Tucked away beyond the edge of the woods near Norton Priory lies one of the town's forgotten landmarks.

What makes the circle so intriguing is that even those who have an intimate knowledge of the town's hidden gems seem to be unaware of it's existence.

Although far more humble than ancient Stonehenge, Runcorn’ s modest ring of nine small stones has avoided the attention of academics, archaeologists and TV crews.

The circle is made up of a ring of nine small stones each about a foot across and a standing stone in the middle.

The consensus among experts is the stone circle was installed by the Warrington and Runcorn New Town Development Corporation (DevCo), whose motives remain lost in time although eccentric ideas were no stranger to the dawn of Runcorn New Town as anyone who remembers Southgate can attest.

Researcher Mark Olly, based in neighbouring Warrington, cast his eyes over the circle for his book Celtic Warrington and Other Mysteries: Volume 3, which speculates that the site could be linked to a possible bronze age barrow, and he cites archive materials describing mounds in the area called “coneygreves” meaning “rabbit warrens”.

He added that Warrington has at least five modern stone circle follies.

The mound on which the circle sits is reminiscent to a degree of other ancient sites, as is a more tantalisingly barrowlike hillock near the entry to Norton Priory on Tudor Road, and referred to in Celtic Warrington as a reconstructed “Worm Hill” or “Harvest Hill”.

Despite the allure of the idea of a barrow, Cheshire Archaeology Planning Advisory Service, based in Chester, corroborated the existence of rabbit warrens but it couldn’t find records indicating prehistoric activity or a barrow, and 19th century maps didn’t show “any obvious earthworks”.

A CAPAS spokesperson said: “However, the tithe map and award for the township of Norton (dated 1844), depicts two plots of land within the landscape park of Norton Priory, and to the immediate northwest of the modern stone circle, named ‘coney graves’, ‘coney’ meaning rabbit and graves may relate to diggings or to a steward or someone in charge.

“So maybe rabbit diggings or (belonging to) rabbit keepers.”

They added: “This may indicate that this area was once associated with medieval rabbit warrens; artificial constructions, in the form of mounds, used for rabbit farming in the medieval period.

“The proximity of this area to the medieval priory, would suggest that any such mounds would be associated with the religious house.

“Once disused, these artificial warrens can be misidentified as prehistoric burial mounds.

“If such a warren did exist in this area, it may be source of the story about a burial mound.”

Enquiries with Runcorn and District Historic Society drew a blank, but Frank Lawless, of Widnes Historical Society and the Halton Heritage Partnership, relayed the enquiry to local history enthusiast Sue Lancaster, who helpfully provided an initial breakthrough in finding anything out about the stones, not only knowing someone who worked for the DevCo who thought they were installed when Runcorn's expressways were built, but also by providing the tip about Mark Olly’s book.

Furthermore, Sue obtained a response from Lynn Smith, archivist at Norton Priory about half a mile away, who confirmed the stone circle was the work of the DevCo.

The stone circle itself is on a small hill overlooking a small roundabout and it’s quite easy to drive past fairly regularly for years, with eyes fixed on the road, and not realise they're there.

But there they are, and since enquiries first began last month, a trail of flattened grass has now appeared, emerging from Big Wood nearby.

Another clue might be found in the follies in Warrington, such as the Parkfields Stone Circle in Fearnhead, a short distance from the M62 Croft Interchange, and which according to the www.megalithic.com website was originally set out in 1984 by Catterall landscaping followed by the DevCo, suggesting a date for when they were built, if the Runcorn stones were built at the same time.

The Warrington Guardian also reported in 2015 that the Fearnhead circle in northern Warrington had been rediscovered after undergrowth was cut back, the stones having lain out of sight for years.

Halton Henge?

Pet theories over the layout of the Runcorn circle are irresistible.

Could the nine ring stones symbolise the nine main new town estates? Castlefields, Palacefields, Brookvale, Murdishaw, Halton Brook, Halton Lodge, The Brow, Windmill Hill and Beechwood.

Or represent nine senior DevCo designers and their boss?

explored solo

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