Castlerigg Stone Circle
Ian White
With the mountains of Helvellyn and High Seat as their backdrop and panoramic views across to Skiddaw, Blencathra and Lonscale Fell, Castlerigg is perhaps the most atmospheric and dramatically sited of all British stone circles. It’s estimated to have been built around 3000BC, at the beginning of the later Neolithic period, which makes it one of the earliest stone circles in Britain too.
The circle comprises 38 stones – the tallest of which is 2.3 metres high – in a circle that is approximately 30 metres in diameter. Stone circles are intriguing enough but this one has, just inside its eastern end, a group of 10 stones forming a rectangular enclosure, the purpose of which adds to the mystery. Cumbria and the Lake District are not short of prehistoric stone circles but this one, sitting on the level top of a low hill, is the main attraction. Every year thousands of people visit it to look, photograph, draw or just sit and wonder.
Castlerigg Stone Circle, Cumbria
Tel: 0870 333 1181
