22/10/22 The Cockpit stone circle looking north.
Images
22/10/22 Inside The Cockpit stone circle looking north east.
Wonderful site........ I think the distant skyline peak to far right is the great Carrock Fell?
me, pebs, Vicster and Vicky sit a while at the Cockpit
view from the Cockpit to Ullswater...
26-11-06
wolfy
26-11-06
wolfy
26-11-06
wolfy
26-11-06
wolfy
26-11-06
caught the light perfectly
wolfy
26-11-06
26-11-06
26-11-06
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.
27/05/06 From the boundary stone to the S, looking to The Cockpit stone circle. Heathens within, still debating water quality.
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.
27/05/06 W edge of The Cockpit, looking S.
27/05/06 W edge of The Cockpit, looking WSW.
27/05/06 E edge of The Cockpit, looking SW to Arthur’s Pike.
27/05/06 Inside The Cockpit, looking SW to Arthur’s Pike.
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.
Spot the big cairn.
06/04.
Part of the double ring.
Hellvellyn and the mountains of the Lake District, with Ullswater just in view. Taken from near the Cockpit 31/12/02ce.
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.
The view on the path near to the Cockpit. It definitely makes the visit all the more rewarding. This view of the Lakeland fells is fantastic.
Articles
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Images and description of the site.
Topics
Sites within 20km of The Cockpit
-
Cockpit Cairns
photo 11 description 3 -
White Raise
photo 8 description 4 -
Moor Divock Alignment
photo 2 description 3 -
Moor Divock Centre
photo 6 description 2 -
Moor Divock SE
photo 20 description 4 -
Moor Divock
photo 2 description 4 link 2 -
The Cop Stone
photo 20 description 6 -
Skirsgill Hill
photo 1 -
Dunmallard Hill
photo 6 description 1 link 1 -
Swarth Fell
photo 16 forum 2 description 5 -
Maiden Castle (Ullswater)
photo 4 forum 1 description 3 link 1 -
Towtop Kirk
photo 9 forum 1 description 4 -
The Coombs, Martindale
photo 4 description 1 -
Knipe Moor
photo 15 description 8 -
Scarside Plantation
-
Four Stones Hill
photo 25 description 4 -
Low Moor
photo 14 description 7 -
Knipescar Common
photo 1 -
Clifton Standing Stones
photo 12 description 7 -
Skirsgill Standing Stone
photo 6 forum 1 description 5 -
Mayburgh Henge
photo 93 forum 1 description 20 link 6 -
Little Round Table
photo 2 forum 1 description 4 -
King Arthur’s Round Table
photo 37 forum 2 description 21 -
Shapbeck Plantation
photo 18 description 6 -
Wilson Scar
photo 1 description 2 -
Sewborrans
photo 8 description 4 -
Mossthorn
photo 2 description 2 -
Brougham
description 2 -
Motherby (destroyed?)
-
Low Raise
photo 2 description 1 -
Leacet Circle
photo 25 description 8 link 1 -
Great Mell Fell
photo 11 description 1 -
High Raise
photo 4 description 1 -
Thunder Stone
photo 8 forum 1 description 4 -
Gunnerkeld
photo 66 forum 1 description 14 link 3 -
Castle Crags, Mardale
photo 3 description 1 -
Shap Barrow
description 1 -
Skellaw Hill
photo 9 description 6 link 1 -
White Raise
-
Shap Avenue
photo 2 description 1 -
Aspers Field
photo 18 description 2 link 1 -
The Goggleby Stone
photo 21 description 9 link 1 -
Beckstones
photo 19 description 1 link 1 -
Honeypot Stone
photo 4 forum 1 description 1 -
Stag Stones Farm
photo 1 description 1 -
Giant’s Foot
photo 7 description 3 link 1 -
Selside Pike
photo 5 description 1 -
Threaplands (destroyed?)
description 1 -
Holme Head
photo 9 description 6 -
The Thunder Stone
photo 5 description 2 -
Kemp Howe
photo 46 forum 4 description 9 link 3 -
Castlehowe Scar
photo 26 forum 1 description 10 -
Castlehowe Scar Stone Row
photo 3 forum 2 description 1 -
The Shap Avenues
photo 31 forum 3 description 14 link 2 -
Winderwath
photo 6 description 2 -
Hardendale Fell
photo 2 description 2 -
Iron Hill
photo 25 description 5 link 1 -
Dovedale Henge
photo 21 description 2 -
Oddendale Multi-Phase Ring Cairn (destroyed)
description 1 -
Harberwain Stone
photo 1 description 1 -
Oddendale Cairn I
photo 9 forum 1 description 6 -
Oddendale Standing Stone
photo 7 description 2 -
Oddendale
photo 40 forum 1 description 9 link 1 -
Seal Howe
photo 7 description 4 -
Threlkeld Knotts
photo 3 link 1 -
Troutbeck Park
photo 6 description 1 -
Long Scar Pike
photo 3 description 1 -
The Kirkstone
photo 9 description 4 -
Shap Wells
photo 4 description 1 -
Wicker Street
photo 8 description 3 -
The Galloway Stone
photo 4 description 1 link 1 -
White Hag
photo 19 description 6 link 1 -
White Hag Round Cairn
photo 9 description 2 -
Cow Green Long Barrow
description 1 -
Pond Enclosure and Brustop Wood
description 2 -
Black Beck
link 1 -
Long Meg enclosure
description 1 -
Long Meg & Her Daughters
photo 204 forum 19 description 46 link 5 -
The Thunder Stone
photo 2 description 1 -
Hird Wood Circle
photo 14 description 3 -
Robin Hood’s Grave
description 1 -
Little Meg
photo 44 forum 1 description 20 link 2 -
Raise Howe
photo 2 description 1 -
Carrock Fell
description 1 -
Carrock Fell
photo 16 forum 1 description 5 -
Penhurrock
photo 10 description 5 -
Castle Crag, Shoulthwaite
photo 3 description 1 -
13 Stones
photo 3 description 1 -
Dunmail Raise
photo 6 description 6 link 1 -
Broadfell Cairn
photo 1 description 1 -
Castlerigg
photo 299 forum 26 description 53 link 8 -
Glassonby
photo 25 description 6 link 1 -
Grasmere
forum 1 -
Cairns A & B
photo 8 description 2 -
Crosby Ravensworth Common
-
Old Parks
photo 3 -
Gaythorn Plain
photo 4 description 2 -
Thunder Stone (Great Asby Scar)
photo 3 -
Mill Rigg Settlement
description 1 -
Hollin Stump
photo 5 description 2