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<< Our Photo Pages >> Borrowdale Stone Monument - Standing Stones in England in Cumbria

Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 08 June 2018  Page Views: 3193

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Borrowdale Stone Monument Alternative Name: Serpent Stones
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 4.261 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Cumbria Type: Standing Stones

Map Ref: NY235125
Latitude: 54.502024N  Longitude: 3.182819W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4
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Anne T visited on 12th Jan 2020 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Borrowdale Yews and the possible stone monument: Our first trip out for several months, and a way of escaping the windy and wet weather here in Northumberland. However, we arrived in a Cumbria that had experienced very heavy rain over recent days, and the small stream were swollen and many of the roads were flooded, although still passable. We parked in the small car park near Seathwaite Farm, which is also a camping site and walked through the fields to the two bridges crossing the river(s). There are also a number of other streams to be crossed between here and the yew tree enclosure; at times of dry weather these would be easy to cross. On this occasion, a bit of balancing on convenient ‘stepping stones’ was in order! The slope up to the yew tree enclosure was very slippery, so I sent Andrew up with the camera to explore. He came back saying the stones are definitely aligned in what seems to be a row, although I remained very sceptical, as there are a huge number of other boulders (large and small) on the hillside. Looking at the site from the south of river, by the car park, there seems to be the remains of the lower half of a double stone circle to the south west of the yew tree enclosure, although this could also just be coincidence. This area was very heavily mined for graphite from 1555 onwards, and the remains of some of the industrial buildings can still be seen. Sorry, but I remain unconvinced this is a stone row or alignment – there were so many other short rows of seemingly aligned stones on the hillside, this seemed like coincidence to me.

StevieV visited on 1st Oct 2019 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 5 Access: 4



Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 2.5 Ambience: 4.5 Access: 3.5

Borrowdale Stone Monument
Borrowdale Stone Monument submitted by Anne T : Standing in the bottom south western corner of the Borrowdale Yew Tree enclosure, looking up slope at what might be an alignment. Some of the smaller stones are hidden by bracken and all of the boulders appear uncut. Photograph by Andrew T. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Possible Standing Stones in Cumbria. A previously unknown stone monument in Borrowdale, Cumbria by Lesley Elphick and Toby Hindson. During a visit to the famous Borrowdale yews in 2003, it was noted that there was a scattering of stones buried in the deep bracken and among the yews varying between approximately one to four tonnes in mass which, while it seemed random when viewed from the ground, appeared to the first author to be deliberately gathered and placed glacial boulders.

A further visit in 2012 tended to confirm her impression that this was a lost stone monument, and subsequent investigations have further corroborated the findings, allowing her to illustrate geographical and astronomical alignments which correspond to findings at the nearby Castlerigg monument and other Neolithic monuments. She considers primary astronomical and geographical alignments, and relationships between the new monument and the names of local geographical features. Internal (secondary) alignments, relationship to the ancient yews and apparent symbology in the layout of the stones have been investigated and interpreted by the second author.

Work by both authors has been done in searching old texts for references to the site.

The stones investigated here, at O/S Sheet 90 Grid ref. NY235125 look randomly scattered at first glance, and seem untouched by tool marks. They cover an area of approximately 3500m² and are situated on a south facing slope at an elevation of 150m above sea level. More stones exist outside the area studied which may also relate to the monument as alignment outliers and avenue remnants, but investigation of these is precluded by resource limits.

Key to the assertion that the stones are deliberately placed is the finding that at least two appear wedged into place on the slope with large flat rocks. The stones are a local concentration with placement features evident in their layout on the ground and so were not left in situ by glacial deposition as their smoothed form suggests. Likewise they are unlikely to be the result of
rock fall. On this slope such large rounded objects would continue at speed once moving, and they would not stop before reaching the base of the incline.

Conversely, if the rocks arrived naturally in the positions described below the circumstance is perhaps stranger than the idea that their layout is the result of deliberate placement.

Read the rest here
A previously unknown stone monument in Borrowdale, Cumbria. (PDF)


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Borrowdale Stone Monument
Borrowdale Stone Monument submitted by Anne T : Some of the smaller boulders have been cleared and piled up around the base of these ancient yew trees. Certainly very impressive trees and very old indeed. Well worth a visit. Photograph by Andrew T. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Borrowdale Stone Monument
Borrowdale Stone Monument submitted by Anne T : Standing by one of the larger boulders towards the middle of the yew enclosure, looking south towards Seathwaite Farm. There are a number of smaller boulders in this apparent alignment, hidden by bracken, but visible to the naked eye. Photograph by Andrew T. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Borrowdale Stone Monument
Borrowdale Stone Monument submitted by Anne T : The same stones from a different angle, trying to show how they align/form a straight row. Looking down slope and eastwards over the Nichol Dub stream. Photograph by Andrew T. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Borrowdale Stone Monument
Borrowdale Stone Monument submitted by Anne T : Looking down slope towards the Nichol Dub and the small car park next to Seathwaite Farm, with what might be an alignment of stones. Not convinced, sorry. Photograph by Andrew T. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Borrowdale Stone Monument
Borrowdale Stone Monument submitted by Anne T : Standing half way up the western side of the Borrowdale Yew enclosure, looking south/south east over the Nichol Dub. Smaller boulders are hidden under the bracken. Photograph by Andrew T. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Borrowdale Stone Monument
Borrowdale Stone Monument submitted by Anne T : The Borrowdale Yew enclosure, showing the number of boulders scattered on the hillside. Whilst some boulders seemed to form a straight alignment, I think this is just a coincidence. There were several other similar alignments of uncut boulders between here and the bridges over the Nichol Dub by Seathwaite Farm. Viewing the site from a distance there also appeared to be the bottom part of a doubl...

Borrowdale Stone Monument
Borrowdale Stone Monument submitted by Anne T : The sign for the Borrowdale Yews, inside the enclosure. Very old trees indeed and very impressive. Photograph by Andrew T.

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"Borrowdale Stone Monument" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Borrowdale Stone Monument by DavidHoyle on Sunday, 13 June 2021
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It looks an interesting site from an astronomical viewpoint - there is a really good winter solstice sunset from here, where the sun just sets behind Seathwaite Fell, then reappears for a bit before setting a second time. Have a look at the following for more details:
Winter Solstice View
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Re: Borrowdale Stone Monunment by Andy B on Friday, 08 June 2018
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More on the Borrowdale Yews here
https://www.ancient-yew.org/sitesearch/search.php?query=borrowdale&search=1

From the Ancient Yew Group web site
https://www.ancient-yew.org
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