Swinside

Last updated

Swinside
Swinside Stone Circle 02.jpg
The entire stone circle
Swinside
Location map Borough of Copeland.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Swinside
Location in Copeland Borough
Cumbria UK location map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Swinside
Location in Cumbria
Location Cumbria
grid reference SD172882
Coordinates 54°16′57″N3°16′26″W / 54.2824823°N 3.2738449°W / 54.2824823; -3.2738449
Type Stone circle
History
Periods Neolithic / Bronze Age

Swinside, which is also known as Sunkenkirk and Swineshead, [1] is a stone circle lying beside Swinside Fell, part of Black Combe in southern Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 recorded stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BC, during what archaeologists categorise as the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages. [2]

Contents

In this period, the Lake District – a mountainous area in which Swinside is located – saw particularly high levels of stone circle construction, with other notable examples including the Castlerigg stone circle and Long Meg and Her Daughters. The original purposes of these circles is still debated, although most archaeologists concur that they were built for ritual or ceremonial reasons. Constructed from local slate, the ring has a diameter of about 93 ft 8ins (26.8m), [3] [4] and currently contains 55 stones, although when originally constructed there probably would have been around 60. [3] An entrance-exit was included on the monument's south-eastern side, which was defined by the inclusion of two outer portal stones.

In the Early Modern period, local folklore about the stones held that they had once been used in the construction of a church, but that the Devil continually thwarted these plans, creating the stone circle in the process. Archaeological investigation into the monument began in the early 20th century, with an excavation taking place in 1901.

Location

The stone circle at Swinside is located in the south-west corner of the Lake District in the ancient district of Millom, 5 miles north of the town of Millom (map reference SD171881 ) . [3] There is no visitors centre or car park at the site, which can only be reached by travelling on foot. [3] To reach the site, the visitor must get to Crag Hall, where there are limited places for parking, and then walk along a rough track for 2¼ km (1¼ miles) uphill towards Swinside Farm, where the megalithic ring lies to the right of the path. [4]

Megalithic specialist Aubrey Burl called Swinside "the loveliest of all the circles" in north-western Europe. [5] In his study of the stone circles of Cumbria, archaeologist John Waterhouse commented that Swinside "can be compared only to Castlerigg and Long Meg and her Daughters in its visual impact; but its charm – for great charm it undoubtedly has – is greater even than theirs." [4]

Background

"After over a thousand years of early farming, a way of life based on ancestral tombs, forest clearance and settlement expansion came to an end. This was a time of important social changes."

Archaeologist and prehistorian Mike Parker Pearson on the Late Neolithic in Britain (2005) [6]

During the Late Neolithic, British society underwent a series of major changes. Between 3500 and 3300 BC, prehistoric Britons ceased their continual expansion and cultivation of wilderness and instead focused on settling and farming the most agriculturally productive areas of the island: Orkney, eastern Scotland, Anglesey, the upper Thames, Wessex, Essex, Yorkshire and the river valleys of the Wash. [7]

This period was also signalled by what archaeologists have interpreted as a change in religious beliefs across Britain. Communities stopped building the large chambered tombs for the dead, and instead, they began the construction of large wooden and stone circles. [8] The prominent megalithic-specialist and archaeologist Aubrey Burl (2000) argued that the change from building tombs to building open air rings signalled a change in religious belief for the peoples of north-western Europe. As he noted; "There was a change from the cramped, gloomy chamber or a tomb to the unroofed, wide ring, a change from darkness to light, from the dead to the living, from the grave to the sky." [9]

Purpose

Exactly for what purpose prehistoric Britons originally constructed stone circles is a question that continues to elude archaeologists. Despite this, many suggestions have been put forward, most of which argue that they were a form of a church.

Based on his study of those examples found at Orkney in northern Scotland, the archaeologist Colin Richards suggested that the stone and wooden circles built in Late Neolithic Britain might have represented the centre of the world, or axis mundi , for those who constructed them, [10] an idea adopted by fellow archaeologist Aaron Watson as a possibility in his discussion of why Late Neolithic peoples constructed the great ring at Avebury in southern England. [11]

Construction

Part of the stone circle Part of Swinside stone circle - geograph.org.uk - 572937.jpg
Part of the stone circle

The stones used in the construction of Swinside were porphyritic slate collected from the adjacent fells, and are of the type that was known locally as 'grey cobbles' by the 20th century. [3] [4] The ring has a diameter of about 93 ft 8ins (26.8m), [3] [4] and currently contains 55 stones, although when originally constructed there probably would have been around 60. [3]

