Nine Stones Close


Nine Stones Close is a Bronze Age stone circle near Winster in Derbyshire, England. It is sometimes known as Grey Ladies.

Description

Nine Stones Close is a small stone circle is located on the edge of Harthill Moor in Derbyshire, part of a rich prehistoric landscape which includes Bronze Age barrows and settlement enclosures. It consists of four remaining upright stones which were originally part of a circle of around 30m in diameter, plus the sites of several others which were removed in the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the stones was appropriated in the 18th century is now used as an oversized field gatepost nearby.
It is uncertain whether there were originally nine stones, one theory being that nine is a corruption of 'noon', said to be the time when, according to local folklore, fairies would gather at the site to dance.
Excavations in 1847, 1877 and 1939 found flints and pot-sherds which date the monument to the Bronze Age.