Review: The Children of the Stones (1977)

The Children of the Stones (1977) directed by Peter Graham Scott

The Children of the Stones is a British children's miniseries (seven half-hour episodes) not produced by the BBC, but by one of the forerunners of ITV. Made in the late 1970s, it features the sort of clothes and hairdos you'd expect from the time. The story itself has a bit of timelessness about it and the show makes for entertaining watching even now, 35 years later.

An astrophysicist, Adam Brake, comes to the town of Milbury to fulfill a grant studying magnetic fields at the local neolithic monuments. The town has a stone circle that dates back to at least 3000 BC. The circle is enormous--it encloses the whole town.

He's a widower and has brought his only son Matthew, who is prone to psychic visions of the past, present, and future They drive into town with some typical father-son banter. All of the sudden, there's an old women in the road. They break quickly and discover that she is the caretaker of their bed and breakfast. The local lord told her they were arriving and she had come out to greet them. At least that's her explanation. The lord comes to visit and seems a little odd. The local people also are rather quaint, always greeting one another with "Happy day!" Small town friendliness comes off a bit creepy and it's not just unfamiliarity with local customs.

Another recent arrival is Margaret, a widow with a daughter about Matthew's age. They've been here for a while and feel a little isolated since they are not part of the "Happy Day" crew. She's curator of the local museum and knows a bit of folklore about the stones, including that they are the center of 53 different lay lines (which are lines between various neolithic sites that are claimed to have psychic energy running along them). There are 53 stones still standing in the circle. And now 53 citizens of Milbury since Adam and Matthew have arrived. Cue the creepy music.

The music is one of the distinctive features of the show. The score is dominated by spooky chanting that uses groans, moans, shrieks, and a wordless soprano line to enhance the atmosphere. It seems a little heavy-handed at times but is effective. It also mirrors the prehistoric mysteriousness of what's going on.

The visuals are uneven. The production is from the 1970s--the interiors are videotaped on sound stages and the exteriors are filmed in the town of Avebury (which has a real, ancient, and enormous stone circle around it). The difference is noticeable but I found I was able to tune it out. The special effects are few and far between--some work well, others are a bit low tech.

On the other hand, the performances are uniformly good. Given the science fiction and horror elements, a few performances and reactions are stylized but it fits the story. Even though it was made as a children's show, the actors take it seriously.

Like the best of children's entertainment, the show is also entertaining for adults as well. The story is well told, intelligent, and challenging. The science is accurate enough without being difficult to follow. The mystery of the town is slowly if not completely revealed, making it intriguing watching the first time. The ending is a bit ambiguous but of the sort that makes for interesting discussions (rather than frustrating bewilderment). And when I watched it a second time, I noticed a lot more of the details foreshadowing what would happen. It's much like watching The Sixth Sense a second time. Children of the Stones isn't as good as The Sixth Sense, but it does fall in a similar genre and would be enjoyed by the same fans.



You can watch the first episode on YouTube:

St. James Church, Avebury

You may think the prehistoric stone circles and henges in England have some pagan religious or astrological purpose that makes it at best a historical curiosity or at worst an impressive achievement forwarding an evil end. Here's another thought on the matter:

"We have been giving careful thought to the affairs of the English, and have come to the conclusion that the temples of the idols among that people should on no account be destroyed.  The idols are to be destroyed, but the temples themselves are to be aspersed with holy water, altars set up in them, and relics deposited there.  For if these temples are well built, they must be purified from the worship of demons and dedicated to the service of the true God.  In this way, we hope that the people, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may abandon their error and, flocking more readily to their accustomed resorts, may come to know and adore the true God.  And since they have a custom of sacrificing many oxen to demons, let some other solemnity be substituted in its place, such as a day of Dedication or the Festivals of the holy martyrs whose relics are enshrined there.  On such occasions they might well construct shelters of boughs for themselves around the churches that were once temples, and celebrate the solemnity with devout feasting." - A copy of the letter sent by Pope Gregory to Abbot Mellitus on his departure for Britain in 601 AD (From Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People)

The builders of St. James Church in Avebury (who built it before the Norman Conquest in the late 1000s AD) situated the church very close to the massive Avebury Stone Circle. The purpose of the circle is a mystery though certainly people have assumed some pagan, druid, or other superstitious significance and power was involved in its construction and purpose. The builders of the church may have been following Pope Gregory's advice. The Saxon church underwent several revisions, first by the Normans adding aisles and then throughout the centuries by various others.

