Castlerigg Stone Circle proved to be the ideal location for the Cardinal Points interactive map and compass training program. The 360 degree panorama allows the user to pan around and take bearings from individual stones using an interactive compass whilst giving the feeling of really being out there. Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick in Cumbria is one of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Britain. The Stone Circle is surrounded by a natural amphitheatre of some of the highest peaks in Cumbria: Helvellyn, Skiddaw and Blencathra.
The circle has been owned since 1913 by the National Trust. It was one of the first dozen sites to be declared an ancient monument in 1883 and the stones are in the guardianship of English Heritage. Today the site is a popular tourist attraction.
We don't know but there are clues. The builders would have come from early farming communities who probably lived on the fringes of the mountainous region, from which they obtained the raw material for their tools.
The Stone Circles in Britain seem to have been built between 2500 to 1300 BC during the Neolithic and Bronze ages. Two stone axes and a stone "club" found near the circle in the 18th century AD suggest a Neolithic (New Stone Age) construction.
The builders would have found the stones lying in the immediate area. All are of Borrowdale volcanic stone, brought by glaciers from rocky outcrops during the last ice age.
The Circle is not a true circle - but a flattened one, distorted on the eastern side.It measures 32.6m (107ft) at its widest and 29.5m (97ft) at its narrowest. The heaviest stone is estimated to weigh around 16 tons and the tallest stone measures approximately 2.3m high. There is a 3.3m wide gap at its northern edge, which may have been an entrance The stones would have been dragged to the site on log rollers and then levered into prepared holes, which were then packed with soil and stones. The unique rectangular "sanctuary" may be contemporary with the main circle.
Castlerigg would have been important to every member of the local tribal community. Isolated groups would have been able to come here to barter livestock or celebrate tribal festivals. There is evidence that the circle was also a means of calculating the cycle of the seasons, something that would have been essential to early farmers to whom the sun would have been a vital factor for survival.
Source: The National Trust/ English Heritage