Circle is quite overgrown.
14/10/24
Images
7 November 2014
Image credit: Uwe Häberle 10/2017
Image credit: Uwe Häberle 10/2017
Image credit: Megadread
Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image credit: Chris Bickerton
The spirals were showing clearly today in the autumn sunshine
Image credit: Moth Clark
19-10-2008
www.briankerrphotography.co.uk
Image credit: Brian Kerr 2008
12-7-2008
Image credit: Brian Kerr 2008
12-7-2008
Image credit: Brian Kerr 2008
12-7-2008
Image credit: Brian Kerr 2008
It was so overgrown 1st time I came I just had to return in the winter. Here it is on the winter solstice
Image credit: chris bickerton
all the times ive been and wowed at the spirals and never noticed the pudgy face looking left (top right on biggest stone)
Image credit: claire heron
Little Meg stripped of all her undergrowth.
Image credit: Treehugger-Uk
Shot of Meg from the Rear? With more stones in view.
Image credit: Treehugger-Uk
Fallen stone by the side of Little Meg this one is about 6 foot long.
Image credit: Treehugger-Uk
Taken 29th July 2004: I don’t think I’m going out on a limb if I say this site is best visited during the winter when there’s no excessive foliage. This rather crappy photograph indicates just how little we could see.
Image credit: Simon Marshall
Little Meg on a misty Mid-Winters day
Those spirals really are VERY special
Image credit: Tim Clark
Image credit: Tim Clark
Carved stone to the left, largest stone to the right. Looking roughly in the direction of Long Meg
13-4-03
.o0O0o.
Image credit: Pebblethief
13-4-03.
.o0O0o.
Image credit: Pebblethief
22/12/02ce
June 2002
Image credit: Rob Evans
Little Meg hidden in the tall grass.
The carved stone after a downpour.
A carved stone from Little Meg on display in Penrith museum.
Sept 2000
Image credit: Rob Evans
Little Meg, Cumbria – August 2000
Little Meg, Cumbria – August 2000
Articles
Visited today, the field is in an awful state, ankle deep mud and puddles just as deep, .massive pile of manure by the circle. Wellies would have done but I only had walking boots. Had to negotiate the shit pile as it was the lesser of two evils, went in almost knee deep. The ground I immediately around the stones isn’t much better. At least the cows in the field didn’t accost me.
Also found the site very hard to find from long Meg but managed it with a bit of trespassing and a nod from a farmer. I’d advise taking the road route as posted below. Wish I had.
Worth visiting when seeing Long Meg. The stones are near the field hedge on the left hand side as you enter the field. Very small although there are some nice markings on one of the stones. Might prove a little difficult to spot if the grass gets too long!
Little Meg in hailing blizzard (until we made it back to the car & sun came out). Nevertheless, we (I) came up with a different theory this visit. Having visited Long Meg, think about the idea that its ‘druids’ had to apprentice somewhere. Then visit Little Meg, and consider if this could almost be a ‘teaching’ circle. I await comments!
For nearest toilets, see my post for Long Meg. Langwathby Station is closest I’ve found.
Visited Little Meg on Beltane was very suprised to see her without all the undergrowth and crop from the field. very peaceful and serene in her surroundings. I could also make out quite a few other stones in the vicinity. I’ve never thought this was a field clearance but possibly some of the smaller stones surrounding her are. I guess we’ll never know.
We visited Little Meg on 29th September 2003.
Firstly, our access notes for disabled people:
Finding Little Meg – Little Meg is not easy to find, but we hope this helps. From Little Salkeld take the road to Gamblesby. Continue past the turning for Long Meg on your left, pass Tarn Farm and a strip of woodland on the left side of the road. There is a gap in the woodland, where there are 2 field gates and a wide grass verge. Little Meg is approached through the first field gate (the other is overgrown).
Parking: on the wide grass verge near the gate entrance, quite level, short grass.
Toilets: Nearest disabled people’s toilets are probably in Penrith, approximately 9 miles away
Access to the stones: through the first field gate (with heavy spring catch), Little Meg is 175 yards down a wide, grassy field headland – keep the edge of the wood directly on your left. You should see Little Meg, a small low circle, from the gate. Although the land is more level than Long Meg, we think the route could be prone to get muddy after rain – wheelchair users may need assistance. The land immediately surrounding the circle is bumpy.
