'How I helped discover hidden Bronze Age monument'

"I guess over time, I just started to wonder if there might be more to this standing stone up in my local woods."

Archaeology enthusiast George Bird said he had been "dragging" his friends to stone circles across the Peak District for years.

But it was his curiosity about a single standing stone closer to home that has been credited with the discovery of a Bronze Age ceremonial site in Derbyshire, dating back 3,700 years.

The find, in Farley Wood near Matlock, was made after the 24-year-old student alerted Forestry England to what he thought was a much bigger site.

"I tried to send over a fairly documented account of what I found in the area," he said.

Excavations by Forestry England and archaeology series Time Team uncovered evidence of a ceremonial platform and stone circle.

At 2m (6.6ft) tall, the Farley Moor standing stone was previously believed to be an isolated monument.

George first contacted Forestry England in 2021 to say he believed there were other partially buried stones which may form a circle.

It was "a few years later" when George received the news that Time Team was keen to visit the site.

"I've been dragging my friends around all these stone circles for years now, and I usually get a fair bit of teasing, because the walks I take them on always end up going past a stone circle and always end up being five miles longer than I thought for the walk," he said.

"I just couldn't wait to get stuck in giving [the team] a hand with the excavation.

"It's just fantastic now finding out that this has all been confirmed, those peculiar rocks are in fact a larger monument."

Dr Lawrence Shaw, lead historic environment advisor for Forestry England, added: "We were never going to do anything without George - it was his idea and he was part of the team as far as we're concerned.

"We knew that this stone was here but we had absolutely no idea of the potential for the bigger monument that we ended up discovering.

"It goes to show the power of being inquisitive and asking questions.

"By George giving us the heads-up and working with us to bring in Time Team and really get to the bottom of what's going on here, we're now able to manage the site as though it's a nationally protected monument."

The archaeology team hopes to return next summer to do a longer investigation looking in more detail at some of the newly-identified stones.

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