<< Our Photo Pages >> Shapbeck Plantation - Stone Circle in England in Cumbria

Submitted by stu on Saturday, 17 July 2004  Page Views: 7488

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Shapbeck Plantation Alternative Name: Shapbeck Stone Circle
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 1.699 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Cumbria Type: Stone Circle

Map Ref: NY55261886  Landranger Map Number: 90
Latitude: 54.562980N  Longitude: 2.693405W
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.
4 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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Anne T visited on 2nd Apr 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Shapbeck Plantation Stone Circle: Our first stop of the day, whizzing off the M6 southbound at Eamont Bridge and travelling on the A6 through Clifton & Hackthorpe to Shapbeck Gate. There, a side road leads to a bridge across the River Leith, but there was no parking to be had. We turned back northwards up the A6 and parked in a layby some ¼ mile north of the footpath leading up to Shapbeck Plantation. We took our lives in our hands walking back to the footpath, with cars and motorbikes travelling fast along the road, and the verge was lumpy and bumpy and difficult to walk along. Finally reaching the footpath, almost opposite the road leading to Southfield and Stonygill Bridge, we turned west over the fields towards Shapbeck Plantation, I was glad I had worn my wellies, as the gates into the fields were deep in muddy water. Careful of the stock in the first field, we crossed through the gate into a second field, where the footpath vanished – it had been ploughed out. Following the dry stone wall line up the hill towards the plantation, it was only when we had almost reached the top of the field that a fenced off area to the northern side of the field came into view. Walking towards this, it was clear the farmer had been using this area as a dump for old metal items and other stones, although an inner and outer circle were clearly visible. It looked as if the circle had been built on a slight mound, with a ditch around the outside. At this time of year, there wasn't much vegetation, so it was possible to see lots of the stones. Without the plantation, there would have been views 360 degrees around the site. Even today, this area was busy, busy, busy, with the A6, M6 and West Coast railway all intersecting and intermingling in the valley below. Walking across the fields, many of the smaller stones poking out of the earth had a very distinctly green tinge. Definitely worth braving the traffic to visit this site.

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by stu : NY552 188. General view of the overgrown stone circle. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Stone Circle in Cumbria.

A very overgrown site where few of stones remain upright. Other stones in the circle look to have been disturbed and may not be in their original positions. An internal cairn (with large kerbstones?) looks to adjoin the circle's southern edge.

Update 3rd April 2017: This site is recorded as Pastscape Monument 875536, which tells us that this is "a previously unrecorded stone circle discovered during field walking in 1985 and subsequently excavated. The circle comprises the plough-damaged remains of 3 concentric rings of stones, surviving up to 0.90m above present ground level. The outer ring has 28 surviving stones and a diameter of c20-50m; 18 form the second and 7 the innermost. A small cairn, possibly added at a later date, overlies the second ring of stones at it's SW limit: no funerary evidence was found with it. Other small stones, particularly noticeable close to the NE edge of the outermost circle, may suggest cobbling similar to that observed at Birkrigg."
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Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by stu : NY552 188. One of the many stones within the circle, but one of the few that still remain upright. Other stones in the circle look to have been disturbed and may not be in their original positions. An internal cairn (with large kerbstones?) looks to adjoin the circles southern edge. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by Meaty_Mungus : Photo looking Westerly showing pile of rocks/boulders which has been dumped on top of the inner stone circle on the Western side of the large outer stone circle. Site visited 19/12/18. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by Meaty_Mungus : Photo showing a pile of rocks/boulders which has been dumped on top of the inner stone circle. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by Anne T : In response to Meaty Mungus's recent comment (see below) about a large dump of several tons of boulders in the inner circle, this is one of my photos from 2nd April 2017 showing a pile of stone and rusting fencing/farm machinery bits. It would be interesting to see how much larger the pile has grown between my visit and Metal Mungo's, and if this stone circle urgently needs to be reported as a sit... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by Anne T : Two of the stones in the eastern part of the circle, looking down over the Leith River valley and the M6 beyond. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by Anne T : Standing just inside the outer circle, looking across the inner circle towards the plantation. The farmer had clearly been using part of the circle to dump other stones and metal farming equipment, by now well rusted.

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by Anne T : There were many stones lying prone, covered by moss and long grass, but still visible. It was exciting to see so many stones in 2 definite circles (an inner and an outer), although the Pastscape record tells us there were 3 concentric rings.

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by Anne T : It appeared as if most of the stones in the outer circle had been placed in twos or threes. Here are two in the outer circle.

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by Anne T : Standing on the southern edge of the outer circle, it looked as if the stone circle had been built on a slightly raised mound, with an outer ditch. The mound and ditch was visible almost all the way round the circle.

Shapbeck Plantation
Shapbeck Plantation submitted by Anne T : The largest stone in the Shapbeck Stone Circle. We looked for rock art on the stones, but couldn't see any, although the stones were heavily moss covered.

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"Shapbeck Plantation" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Re: Shapbeck Plantation by coldrum on Tuesday, 25 October 2011
(User Info | Send a Message)
From Pastscape:

"A previously unrecorded stone circle discovered during field walking in 1985 and subsequently excavated. The circle comprises the plough-damaged remains of 3 concentric rings of stones, surviving up to 0.90m above present ground level. The outer ring has 28 surviving stones and a diameter of c20-50m; 18 form the second and 7 the innermost. A small cairn, possibly added at a later date, overlies the second ring of stones at it's SW limit: no funerary evidence was found with it. Other small stones, particularly noticeable close to the NE edge of the outermost circle, may suggest cobbling similar to that observed at Birkrigg."

http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=875536
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