Long Meg and Her Daughters

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4 Responses

  1. Ian Topham says:

    Long Meg Solstice 2009
    Long Meg is my favourite Cumbrian ancient monument and  one of my all time favourite stone circles.   I arrived at Long Meg just after sunrise on 21st June 2009 and there was probably only about a score of other visitors, quietly sitting in small groups absorbing the atmosphere quietly.  A total contrast to the festival type atmosphere I had just left at Casterigg. 

    Happy Solstice Everyone đŸ™‚

  2. PennyTraition says:

    Re: Long Meg and Her Daughters
    A beautiful, ancient place near my ancestors, wonderful… Probably my favourite stone circle…I read that this circle is like a ‘telephone operator’ to all the other stone circles in the country, and Long Meg apparently dances around the field at certain times. A place of immense magic and tranquility, an absolute must to visit (as is all north Cumbria and the Border lands, up to Langolm, home of the mighty clan Armstrong.The whole area is so steeped in ancient magic, wild and rugged, I would advise anyone to travel around this area.)

  3. esmeraldamac says:

    Re: Long Meg and Her Daughters
    I’m fond of Long Meg myself, but then, I live just up the road! It is a much less hyped place than even Castlerigg, never mind Stonehenge, and all the better for that. There aren’t many parking places, though – three or four!

    Long Meg herself, as well as having a significant astronomical alignment, is positioned so that it could be seen from miles away down the Eden Valley, thereby acting as a signpost to visitors. As it was one of the trading-places for Langdale stone axes as long ago as 2500BCE, that was probably a good thing – no other signposts available!

    One of the unexpected things about Long Meg herself is that the red sandstone has a crystalline quality, so in the right light, it glitters, highlighting the remaining carvings.

    I just hope they survive the number of kids I see trying to climb her *grrrrr*.

  4. Ian Topham says:

    Re: Long Meg and Her Daughters
    Rude Stone Monuments In All Countries, Their Age And Uses (1872) By James Fergusson (1808-1886)

    In the neighbourhood of Penrith in Cumberland there is a group, or perhaps it should be said there are three groups of monuments, of considerable importance from their form and size, but deficient in interest from the absence of any tradition to account for their being where we find them. They extend in a nearly straight line from Little Salkeld on the north to Shap on the south, a distance of fourteen miles as the crow flies, Penrith lying a little to the westward of the line, and nearer to its northern than its southern extremity.

    About half a mile from the first named village is the circle known popularly as Long Meg and her Daughters, sixty-eight in number, if each stone represents one. It is about 330 feet (100 metres) in diameter, but does not form a perfect circle. The stones are unhewn boulders, and very few of them are now erect. Outside the circle stands Long Meg herself, of a different class of stone from the others, about V2 feet high, and apparently hewn, or at all events shaped, to some extent. Inside the circle, Camden reports "the existence of two cairns of stone, under which they say are dead bodies buried; and indeed it is probable enough," he adds, "that it has been a monument erected in honour of some victory." No trace of these cairns now remains, nor am I aware that the centre has ever been dug into with a view of looking for interments. My impression, however, is that the principal interment was outside, and that Long Meg marks either the head or the foot of the chief’s grave.