Castlerigg Stone Circle

My favorite place in the Lake District, and one of my favorite locations in all of England. A well-preserved stone circle on a high hill, with a 360-degree mountain view. Each time we come up here the view is different. Arrive early morning if you want the circle to yourself - midday the place can be quite crowded!

We visit Castlerigg quite often, so pages are in date order.

A piece of the panoramic view at Castlerigg Stone Circle. View is from Clough Head on the left to Castlerigg Fell on the right. (SouthEast)

Castlerigg Stone Circle

The present approach to Castlerigg Stone Circle seems to follow the original entrance route. The Circle has been owned since 1913 by the National Trust. It was one of the first dozen sites to be declared an ancient monument in 1883 and the stones are in the guardianship of English Heritage

Who Built Castlerigg and When?

We dont know but there are clues. The builders would have come from the early farming communities who probably lived on the fringes of the mountainous region, from which they obtained the raw material for their tools.

The Stone Circles in Britian seem to have been built between 1500 - 1300 B.C. during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Two stone axes and a stone "club" found near the circle in the 18th century A.D. suggest a Neolitic (New Stone Age) construction.

How Was It Built?

The builders would have found the stones lying in the immediate area. All are of Borrowdale volcanic stone, brought by glaciers from rocky outcrops during the last Ice Age.

The Circle is not a true circle - but a flattened one, distorted on the eastern side. The stones would have been dragged to the site on log rollers and then levered into prepared holes, which were then packed with soil and stones. The unique rectangular "sanctuary" may be contemporary with the main circle.

The building of the Circle would have required similar planning and effort to the construction of a church in medieval times.

Why Was It Built?

Castlerigg would have been important ot every member of the local tribal community. Isolated groups would have been able to come here to barter livestock, exchange partners or celebrate tribal festivals. There is evidence that the Circle was also a means of calculating the cycle of the seasons, something that would have been essential to early farmers to whom the sun would have been a vital factor for survival, especially in Cumbria.

Here's a .mov file (it's about 10mg). I stood in the center of the circle, and slowly panned around. The camera autofocuses constantly, sorry about that.