<< Our Photo Pages >> Druids Temple (Cumbria) - Stone Circle in England in Cumbria

Submitted by Bladup on Friday, 10 January 2003  Page Views: 40331

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Druids Temple (Cumbria) Alternative Name: Druids' Circle, Birkrigg Common
Country: England County: Cumbria Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Ulverston  Nearest Village: Sunbrick
Map Ref: SD29237396  Landranger Map Number: 96
Latitude: 54.156555N  Longitude: 3.085196W
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
 3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 3 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.
 4 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
 5

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I have visited· I would like to visit

MmeSinn kith AmyBlahBlahBlah would like to visit

rvbaker2003 visited on 29th Dec 2024 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4

trystan_hughes visited on 12th Apr 2016 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5

Anne T visited on 23rd Jun 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Druid's Temple Stone Circle, Cumbria: OK, so we got sidetracked by the splended Furness Abbey, but we then retraced our steps to Great Urswick, skirting round the north side of Urswick Tarn, up and out onto Birkrigg Common. Following the yellow ‘dotted’ road over the common, past Sunbrick Farm, we suddenly came upon the most tremendous views over Morecambe Bay. What a place! Being a beautiful sunny evening, there were many people about. It felt strange to be in such an ancient spot with a van nearby blasting out music from its radio, runners coming through almost the centre of the circle, and dog walkers continually passing. Again, the stone circle sits within a landscape of limestone pavement, which confused my attempts to find out if the circle originally had an outer ring. We counted 12 stones in the inner ring, two only just poking out above the grass, with 10 visible upright stones, although I get the impression some of these might have been re-erected for effect. The circle itself certainly looked as if it had a shallow bank around it and a possible ditch between this and what might have been a very broken outer ring. There is plenty of parking on the hard verges nearby, and stunning walks on grassy paths cut through the longer grass to make it easier for walkers and runners. A little disappointing there were so many others around, but worth the trip.

kthdsn visited on 5th Jul 2014 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 The outer circle was partly hidden in the ferns but the inner one was clear and looked lovely.

Richard13 visited on 1st Mar 2007 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4

BolshieBoris visited on 1st Jan 1992 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5

ssituationist visited - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4

drolaf MAIGO rldixon AngieLake nicoladidsbury have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.43 Ambience: 4.14 Access: 4.57

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by rldixon : Druids temple showing outer ring of stones Aprill 2010 (Vote or comment on this photo)
Double stone circle on Birkrigg Common in Cumbria

For more information see: Pastscape Monument No. 38039 which describes this as "A Bronze Age stone circle (which) is visible as structures on air photographs. The feature consists of two concentric circles of stones. The feature is extant on the latest 1998 NMR oblique photography. A concentric stone circle; the inner ring consists of twelve stones and the outer twenty. Excavation in the inner ring uncovered five cremations, excavation between the inner and outer rings recovered three supposed ceremonial objects."

Clicking onto 'More Information & Sources' within the Pastscape record tells us that "the finds suggest that Druids Temple was a family shrine built during the Early Bronze Age, circa 2230-1710 BC ... compared with similar hengiform sites in the British Isles."

Access: Visible from the road crossing Birkrigg Common.
5 km (3 miles) S of Ulverston 70m above sea level.

[Note: There is also a circle called Druids Temple on map sheet H in Ireland].
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Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Bladup : The Druids Temple. This Original Artwork in a glass frame is £39.99 + Postage (Just whatever it costs), and is 17 cm x 11 and a half cm. A limited (to a 100) edition print in a 8" x 10" glass frame would be £19.99 + £2.90 postage, E-mail me at [email protected] if interested. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by nevill3 : Sunset at the Druids Circle Birkrigg common (Lancashire) on May day. After spending an evening Photographing the sun setting in and around Morecambe Bay I settled myself at the circle to watch the sun set, so peaceful.. Category A (Vote or comment on this photo)

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by rldixon : Druids Temple aprill 2010 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by raythemapman : The inner circle. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by rldixon : Druids temple aprill 2010 (3 comments)

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by raythemapman : I wonder if the two stones in the foreground formed the entrance to the circles.