Swinside's builders included a "well defined" entrance, 2.1 m (7 ft) wide, at the south-eastern side, which was signalled by the placing of two large portal stones outside the circumference of the circle. [3] Such portal openings can also be found at other stone circles in the Lake District, such as Long Meg and Her Daughters. [3] These features are also found in stone circles in Dumfriesshire. [12] In particular, Swinside has a number of features in common with the Girdle Stanes. [12] [13]

Folklore

Local folklore holds that at night, the Devil would pull down the stones of a church that was being constructed in the daytime, in the process creating the stone circle; it is for this reason that the site has also been called Sunkenkirk. [4] [14]

In the 1930s, it was recorded that there was a local belief that it was impossible to count all of the stones. [15]

Antiquarian and archaeological investigation

In 1901 the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society sponsored the first archaeological excavation at Swinside. Under the direction of C. W. Dymond FSA and W. G. Collingwood, the dig lasted from midday on Tuesday 26 March 1901 through to the evening of the following day. Two crosstrenches were dug, each 18 inches (45 cm) wide, covering just over one-thirteenth of the interior of the site. The excavators reported finding a lump of charcoal and a piece of decayed bone as well as some modern coins in the turf layer. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ring of Brodgar</span> A neolithic stone circle in Orkney, Scotland

The Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge and stone circle about 6 miles north-east of Stromness on Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avebury</span> Neolithic henge monument in Wiltshire, England

Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in south-west England. One of the best-known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary pagans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone circle</span> Ring of standing stones

A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Great Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built between 3300 to 2500 BC. The best known examples include those at the henge monument at Avebury, the Rollright Stones, Castlerigg, and elements within the ring of standing stones at Stonehenge. Scattered examples exist from other parts of Europe. Later, during the Iron Age, stone circles were built in southern Scandinavia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Addington Long Barrow</span> Chambered long barrow in Kent, England

Addington Long Barrow is a chambered long barrow located near the village of Addington in the southeastern English county of Kent. Probably constructed in the fourth millennium BCE, during Britain's Early Neolithic period, today it survives only in a ruined state. Built of earth and about fifty local sarsen megaliths, the long barrow consisted of a sub-rectangular earthen tumulus enclosed by kerb-stones. Collapsed stones on the northeastern end of the chamber probably once formed a stone chamber in which human remains might have been deposited, though none have been discovered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Meg and Her Daughters</span> Neolithic stone circle near Penrith, England

Long Meg and Her Daughters is a Neolithic stone circle situated north-east of Penrith near Little Salkeld in Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that emerged during Neolithic, and continued into the Early Bronze Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rollright Stones</span> Neolithic stone complex in Oxfordshire, England

The Rollright Stones are a complex of three Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monuments near the village of Long Compton, on the borders of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. Constructed from local oolitic limestone, the three monuments, now known as the King's Men and the Whispering Knights in Oxfordshire and the King Stone in Warwickshire, are distinct in their design and purpose. They were built at different periods in late prehistory. During the period when the three monuments were erected, there was a continuous tradition of ritual behaviour on sacred ground, from the 4th to the 2nd millennium BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castlerigg stone circle</span> Stone circle in Cumbria, England

CastleriggStone Circle is situated on a prominent hill to the east of Keswick, in the Lake District National Park, North West England. It is one of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from approximately 3,200 BC to 2500 BC, during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoarstones</span> Stone circle in Shropshire, England

The Hoarstones, or Hoar Stone Circle, is a stone circle in the civil parish of Chirbury with Brompton in the English county of Shropshire. The Hoarstones are part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neolithic British Isles</span> British, Irish and Manx history c. 4100–2500 BC

The Neolithic period in the British Isles lasted from c. 4100 to c. 2,500 BC. Constituting the final stage of the Stone Age in the region, it was preceded by the Mesolithic and followed by the Bronze Age.

The Whetstones are, or were, a stone circle beneath Corndon Hill in the parish of Church Stoke, Montgomeryshire, Wales, near the border with Shropshire, England. They lie immediately to the west of the village of White Grit and close to Priestweston. The site is also a short distance from the better-known Hoarstones and Mitchell's Fold circles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany</span> Megalithic tradition of monuments

The stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany are a megalithic tradition of monuments consisting of standing stones arranged in rings. These were constructed from 3200 to 2000 BCE in Great Britain, Ireland and Brittany. It has been estimated that around 4,000 of these monuments were originally constructed in this part of north-western Europe during this period. Around 1,300 of them are recorded, the others having been destroyed.

