The Twelve Apostles

Map Referance : SE126451
53°54'5.95"N 1°48'34.46"W
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Known also as the Druidical Dial Circle and Druid's Chair, this is both a summer and winter solstice circle - and it also appears to record the major lunar standstill. It was first mentioned in this context by John Wardell in 1850. The midsummer sun initially (c.1800 BC) rose above White Mare Crags near Kilburn, N.Yorks, more than 35 miles away. Today it rises right above the White Horse of Kilburn (etched into the hillside in the middle of the 19th century).

Archaeologist Arthur Raistrick said there were originally at least 20 stones here, with an upright monolith at the centre; but even in his day there were only three of the stones in their original position. When Cowling described 12 Apostles, all of them had been knocked over.

Raistrick said, "The circle of stones is erected on a bank of earth and small stones, as nearly circular as can be measured and 52 feet in diameter, centre to centre of bank. The bank is about 4 feet wide and in places about 2 feet above the surrounding ground level." Cowling told it to be 58 feet across. No trace of the embankment remains.

In 1976, members of the Royal Observer Corps., watched an anomalous white ball of light hovering right above the Twelve Apostles. A similar white sphere of light was seen here by two other witnesses in July 1990.