch, ein Stück des Weges mit Dir zu gehen... Ich freue mich schon auf das nächste My World - Post und hoffe, die Serie wird lange andauern!

    Dir einen ganz schönen und friedlichen Tag!

    Renée

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  21. Because we, in the US, never paid attention to the stories of the natives here, we don't have 3000 year old legends. You folks know how to do history.

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  22. So old.
    So mysterious.
    Mystifying to think of weather wearing down stones to nubs...

    The view of distance fields is similar to my view here, and the sight always gives me the same sense of perspective that some people get from gazing at the ocean.

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  23. It is a wonderful space - open to the sky and the magnificent landscape spread around it.

    Special for me because it is the first bit of Shropshire I ever set foot on. As a small child my father took us to visit the place where his father's family lived - not actually on Stapeley Common but in its lee. They were lead miners who worked and eked out an existence nearby - traces of their settlements are slowly being subsumed and are now barely discernable.

    Great photographs. I shall revisit.

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  24. Dear Frico,
    you have beautiful views! Stunning sight of that stone circle - but most of all I admire that peaceful open landscape - really, really calming and lovely.

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  25. Beautiful views ... and an interesting past .
    I tend to step back from these places , rather warily . As a Celt , I find them rather too real .

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  26. I hope I can walk there someday. It looks thrilling. I love speculating about early man, and I guess those guys were my ancestors.

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  27. ((sigh)) Thanks for transporting me to somewhere lovely.

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  28. These hills look so peaceful and far away from congestion, pollution and crowds – I’d love to visit them. I enjoy your country travelogues. I went and popped up at That’s my World as I had never been there – quite a few members there. I guess I could be counted as someone showing others the area where I live but, I saw there were rules to be followed….so I don’t think so. But I enjoyed your report.

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  29. Wonderful -- we always seek out the hill forts and circles when we are in England. Magical.

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  30. Wonderful, that stone circle. (I'm currently reading 'The Making Of The British Landscape' by Francis Pryor - which deals in detail with early Stone and Bronze Age Britain.)

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  31. Oh, I got chills just loking at the photos and reading your words. It truly was like taking a walk back through time.

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