Castlerigg Stone Circle

Castlerigg stands on a raised plateau just east of Keswick, one of the earliest stone circles in Britain, put up an estimated 4,500 years ago in the late Neolithic. English Heritage manages the monument and the National Trust owns the field it stands in, the result of a public subscription organised in 1913 by Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, one of the Trust’s founders, specifically to keep the site open to everyone rather than see it enclosed.

Thirty-eight stones survive today, ranging from about a metre to just over two metres tall, arranged in a rough circle roughly 30 metres across, with an unusual rectangular setting of ten further stones abutting the eastern side whose purpose has never been agreed. None of this requires much walking to see: roadside parking sits within a couple of minutes of the stones themselves, across level, grassy ground.

What makes the site more than a roadside curiosity is the setting. It sits on a natural amphitheatre of high ground with an open view in every direction, taking in Helvellyn, Skiddaw, Blencathra and Grasmoor depending on where you stand within the ring. Few prehistoric sites in Britain combine this much accessibility with this complete a mountain panorama.

The ground can be muddy and uneven underfoot after rain, which matters for wheelchair and pushchair users even though there are no steps to contend with. It suits anyone short on time, and is popular at sunrise and sunset for exactly that combination of easy access and open horizon. It does not suit anyone expecting to have the place to themselves in summer, since its location just outside Keswick makes it one of the most visited prehistoric sites in the country.