Castlerigg Stone Circle is located in the Lake District National Park in North West England, on a notable hill to the east of Keswick. It is one of about 1,300 stone circles found in the British Isles and Brittany. They were built as a part of a megalithic tradition that dates back to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages, roughly 3,200 BC to 2500 BC. Numerous archaeologists have praised Castlerigg and the surrounding countryside for its beauty and romanticism. Some of the tallest peaks in Cumbria, including Helvellyn, Skiddaw, Grasmoor, and Blencathra, can be seen from within the circle formed by this plateau, which is the elevated center of a natural amphitheater formed by the surrounding fells. The boulders were probably once a component of the glacial till deposit that Castle Rigg is situated on. A flattened circle holds the stones in place. The tallest stone is around 2.3 meters high, while the largest stone is estimated to weigh about 16 tons. Its northern margin has a 3.3 m wide opening that could have been an entrance. Like other stone circles in Britain, Castlerigg is said to contain an infinite number of stones; any attempt to count them will yield a new number each time. But perhaps this custom is not that far from the reality. Many smaller stones have appeared close to some of the larger stones as a result of soil erosion surrounding the stones brought on by the high volume of visitors to the monument. These small stones would have previously been hidden, as they were probably packing stones during the construction of the circle, supporting the larger stones. It is unknown what the initial intentions were when Castlerigg was built, what purposes it served afterwards, and whether these have evolved over time. According to current theory, Castlerigg was involved in the Neolithic Langdale axe trade on the surrounding Langdale fells; it is possible that the circle served as a hub for the exchange or trading of these axes. Stone axes that were deposited ritualistically have been discovered all throughout Britain, indicating that their applications were far more extensive than their useful lives. It might not have been feasible to trade or exchange stone axes without first taking part in a ceremonial or ritual [Information and Image Credit : Castlerigg_stone_circle, Wikipedia] [Wikipedia-Link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlerigg_stone_circle ] [Image : Castlerigg Stone Circle; Wikipedia-Image Author : NickW] [Image Availed Under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported; (Please Relate to Individual Image URLs for More Usage Property and Sharing, Remixing or Attributing the Work)] [License-Link : https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en ] [Wikipedia-Image-Source-Link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Castlerigg_Stone_Circle.JPG ] #History#Architecture
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