Brat’s Hill

Nearest town:
Ambleside (20km ENE)
OS reference:
NY173023
OS sheets:
89, 90
Latitude:
54° 24' 33.03 N
Longitude:
3° 16' 27.57 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Brat’s Hill (Stone Circle) by postman

From on top of the alter rock, Great Gable is the pyramidal mountain hovering behind Boat Howe.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Sep 28, 2017
Image of Brat’s Hill (Stone Circle) by postman

Brat’s Hill stone circle and an inner cairn, with a dark and broody Scafell beyond.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Sep 28, 2017
Image of Brat’s Hill (Stone Circle) by postman

Brat’s Hill stone circle from on the mound right next to it.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman Sep 28, 2017
Image of Brat’s Hill (Stone Circle) by The Eternal

Brat’s Hill stone circle from the knoll, looking NW. Scafell, the dull side, is on the right, whilst Great Gable peeps over its left shoulder.

Image credit: The Eternal
The Eternal
The Eternal May 14, 2006
Image of Brat’s Hill (Stone Circle) by The Eternal

One of the cairns within the Brats Hill stone circle. Looking SE, with Harter Fell in the background.

Image credit: The Eternal
The Eternal
The Eternal Sep 11, 2005
Image of Brat’s Hill (Stone Circle) by The Eternal

Brats Hill stone circle looking to the the S side. My mate, Pie Eater, composes himself to a photographic quiescence, tries to hide his newly acquired weight, all the while adding a sense of scale to the scene. One of the central cairns is in the foreground.

Image credit: The Eternal
The Eternal
The Eternal Sep 11, 2005
Image of Brat’s Hill (Stone Circle) by The Eternal

Brats Hill stone circle. Approaching from the SW, over deep grassy tussocks (off the path), with the bulk of Scafell rising ahead.

Image credit: The Eternal
The Eternal
The Eternal Sep 11, 2005
Image of Brat’s Hill (Stone Circle) by Moth

The Brats Hill circle looking roughly north

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Aug 30, 2003

Articles

Brat’s Hill

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jan 10, 2011

It’s difficult for me to relate a visit to the five – count ‘em – stone circles located upon this remote Cumbrian moorland plateau without descending into trite cliche. You know the sort of thing.... evoking Wagner’s Tannhauser or something similar? But then again, just how do you adequately describe something so intangible – and yet, paradoxically, so real – that the medium of language, perhaps even in the peerless hands of a Shakespeare, cannot hope to convey? I guess there are just too many mutually dependant factors involved in forming the ‘moment’, complexities maybe a whisky blender or perfumer may be equipped to handle. But not I......

A heavily overcast dawn at Chapel Stile, Great Langdale precedes a never-less-than... er.... ‘interesting’ drive over the Wrynose and Hardknott Passes, the descent into Eskdale, past the Roman fortress of Mediobogdvm, not for the faint hearted. Or those with dodgy brakes. Probably safe to say that this Imperial outpost was not the most favoured of postings for your wannabe Roman citizen? But, hey, that was only yesterday. Well, two millennia ago... but I’ve even older ‘things’ on my mind.

Upon arrival at the tiny village of Boot, the label ‘chocolate box’ is so apt it has me reaching for a certain confectionary item lying temptingly upon the front seat. Go on, you know you want me. To be fair, despite the tourist tearooms, the charm isn’t altogether illusory here, the cascading Whillan Beck crossed by a fine stone bridge. Beyond this, a wooden gate gives access to a VERY steep bridleway ascending the fell to the right, along what appears to be a dry stream bed. Probably rains a lot, then. Ha! The angle begins to ease as I approach some old stone buildings and emerge onto the moorland plateau beyond.

The first monument to emerge from the gloom is the Brat’s Hill stone circle. Although somewhat – hell, marvellously – dishevelled, this is a gem and well worth the climb in itself in my opinion. The largest monument upon the moor and overlooked by a prominent rocky outcrop, Brat’s Hill is particularly notable for the five kerbed cairns which occupy its interior, four clustered to the west and one standing isolated, aloof from the others, in the eastern sector. According to Burl – yes, himself – these cairns were excavated in 1827, the eastern cairn’s kerb – now gone but like the others then comprised of fourteen orthostats – being described as a ‘parallelogram of stones similar to that in the Keswick circle’... in other words, that’ll be the enigmatic, still surviving ‘enclosure’ within Castlerigg, then.

So that’s what the Castlerigg feature was/is. The kerb of a burial cairn. Or was it? Bearing in mind Thom thought the two circles very similar in design, I think I’d go with that, all things considered.... Yeah, suffice to say Brat’s Hill sets the mind in flux, never a bad thing, I find. The weather’s on the move, too, so I take a compass bearing and head towards the next of Burnmoor’s linear treasures visible to the north-west.... the paired White Moss stone circles.

themodernantiquarian.com/post/93173/fieldnotes/white_moss.html

Brat’s Hill

The Eternal
The Eternal Sep 11, 2005

Reached this from Boot. After hitting the ridge, and not wanting to miss anything, we thought we knew best, me and Pie Eater, knowing these wild places of Cumbria like we do. A wearisome plod though deep tussocks saw us overlooking Brats Hill and White Moss. We descended to Brats Hill and found the path we should’ve stuck to if we had had any sense, but adventurous souls will always be adventurous souls, untethered by the constrictions of the modern world. Hmmmm. We noticed a few cairns, dug out(?) in the centre. This circle had a good view of White Moss. We were impressed by the number of large stones comprising the circle, all in surroundings of grass. They must’ve taken some dragging. We were also impressed, as always, by the bulk of Scafell, our next objective, rearing its head in omniprescent steepness to the north. A quiet place. Why here?

Brat’s Hill

IronMan
IronMan Mar 4, 2002

The low circle of Brat’s Hill is complimented by the two circles of White Moss which lie only a minute away. The circle is dominated by five internal burial cairns, inserted at a later date.

Sites within 20km of Brat’s Hill

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