<< Feature Articles >> A Day in Shap and some spontaneous research
Submitted by AngieLake on Thursday, 04 August 2011 Page Views: 5314
Neolithic and Bronze AgeCountry: England County: Cumbria Type: Stone Row / AlignmentInternal Links:
“Only six stones remain, with others probably under the railway embankment, and those that were on the other side of the railway now lost after construction of the works sidings.” (Visit Cumbria)
My main priority had been to visit the circle but, no sooner had I parked than other interesting stones lying around in the vicinity began to catch my eye and demanded further investigation.
A large tree-lined layby on the left (W) of the road, at the very south of the village seemed the ideal place to leave the car - in the shade, as it was a hot, sunny day! There was a rather attractive building across the low-lying fields to the west, and I’d intended to visit it later.
Walking from the layby, some stones in the adjacent field to the west of the road caught my eye and I wondered if these were part of the ancient Shap Avenue that I’d read about.
Crossing the road I headed south to the Kemp Howe circle, noticing several stones bordering the pavement on my left, which I took to be a modern enhancement, though, if this was so, they had not been arranged very regularly. (See this photo and this photo.
A few hundred yards south, carefully fastening the field gate behind me, I looked up at the Kemp Howe circle lying on the crest of rising ground, beneath the raised railway line, with a rusting hay bale trailer alongside it. It was a sad vision. However, on closer inspection the stones themselves were pleasingly rounded and full of character: the lasting impression was of a group of very fat and contented basking seals. Because of this it seemed an even more gross tragedy that the railway line builders had not seen its value and re-routed the track to avoid the whole circle. Once a place has been spoiled like this, destruction soon escalates, and the later addition of the lime works’ metal monstrosity must have created the most ‘visually challenged’ megalithic site in the UK … so, why shouldn’t the farmer add to it by leaving his old trailer nearby?!... Sad.
While photographing the stones from various angles my eye was drawn to a distant peak that seemed to ‘peek’ mysteriously over the closer fells to the NW. (I actually noted a 314 degree alignment from a smaller stone in the NW arc of the circle to this rather dark and flat-topped peak.) The sun at Summer Solstice would set in that general area. Subsequently I’ve wondered if this mountain had been considered ‘god-like’ in some way by the circle-builders, and whether Shap Avenue itself had been created as a kind of processional way from here to their ‘deity’.
It actually resembles Blencathra, which is close to Castlerigg circle, but I’m not at all sure if one would be able to see it this mountain clearly from Shap. It did seem to crop up again frequently that day.
I retraced my steps to Shap, this time taking the odd photo or two of the stones by the roadside.
I spotted one opposite, next to a small tree at the entrance to a layby, but didn’t cross to inspect it. (The A6 is still well-used by traffic, inc. large lorries, despite the proximity of the M6. While filming the Kemp Howe circle – and, unavoidably, the lime works – a couple of jet fighters flew overhead and circled around, and I couldn’t help but wonder if someone passing by had radioed the police that a terrorist was at large! Only the day before, it was reported that men had been arrested while acting suspiciously around Sellafield!)
Most random stones were on the east side of the road, yet of those on the maps plotted by T. Clare and P. Brown (for Stan Beckensall’s ‘The Rock Art of Cumbria’ book) – many are shown to the west of the road. I did cross to check on these but none were visible. (Maybe I just didn’t look in the right place?) On the east side, some did seem ‘likelier’ than others, and one was spotted at the base of a tree beside the stream that runs under the A6. (See photo on site page, and note a lorry heading north, approaching the bridge on A6.)
I knew Shap was a very long-drawn-out village, its houses lining the once-busy road to Penrith, but felt it wouldn’t be far to the turning for Keld and the Goggleby Stone, so left the car where it was, and walked. How wrong was that?! (Actually - not at all, as it happened!)
Keeping to the east side of the road, it was impossible to ignore the many large stones forming the bases of garden walls alongside the pavement, so I photographed them and was pleased to read later that it had been speculated that they were re-used Avenue stones. (Just a note here: as the large ‘base’ stones began to run out, there were a couple of other low garden walls topped off with the oddest-shaped stones, looking rather like smaller ‘Kings Men’ at the Rollright Stones)
There is a public conveniences in the main car park over half-way through the village and, if only I’d known it then, a public footpath to the Goggleby Stone was just across the road. (Cross over and enter the open gateway - it was that day - and pass along the path by the southern wall of the building. (See the photos on the site page for Shap Avenue.)
With hindsight I’m glad that I carried on walking through the village, turning off left (west) at the far northern end onto the road brown-signposted for Shap Abbey. It hadn’t been my intention to visit this ancient site, but while pausing near the junction with the lane to Keld to photograph the distant Goggleby Stone, I asked a local man how far it was to the Abbey. His nonchalant reply, ‘Oh, just about ¾ of a mile…’ encouraged me to press on. Shortly afterwards, on the far side of a large field on my left, I noticed a very large stone nestling under a drystone wall.