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by raythemapman : The inner circle and a view of Morecambe Bay where so many cockle pickers died.

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by LivingRocks : The Druids Circle on a freezing cold, wet and windy October day, it looked as though someone had made a misguided attempt to clean the vandalised stone without success, resulting only in the death of the grass at the base of the stone.

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by nicoladidsbury : View over Bigrigg Stone Circle, and across Morecambe Bay. A bitterly cold day, with showers blustering over, followed by splashes of sunlight. I managed to catch a fading rainbow, its hard to see on the photo however.. (2 comments)

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Sentinel : Near Ulverston, Cumbria overlooking Morecombe Bay. (2 comments)

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by ThelwallMM : Looking South through North gate

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by ThelwallMM : The inner circle

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by ThelwallMM : Double circle on mound

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Antonine : Photo taken in 2011

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Antonine : Outlier, 2011

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Antonine : Photo taken in 2011

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Antonine : One of the stones, marred with red paint. Photo taken in 2011

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Antonine : Outlier in the wall, 2011

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Antonine : Photo taken in 2011

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Antonine

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Antonine : The circle is 70m above sea level, with views across Morecambe Bay. Photo taken in 2011

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by Antonine : Approaching the circle from the South, 2011

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by redzzed : birkrigg august 215

Druids Temple (Cumbria)
Druids Temple (Cumbria) submitted by redzzed : best at sundown , and possibly sun up.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 473m NW 315° Birkrigg Common Round Cairn 2* Round Cairn (SD289743)
 657m WNW 291° Birkrigg Common Cemetery* Barrow Cemetery (SD28627421)
 689m NW 321° Birkrigg Common Enclosures and Appleby Hill and Stone Circle Ancient Village or Settlement (SD288745)
 695m NW 324° Birkrigg Common Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SD28837453)
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 850m WNW 300° Birkrigg Common Round Cairn 1 Round Cairn (SD285744)
 1.0km W 271° Birkrigg Common Platform Cairn* Cairn (SD282740)
 2.2km WNW 301° Great Urswick Fort* Hillfort (SD274751)
 2.3km NW 308° Great Urswick Long Barrow* Long Barrow (SD27427540)
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 3.0km W 278° Great Urswick Burial Chamber* Burial Chamber or Dolmen (SD26277442)
 3.2km W 272° Urswick Stone Walls* Ancient Village or Settlement (SD260741)
 3.8km WNW 283° Lindal Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SD255749)
 4.7km SW 227° St Michael's Well (Gleaston) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SD2572070820)
 5.0km N 1° Hoad Hill* Cairn (SD294790)
 7.5km ENE 62° Holker Labyrinth and Standing Stones Modern Stone Circle etc (SD3590677373)
 7.8km WNW 282° St Helen's Well (Askam and Ireleth) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SD2161075640)
 8.5km NNE 15° Sheriff's Well (Greenodd) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SD3150082130)
 9.1km NNE 13° Greenodd Holy Well (Egton with Newland) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SD3144082770)
 9.7km NNW 334° The Kirk Ring Cairn* Stone Circle (SD2507082693)
 9.7km NNW 334° The Kirk Stone Row* Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue (SD2509182770)
 9.8km E 89° Holy Well (Humphrey Head)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SD39017391)
 9.9km NNW 335° Kirkby Moor Ringcairn* Round Cairn (SD25148299)
 9.9km E 92° Fairy Stone (Humphrey Head)* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SD39157344)
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"Druids Temple (Cumbria)" | Login/Create an Account | 17 News and Comments
  
