New Trumps Game Launched, Prehistoric Sites in Cumbria

Set in Cumbria’s dramatic mountain scenery, The Carles of Castlerigg stone circle, near Keswick is one of the magnificent sites that impresses visitors and local residents alike. C.Paxton photo

Cumbria has over 200 prehistoric sites and yet more remain to be discovered. There are rings of standing stones, there are stones carved with rings and cup marks, there are stones set in avenues and there are single megalithic thunderstones, mounds and Henges of several types.

Mayburgh Henge at Eamont Bridge, Penrith under the Great Bear constellation

In the course of researching my article for All Nippon Airways (ANA)   Wingspan in-flight magazine to appear in the February 2014 issue, my wife Kimberly and I were smitten by these fascinating monuments. “Stone Crazy” she described our condition, and I think she was right.

The more we looked into the matter, the more sites we visited and the more we visited, the greater our interest became, and the more we noticed. From Birkrigg on the Furness peninsular to Durdar near Carlisle, our investigations took us from coastal monuments to the high plateau of Moor Divock 1000 ft above sea level, then east to the Pennines , then  north into Lakeland and revealed the great diversity of  the sites – all are distinctive and different. Some intriguing similarities emerged, for example in the layout of Hardendale Cairn circle and Castlerigg’s rectangular inner enclosure,  but generally it is the diversity in form that stands out.

We are grateful to our friend Neolithic Sculptor Brian Cowper for his insights, author Robert Farrah for his excellent guidebook (Robert W.E. Farrah’s A Guide To The Stone Circles Of Cumbria ), Penrith Library’s Reference section with its volumes of The Transactions of The Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological Society, to Archaeologist Tom Clare for his illustrated talk and his excellent book ( Prehistoric Monuments of The Lake District ).

If you are interested in Cumbria’s prehistoric sites and you like playing trumps, then you might enjoy this new pack that my wife and I made just before Christmas.

Prehistoric Sites In Cumbria Trumps Includes 32 Sites From Neolithic To Modern

Get to know these treasures through a fun learning game in which players try to win site cards off each other by ‘trumping’each others’ site characteristics. Choose the strongest category for your site to challenge your partners’ and learn about these amazing prehistoric places as you play!

This set includes information cards about 32 Cumbrian prehistoric sites such as Oddendale, White Hag, Long Meg and her daughters, Gunnerkeld, Swinside, Birkrigg, Castlerigg, Gamelands, Moor Divock’s funerary complex and more!

Great fun for all the family. Available in Kid’s pocket size (£5), or larger (£8.00) for easier reading.

You can buy them from my online shop http://thewebcat.biz/sales_gallery.html

New post from Anilbalan on his Ghost Cities Blg: The Stones of Callanish

Hugh Paxton’s Blog is delighted to pass on the latest from Anilbalan’s Ghost Cities Blog – as always, full of interest!

New post on Ghost Cities The Stones of Callanish by anilbalan The wild and windy Western Isles off the northwest shore of Scotland – also known as the Outer Hebrides – boast some of the country’s most alluring scenery, from windswept golden sands to harsh, heather-backed mountains and peat bogs. An elemental beauty pervades each one of the more than two hundred islands that make up the archipelago, only a handful of which are actually inhabited. The Hebridean islands were first settled by Neolithic farming peoples in around 4,500 BC. They lived along the coast, where they are remembered by scores of incidental remains, from passage graves through to stone circles – most famously at Callanish on Lewis. The standing stones at Callanish rival even those at Stonehenge in their inscrutability and the majesty of their setting. The dozens of stones and the chambered cairn in their midst were quarried locally and raised into their present position some 4,000 years ago, but for what purpose is likely to remain forever an enigma. The stones, which are planted roughly in the shape of a Celtic cross, seem to align with other circles and standing stones in the area, but it is possible to read almost any meaning into them. Theories abound as to their purpose and it has been suggested that the stone circle may have been a king’s mausoleum, an observatory – or even a UFO beacon. Read more of this post anilbalan | November 3, 2013 at 2:00 am | Tags: Callanish, standing stones, stone circle, Stonehenge | Categories: Folklore, History, Legend, Mythology | URL: http://wp.me/p1Pozr-mg Comment See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Ghost Cities. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://anilbalan.com/2013/11/03/the-stones-of-callanish/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com