Castlerigg is thought to be one of the earliest circles in Britain, dateing from around 3000 BC.
It is in one of the most beautiful settings in Britain. An open field layed out in front of the Lake District's mountains. It consists of 38 stones, placed in an slightl oval shape 100ft in diameter.
There are a further 10 small stones arranged in a rectangular pattern on the south-east side of
the ring. This feature has been found nowhere else so far. Near the rectangle of smaller stones
is the largest main circle stone, it measures 8ft 3in high and weighs about 16 tons. Most of the other stones are smaller, 3-5ft. The exception is at the north of the ring there is an entrance
marked by two bigger stones. Aproximatly 300ft to the south-west, at the edge of the field, is
a single outlying stone 3ft high.

There are many theories surrounding Castlerigg's use. Professor Alexander Thom belived the
circle was an astronomical observatory, the tallest stone is in line with the November or the
Samain sunrise. Professor Aubrey Burl was of the opinion that one of Castlerigg's many
functions may have been to act as a market place where the local population traded axes.
There was a Neolithic stone axe industry in the Langdales. The near by source of the material
used for these tools and the stone axes found at the site do support this theory. Castlerigg was
also easily approached from all directions, so it could have been used for trading, religious ceremonies and tribal gathering.

The only excavation of the site was in 1882 and then only of the rectangle, nothing but
charcoal was found. The site first came to the public's attention in 1725 when the antiquarian
William Stukeley wrote

"that the circle was very entire, consisting of 50 stones, some very large."

In 1849, in his 'Guide to The Lakes', Jonathan Otley reported a total of only 49 stones.
Locally known as Druid's Circle, it is also called Keswick Carles, this comes from a legend
that tells of the stones being petrified men. It is only a fairly recent legend as, in reality it
comes from William Stukeley word Castle being mistaken for them word Carles.

This is one of the smallest stone circles of the thirteen in the area with a diameter of
39 x 37ft. It is situated near the road leading from Liskeard Looe. Seven of its eight quartz
stones remain, most are less than 6ft high. The tallest is 8ft 6in and is situated at the
southern end. The other known Cornish circles are constructed granite, but there is a source
of quartz close to Duloe, which would indicate that prehistoric man used local material close
at hand. It there is a theory that the stone ring was originally the retaining wall of a barrow. Excavations in 1861 and on 1967 uncovered a ribbon-handled urn of the mid-second millennium
B.C. and strewn charcoal.

The name The Hurlers is traditional and refers to an old folk tale that the circles were men or women turned to stone, as with The Pipers, The Merry Maidens, Stanton Drew, The King Stone
and The Rollright Stones. The historian William Camden wrote in 1610:

"The neighbouring inhabitants terme them Hurlers, as being by devout and godly error
perswaded that they hadbeen men sometime transformed into stones, for profaning the Lord's
Day with hurling the ball."

A misrepresentation initiated by early Christians attempting to get the slackers to attend church
on the Sabath! Another legend has it that it is difficult to count the number of the Hurlers at Minions, but if you do so correctly, a misfortune will befall you.

Near the old moorland tin mining village of Minions lies the Bronze Age stone temple known
as The Hurlers. It is an unusual site consists of three large aligned stone circles, running from
NNE to SSW and built in a pass, between the River Fowley and the River Lynher. The sides of Stowe's Hill and Caradon rise to north and south. It is not unusual to find multiple or associated circles southwest of England and they are often between rivers points where people used to converging for trading. The smallest of these circles is 108ft across, unfortunately there are only
nine stones left in it. The largest is the central circle, slightly egg shaped, with a diameter of
137 x 132ft, this has 14 stones remaining. The northern circle is 113ft across and is the most complete with 15 stones, four of which have fallen and it is probable a further nine are missing.
A granite pathway along their axis once linked the central and the northern rings.

All the stones in the circles were carefully placed so that they all appear the same height.
Some are diamond-shaped, others round and one has been shaped so that its top edge is cleft.
A layer of quartz crystals found in the central circle may have come from shaping the stones.
A boundary bank crossed the northern circle, and two stones 393ft to the WSW of the central
site could have been boundary posts, although astronomical purposes have been alluded to.

In the 18th century there was an attempt to destroy Long Meg and Her Daughters, but a
tremendous thunderstorm broke and the fearful locals gave up the idea for as a local story
goes

"Long Meg would bleed if broken down."

Another tale tells of coven of witches turned into stones by a saint, or a powerful wizard, (take
your pick), during their Sabbath. Like many of the other megalithic monuments, these stones are
said to be uncountable, it being impossible to get the same total more than once. Legend has it though, if anyone can do it twice, the spell will be broken.

Long Meg and Her Daughters is the third largest stone circle in England, the two larger are the outer circle at Avebury, in Wiltshire and Stanton Drew, in Avon. The monument dates from the
Bronze Age and consists of a ellipse, the Daughters which has almost 60 local porphyritic
stones and a tall outlying stone, Long Meg. The ellipse measures 359 x 305ft and it lies on a
slight slope, the east and west cardinal points are marked by two massive blocks and an
entrance at the south-west by two large boulders and by two further stones lying outside the
ring.

