No one really knows why the prehistoric people of the Atlantic Isles were building their stone circles. Clearly, they were very important to them as they built so many. As no memory of their purpose reached historic times, tales were made about them to explain their existence. One of the most popular motifs was the one of the dancers, petrified in the midst of their merrymaking, often in punishment for having fun on a Sunday. Other stories tell of the stone circles as favourite places for the faeries to gather and dance - sometimes you can hear music coming from around there at night. There are also tales of stones made to dance by powerful druids, the best known of those being one of Merlin and the making of Stonehenge. When you look at them on a misty morning, or in a spring storm, it’s easy to understand how those stories came to be, for the stones look alive. Be careful though, for some tales have it that you may turn into stone yourself if you join in their dance!

Dr Judyta Szacillo-Haslett