Castlerigg Stone Circle: One of the Earliest Prehistoric Monuments in UK

Castlerigg Stone Circle Borrowdale Keswick Clive Hirst

One of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Britain, the Castlerigg Stone Circle is located in Cumbria, a shire county in the extreme North West of England. While not as well known as the Stonehenge, the Castlerigg circle is a remarkable artifact from the past that was constructed around 3000 BC, making it one of the earliest stone circles in Britain (and maybe Europe).

It’s hard to tell from the pictures but the 38 stones in the circle are quite large. The heaviest stone is around 16 tons and the tallest is approximately 2.3m high. The diameter for the circle is approximately 30m (100ft). A collection of 10 smaller stones are arranged in a rectangle on the south-east side of the ring (something not present in other stone circles).

So why were the stones placed there? What was their purpose? Researchers are generally divided into two camps: The ones that believe that builders of the past were skilled astronomers/mathematicians who carefully designed these circles. And the ones who believe that any geometry or astronomical alignments found are purely accidental, since the stone builders were primitive humans.

There are many different theories about Castlerigg, but much of it is speculation:

It’s an astronomical observatory. The tallest stone is in line with Samhain sunrise in early November. Samhain is the cross quarter of the astronomical year, half way between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.
It was a marketplace for the Neolithic stone axe industry. The mountains and stone axes found at the site support this theory.
It was a gathering point used for religious ceremonies and tribal gathering.

On a more mysterious level, the circle has been the focus of one well-recorded sighting of strange light phenomena:

In 1919 a man called T. Singleton and his friend watched as white light-balls moved slowly over the stones. Strange lights seem to be a recurring theme at ancient sites throughout the world, they may have been one of the reasons ancient man built monuments at specific sites such as this one. There has been a lot of speculation as to their nature and it’s most probable they are part of some natural phenomena.

Castlerigg stone circle
Source: Paul T. Hurst