shaps standing stones

 

 

 

 


a drawing of shaps avenue of standing stones by lady lonsdale

until the late 18th/ early 19th century shap was home to an avenue of huge granite stones which culminated in stone circles. unfortunately only a few remnants remain today, the most notable of these is the goggleby stone (pictured below)

Several antiquarians have been intrigued by shaps avenue over the years,coming up with various theories and explanations as to why it was built and what it was for,i will try to unravel them the best i can.

The following is an extract from  , the penny magazine of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge dated march 7 1840;

  It is now nearly thirty years ago since one of the few remaining temples of the ancient druids ceased to exsist,save in the chronicled pages of a few local and antiquarian writers and in the memories of the present generation of inhabitants of the surrounding district,and of those strangers that business or curiosity may have attracted to those parts. For when the waste or common lands were enclosed by act of parliament about the time above stated,most of the stones of which this monumental curiosity were composed were blown into fragments by the powder of gunpowder,and employed by the inhabitants in erecting rude stone fences.  So that the stranger who reads the history of westmorland,or any other that treats of this druidical monument,and is thereby induced to visit the scene,would experience nothing but disappointment when some rude hind pointed out to him where "the girt staynes yance stuyd "".

The article goes on ; this monument was situated a little to the south of the village,and consisted of two irregular rows of huge unshapely stones,though differing very materially in size,for the largest were ten or eleven feet high,and of nearly the same thickness while the smaller ones were not half these dimensions. The two rows were not quite parallel,the distance between the stones for the most part was ten or twelve yards,the entire length of rows being a little more than half a mile.

In 1823s "scenes and recollections of fly fishing in northumberland,cumberland and westmorland" by william andrew chatto ,it states that shaps standing stones were formerly to be seen by the side of the road ,"but within these last seven or eight years they have been broken up to form gateposts and many of the fragments may be observed built into the walls on each side of the turnpike." In blacks 1853 " picturesque guide to the lakes" it tells of how many of the stones have been" barbarously" carried off for building purposes.

 Parson & white directory :-towards the south end of the village ,near the turnpike road,on the eastside therof,there is a remarkable monument of antiquity,which is an area of upwards of half a mile in length,and between 20 and 30 yards broad encompassed with large stones(with which that country abounds) many of them 3 or 4 yards in diameter,at 8,10 or 12 yards distance which are such immense weight that no carriage now in use could support them.

Undoubtedly this has been a place of druid worship,which they always performed in the  open air,within this kind of enclosure,shaded with woods,as this place of old time appears to have been,although there is now scarce a tree to be seen ( shap-thorn only excepted,planted on the top of the hill for the direction of travellers). At the high end of this place of worship there is a circle of like stones about 18 feet in diameter which was their sanctum sanctorum(as it were).

The stone is a kind of granite and when broken appears beautifully variegated with bright shining spots like spar. The country people have blasted and carried away some of these stones for the foundation stones of buildings,in other places ,some have cut these stones (but with difficulty) for millstones., when polished they would make beautiful chimmney pieces.

Thomas west wrote :- On the east side of the road as you leave the village observe a double range of huge granites pitched in the ground at some distance from each other,leading to circles of small stones and increasing the space between the rows as they approach the circles where the avenue is about 27 paces wide,they are supposed to have terminated in a point.

 In letters fom a commercial traveller1815-in a few years this memorial of former days will have disappeared,for men are at this time employed in breaking the stones,in order that their removal may allow of agricultural operations! This is certainly a wanton destruction,for the stones being placed in straight lines offer no impediment to the plough.  The antiquities of the county ought not to be exposed to the caprice of the owners of the soil,what should we think of the man who would build a barn of the materials stone henge would affect him?

 From the above accounts it seems certain that the bulk of the stones were destroyed in the early part of the 19th century to create farm land, and that the stones which were carried away or blown up ,were put to use building walls and houses as well as gate stoops, evidence of this can still be seen today as granite boulders still form parts of walls and foundations for houses.They can be seen at the southern end of the village from carl lofts southwards( some can be seen between carl lofts and unity terrace and several more in the wall next to brackenber farm, and other walls on the left going south,there are also fragments of granite boulders to be seen in the field opposite springside,there are also a lot of granite gate stoops in evidence at this end of the village )

                          One time vicar of shap  dr james simpson's proposed map of shaps standing stones -the small circle at the bottom is now cut in half by the railway and only a few stones remain, dr simpson suggests that a huge circle was in evidence to the south  west of the greyhound inn.

On the left are several fragments of granite boulders to be found at the southern end of shap( the shape of these boulders show that they have not been eroded naturally,and are probably the result of blasting) . Above is an example of a roughly cut granite gate stoop ,also at the southern end of shap . It is quite feasible that the stones in both of these pictures could originally have been part of shaps" great stone avenue". they are also in the vicinity of dr simpsons huge circle.

Having gone through the various accounts of shaps stones over the years it is safe to say that there was indeed at least one avenue of stones and at least one stone circle in exsistence,the sketch by lady lonsdale proves this much.but how many stones and how large they were we will never know for sure.

Some accounts of the stones can be taken with a pinch of salt, william stukeleys account for one can be largely dismissed as he didn't actually see the stone avenue in it's entirety and all we have is a reference by him to a letter from routh a surveyor from carlisle who confirmed stukeleys ideas,in the letter dated 3 sep 1743  routh says " Agreeable to your commands ,i went and reviewed the great stones at shap which appear almost exactly conformable to the sketch you were pleased to give us of abury,the southern avenue where the smaller circles are terminates,according to your opinion on high ground and the northern on lower towards the abbey"   It seems rather convenient that this young surveyor totally agrees with stukeleys ideas of the site.

feb 2009  According to eden district council , new housing plans for shap include proposals to build new housing on or near the sites  of  standing stones in shap.


 

to be continued

i will add to this in the near future