The following letter from a person who signs himself ‘DRUID’ appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine 1844:
Druidical Temple near Shap
NOTWITHSTANDING the alleged increase of good taste at the present day, I find the intention of the projectors of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway to carry their line through and destroy, a most interesting remnant of antiquity, the remains of a Druidical Temple situated in a field the property of the Earl of Lonsdale, on the road from Kendal to Shap, and about 2 miles from the latter place. I am surprised the noble Earl should permit such barbarity, with such influence as he possess over the company.
The accompanying Sketch of this curious monument, which will probably be in a short time no longer in existence, may be interesting to your leaders. It consists of 13 stones of Shap granite, the largest of which is 7 or 8 feet high, placed in a circle about forty feet in diameter.
Yours, &c. DRUID.