Castlerigg Stone Circle
Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick in the Lake District is one of the most impressively situated prehistoric monuments in Britain, a circle of thirty-eight standing stones of approximately 3000 BC set on a hilltop plateau completely surrounded by the mountains of the northern Lake District in a position that commands views of Skiddaw, Blencathra, Helvellyn and the surrounding peaks in one of the most dramatic mountain settings of any prehistoric monument in England. The combination of the stone circle and the mountain panorama creates an experience of remarkable power.
The circle is approximately 30 metres in diameter and includes an unusual rectangular setting of stones within the circle on the east side, an arrangement found at no other British stone circle and whose purpose remains unknown. The stones are local Borrowdale Volcanic rock, dark and angular, and their placement on the natural hilltop provides a commanding position that would have been visible from a wide area of the surrounding landscape during the Neolithic period when the lake basin was open woodland rather than the enclosed agricultural land of today.
The site is freely accessible and the combination of the prehistoric monument and the mountain landscape around it creates one of the most atmospheric and most visited heritage sites in the Lake District. The views from Castlerigg encompass virtually all the major peaks of the northern and eastern Lake District and the orientation of various features of the circle has been studied for astronomical alignments, though no clear consensus has emerged.