If you step up to the circle from Long Meg, this is the view looking to the
right showing the arc of stones curving round before you. There are 70 stones in all in
the circle. In this shot you can make out the road that runs through the centre, it now leads
only to the farm a short distance off-view to the left. In a similar way to many other
circles it is not supposed to be possible to count their number, this is another recurring
legend found with stone circles (taken to the logical limit by
Terry Pratchett,
in his novel where a single standing stone on a moor behind Granny Weather Wax's house cannot be counted).
In the case of the daughters, more explicit legends exist. Some time during the 1700s
an attempt was made to demolish the circle (what was I saying about superstitious religion?).
This process was commonly conducted by lighting large fires around a stone, then when the fire
was burning hotly, quickly pulling down the burning pieces of wood, and throwing water on the
stone to crack it (I wonder how many men were hurt by the shrapnel?). The attempt was
abandoned after a terrible storm pushed the (already jumpy) peasants over the brink of terror
and they could not be persuaded to resume the work.
E-mail me with trivia on any other Cumbrian
stone circles. Pictures of less well known ones would be particularly appreciated.