Images

Image of The Cockpit (Stone Circle) by The Eternal

27/05/06 The Cockpit, from the SW, lost in the landscape, with Heughscar Hill behind. The monument from the landscape is lost, yet the landscape from the monument is huge.

Image credit: The Eternal
Image of The Cockpit (Stone Circle) by The Eternal

27/05/06 The Cockpit from the SW, Heathens within, debating on the dubious quality of the fresh water from the beck. As if tap water compares, dead sheep or no dead sheep.

Image credit: The Eternal
Image of The Cockpit (Stone Circle) by The Eternal

27/05/06 Inside The Cockpit, looking NNW. Some complete twat has seen fit to scratch their pathetic name on the dark stone left of centre. Perhaps it was the same moron who, in January, made a fire in the centre of Castlerigg , and who also let their dog(s) shit there. Arseholes of society. Glenys I think her name is.

Image credit: The Eternal
Image of The Cockpit (Stone Circle) by Kammer

Taken May 1995: We were on a walk from Bowness to Penrith, mostly following the Roman route called High Street. We camped overnight by the circle, and it was beautiful. I remember that one of the stones had been damaged by some idiot lighting a fire against it.

Image credit: Simon Marshall

Articles

The Cockpit

For ages I’d known of this circle but because of its location on the saddle between two bigger hills

i’d put it off, till now, I wish I had gone sooner it wasnt as far as I’d thought and the other stones on

the way keeps one occupied (like we need it up here).

The stones are sparce to say the least round the northern edge but much better the rest of the way

round, at times it seems like a double circle with the stones of the rings really close but are probably

just larger stones from the embanking. The western arc are covered with that lovely thick grass ive

come to know as “Goddam awful stuff” , from here we can see White Raise cairn back up the hill and

down by Ullswater Dunmallard hill settlement, of which I know nothing.

Buckets of thanks for Dave who not only accompanies me on these sometimes foolhardy trips, but also

carried the ladders all the way and stood underneath them holding me up just that little bit higher.

The Cockpit

27/05/06 My latest visit, the first been in the formative years of a child at junior school, when a threatening sky lay low over the ridge that takes the High Street Roman road. A defining moment, with the atmosphere making an impression that turned me onto prehistory for life.

Today there were four people in the circle, two with a playful puppy, up there for the exercise, and two backpackers, resting, yet seemingly unaware of the significance of the fact that they lay on old, damp ground, which wasn’t any old, damp ground. It was old, yes, and damp, but not any old, damp ground. They lay back oblivious, more concerned with the water from the nearby beck, and its quality. Not once did they mention the circle. Heathens.

I wished they would go away, but no loitering with a camera would shift them , so I had to make do with avoiding them in the shots.

The circle is set in a green sward of close-cropped grass, all around being rough scrub. The views aren’t bad, but are better from Arthur’s Pike to the SW.

The Cockpit

For some reason I was expecting this one to be smaller, even when it was first spotted fron the top of the hill. I dunno quite why, maybe the landscape around here plays havoc with sense of scale.

The stones ain’t big, but the circle is nicely wide, seems to fit in with the openess of Moor Divock in general. It’s well worth a visit if you’re in the area. It’s easier to approach from the east, from the direction of the Cop Stone, which also gives the opportunity to have a look at a couple of cairns and the stone row.

Access:

Just about do-able with a three-wheeler and determined assistance, not suitable for wheelchairs, paths are rough and strewn with cobbles and ruts. If on a bike, try to have suspension.

The Cockpit

I really liked the Cockpit, it was the main reason why I visited Moor Divock and was definitely well worth it. As you walk over the moor from the southeast the small stones of this 30 metre wide circle can be seen from a fair distance on a slightly raised plateau of land. How many stones? I read somewhere that there are 75, I tried counting them but got distracted by the sun as it began to descend between a gap in the stones to the west – are the stones missing here or was this an entrance? There is another possible entrance to the northeast.

The Cockpit is supposed to consist of a pair of concentric rings, in most parts it appears as a single ring of stones although there is a nice double run on the northwestern side. In my notes I had written ‘very nice’ and on a warm, still, spring evening it certainly was.

The Cockpit

A reasonably large late stone circle of low stones. Part of the circle is concealed by tall grass. The grassy area looks like it contains a burial cairn (?) Whilst sat here a lot of people have just walked straight past, one or two commenting that this was “one of them stone circle things”. The two small planes with “Utterly Butterly” ads sprayed beneath them did however manage to grab their attention. Never mind.

Sites within 20km of The Cockpit