Archaeologists say the circle would have marked the end of the Avenue, a 2.8km processional route from the Avon to Stonehenge constructed at the end of the Stone Age. The outer henge around the stones was built around 2,400BC, but arrowheads found in the circle indicate the stones were erected as much as 500 years earlier.

    Excavations in August-September 2009 by the Stonehenge Riverside Project – a consortium of universities – uncovered the nine stone-holes, part of a circle of probably 25 standing stones. Most of the circle remains unexcavated, preserved for future research, while the 2009 excavation has now been filled back in.

    A statement from the University of Bristol this week (October 7) said that when the stones from the newly-discovered circle were removed by Neolithic people, it was possible they were dragged along the Avenue to Stonehenge to be incorporated within its major phase of rebuilding at about 2,500 BC. After this date, Stonehenge consisted of some 80 Welsh bluestones and 83 local sarsen stones. Some of the bluestones that once stood at the riverside may now stand in the centre of Stonehenge.

    The stones from the new-found circle were removed thousands of years ago but the sizes of the holes in which they stood “indicate that this was a circle of bluestones that were brought from the Preseli mountains of Wales 150 miles away, like the inner stones at Stonehenge” (see Peter Dunn's artist's impression below).

    Now, of course, there’s no proof of this - the claim is an archaeological myth which has been repeated until it has been accepted as actuality. For years, I and certain others have dismissed the theory that the bluestones were transported by land and water from the Preseli mountains in west Wales, and suggested instead that ice was the carrier. It's more realistic to think that, as ice melted after one of the Ice Ages, the bluestones were left handy for the builders of Stonehenge.

    There’s the "awkward" 1801 discovery, in a long barrow 12 miles from Stonehenge, of a bluestone which was later placed in Salisbury Museum. Also, the Stonehenge bluestones are not identical. While some could have come from the Preselis, others could have come from Snowdonia.

    What geologists should be looking for is a trail of bluestone rubble on Salisbury Plain, and further afield, which could be traced to its various origins.

    And archaeologists still seem to be obsessed with death rather than life when considering prehistoric monuments. Dr Josh Pollard, from the University of Bristol and co-director of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, described Bluestonehenge as “an incredible discovery”, but continued: “The newly-discovered circle and henge should be considered an integral part of Stonehenge rather than a separate monument. Furthermore, it offers tremendous insight into the history of its famous neighbour. Its riverside location demonstrates once again the importance of the River Avon in Neolithic funerary rites and ceremonies.”

    Professor Mike Parker Pearson, from the University of Sheffield and principal director of the project, said: “It could be that Bluestonehenge was where the dead began their final journey to Stonehenge. Not many people know that Stonehenge was Britain’s largest burial ground at that time. Maybe the bluestone circle is where people were cremated before their ashes were buried at Stonehenge itself.”

    Maybe. But perhaps archaeologists ought to look back further in time and think about just how these venerable monuments came to be situated where they are, and whether an underlying pattern reveals a celebration of life that was only later overlain in places by “funerary rites and ceremonies”.

    Dorset author Gary Biltcliffe is well aware of Hardy's connections with Portland - and much more besides. Gary has spent 30 years researching and investigating earth mysteries, ancient civilisations and lost knowledge around the world and in his new book, The Spirit of Portland: Revelations of a Sacred Isle, elegantly produced by the Dorset publishers Roving Press (£9.95), he shares with us his fascinating discoveries and makes a valuable contribution to the esoteric history of Britain.

    "In an attempt to discover the amazing legacy of sacred Portland," Gary says, "I had to break new ground by combining the study of Portland's archaeology, oral traditions, folklore and the old families, with a more open-minded approach to research."

    Indeed, he is part of that movement, which is close to my own heart, to re-establish philosophy as it was known to the ancients, their way of eschewing the "worm's eye view" and taking in the bigger picture, the noumenal patterns which are the essence of the living universe.
    Behind Portland's reputation for stone quarrying and its naval heritage, lies an island immersed in myth and legend. Gary brings illuminating answers to such questions as why was Portland so important and strategic throughout Britain’s history? Does it hold the key to an ancient masonic secret? Was it a major centre of the Druids? Are island families descended from Phoenicians and Jutes?

    Here we have an adventure embracing the island's many mysteries, its sacred geology and geometry, its leys and holy wells, its stone circles, standing stones and burial mounds - and Gary finds even that a giant figure, formed from natural and man-made features, looms from its landscape, the latest of a growing number of such "landscape sculptures" discovered around Britain.

    Gary thinks the Portland figure could represent the Celtic Bran, depicted as a giant in the old British tales, and therefore the genius loci, or spirit of the island - Bran is a common placename there, and the mythological Bran was connected to the cult of the crow or raven, linking to the bird's-head shape of the island.

    Thoughtfully, Gary also includes five walks around Portland (mirroring his own explorations on foot) enabling visitors to discover its hidden treasures for themselves - with the not too bemused ghost of Thomas Hardy surely looking over their shoulders!