The Nine Stones is a stone circle near the village of Winterbourne Abbas in the south-western English county of Dorset. The circle was probably erected during the Bronze Age; stone circles were built throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany between 3,300 and 900 BCE, during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The stone circle tradition was accompanied by the construction of timber circles and earthen henges, reflecting a growing emphasis on circular monuments. At least nine of these stone circles are known in modern Dorset. They are smaller than those found elsewhere in Britain and are typically built from sarsen stone. Located in the bottom of a narrow valley, the Nine Stones circle consists of nine irregularly spaced sarsen megaliths, with a small opening on the circle's northern side. Two of the stones on the north-western side are considerably larger than the other seven. The site, adjacent to the A35 road, is owned by English Heritage. (Full article...)