For some reason, 70% of England’s stone circles are in Cumbria. Castlerigg is one of the best and oldest in Britain, and an easy stop if you have a car. Video below shows our visit on a blustery late afternoon.
The circle – 90 feet across and 5,000 years old – has 38 stones mysteriously laid out on a line between the two tallest peaks on the horizon. they may have served as a celestial calendar for ritual celebrations.
Imagine the ambience here, as ancient people filled this clearing in spring to celebrate fertility, in late summer to commemorate the harvest, and in the winter to celebrate the winter solstice and the coming renewal of light.
Festival dates may have been dictated by how the sun rose and set in relation to the stones. The more that modern academics study this circle, the more meaning they find in the placement of the stones.
The two front stones face due north, toward a cut in the mountains. The rare-for-stone-circles “sanctuary” lines up with its center stone to mark certain celestial events.
For maximum “goose pimples”, show up at sunset.