Little Meg is a very small, low circle with a slightly unkempt air. Very peaceful and quiet. One of the stones has good carved spirals.
Visit Little Meg before her bigger sister to avoid disappointment.
The delightful Jane possesses the ability to locate megalithic sites using only a few tenuous directions and her Inner Goddess. Just as well really, when you’re surrounded by a lush growth of meadow flora, with no idea where the circle you’re seeking is located.We had entered the field, Jane heading left, while I headed right. After a few minutes, I heard her yell emphatically “I’ve found her!” “Where?!” I yelled back, almost having a coronary as a cock pheasant exploded from the undergrowth two feet to my right.
I had been expecting to find Little Meg on an exposed patch of bare earth, as in the picture in TMA; but when we got there, we had to beat back the nettles and grasses from this badly broken and sorely neglected circle.
Nonetheless, Little Meg continues to exude a compact and serene energy, still calmly working away despite what the years throw at her. I liked her hugely, and I also liked the fact she was nestled amidst the green, fecund bounty of the summer; seemed more respectful than exposure on dry earth. Worth a visit, especially on a combined trip of Castlerigg] and [[Long Meg. Bit concerned that the carved spirals appear to be more eroded than the pictures in TMA, though.
A lovely little site but a real jumble of stones. One stone struck me particularly, the large block to the right of the carvings is much bigger than the rest and wouldn’t look out of place as part of Long Meg’s circle, but it’s the low rounded carved stone that obviously stands out. The mix of a spiral on one side that partly interlinks with the concentric circles on the other side really intrigues me – as usual trying to find an explanation is guesswork but it’s tempting to suggest some kind of sun/moon symbolism in the carving. Alternatively, the layout is suggestive of a representation of the positions of the circle at Long Meg and the large ditched enclosure just to the northwest – the two structures intersect along one edge. The stones look like they have been moved but if this stone was facing into the cairn was it meant as some kind of map or reminder for the spirit of the person whose remains were found is the central cist?
9 August 2003
I’d never visited Little Meg before, as when I went to Long Meg before (around 8 years ago), I was only just becoming interested in stones. Having only used a road atlas to find Long Meg, I didn’t even know Little Meg existed.
Since first reading of Little Meg I’ve been expecting to visit but had never yet made it. The theory about the origin of the site as a barrow was particularly interesting I thought. We left Long Meg and her Daughters following the hedge away from the circle, to the right of the farm road, roughly north east.
Littlle Meg is in the next field you come to on the right. Go through the (new-looking) gate and keep right, heading towards the edges of 2 separate stand of trees. Even in long grass the stones are evident.
And as for the theories, it certainly doesn’t look much like an actual stone circle. Especially not a typical Cumbrian stone circle!!! Pretty difficult to see it as a ruined barrow either though!
As someone has previously remarked, it could easily be taken for field clearance, albeit field clearance made of significant rocks! I guess as it is generally accepted as a ruined barrow, the stones just happen to have ended up in particularly non-barrowy positions!
Whatever, the stones occupy a gorgeously out of the way spot of remarkable peace and tranquillity. And the spirals on the decorated stone really are stunning – and that from someone who doesn’t usually ‘get’ rock art….
Looking rather overgrown (and there is some evidence that the farmer has maybe interfered with the stones?).
First visit. Really nice place with a mellow vibe.I spotted the spiral on one of the stones. Despite the obvious cramming of the site, it felt right. As we were walking off we were followed a cute lovely little bird in the trees. Quite enchanting!
We left Long Meg and set off to find Little Meg. Unlike others, we could see the stones from the gateway – the field was just sprouting its crop and the pathway was flat and open. We walked around it (doesn’t take long!) and wondered about the “hows and the whys” before sitting and embracing the warmth and the sun which had reappeared. It felt about 10 degrees warmer than Long Meg had just 10 minutes earlier. It took me ages to even find traces of any of the spirals on the stones but they still felt and looked wonderful
As we started back, we noticed our car (parked on the other side of the fence) had been surrounded by HUGE black and white fresians, who were sniffing and licking it. We watched and laughed as they stared over the fence at us, rubbing themselves against my little car, before being herded down the road for milking. When we reached the car, it was covered in cow spit and it kind of felt like the perfect ending to the most incredible day!
She is badly broken, like a once much loved lost doll, but no less charming for that.
