Castlerigg Stone Circle

Castlerigg stone circle lies on the eastern edge of the Lake District near the town of Keswick. Its name derives from Carsles or Carles, a name recorded in the 18^th century and deriving from the French carole, meaning a circular dance. It's interesting how many stone circles are linked to dancing. It was built around 3200BC, making it one of the earliest stone circles in Britain.

The circle is 30 metres in diameter and originally comprised 42 stones, of which 38 remain. The stones are glacial erratics, probably from fairly close by, and most are 1-1.2 metres in height. Two taller stones flank the north-facing entrance, and an offset pillar to the southeast, almost 2 metres tall, aligns to the sunrise at Samhain (1^st November) and Imbolc (1^st February).

A rectangular setting of about twelve smaller stones stands in the eastern part of the circle and focuses on the prominent hill of Clough Head on the skyline.

Another standing stone is found near the western edge of the site. Its original location is now unclear but it may have come from the circle itself or was perhaps another outlier stone.

          The internal rectangular setting

Castlerigg is sited on an area of gently sloping higher ground, surrounded by the settled areas and farmland that have long filled the lowlands of the area. The ring of stark mountains and fells beyond provides a contrasting backdrop and reflects the varied topology and spirit of the Lake District. Thanks to the slope of the ground, fairly little of the immediate area is visible from the circle, and conversely, the circle was perhaps equally hidden until the final approach up the hillside. This would have added an air of magic to the site.

           The outlier stone which is angled towards the Samhain sunrise

Castlerigg, like Mayburgh Henge 15 miles to the east, is linked to the manufacture and trade of polished stone axes which were made from green volcanic tuff found in a few isolated and inaccessible hillsides deep in the Lake District mountains. Three of these axes and an unpolished roughout have been found inside the circle.

The north-facing entrance faces what is now the main road from Penrith to Keswick and what has probably always been the major route into the Lakes. From the circle, the main view is the wide valley to the southeast which leads to the villages of Grasmere and Ambleside and then to the Langdale valley where the axe quarries were accessed. Castlerigg was certainly there to oversee the routeways used by the special greenstone and the people who worked it.