Long Meg is a 12ft block of red sandstone 238ft southwest from the circle's centre. It aligned to
the midwinter sunset and carved on its northeast face are some rings and spirals. These may
perhaps be descriptive of its astronomical alignment. Aerial photography of the site has shown
that the circle is enclosed in a bank, which is not visible from the ground.

The Merry Maidens are also known as Dawn's Men. This name is a corruption of Dans Maen,
or Stone Dance in Cornish and has nothing to do with the sunrise. It concerns the story of
nineteen maidens dancing on a Sunday who were transformed into stones. The pipers that had
played for them were petrified too: the two standing stones called the Pipers are in a field to
the northeast of the circle. This legend was probably initiated by the early Christian Church to
stop the pagan Cornish peasantry continuing old habits.

The Merry Maidens is the best known and preserved circle in Cornwall. It is believed to be
complete, a rarity. It has nineteen small granite stones, which are neatly and regularly laid out.
It forms a perfect circle 77ft 10in diameter. At the east there is a gap which could either be
an entrance or the site of a missing stone.

This is a little elliptical stone circle 30 x 26ft which resembles Kingston Russel, a little larger
stone circle twoand a half miles southwest. Both sites were once graded to the north. The Nine Stones has an addition if two conspicuously taller stones, 3.9ft and 6.8ft set on either side of a
low block in the North. One is a thin pillar and the other a broad, almost square slab, it has
been suggested that they could possibly be sexual symbols. Opposite them are the shortest
stones of the complex.

The small nature of the ring would only allow a few people to occupy it but the biggest stone, weighing eight tons, would have needed many people to move and erect it. This leads to the assumption that the site might have been used as a focal point for one or two participants while
the remainder of the community remained outside watching the ceremonies. Here, unlike the
North of Britain, there have been no indications found of ritual cremations. This stone circle, like many of the scattered Dorset ovals, is probably of the Bronze Age.

The name 'Rollright' has nothing to do with any supernatural movement of the stones, but
probably derives from Hrolla-landriht, the land belonging to Hrolla. This is backed up by the
early spelling Rollindricht . Here there is yet another legend of man turned to stone. Once the Rollright Stones were human beings, the army of a King. A witch who owned the land over
which they marched met them. She said to the king:

Seven long strides shalt thou take,
If Long Compton thou can see
King of England thou shalt be.  

And the king shouted:

Stick, stock, stone,
As King of England I shall be known.

But when he had taken the seven strides, all he could see was the Archdruid's Barrow, which blocked his view of the village in the valley below.

The witch cried:

As Long Compton thou canst not see,
King of England thou shalt not be.
Rise up stick, and stand still stone,
For King of England thou shalt be none.
Thou and thy men hoar stones shall be
And I myself an eldern tree.

So the King became the solitary King Stone, his men the Rollright Stone circle and his knights
the Whispering Knights burial chamber.

The King Stone may originally have been somewhat bigger than it is now, people used to chip pieces from it as good luck charms. Another legends concerning the King Stone is that dreadful noises were heard when a man, using 24 horses, removed the stone to his house. The noises became unbearable so he decided to return the stone from whence he had taken it. When he
took it back he found he only two horses to move it. Another story tells how the King Stone go
down to a spring in Little Rollright spinney to drink, but only when he hears Long Compton
church clock strike midnight.

As late as the 18^th Century the area was used for marking celebrations. According to the
antiquarian William Stukeley,

"near the King Stone was a flat area of turf where young people meet at a special time and
make merry with cakes and ale".

When these special times were is not clear, but people did gather there on Midsummer Eve.
In 1895 A.J.Evans reported that

"they stood in a circle round the King Stone, and when the elder (or eldern as the witch said)
tree was cut and bled, the stone was said to move his head."

Rollright is actually a group of monolithic structures inside the stone circle called The King's
Men. It consists of a standing stone, The King Stone, 239ft NE and a burial chamber, The Whispering Knights, to the ESE, there was once also a burial mound called the ArchDruids
Barrow, but it was ploughed flat. The structure probably dates back 3000 BC, there are approximately 77 pieces of weathered limestone set in a 103ft perfect circle, some of which

are nearly lost in the short turf.

In 18th century, the antiquarian William Stukeley described this circle as

"The greatest Antiquity we have yet seen... corroded like wormeaten wood by the harsh Jaws of Time."

Early in the 17th century only 26 stones were standing but in 1882 some major restoration work returned the remaining stones to their proper places.

This is a compact circle of 55 stones considered by Aubrey Burl one of the finest stone circles
of the Western Europe. It dates from the Bronze Age and lies aproximatly 23 miles SSW of Castlerigg. Swinside is 93ft 8ins in diameter and it of porphyritic slate stones which came from
the adjacent fells. There is a well-defined entrance at the southeast marked by two portal stones outside the circle's circumference, it is also a midwinter sunrise marker when viewed from the
centre of the circle. The tallest stone of the circle is 7ft 6ins tall, it weighs approximately 5
tons, it stands almost exactly to the north.

Excavations at the beginning of the century showed that the stones are imbedded in a layer of packed pebbles. The site is also known as Sunkenkirk because the stones are said to be the
remains of a church that was being built during the day and pulled down by the Devil at night.