Long Meg standing stones have long been on my very lengthy To Do List, but were so far down I d frankly forgotten about them. Until a week ago, when my itchy feet were telling me I needed to go out exploring, the days had a glimmer of spring in them, and I had a serendipitous moment as I hit a button on my iPad by mistake and a random app started downloading, the app was All Trails, and out of curiosity I looked at walks near me, and Lacy Caves caught my eye.
The photos of the gorgeous red stone, my love of caves and the reminder of my wish to go to Long Meg were too much and I grabbed my phone and made plans.
The drive from the North East took us over the Alston Moors and Hartside Pass. It was sad to see that the Hartside Cafe was still in ruins, but we stopped to take in the magnificent views.
The loop trail we planned on following is 8.5km and follows the River Eden, which is very picturesque in itself, I had discovered that the riverside path had been damaged in a landslide, and this was confirmed by the Eden Trust, but not to be put off we decided to turn back on ourselves if need be, but as usual we got utterly lost! So I won’t bore you with our lost ramblings, which we joyfully (at first) said “it’s about the journey not the destination” as we admit we have no idea where we are! But we made it to the caves and the stones and accidentally came across Little Meg too, so it was a fortunate long way round!
Lacy’s Caves are a folly, built within the 18th century by Lieutenant- Colonel Samual Lacy of nearby Salkeld Hall, they were carved out of the red sandstone of the cliffs.
They have a beautiful warm rosy glow, particularly in the sun from the stone. With five chambers, they are small, but wonderful, with views out onto the river, and interconnected with tunnels (which can be very dark!) we know the Colonel used the area to entertain his guests, and had the surrounding areas planted with rhododendrons and laburnums which you can see flowering in spring time. It is also rumoured he stored his wine here, though I could not find any forgotten bottles, unfortunately!
The Colonel also has a connection with Long Meg and her daughters as he famously tried to blow them up but a fierce thunder and lightning storm struck and put an abrupt end to his plans
Wordsworth said of Long Meg – “the country’s most notable relic after Stonehenge”
Long Meg and her daughters is a huge stone circle, with Long Meg standing forebodingly outside of the circle slightly raised and an impressive 12 meters high, weighing around 9tonnes. Meg also has 3 symbols carved into the stone, cup and ring marks and spirals, and the 4 corners of the stone facing the points of the compass, and when viewed from the middle of the circle it aligns with the midwinter sunset.
It’s thought the circle was created around 1500bc making it one of the earliest in Britain, and measures 350 feet in diameter, making it the second biggest in the country. With 69 standing stones, most still upright and the impressive background of the Pennines, it’s no wonder that it is steeped in folklore and mystery.
For it is said that Long Meg and her daughters were witches, and were dancing wildly on the Sabbath were turned to stone!
If you are brave enough to count them, you can never count the same number of stones twice, for if you do, the magic is broken and the come alive! Not wanting to be surrounded by 69 angry witches and as the temperatures dropped and snow was starting to fall we decided to leave that to a better mathematician than me!
Whilst looking for Long Meg we stumbled upon Little Meg, which does not have the wow factor of Long Meg, but I found it fascinating, with well preserved Rock Art, and being one of the smallest stone circles in Britain, yet so close to one of the biggest, and similarly named, I was intrigued.
Little Meg has 11 stones, in an irregular ring, approx 5m in diameter, the stones are small and higgledy piggledy now, and you might walk past it without realising its significance, particularly when the grass is longer, but it has a strange mystical feel to it.
There is conflicting information on Little Meg, some saying it is a stone circle and others that it is what remains of a round cairn (burial mound) and it is the outer kerb stones that are left standing. A cremation urn was discovered here in 1866 , giving substance to this theory over a stone circle.
I also discovered that two of the stones had rock art (with Little and Long Meg being the only examples of Rock Art in Cumbria) but one stone was removed to Penrith Museum, which it upsetting to think the site was disrupted to gain an artefact for a museum.
I could not find any explanations for the name as I d hoped, but that opened the imagination to making anything it chooses, so I shall suggest with Little Meg was a descendant from Long Meg, but was respected and buried here to be close to her kin.
I had not planned on writing about this wander, but a week on and it is still memorable, I ve told several people about it, so thought I would share it on here. So apologies for the lack of photos, and substandard photos and route information, though no one would want to follow my lost ramblings! I hope it inspires you to visit the area and the places mentioned, as it’s beautiful.
The last photo was a quick stop off on the moors in the snow on the way home.
Hints and Tips
Parking- We parked on the side of the road (a triangle of grass) at Little Selkeld
If taking little ones or have mobility issue the path to the caves is quite steep, but over a short distance.
We saw cars parked at Long Meg on the grass, so if it interests you but a walk does not then that’s an option.
There are no amenities we saw, no shops or cafes nearby, but Penrith is around 5 miles away, so a short drive.
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If anyone has any info on Little Meg, I would love to hear it, please comment!
Love
Happy Wanderer
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Happy Wanderer 