Local History

Dorset abounds with stones sat at improbable angles, in improbable places.

You may have wondered how they reached there. But did you ever think they were sacred?

Earth mysteries expert Peter Knight believes passionately that they are. According to him, our ancestors erected these stones on sites where they felt the Earth's 'energy' the strongest.

Intrigued by the notion of sacred stones, I met Peter and his partner Toni at Hardy's Monument for a tour of his favourite three sites in the county.

Peter using his dousing rod

Hellstone

Hellstone is actually a circle of stones covered by a capstone. You can stand on top of it, as Peter did to play his drum. Or you can sit right inside it to meditate to flickering candle lights.

Hellstone is a six thousand year old burial site. But Peter believes its power is still alive today.

"These aren't dead stones," he told me. "They're vibrant with life force."

To prove their power, Peter brought out a dousing rod. Following the line of the rod, Peter navigated his way up to the stones and right inside where the rod continued to rotate.

"It's amazing to think that for centuries people have sat here, where I'm sitting, and had the same spiritual experience," he whispered.

The Grey Mare and her Colts

Next along the route were the Grey Mare and her Colts. These stones didn't look so impressive to me – just two upright boulders in front of a pile of stones.

According to Peter though, one of these upright stones represented the male, and the other, the female. Walking between the two with his dousing rod, he could make out a spiral of energy.

It matters also where these stones are placed. The Grey Mare is half way between the Hellstone and the stone circle at Kingston Russell.

The site marks the crossing point for major ley lines, giving rise to this energy he can detect.

The Goddess Stone

It's by working out a system of ley lines that Peter was able to discover a sacred site for himself.

He called his discovery the Goddess Stone.

The Goddess Stone is a single, moss covered boulder by the side of a footpath between the Grey Mare and her Colts and the Kingston Russell Stone circle.

According to Peter, stones like these are an important part of our heritage. They remind us of our pagan past, when people were more in tune with the Earth's energies.

He urges us all to take time to visit these sites. To meditate, to think or just to sit and be still.