Long Meg & Her Daughters

Stone Circle

England

region: Cumbria
Grid Ref: NY570372, Latitude: 54.727841, Longitude: -2.667763

Long Meg and Her Daughters is the third largest British stone circle at around 100m diameter, with an outlier (Long Meg) 72 m from the centre of the circle. Traces of a henge remain, and Long Meg has some cup-and-ring marks. The circle has a clear astronomical alignment - the midwinter sun would set over the outlier when viewed from the centre of the circle. The name stems from the legend that the stones were a coven of witches turned to stone by a saint, or alternatively that the stones were Long Meg's lovers...

The circle even impressed the poet Wordsworth - in 1833 he asked

Speak Thou, whose massy strength and stature scorn
The power of years - pre-eminent, and placed
Apart, to overlook the circle vast-
Speak, Giant-Mother!

but there is no record of a reply.

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