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Swinside aka Sunkenkirk Stone Circle is in Millom, Cumberland, North England Stone Circles.
Swinside aka Sunkenkirk Stone Circle [Map] is a Stone Circle constructed from porphyritic slate sourced from the adjacent fells. The circle has a well defined entrance, 2.1m wide, defined by two portal stones.
Cumbria and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. ART. IV.—An Exploration of "Sunken Kirk," Swinside, Cumberland [Map]1, with Incidental Researches in its Neighbourhood. By C. W. DYMOND, F.S.A., Hon. F.S.A., Scot. Communicated at Durham, June 20th, 1901.
Note 1. An accurate plan of this circle as it stood in 1872, from which the one accompanying this paper is reproduced, illustrates a short descriptive account of it, which will be found in these Transactions, vol. v. (1880), pp. 47-50; and in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, vol. xxxiv. (1878), p. 33. Reference may be made to those papers (especially to the former, as by much the fuller) for details not immediately connected with the present subject.
Cumbria and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. Swinside aka Sunkenkirk Stone Circle [Map]. This is a very good example of a circle built in close order; and it is probable that, when perfect, all the successive stones were nearly contiguous. The gateway points slightly down-hill. But few of the stones seem to have been removed — probably because plenty of material for walling and road-making could be collected from the neighboring hill-side. A rowan-tree has sprung up in a rift in stone No. 2, which has been rent asunder by its growth. The falling of all the stones (perhaps excepting one) inward, is a rather singular circumstance which can hardly be accounted-for by the usual natural causes.
Cumbria and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. The following is a copy of Housman's account of the circle at Swinside, to be found on pp. 471-2 of his Topographical Description, before referred to. As an early authority, it may be well to quote it here, to supplement the series of extracts which were published in the fifth volume of these Transactions, pp. 47-50:-
About three miles north-west from Duddon-bridge, in a wild country, among dreary mountains, there is a druidical temple, called Sunken-kirk [Map], which consists of a circle of large stones standing erect in the ground, and pretty close together, some of which are more than eight feet above the surface, and eleven feet in circumference. The larger stones are 50 in number, with an infinite number of smaller ones scattered about their bases. The form is nearly a circle, being 87 feet by 84 in diameter. It is seated in the level part of a high but swampy meadow, and near a solitary farmhouse. At the entrance there are four large stones, two placed on each side, at the distance of six feet."
Thwaites. The druidical temple, at Swineside [Map], is thus described by Mr. Gough, in his additions to Camden1:- "It is nearly a circle of very large stones, pretty entire, only a few fallen upon sloping ground in a swampy meadow. No situation could be more agreeable to the druids than this; mountains almost encircle it, not a tree is to be seen in the neighbourhood, nor a house, except a shepherd's cot at the foot of a mountain, sur- rounded by a few barren pastures.
"At the entrance, there are four large stones, two placed on each side, at the distance of six feet The largest on the left side, is five feet six inches in height, and ten feet in circumference. Through this you enter into a circular area, 29 yards by 30. This entrance is nearly south-east On the north or right hand side, is a huge stone, of a conical formf in height nearly nbe feet Opposite the entrance is another large stone, which has once been erect, but is now fallen within the area; its length is eight feet To the left hand or south-west is one, in height seven feet, in circumference eleven feet nine inches. The altar probably stood in the middle, as there are some stones still to be seen, sunk deep in the earth. The circle is nearly complete, except on the western, some stones are wanting. The largest stones are about 31 or 32 in number. The outward part of the circle, upon the sloping ground, is surrounded with a buttress, or rude pavement of smaller stones, raised about half a yard from the surface of the earth.
The situation and aspect of the druidical temple, near Keswick, is in every respect similar to this, except the rectangular recess, formed by ten large stones, which is peculiar to that at Keswick; but upon the whole, I think a preference will be given to this at Swineshead, as the stones in general appear much larger, and the circle more entire.
"This monument of antiquity, when viewed within the circle, strikes you with astonishment, how the massy stones could be placed in such regular order, either by human strength or mechanical power."
The Rev. Jeremiah Gilpin, A.M. of Broughton in Fumess, was so much interested in these vene- rable remains of a remote and, comparatively speaking, unknown period, that he was at the expense of having a view of them engraved, which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, for the year 1785.
Note 1. Vol. ii. p. 432.
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