The wall of this field carried on to the crest of the rise where a T-junction led off, right, to Bampton and Rosgill. Tempted off-course I walked to the field gate to view the distant Thunder Stone, then returned to the T-junction. Note the ‘stile’ steps in the drystone wall, and ‘Public Footpath to Shap Abbey’ signposted through the field, in the photo of this junction on the Thunder Stone page. I kept to the road. (Since visiting, I’ve noticed in information websites on Shap Avenue that an important site, ‘Skellaw Hill’, lay to the right of the road preceding the T-junction. It might be interesting to check that out on another visit.)
Reaching the crest of the hill, and crossing a cattle-grid, the wonderful vista of the rolling Fells landscape opened up before me, and in the valley below, by a stream, nestled the ruins of Shap Abbey. To my right, in the northwest distance, the unmistakable dark, apparently-flat-topped peak of the mountain I’d noticed at Kemp Howe. (Zooming in the image on my camcorder, it certainly resembles Blencathra.) The Thunder Stone would be to the right of this view, behind the farm buildings.
A steep road wound down over the hill to the valley, where the Abbey ruins stood very picturesquely in the sunlight. I've read somewhere that the Abbey may have been built from broken-up Avenue stones. Anyway, I passed a very pleasant, peaceful, hour browsing around and taking photos before trudging back uphill to continue the visit to the Goggleby Stone!
Back to the junction with the Keld lane where I’d met the local man (that was a ‘country’ ¾ mile, I’m sure), and began heading south. Do take care walking on all these roads, which are narrow and quite well-used by traffic.
At the point where I stopped to film the Aspers Field stone, I noticed a field gatepost on the opposite side of the lane that is possibly a re-used Avenue stone. At a sharp right-hand bend in the Keld lane there was a narrow public pathway heading straight on, off which was a stile for the Goggleby Stone.
Having seen the large megalith for a long time before reaching it, it was good to make its acquaintance at last! It was a lovely sunny day, and the stone was in a setting that took advantage of some very pleasant country views, all criss-crossed with a network of drystone walls.
If this magnificent rock was once one of the Avenue stones it would have been great to be able to turn back time and see them all in their glory. It was a super stone - very ‘robust’ and, like many, its shape changes as you walk around it. It was only much later when posting up photos on the Megalithic Portal that I noticed the ‘face’ on it. The only drawback was the modern concrete setting, but I guess it was safer like that… wouldn’t want to have that topple over on me!
Unsure which way to go next I took the route south, down-slope through the field gateway, which, when turning around, framed the top of the great stone, that appeared from that angle to be peeping over the crest of the hill.
A little further down the well-worn track a man and his dog came walking away from the village towards me. Worried he was the farmer, I asked him if it was OK for me to be on this land and he assured me it was a public path [and wasn’t the farmer!]. I said I needed to get back to the village and he led me back a little way and through some trees to a stile that led into a hilly field that curved down towards the backs of houses in Shap. If you click the link for Streetmap on the Goggleby site page you’ll see the high ground to the east-to-SE of the stone. (Better still, check out Google Earth!) I stayed around the field looking for stones that might have been present (three are shown southeast of the Goggleby Stone on the map).
Further up-slope in the N-S drystone wall, from the stile I’d climbed over, was a rather large one embedded at an angle. There was another, smaller one beside it, and in the wall to the south of the field was a third, square, chunky one with white lichen. (Also now on the Shap Avenue page.)
If you look towards the houses from here the footpath back to Shap is quite obvious; however, I crossed another couple of fields (on footpaths, which are quite plentiful here) heading south to check for more stones and for a better view of the more distant Giant’s Foot. As I followed the line of a field wall (approx N-S) I came upon a long, obviously ‘worked’ stone lying in the grass. This one is visible on Google Earth. The nearby south wall of that field had a ‘plugged’ gap, over which I took photos of the Giant’s Foot, and some stones beside the corner of a field wall, close to houses. I imagine that, if the Avenue ran to NW, these wouldn’t have been far off being opposite, and slightly further NW, to the Giant’s Foot. (See more photos on Shap Ave & Giants Foot site pages.)
It seemed I’d done all I could to try to locate the more obvious stones that could have once formed part of Shap Avenue, so I returned to the village and happily ambled back to my car, to eat lunch at 4.45pm (!) before resuming my journey north via the A6 to Penrith, and on to Keswick for precious solitary (and sunny) moments at Castlerigg, and close views of the enigmatic distant ‘mountain peak’ I’d seen aligned with Kemp Howe… Blencathra. What a super day!
I am not claiming to have discovered the missing stones of Shap Avenue - after all, one can only do so much in a few hours. I’m sure anyone wishing to pursue this further would benefit from reading the website links mentioned earlier and also taking a look at the Modern Antiquarian, where some contributors have spent much more time studying and researching this area.
Web Links:
Shap History Society
TMA pages for Shap and surrounding area.
© Angie Lake, July 2011.
Note: Angie Lake researches the lost Shap Avenue and guides us round a walk in the surrounding area
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