Long Meg and Her Daughters
Maughanby Circle
Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age·Late Neolithic Cumbrian·🇬🇧 Cumbria, England, United Kingdom
About
About Long Meg and Her Daughters
Largest stone circle in northern England, oval 120 x 100 m of 59 stones (27 remaining upright) enclosing two internal cairns, with 3.6 m red sandstone outlier Long Meg (with cup-and-ring spirals) outside southwest arc. Late Neolithic c.3000 BCE with Early Bronze Age cairns inside. Folklore says witches petrified by wizard Michael Scot.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Spiral rock art meaning on Long Meg
Theories
- 01Witch folklore encodes memory of religious change
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 3000 BCE (circle); c.2000 BCE (cairns)
- Period
- Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age
- Culture
- Late Neolithic Cumbrian
- Purpose
- Ceremonial circle and later burial
- Abandoned
- c.1500 BCE
- Rediscovered
- Recorded 1600 Camden; excavation 1900
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 3000 BCE (circle); c.2000 BCE (cairns)
Initial construction
c. 1428 CE
Rediscovery
On the ground
Structures & features
54.7300° N · 2.6700° W · 150 m · 2 mapped features
Long Meg outlier
outlier3.6 m red sandstone with cup-and-ring spirals
54.7298° N · 2.6705° WInner Cairns
cairnTwo Bronze Age cairns inside circle
54.7300° N · 2.6700° W
Gallery