Long Meg and Her Daughters

All pictures copyright © 2000 Martin McCarthy

The tall outlying piller of Long Meg is twelve feet tall and stands some 80 feet outside the circle Large Image (68kb 1176x707) Looking east Large Image (121kb 1240x699) Looking southeast Large Image (95kb 1224x681) At the southwest this group of stones form an entrance to the circle Large Image (126kb 1240x699) The southern arc of the circle Large Image (137kb 1232x827) Long Meg herself Large Image (119kb 834x984) The southern arc and Long Meg, looking west Large Image (103kb 1090x658) The circle from the eastern side Large Image (169kb 1135x724) Another view from the east Large Image (179kb 1106x763)

'Long Meg' is the name given to a tall sandstone megalith that stands outside one of the largest of the British stone circles. There are several legends associated with this circle. One claims that a holy christian man transformed a local coven of witches into stone. Another claims that if the stone of Long Meg is chipped then it will bleed (please don't try this!). Still another legend claims that the stones of the circle cannot be counted; there are seventy...or are there? The stones are arranged in the shape of a flattened ring measuring about 110 metres by 93 metres. The long axis runs east-west. From the centre of the ring, the tall outlier is very close to the direction of the midwinter sunset. The outlier is decorated on one side with a spiral and concentric circles. Another of the few decorated rocks in Cumbria is at the nearby kerb circle of Little Meg.