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Swinside

Borough of CopelandEngvarB from July 2016Hamlets in CumbriaStone circles in Cumbria
Swinside Stone Circle 02
Swinside Stone Circle 02

Swinside, which is also known as Sunkenkirk and Swineshead, 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.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), and currently contains 55 stones, although when originally constructed there probably would have been around 60. 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.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Swinside (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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Latitude Longitude
N 54.2824823 ° E -3.2738449 °
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Swinside Stone Circle (Swinside;Sunkenkirk;Swineshead)

Corney Fell Road
LA18 5LB , Millom Without
England, United Kingdom
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Swinside Stone Circle 02
Swinside Stone Circle 02
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Nearby Places

Duddon Valley
Duddon Valley

The Duddon Valley is a valley in the southern Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Duddon flows through the valley, rising in the mountains between Eskdale and Langdale, before flowing into the Irish Sea near Broughton in Furness. In its lower reaches it is bounded by the Furness Fells and Harter Fell. The part of the valley near the village of Ulpha is marked as "Dunnerdale" on Ordnance Survey maps, and upstream towards the village of Seathwaite is Hall Dunnerdale. The name "Dunnerdale" is often used as a synonym for "Duddon Valley", but people, including Alfred Wainwright, prefer the name "Duddon Valley". He wrote in The Southern Fells, "I ought to mention that I am aware that the Duddon Valley is also properly known as Dunnerdale, a name I haven't used in the book, preferring the former; just as I never refer to Blencathra by its better-known modern name of Saddleback. It's a matter of personal choice.".The "Dunnerdale Fells" are between Broughton Mills and the main Duddon Valley. The civil parish of "Dunnerdale with Seathwaite" includes the valley of Dunnerdale Beck as well as the main length of the River Duddon. Advertisements for holiday cottages at Hall Dunnerdale describe the cottages as being "in the Duddon Valley". From the top of the valley, steep motor roads lead west over the Hardknott Pass to Eskdale and east over the Wrynose Pass to the Langdale valleys. A less steep pass to Eskdale over Birker Fell leaves the valley at Ulpha, with extensive views of the Scafell range.