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Re: Birkrigg by drolaf on Sunday, 05 August 2018
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an intriguing double ring site. a local said that visiting groups at certain times of the year leave a lot of mess. maybe the portal could remind people at these times to take their rubbish home with them.
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Re: Druids Temple (Cumbria) by Anonymous on Friday, 01 July 2016
The sunbrick stone circle is a fine one I visited by random chance after the piel island ferry didn't come I spotted the circle on my map and jumped on the roa island to baycliff bus.it's not up to castlerigg or long Meg standards but still a fine circle with a wonderful view.
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Re: Druids Temple by Anonymous on Friday, 26 June 2015
"There is also a circle called Druids Temple on map sheet H in Ireland". In fact there are dozens of neolithic sites across the UK with names which refer to "Druids", none of them have any connection with the ancient Druids.
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    Re: Druids Temple by Anne T on Saturday, 27 June 2015
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    True, Anonymous, but nevertheless this is the name the circle goes by in some source material. Alternative names given for this monument are Sunbrick Stone Circle (named for the nearby farm/settlement) or Birkrigg Common (after the moor it sits on). It is certainly in a beautiful spot to celebrate nature with its sea views, regardless of the name, and well worth a visit. (I see from previous comments this discussion has been going on for some time, so I'll say no more!)
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Druids Temple by coldrum on Monday, 10 August 2009
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Pastscape entry:

http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=38039
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Re: Druids Temple by nicoladidsbury on Thursday, 28 April 2005
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Thats a really interesting post Angie. We dont have any Nympton's up here in Cumbria. I wonder what our northern word would have been for sacred grove.
Many of our Cumbrian Old Welsh place names have been Anglisied. There's a village near where I grew up called/written Torpenhow, however the locals pronounce it Trepenah, Tre-pen-ah, which is old welsh, meaning something like "hilltop hamlet".
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Re: Druids Temple by AngieLake on Sunday, 27 March 2005
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'Nymet' or 'Nympton' is another word to watch out for. This extract from 'The Green Man Companion and Gazetteer' by Ronald Millar, S.B. Publications, 1997, tells us why:
"It is not unlikely that Boniface developed his horror of Druids in his native county of Devon, one of their last strongholds. The old name for the open-air cathedrals where they conducted their ritual is *nemeton*, meaning 'sacred grove'. This is echoed in the names of no less than five Devon villages, all within a stone's throw of where the post holes of a Druidical 'woodhenge' have been located, most likely the *nemeton* for which the villages were named. Pertinently, most of the parish churches have dozens of frightening Green Men keeping the parishoners in order and at least two churches were originally dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, he of the self-raising pine."
(Pardon!! - Excuse my warped sense of humour! - Don't know that story! Though, 'theCaptain' might have an angle on that one, hey Martyn? - stone-raiser extraordinaire!!)
Boniface, the saint who came from Crediton, in Devon, *"His miraculous gift was to cause Druidical oaks to burst into minute atoms then reform in the shape of the True Cross"*!, according to Ronald Millar, was born 'Winfrith'. 2004 was the 1250th anniversary of his martyrdom, celebrated with a floral display in the huge red-stone Parish Church in the town, - 'the site of Devon's first Saxon Cathedral (909-1050)' - and which I came across by accident while passing through en route to North Devon. (I'd driven past that cathedral-like church a million times, but never been inside, and that day had decided to stop and take a closer look!) The civic service of thanksgiving was on the pagan festival of Summer Solstice, so don't know what old 'Bonny Face' would have thought of that!
I'd earmarked a search for these 'nymets' some time ago, and was going to visit with the ex-chairman of Devon Dowsers, who'd joined me on previous dowsing outings - a job for this spring, maybe? However, I'm not sure where the 'woodhenge' is supposed to be, though I found a picture of an aerial view of a henge in cropmarks between Bow and North Tawton in 'Devon's Past: An Aerial View'. There's a 'Nichols Nymett Cross' along that straight East-West road.
Meanwhile, the villages mentioned in Ronald Millar's book are:
Kings Nympton; George Nympton; Broadnymey; ['Broadnymett' is the name on map]; Nymet Tracy; Nymet Rowland; (all of these have a St. Martin's church with roof bosses of Green Men.)
The Ordnance Survey map I have is Copplestone Sheet SS 60/70. 1:25000 Second Series.
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    Re: Druids Temple by Anonymous on Sunday, 13 November 2005
    I have just happened upon AngieLakes article on Druids Temples, and the 'Nymets' in particular. If any one has a copy of 'Wisht Maen', Devon Earth Mysteries Magazine, Spring 1994, No.2, there is an article I contributed for it entitled 'Bow Henge and Nymetland', which delves further into the subject.
    Hewpop
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    Re: Druids Temple by AngieLake on Sunday, 16 September 2007
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    I looked up this site in my Modern Antiquarian today.... Julian Cope has it under 'The Druid's Circle of Ulverston'.... and was interested to read his comment about the inner circle:
    "... during the excavations of 1911 and 1921, it was discovered that a pavement within the inner ring had been constructed of 'blue-rag', a stone which would have taken a considerable time to find."
    ......... "Under the blue-rag pavement was found 'a small collared urn, its deep collar neatly-impressed with a Lattice pattern of whipped cord', as Aubrey Burl reveals. The urn is now in Carlisle Museum."