From outside the church seems like most other long-lived churches in England.

St. James Church, Avebury

It includes a standard graveyard.

Dual tombstones are plentiful here, though I am not sure why

More shady graves

There was even a small replica of Calvary, like many of the churches we visited during Eastertide this year.

Three crosses and an empty tomb

The tower is 15th century though the bells have been in and out of service throughout the years.

The tower

Remains of one of the bell braces

Inside, at the base of the tower is the Norman baptismal font (12th century), depicting Christ trampling two dragons, representing evil and sin.

Baptismal font with flowers

The nave is original from the 11th century, though aisles were added in 12th century.

Nave looking into the main altar

The rood screen (which held the crucifix/rood) survived the iconoclasm of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. The locals disassembled it and hid the wood, which was not recovered until the 1800s. Then it was reinstalled and painted by the Victorians, including their addition of the lower half of the screen.

Some apostles

More apostles

St. Peter on the left door of the rood screen

St. James (patron of the church) on the right door of the rood screen

The main altar is from the late 13th century.

Simple and beautiful

Many fine stained glass windows are also found in the church, dating throughout the history of the church.

Annunciation and Birth of Christ

We enjoyed visiting this church during our visit to Avebury.

Avebury Stone Circle

One of our many guidebooks includes the tantalizing quote that Avebury "does as much exceed in greatness the so renowned Stonehenge as a cathedral doeth a parish church." So said John Aubrey, 17th century antiquarian. When a trip took us nearby, we couldn't resist a detour to Avebury. After perusing How to Read Prehistoric Monuments we felt ready to absorb the awesome spectacle.

Avebury is similar to Stonehenge in that it contains huge rocks arranged in specific patterns. They are both classified as "henges" because they are neolithic earth works with ditches and banks. The big stones are just gravy. What makes Avebury a cathedral of megalithic sites is that it contains multiple huge stone circles, ditches, lanes of stones, etc. It is so big that words and photos don't really do it justice.

Just a small slice of one of the stone circles

We took in some views of the circles and touched a few rocks on our way to the visitor's center.

This one looks like it came from Easter Island

Lucy was too tired to turn around

Lucy got her energy back!

Avebury was built around 5000 years ago during the stone age. It was built using only stone tools, rope, and deer antler "shovels". And lots and lots of human sweat. It must have taken thousands upon thousands of hours of labor, at a time when England was probably very lightly populated.

Not much progress from pre-historic to post-modern man

The visitor center was not fancy, but Jacob and Lucy were highly entertained by it. One display described the animals that lived in the area 5000 years ago and had little cubby holes to put your hand into. Assuming it had some sort of "feel this thing and guess what it is" purpose, I put my hand in. A wolf howled immediately and I jumped back. My hand was okay. I showed it to Jacob, who also jumped. But he loved it. Jacob decided to listen to 20 howls and put his hand in repeatedly while counting out loud. Other nervous patrons decided that they were done with the visitor center and ducked outside. This gave us plenty of time to play with all the exhibits, including the neolithic tool set.

Neolithic tools:  Deer shoulder=shovel  Deer antler=pick axe

Ready to get to work 3000 BC style

Using those simple tools, Avebury's builders moved an incredible amount of earth and stones. The whole complex is really awe-inspiring. Archeologists still aren't sure exactly how they built it or what the purpose was.

The site contains an inner circle of stones with no ditch and then a larger outer circle that includes a fair bit of the town within itself. People are free to roam through most of the area and ponder the amazing accomplishment of our forebears.

Stones inside the ditch and berm

Jacob by the inner circle

The path outside one of the circles

The henge or ditch that goes all the way around the site

Trees are few in the area

The inner circle is near the town (that's a chapel on the far right)

We also discovered other real and frivolous mysteries.

Why do people put ribbons in this tree by the stone circle?

Is ice cream allowed by the stones?

Lucy wonders how to play the game

Jacob enjoyed the peddle-powered tractor, especially when we pushed from behind!

The area also includes the recently restored Avebury Manor (which was featured in a BBC show, or so lots of signs said) and gardens, neither of which we saw.

The Manor tours started late and were of less interest to us

Spring had not reached the garden yet

We visited St. James' Church in Avebury, though that's a topic for the next post!