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Gunnerkeld stone circle, Shap Rural
Gunnerkeld Stone Circle
locality:-   Gunnerkeld Bottom
civil parish:-   Shap Rural (formerly Westmorland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   stone circle
coordinates:-   NY56821776
1Km square:-   NY5617
10Km square:-   NY51
altitude:-   869 feet
altitude:-   265m

evidence:-   old map:- OS County Series (Wmd 14 6) 
placename:-  Druidical Circle
source data:-   Maps, County Series maps of Great Britain, scales 6 and 25 inches to 1 mile, published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton, Hampshire, from about 1863 to 1948.
"Druidical Circle Gunnerkeld"
concentric rings of stones 

evidence:-   old print:- Prior 1865
source data:-   Print, uncoloured engraving, Gunnerkeld stone circle, Shap Rural, Cumberland, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, and by Simpkin, Marshall and Co, London, 1865.
image  click to enlarge
PI0120.jpg
Included on page 345 of the guide book, Ascents and Passes in the Lake District of England, by Herman Prior.  "'Gunnerkeld Bottom, 1½ mile in a direct line N.E. of Shap, a few hundred yards on the N. side of the branch-road to Appleby, at a point ¾mile from where it leaves the great high-road. It consists of two concentric rings of stones, of which the outer has the finest members; and at the N. point is a gateway of two upright stones,- with one other exception, the only ones in the work that are erect. In the centre are the remains of a cist, which has been rifled, and almost destroyed. A sketch of this interesting monument will assist the reader in identifying it.'"
item:-  JandMN : 235.22
Image © see bottom of page

hearsay:-  
Concentric circles, a stone circle and a cairn circle. The outer ring has 21 stones 31.8x291.m, perhaps 10 more missing, many fallen.

Waterhouse, John: 1985: Stone Circles of Cumbria: Phillimore and Co (Chichester, Sussex):: ISBN 0 85033 566 3
Thom, A: 1967: Megalithic Sites in Britain: Oxford University Press (Oxford, Oxfordshire)
Jefferson, S: 1842: History of Cumberland: (Carlisle)
Burl, H A W: 1976: Stone Circles of the British Isles: Yale University Press (United States)

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