Condition- poor but stones are still there under the vegetation around a circular earthwork rather like a doughnut in shape. Cleared of vegetation it would be impressive.
The Kirk on Long Moor isn't easy to find as it is on a flat moorland with tussocks of grass and heather everywhere obscuring the rocks. A view across from higher ground at Gunson Heights gives an "aerial view" but actually on Long Moor at ground level you have to have sharp eyes. A GPS device would be useful.
It can be accessed from most directions but we found the most straightforward way was to drive from Askam in Furness north on the A595 and turn right to a very small picturesque village called Beckside. Beside a very interesting church which may date way back to the early Christian times there is a good free car park and toilets which are open even in winter.
The walk up to Long Moor and The Kirk is shortish on a very steep first on narrow road and then ancient bridleway when once on the moor. The track runs alongside Gill House Beck which once powered water wheels in Beckside. A wheel still remains at a house in Beckside.
Ambience- it was a very bleak place to visit on this January day in strong gusts of wind and later sleet but on a sunnier day the views must be amazing across the Duddon Estuary to Black Combe and beyond to Whitfell and Buckbarrow.
I was reading an article by T F G Dexter about the pagan origins of fairs as The Kirk was highlighted in the text.
Dexter said that The Kirk stone circle was used right up until the mid 19th century on Easter Sunday as a place to hold a fair and have sporting events and games.It was customary to have dancing, leaping, jumping, foot races and the village lads would wrestle.The lord of the manor of Kirkby Hall would go up there every year with his entourage and take part in all the events. The fair stopped in the mid 19th century as the last lord of the manor broke his thigh bone.
Dexter using evidence from all over the British Isles and Europe made a case for such fairs to have developed near barrows and stone circles where assembled people held ceremonies for the dead. Therefore he says the holding of fairs beside stone circles such as The Kirk must be of heathen origins.
He maintains that The Kirk fairs must have been of ancient antiquity.
Also he says that fairs held on hilltops and stone circles seem contemporary with ancient trackways.
The Fair at The Kirk was significant as Easter is a date dependent upon the moon and all other Christian movable feasts are regulated by the Easter moon.
The ancients, Dexter says, were more influenced by moon time than sun time.
Once a year "Merkat fairs" held elsewhere were held on boundaries where stones were erected. A land"mark" or land"merk" is an obsolete word for a post or pillar and is pre Latin. Many of these became the markers for parish boundaries.
We did see several stones which appeared to be in a line leading up to the cairns and circle but we couldn't determine if they were natural or placed there or both perhaps.
N.B.For Andy or admin
Across Gill Head Beck in easterly direction from The Kirk and at the foot of Gunson Heights we found a very interesting stone structure.We think it might be a chambered cairn but I need to find out what they looked like.I took photographs but needed a wider angle to show the detail.I'll send them anyway.
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