The first, I think, was Mr. Jonathan Otley, who in 1849 showed the “Orientation” of the Keswick Circle “according to the solar meridian,” giving true solar bearings throughout the year.
I wrote a good deal in Nature[5] on sun and star temples in 1891, and Mr. Lewis the next year expressed the opinion that the British Stone Monuments, or some of them, were sun and star temples.
Mr. Magnus Spence of Deerness in Orkney published a pamphlet, “Standing Stones and Maeshowe of Stenness,[6]” in 1894; it is a reprint of an article in the Scottish Review, Oct. 1893. Mr. Cursiter, F.S.A., of Kirkwall, in a letter to me dated 15 March 1894, a letter suggested by my Dawn of Astronomy which appeared in that year and in which the articles which had appeared in Nature in 1891 had been expanded, drew my attention to the pamphlet; the observations had no pretension to scientific accuracy, and although some of the sight-lines were incorrectly shown in an accompanying map, May year and solstitial alignments were indicated.
So far as I know, there has never been a complete inquiry into the stone circles in Britain, but Mr. Lewis, who has paid great attention to these matters, has dealt in a general manner with them (Archaeological Journal, vol. xlix. p. 136), and has further described (Journal Anthropological Institute, n.s., iii., 1900) the observations made by him of stone circles in various parts of Scotland. From an examination of the latter he concludes that they may be divided into different types, each of which has its centre in a different locality. The types are—(1) the Western Scottish type, consisting of a rather irregular single ring or sometimes of two concentric rings; (2) the Inverness type, consisting of a more regular ring of better-shaped stones, surrounding a tumulus with a retaining wall, containing a built-up chamber and passage leading to it, or a kist without a passage; (3) the Aberdeen type, consisting of a similar ring with the addition of a so-called “altar-stone” and usually having traces of a tumulus and kist in the middle. In addition to these three types of circles, there are in Britain generally what Mr. Lewis calls sun and star circles, with their alignments of stones, and apparently proportioned measurements. He has shown that there is a great preponderance of outlying stones and hill-tops lying between the circles and the N.E. quarter of the horizon. From what has been stated in [Chapter III] with regard to the nightly observations of stars it will be gathered that these may have been used for this purpose.
The following list gives some of the bearings of outlying stones and other circles from the centres of the named circles:—
| Roll-rich, Oxon.—Kingstone | N. 27° | E. |
| Stripple Stones, Cornwall—Bastion on bank | N. 26 | E. |
| Long Meg, Cumberland—Small circle | N. 27 | E. |
| The Hurlers, Cornwall—Two outlying circles | N. 13-16 | E. |
| Trippet Stones—Leaze circle | N. 11 | E. |
If these alignments mean anything they must of course refer to the rising of stars, as the position on the horizon is outside the sun’s path.
The many circles in Cornwall have been dealt with by Mr. Lukis in a volume published by the Society of Antiquaries in 1895.[7] A carefully prepared list of circles will be found in Mr. Windle’s recently published work entitled “Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England.”
It may be useful here to state, with regard to megalithic remains generally, that they may be classed as follows; some details will be discussed later on.
(a) Circles. These may be single, double, or multiple, and either concentric or not.