<< Our Photo Pages >> Shap Avenue - Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue in England in Cumbria
Submitted by Anne T on Sunday, 21 March 2004 Page Views: 16766
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Shap AvenueCountry: England County: Cumbria Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue
Nearest Town: Penrith Nearest Village: Shap
Map Ref: NY567138 Landranger Map Number: 90
Latitude: 54.517636N Longitude: 2.670392W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
TheCaptain visited on 19th Sep 2022 Driving up to Penrith on the day of the Queen's funeral, the M5 and M6 nicely free of traffic. I turn off at Shap for a look at some of the Shap Avenue stones. After a pint at the Kings Arms I decide I have enough time to have a look for many of the Shap stones.
SandyG visited on 8th Sep 2017 - their rating: Cond: 1 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Parking is available at NY 56358 15076. From here a network of public footpaths provides access to some of the stones. Others can be viewed from the paths and public road.
Anne T visited on 5th Jul 2014 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 3 Armed with information from the Portal and a map of the locations of the stones they've mapped in the stone row so far from Shap Local History Society, we started off at Kemp Howe stone circle, and walked round the village looking for stones. We met a couple of the more senior locals as we went round, and they were keen to help and point out where the stones were, and tell us of others. There are so many stones around and near to the village, most of them clearly on the same alignment that we became quite overwhelmed with the scale and sense of what our ancestors achieved and what it all represented.
We ended up at Skellaw Hill and the Thunder Stone, then had to call it a day, as we wanted to travel over to Swinside Stone Circle before heading off home.
The Shap Stone Row is certainly intriguing, and I came back with around 100 photos of possible stones and locations - I've picked two to submit that aren't already recorded on this page.
Well worth exploring, and whilst visiting, I'd also recommend hopping down to Shap Abbey and Keld Chapel nearby, too. Both are free to get into, and are in picturesque locations, with a lot of history attached.
FrothNinja have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 1.5 Ambience: 4 Access: 3.5
The stones are mainly of local, pink, granite. The Thunder Stone, and probably the Googleby Stone, are erratics, left by the glaciers, but forming major features of the stone row. See our Nearby Sites list below for links to the other sites.
Whilst there are 14 stones now recorded by English Heritage, over the years the stones from the row have been reused, and part of the fun in exploring this ancient monument is coming across standing stones in gardens, within stone walls, and occasionally lying in the fields and next to footpaths.
The focal point of the Stone Row is purported to be 2 stone circles at the south of Shap. The first is Kemp Howe, sadly now partly destroyed by blasting for the railway; a second, at Carl Loft, which I believe to lie behind the Greyhound Hotel at the south end of the village, has been mostly destroyed and lies on private land.
Most of the major stones and features have their own pages on the Portal (The Thunder Stone (NY552157) at High Buildings, The Googleby Stone (NY559159), Asper''s Field (NY558152), Skellaw Hill Tumulus (NY556154, also known as Hill of The Skulls), and Barnkeld (NY562147, also known as The Giant''s Foot or The Drummer), and Kemp Howe (NY567132)).
The row clearly sits in a much larger Neolithic and late Mesolithic landscape. An ongoing survey by Shap Local History Society (who publish an excellent map of the stones and other features) lists 11 stone circles, 7 burial mounds and 1 settlement around the area, in addition to 13 stones listed.
Shap is easy to reach from the M6, using junction 39, the Shap Interchange Bridge. Following this link road to the A6, turn right into Shap Village itself. Kemp Howe is to your right within a kilometre of the turn, almost where the quarry can be seen across the railway line. Parking in the narrow lanes past the village if difficult. There are car parks within Shap, which I would recommend using, as the A6 is busy and fast. Good footpaths run past most of the major stones. As you follow the stone row north, parking is only possible at the sides of road junctions or in field gateways (not recommended as cars travel fast along the lanes).
Update November 2019: This alignment is featured on the Stone Rows of Great Britain website - see their entry for Shap Avenue, which includes a description, a plan of the alignment (adapted from a plan by Clare T (1978), photographs of the stones, access information and list of online resources for more information.
The row is also recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 11876 and scheduled as Historic England List Entry No. 1011637 (Shap Stone Alignment).
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Nearby sites
Click here to view sites on an interactive OS mapKey: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
509m SSE 168° Kemp Howe* Stone Circle (NY56801330)
1.1km NNW 337° The Giant's Foot (Cumbria)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NY5630014781)
1.5km NNW 328° Goggleby Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NY5592215093)
1.6km NNW 328° Aspers Field* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NY5584115208)
1.9km NW 322° Keld Lane Stones* Standing Stone (Menhir) (NY5554615286)
1.9km SE 124° St Anne's Well (Shap)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (NY5829412700)
2.0km NNW 327° Skellaw Hill Tumulus* Round Barrow(s) (NY5565015470)
2.3km E 92° Hardendale Timber Circle (NY590137)
2.3km NE 46° Castlehow Stones Stone Row / Alignment (NY584154)
2.3km NE 39° Thunder Stone (Castlehowe Scar)* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (NY5817615610)
2.5km WNW 296° Stone Howe Cairn (NY545149)
2.5km NW 321° Thunder Stone (Shap)* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (NY55151575)
2.6km ESE 103° Oddendale stone alignment* Stone Row / Alignment (NY5919113205)
2.6km NE 51° Castlehowe Scar Stone Row* Stone Row / Alignment (NY5873615412)
2.6km E 100° Kalmott cairn circle* Ring Cairn (NY59301333)
2.6km NE 50° Castlehowe Scar Stone Circle* Stone Circle (NY5874815472)
2.6km ESE 109° Oddendale* Stone Circle (NY59201291)
2.7km SSW 206° Thorny Bank* Cairn (NY555114)
3.0km ESE 110° Seal Howe* Cairn (NY59541272)
3.1km ESE 109° Seal Howe Iron Age/Romano British field system* Misc. Earthwork (NY5961612783)
3.1km ENE 71° Iron Hill South* Stone Circle (NY59641476)
3.1km ENE 70° Iron Hill North* Stone Circle (NY59631482)
3.1km W 269° Blaze Hill Round Cairn* Round Cairn (NY5355613795)
3.2km NNE 14° Cross Shaped Stone of Keverigg* Ancient Cross (NY5751916849)
3.2km ESE 108° Seal Howe Cairn 2* Round Cairn (NY5969912781)
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