Nearest town: Keswick
Nearest village: Keswick
Map reference: NY 291236
This magnificent circle, one of
the earliest in Britain, is crowned by the Lake District's mountains
Castlerigg is one of
Nearest town: Keswick
Nearest village: Keswick
Map reference: NY 291236
This magnificent circle, one of
the earliest in Britain, is crowned by the Lake District's mountains
Castlerigg is one of the most beautiful stone circles in Britain, set in a splendid position, in an open field
crowned by the Lake District's mountains, 213m (700ft) above sea level. It is thought to be one of the earliest circles in
Britain, and it dates from around 3000 BC.
Thirty-eight stones are placed in an slightly oval shape of 30m (100ft) in diameter; a further 10 small stones are
arranged as a rectangular enclosure on the south-east side of the ring: this is a feature unique to Castlerigg, nothing
similar being present in other stone circles. The largest stone of the circle, not far from the enclosure, is 2.5m (8ft 3in)
high and it weighs about 16 tons: most of the others, much smaller, are 1 to 1.5m (3-5ft) high.
At the north of the ring is an entrance marked by two slightly bigger stones, and about 90m (295ft) to the
south-west, by a stile at the edge of the field, is a single outlying stone, 0.9m (3ft) high.
There are many theories about Castlerigg's function. In Professor Al