<i>Rites of the Gods</i> Book by Aubrey Burl

Rites of the Gods is an archaeological study of religious belief and ritual practices across prehistoric Britain from the Old Stone Age through to the Iron Age. Written by the prominent English archaeologist and megalithic specialist Aubrey Burl, it was first published in 1981 by J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nine Stones Close</span> Stone circle in Derbyshire, England

Nine Stones Close, also known as the Grey Ladies, is a stone circle on Harthill Moor in Derbyshire in the English East Midlands. It is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of the monument is unknown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nine Stones, Winterbourne Abbas</span> Stone circle in Dorset, England

The Nine Stones, also known as the Devil's Nine Stones, the Nine Ladies, or Lady Williams and her Dog, is a stone circle located near to the village of Winterbourne Abbas in the southwestern English county of Dorset. Archaeologists believe that it was likely erected during the Bronze Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston Russell Stone Circle</span> Stone circle in Dorset, England

Kingston Russell Stone Circle, also known as the Gorwell Circle, is a stone circle located between the villages of Abbotsbury and Littlebredy in the south-western English county of Dorset. Archaeologists believe that it was likely erected during the Bronze Age. The Kingston Russell ring is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3,300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that they were likely religious sites, with the stones perhaps having supernatural associations for those who built the circles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampton Down Stone Circle</span> Bronze Age construction in Dorset, England

The Hampton Down Stone Circle is a stone circle located near to the village of Portesham in the south-western English county of Dorset. Archaeologists believe that it was likely erected during the Bronze Age. The Hampton Down ring is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3,300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that they were likely religious sites, with the stones perhaps having supernatural associations for those who built the circles. However, it has been suggested that the site is not a stone circle at all, but is instead made up of kerbstones from a Bronze Age round barrow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Withypool Stone Circle</span> Late neolithic stone circle in Somerset, England

Withypool Stone Circle, also known as Withypool Hill Stone Circle, is a stone circle located on the Exmoor moorland, near the village of Withypool in the southwestern English county of Somerset. The ring is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fir Clump Stone Circle</span> Neolithic stone circle in Wiltshire, England

Fir Clump Stone Circle was a stone circle in Burderop Wood near Wroughton, Wiltshire, in South West England. The ring was part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although some archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders.

Tisbury Stone Circle and Henge was a stone circle and henge in Tisbury, Wiltshire. Archaeologists believe that it was likely erected during the Bronze Age.

Broome Stone Circle was a stone circle located in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. The ring was part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders.

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Lewis 1886. p. 475.
  2. ↑ Burl 2000. p. 13.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Burl 2005. p. 48.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Waterhouse 1985. p. 43.
  5. ↑ Burl 1979. p. 235.
  6. ↑ Parker Pearson 2005. p. 57.
  7. ↑ Parker Pearson 2005. pp. 56–57.
  8. ↑ Parker Pearson 2005. pp. 58–59.
  9. ↑ Burl 2000. p. 38.
  10. ↑ Richards 1996. p. 206.
  11. ↑ Watson 2001. p. 304.
  12. 1 2 Burl 2000. pp.194
  13. ↑ Burl 2005. p.121–123
  14. ↑ Burl 2005. p. 49.
  15. ↑ Grinsell 1976. p. 165.
  16. ↑ Burl 2005. pp. 48–49.

Bibliography

Academic books
  • Burl, Aubrey (1979). Rings of Stone. London: Francis Lincoln. ISBN   978-0-517-34723-2.
  • Burl, Aubrey (2000). The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany . New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0-300-08347-7.
  • Burl, Aubrey (2005). A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0-300-11406-5.
  • Bradley, Richard (1998). The Significance of Monuments: On the Shaping of Human Experience in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe. London: Routledge. ISBN   978-0-415-15204-4.
  • Grinsell, Leslie V. (1976). Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain. London: David & Charles. ISBN   0-7153-7241-6.
  • Hutton, Ronald (1991). The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy . Oxford and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell. ISBN   978-0-631-17288-8.
  • Parker Pearson, Michael (2005). Bronze Age Britain (Revised Edition). London: B.T. Batsford and English Heritage. ISBN   978-0-7134-8849-4.
  • Waterhouse, John (1985). The Stone Circles of Cumbria. Chichester: Phillimore. ISBN   978-0-85033-566-8.
Academic papers and articles
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.