    In 'Guide to Prehistoric England', by Nicholas Thomas (I have a 1976 editon, 1977 re-print):
    [under Birkrigg Common]
    "Circle SD/292739. This is a double stone circle with paved floor, the inner ring having 10 stones and a diam. of 30 ft., the outer having 15 stones and an approx. diam. of 85 ft. Unlike the first, it is irregular and very incomplete. The hts. of all surviving stones are 1- 2 ft. above ground. Within the smaller circle, 5 human cremations have been found, 1 covered by an inverted collared urn."

    He goes on to describe several barrows on Birkrigg Common.

    [Edited by AngieLake on 16/09/07 - I wanted this to come up as a 'comment', not a 'reply' - as 16/08/07, can admins delete the 'reply' version, please? Ta.]
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Druids Temple by Anonymous on Friday, 26 June 2015
    There are no records of Druids erecting or using buildings or henges, and no such buildings or henges have ever been found. This reference to a "a Druidical woodhenge" is pure fantasy.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Druids Temple by Anonymous on Sunday, 27 March 2005
just finished reading a interesting book were the authour mentions by his findings that any area containing the word `grove ` or refering to druids is an important point on the ley line network and has probably acheived such a name by local superstitions or `old wives tales ` .... pretty good read u guys would love it calle d ley lines and earth energies .. made me want to through on some boots and go for a walk divining rods in hand ...........DAN
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Re: Druids Temple - Bigrigg Stone circle by nicoladidsbury on Sunday, 13 February 2005
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I tried to visit Bigrigg Stone Circle today. Unfortunately it was too wet and cold, and I wasn't prepared for the weather, so I didn't actually get to vistit the circle. I will be back in the summer.. (hopefully..). The views over the bay are fantastic. A rainbow flitted into view, and disappeared as soon as I got my camera out!

By the way, the circle is in Cumbria, not Lancashire. The furness peninsular was in Lancashire until the boundries changes back in 1974, when Cumbria was formed out of the old counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and Lancashire north of the sands. This was the first change in county boundaries since 1388.

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    Re: Druids Temple - Bigrigg Stone circle by Anonymous on Monday, 14 November 2005
    The boundries of lancashire Palatine did not change in 1974 only the local council boundries. The palatine still exists in its entirety.
    Ask the Queen, Duke of Lancaster, we did.

    Friend of Real lancashire
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Re: Druids Temple by Thorgrim on Friday, 11 February 2005
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Nothing untoward - certainly, but many of our unregistered commentators also leave a name as a courtesy.
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Re: Druids Temple by Andy B on Friday, 11 February 2005
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There's nothing untoward. Unlike the gallery comments these come up as Anonymous if you're not a registered user.
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Re: Druids Temple by Thorgrim on Friday, 11 February 2005
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I agree with you Mr Anonymous (why not give your name?), but why assume that the "trendy tourist officer" was from the south?
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Re: Druids Temple by Anonymous on Friday, 11 February 2005
I was born in the area 65 years ago and have never before heard it referred to as "Druids Temple". Everyone, from my first visit at the age of 6 ,called it " Birkrigg stone circle ". I assume the Druids thing is put about by some trendy tourist official from the South employed to proclaim his superior ignorance to the public at a highly inflated salary. The setting is beautiful and though there is little left now it is a very interesting site - a double circle with a paved area within , under which were bronze age burials. Anyone with an interest in archaeology knows that these ancient structures had nothing to do with Druids so please ,unless it is an ancient name , can we not perpetuate 17 th C ignorance.
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