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Winderwath

Standing Stone / Menhir

<b>Winderwath</b>Posted by fitzcoraldoImage © fitzcoraldo
Nearest Town:Penrith (9km W)
OS Ref (GB):   NY596292 / Sheet: 91
Latitude:54° 39' 21.77" N
Longitude:   2° 37' 34.61" W

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<b>Winderwath</b>Posted by Vicster <b>Winderwath</b>Posted by Vicster <b>Winderwath</b>Posted by fitzcoraldo <b>Winderwath</b>Posted by fitzcoraldo <b>Winderwath</b>Posted by fitzcoraldo <b>Winderwath</b>Posted by fitzcoraldo

Fieldnotes

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Our first stop was east of Penrith at Winderwath, to check out the 2 stones on the road to Winderwath Gardens. The first stone is unmissable, lying on the roadside and what a fine piece of stone it is. Sturdy and magnificent, it sits proudly on the side of the road, emerging from the hedge as you approach. However, had Fitz not mentioned the 2nd stone lying in the field behind we would never have realised it was there, so thick was the hedgerow! We tried and tried to find a place to peek through and see it clearly but in the end I had to crawl through some nettles and brambles, poke my camera through the fence, point it in the general direction and just hope something came out! Luckily it did, but we couldn't see enough of this 2nd stone to tell how similar (or otherwise) it may have been to the one still standing. However, the weather had cleared, the sun was shining and we were starting to get stone-fever, so we continued on to the next site. Vicster Posted by Vicster
17th August 2011ce

Local photographer and regular TMP contributor, Nicola Didsbury told me about this site, she had been told that there was once a stone circle there which had been destroyed and all but two of its stones had been thrown into the River Eden.
See Nicolas notes here
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=11486.

Access to the stones is via the approach road to Winderwath gardens. The entrance to Winderwath was until recently on the A66 however since the recently completed by-pass has been built you need to leave the A66 at the junction for Temple Sowerby.

There are two stones here; the first stone is a large upright block of porphyritic stone which stands beside the road. The second stone appears to be similar in composition and lays prostrate behind it, hidden by the fence and dense hedge. There are also a number of small stones which have the appearance of a field clearance.

I have been unable to find any reference in both the antiquarian and the modern literature to a stone circle or standing stones in this area; however this does not mean that this is not a genuine prehistoric site. Eleven kilometers to the west of this stone is the massive standing stone of Holme Head which was until recently unrecognized, which just goes to show that even in areas where extensive surveys have been performed it is still possible to find new sites.
fitzcoraldo Posted by fitzcoraldo
13th June 2008ce