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Small stone circle 220m south-east of Castlehowe Scar

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1011610
Date first listed:: 27-Oct-1938

User submitted image — Uploaded by Mark Johnstone This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1011610
Date first listed:: 27-Oct-1938
Date of most recent amendment:: 16-Sep-1993

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Westmorland and Furness (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Crosby Ravensworth
District:: Westmorland and Furness (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Shap Rural
National Grid Reference:: NY 58748 15472

Reasons for Designation

Stone circles are prehistoric monuments comprising one or more circles of upright or recumbent stones. The circle of stones may be surrounded by earthwork features such as enclosing banks and ditches. Single upright stones may be found within the circle or outside it and avenues of stones radiating out from the circle occur at some sites. Burial cairns may also be found close to and on occasion within the circle. Stone circles are found throughout England although they are concentrated in western areas, with particular clusters in upland areas such as Bodmin and Dartmoor in the south-west and the Lake District and the rest of Cumbria in the north-west. This distribution may be more a reflection of present survival rather than an original pattern. Where excavated they have been found to date from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (c.2400-1000 BC). It is clear that they were carefully designed and laid out, frequently exhibiting very regularly spaced stones, the heights of which also appear to have been of some importance. We do not fully understand the uses for which these monuments were originally constructed but it is clear that they had considerable ritual importance for the societies that used them. In many instances excavation has indicated that they provided a focus for burials and the rituals that accompanied interment of the dead. Some circles appear to have had a calendrical function, helping mark the passage of time and seasons, this being indicated by the careful alignment of stones to mark important solar or lunar events such as sunrise or sunset at midsummer or midwinter. At other sites the spacing of individual circles throughout the landscape has led to a suggestion that each one provided some form of tribal gathering point for a specific social group. A small stone circle comprises a regular or irregular ring of between 7 and 16 stones with a diameter of between 4 and 20 metres. They are widespread throughout England although clusters are found on Dartmoor, the North Yorkshire Moors, in the Peak District and in the uplands of Cumbria and Northumberland. Of the 250 or so stone circles identified in England, over 100 are examples of small stone circles. As a rare monument type which provides an important insight into prehistoric ritual activity, all surviving examples are worthy of preservation.

The small stone circle 220m south-east of Castlehowe Scar survives well and is a good example of this class of monument.

Details

The monument is a small stone circle located 220m south-east of Castlehowe Scar farm. The monument includes a circle 5m in diameter of 11 variably spaced boulders, 10 of which are rounded pink granite and one being hewn blue granite. The two largest stones are at the southern side of the circle. The westerly of these is hewn blue granite stone and this has fallen. The monument is not known to have been excavated. The monument does not extend south of the field boundary as indicated by the symbol on the map extract enclosed.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 22451
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
Bowman, A., MPP Single Monument Class Descriptions - Small Stone Circles, (1990)
SMR No 1584, Cumbria SMR, Stone Cricle 240yds SE of Castlehowe Scar, (1989)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.