It was accidentally, kind of, that we visited Castlerigg stone circle on 21 December 2016 – the day of the winter solstice. My companion and I had been holed up within the Lake District for a number of days after an exhausting yr, beset by work stress and political upheavals. The climate was principally foul and our resort, the great outdated Kirkstile Inn close to Loweswater, was heat and properly stocked with board video games and beer. On the penultimate day, we determined we’d higher do some exploring.
In my (admittedly restricted) expertise, megalithic websites are fiddly to entry. Stonehenge may be glimpsed from the A303 however that you must pay for a shuttle bus to see the stones up shut. To view the winter solstice dawn from inside Newgrange, the magnificent passage tomb in Eire’s Boyne Valley, you need to vie with 30,000 folks in an annual lottery for simply 60 tickets.
However attending to Castlerigg – one of many earliest stone circles in Britain, and among the many most stunning and intriguing – couldn’t be simpler, or much less aggressive. We drove up a slim lane referred to as Eleventrees, fringed by ashes and oaks, and parked by the aspect of the street. A band of infinitely extra devoted solstice-chasers had stationed their caravans in a layby. There have been indicators of revelry – empty beer cans, a serious-looking sound system – however no revellers in sight. An icy breeze whipped throughout the fells, blowing by an open caravan window.
The sky had been a menacing gray after we set off, however as we slipped by the picket gate and into the sector it was starting to clear, revealing patches of blue. We discovered ourselves on a curving plateau encircled by distant peaks: Helvellyn, Skiddaw, Grasmoor. When Samuel Taylor Coleridge visited Castlerigg with William Wordsworth in 1799, he described the mountains standing “one behind the opposite, in orderly array as if evoked by and attentive to the meeting of white-vested wizards”.
Druids additionally haunted the account of the gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe, who, visiting 5 years earlier, judged “this case probably the most severely grand of any hitherto handed. There's, maybe, not a single object within the scene that interrupts the solemn tone of feeling impressed by its basic character of profound solitude, greatness, and terrible wildness.”
Not an ideal deal has modified within the fast space since Radcliffe’s go to. There are 40 stones organized in a flattened circle about 30 metres (98ft) throughout, some weighing as much as 16 tonnes, they usually’ve been sitting right here patiently for five,000 years doing … what precisely?
Nobody is solely sure why Castlerigg was constructed. No proof of burial has been uncovered right here, nor can we are saying with confidence that it was constructed alongside astronomical strains. The most effective guess is that it was a spot for scattered neolithic communities to assemble, whether or not for ceremonies or maybe commerce. The invention of three stone axes right here within the nineteenth century suggests a reference to the neolithic axe business within the close by Langdale fells.
For some purpose I can’t fairly put my finger on, we determined a ritual was so as, so we began operating backwards across the circle thrice. Possibly we figured it might carry us luck. If nothing else, it warmed us up a bit of, which was good as a result of we weren’t significantly properly dressed for the chilly.
By now, the solar had come out and the clouds had been dispersing. We lingered for some time longer, considering the huge expanse of time that separated us from the individuals who constructed this circle, and the corresponding smallness of our stresses and issues.
Then we made our method again to the automobile. Passing the caravans, I peered by the open window. A bit of brightly colored cloth was flapping within the breeze. Behind it, a pair of arms clasped a mug of steaming liquid. What had struck me as a very bleak scene on the best way up now appeared oddly enviable. I puzzled what it might be wish to orient my life round a celestial calendar as a substitute of a work-dominated one, visiting locations resembling this with correct intention and sticking round for days moderately than fleeting half-hours. A bit chilly at occasions, I reckoned, however in all probability not that dangerous. Not truly that dangerous in any respect.
english-heritage.org.uk/go to/locations/castlerigg-stone-circle
Different prehistoric delights
Bryn Cader Faner, Gwynedd
This bronze age cairn is encircled by a crown of outward-leaning stones. It’s a very good two miles from the street however well worth the hike.
Carn Euny, Cornwall
Among the finest-preserved iron age villages within the UK. It options the stays of courtyard homes and a fogou – an underground passage and chamber constructed for functions unknown.
Beaghmore Stone Circles, County Tyrone
A surprisingly massive variety of bronze age circles, cairns and rows of stones set in stunning countryside.
Druid’s Temple, Yorkshire
There are numerous pretend stone circles across the UK by devotees of druids and prehistory. Among the finest was constructed by William Danby within the nineteenth century. It was modelled on Stonehenge and he even employed a mute hermit for authenticity.
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