an alignment with the centres of the Great Circle and the southern circle. It is a large stone close to Hautville Quoit Farm, recumbent since at least the mid 17th century but assumed to have originally been upright. Described by Stukeley in 1723 as being long, it is now about half that length, Leslie Grinsell suggesting that fragments have occasionally been broken off for mending the roads. Stukeley also referred to the presence of a second stone. Further to the west is a cove of two standing stones with a recumbent slab between them, which can be found in the garden of the Druid's Arms public house. All are of different heights, the stone to the north east being the south western , and the north eastern . The stones of The Cove are mineralogically different from those in the nearby stone circles. A long barrow burial chamber has been found under the stones of The Cove. It is thought that this predates the erection of the stones by approximately a thousand years. Excavations In 1740 the site was surveyed and mapped by architect, freemason and antiquarian John Wood, the Elder, who noted the different stones used. He suggested the layout was based on the Pythagorean planetary system, and thought it was used as the Druid's "University". The number and positioning of the stones according to Wood, corresponded to the Pythagorean planetary system of worlds, with three of the circles corresponding to the solar, lunar and Earth cycles. This deeply influenced his plans for a circle of 30 houses called The Circus in Bath, an ambitious architectural project completed by his son John Wood, the Younger. When one of the stones fell in the mid 17th century, some human bones were discovered accompanied by an object described as a "round bell, like a large horse-bell". The burial date and the purpose of the bell-like object are unknown. Geophysical survey Geophysical work by English Heritage in 1997 revealed a surrounding ditch and nine concentric rings of postholes within the stone circle. More than four hundred pits, across and at intervals, stood in rings at the site. The ditch is in diameter and about wide. A wide entrance was visible on the north east side. No surrounding bank has been identified although the site awaits excavation. The geophysical work transformed the traditional view of Stanton Drew as being a surface monument and