Little Meg, at the time of this visit, lay in very tall grass making the stones barely visible until I was right beside them. It had been raining all afternoon so the stones gleamed like polished gems in the lush green grass.
Earlier in the day I had visited the museum in Penrith to see the Stone Circle exhibition (runs until September 2002). On display was a small carved stone taken from Little Meg.
Lovely little site. Me and tess approached from the road when all of a sudden we hears a screech and up fly two bloody big birds of prey /buzzards.....wow.Hard to believe that this is not a field clearance, its just too messy. If this site is insitu it must have been layed out by the dodgy cowboy dodman brother of Long Megs architect. Sounds like my kind of drude.
love and Life
Must admit, I really enjoy every visit to Little Meg. Not sure why, it’s just so ... peaceful there. Mind you, bet it’s a bit noisy when Mr Farmer’s tearing up the soil next to meg. I’m surprised She’s still there at all.
Little Meg is such a contrast to Long Meg, just half a mile up the road, a wrecked little circle, the worse for wear on the edge of a cereal field.
She’s obviously the focus for some activity, her swirls and rings having been chalked in by someone.
A diversion, but not the whole show, thats back at Long Meg.
English Heritage have Little Meg recorded as a Round Cairn.
Sir J.Y. Simpson wrote about Little Meg in the 19th century-
‘Two or three cairns or tumuli existed locally …. One of them, of large size, stood on land belonging to the free school of the township of Maughanby. After removing from its central mound or barrow a quantity of cobble stones mixed with earth, several large stones, one of them only erect, were found arranged in a circle about eighteen feet in diameter. Several of them were buried beneath the projecting edges of the barrow. In the centre of the circle was placed a semi-ovoid cist formed of rough stones, and measuring only three feet nine inches in length, two feet four inches in breadth and ten inches in depth. The cist contained an urn, burnt bones and charcoal. The only ornament upon the rude urn was a raised line near the top.’
Pics of Little Meg stone circle
Topics
Sites within 20km of Little Meg
-
Long Meg & Her Daughters
photo 156forum 19description 44link 5 -
Long Meg enclosure
description 1 -
Pond Enclosure and Brustop Wood
description 2 -
Glassonby
photo 25description 6link 1 -
Old Parks
photo 3 -
Stag Stones Farm
photo 1description 1 -
Honeypot Stone
photo 4forum 1description 1 -
Winderwath
photo 6description 2 -
Holme Head
photo 9description 6 -
Broomrigg
photo 24description 4 -
Brougham
description 2 -
King Arthur’s Round Table
photo 37forum 2description 21 -
Little Round Table
photo 2forum 1description 4 -
Mayburgh Henge
photo 80forum 1description 19link 6 -
Skirsgill Standing Stone
photo 5forum 1description 5 -
Leacet Circle
photo 25description 8link 1 -
Sewborrans
photo 7description 4 -
Grey Yauds
photo 5description 5 -
Mossthorn
photo 2description 2 -
Broad Mea Long Cairn
photo 5 -
Clifton Standing Stones
photo 11description 7 -
Green Hill
photo 3 -
Low Moor
photo 14description 7 -
Bold Venture
photo 2 -
Hut
photo 2 -
Colouring Crags Long Cairn
photo 3 -
Skirsgill Hill
photo 1 -
Slaggyford Stones
photo 2forum 1 -
Alston Earthworks
photo 1 -
Dunmallard Hill
photo 6description 1link 1 -
Slaggyford Stone Rows
photo 2 -
White Raise
photo 8description 4 -
Low Thornhope
photo 11forum 1link 1 -
Moor Divock Centre
photo 6description 2 -
Moor Divock Alignment
photo 2description 3 -
Moor Divock SE
photo 19description 4 -
Kirkhaugh
photo 1forum 2description 3link 2 -
Moor Divock
photo 2description 4link 2 -
The Cop Stone
photo 19description 6 -
The Cockpit
photo 41forum 1description 5link 1 -
Maiden Castle (Ullswater)
photo 4forum 1description 3link 1 -
Motherby (destroyed?)
-
Cockpit Cairns
photo 11description 3 -
Cold Fell
photo 5description 1 -
Knipe Moor
photo 14description 8 -
Shapbeck Plantation
photo 18description 6 -
Scarside Plantation
-
Knipescar Common
photo 1 -
Wilson Scar
photo 1description 2 -
Gunnerkeld
photo 62forum 1description 14link 3