7 November 2014
Images
7 November 2014
More expansive views from the circle, looking SW.
Lovely pink crystals in the granite.
Postie adds some much-needed scale to the enormous stones of the ruined circle. This must have been an awesome sight when it was intact.
Two big stones, two little ones and a killer view.
Railway? What railway?
Taken from The Gentlemans Magazine Vol. 177 1844
The 15:10 Glasgow to London Euston Virgin Express passes directly over Kemp Howe stone circle
Looking towards Wet Sleddle
The stones seem even more beautiful in the shadow of such ugliness
9/4/06
wolfy
9/4/06
wolfy
9/4/06
wolfy
9/4/06
wolfy
1840-50.
Kemp Howe looking S.
Kemp Howe looking NE.
Kemp Howe looking N.
Kemp Howe looking E.
Kemp Howe “cove” looking W.
Kemp Howe “cove” looking NNW.
Speaking as a bred and buttered smoggie (Teessider), I can empathise with these stoney chaps.
Knitted Shap granite
The remains of Kemp Howe
View from Kemp Howe
Taken Spring 1995: This is an amazing site. It’s sad to see a circle in this state, but the size and presence of the stones still left me impressed. As I understand it there are stones buried under the railway embankment. This means that the circle still has the potential to be restored, one day.
June 2002
07/02
Kemp Howe destroyed, with the culprits in the background.
Kemp Howe, Cumbria, December 2000
Kemp Howe, Cumbria, December 2000
Articles
You can stay here for as long as you like, in theory, but the ‘liftings of the husbandmen’ (great name) is in such a sad state you probably wont need more than fifteen minutes before the draw of oh so many intact sites pull you away, so why not park on the pavement right in front of the field gate, you could nip across the field in your slippers, or maybe even lug an armchair with you, then you can sit in comfort as you give unsuspecting rail travellers the V’s.
(Not that road builders get away with anything)
When a stone circle gets destroyed it’s a bit like the death of a star (twinkle twinkle) they depart in so many ways, the whole thing could just be gone, only a single stone might be left, all the stone could be used for something useful but less so than it’s former self, this stone circle is of the Neutron star variety, much much smaller than it was, but with strangely high gravity, to stone heads at least, less than a quarter of it is left, but it’s well visited.
Nonsense aside, these six pink shap granite stones are still very big, easily visited, and forming a kind of arc, I hope The Eternal is right when he says the other stones are under the railway, as totally missing is worse than covered, even by a railroad, sort of. The circles still there, we just cant see most of it any more. Even in it’s destruction, it’s still part of a larger wider community of sites stretching for miles up along the M6.
Visited 18.9.10
I parked at Fell Garage (left hand side when approaching Shap from the south) and the first thing I noticed was that a car had been turned into a rockery!! I walked back down the road for 5 minutes and came to the field in which the stones lay. It was then a quick ‘over the gate’ and up to the stones. I counted 6 large boulders and numerous smaller stones nearby. It was a strange experience – on the one side you have a modern electric railway and on the other, in the distance, ancient moorland. The stones are clearly visible from the busy A6 when driving past.
Kemp Howe stone circle would have been a beautiful monument today, but some prat built a railway over the top of the eastern half of it. The other stones are supposed to be still in-situ under the railway banks.
When approaching Shap from the south on the A6, the circle is situated in a narrow field between the railway and the road, just short of the first buildings of Shap, on the right hand side. A gate gives access, but please close it after you to keep in the farmer’s good books. It is easily seen on the approach, and at first appears to be a stone avenue.
Six large stones remain, along with a number of smaller ones. In the middle, at the western edge, a number of small stones form what appears to be a small cove.
The rough, pink Shap granite, used to construct the circle, has to be seen, as no pictures do justice to the striking quality and appearance of this rock, especially after rain.
Shap scared me today! A beautiful spring day, sun shining and just a little mist on the hills, should have made for perfect trip but the downright weirdy nature of this place had me slightly disturbed....
It’s easy to find, on the A6 from Kendal into Shap, the stones are on the right hand side of the road, lying alongside the railway line. There is a parking place just as you enter the village and then it’s a 10 minute walk back to the site, lovely if the road isn’t too busy. On the way, you pass a lovely stream with an odd little woodland....as I was marvelling at the beauty of it all, I noticed a tree with dead animals hanging from it – told you this place was weird. I counted 2 rats and a rabbit before I was too freaked out and walked on by. I saw a number of stones along this stretch which must’ve made up the avenue, 2 which seem to have been made into a gate at some point....it was all very strange – the place seemed to be desolate and abandoned.
The Kemp Howe stones themselves are beauties and as I sat on one of the centre ones, with my back to the rumbling quarry, looking out towards Wet Sleddle and the South Cumbrian hills I could almost forget the horrors of what had befallen this site. Cars whizzed by, a few people looking over and obviously wondering what the woman in the pink top was doing sitting on a stone next to the railway line.......
Lovely big pink stones, just like those at Gamelands have here, been cruelly bisected by the railway line. It’s quite shocking.
And you could see this place as megalithic roadkill, but I prefer to see it in a different way. As one of the those people who has a secret love of waving at trains (preferably from a beautiful trackside location, which this isn’t) Kemp Howe gets its own back on the railway line builders and waves at trains everyday. It may have been built over, but it certainly ain’t out.
Stubob and Ironman are right, you should see these fellas, they have just been dumped.
The works and the railway make a surreal backdrop.
Like Ironman says, ‘a travesty’. Still a must see though. What it must have looked like complete with the stone avenues through Shap...
Kemp Howe is a travesty. These stones lie dejected by the side of a railway track, overlooking an industrial site. The stones are themselves beautiful, and despite the circles destruction, should be visited.
These stones once formed part of a site called Karl Lofts which is said to have been two parallel lines of stones with their southern end a circle
Another page from this refreshingly simple Web site. It contains some photos and a short description of Kemp Howe and the Goggleby Stone.
This page on Kemp Howe contains links to some photos of the circle, including an interesting aerial shot that gives a good idea of how the circle has been buried by the railway.
Sites within 20km of Kemp Howe
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The Shap Avenues
photo 31 forum 3 description 14 link 2 -
Hardendale Fell
photo 2 description 2 -
Giant’s Foot
photo 7 description 3 link 1 -
The Goggleby Stone
photo 21 description 9 link 1 -
Aspers Field
photo 18 description 2 link 1 -
Shap Avenue
photo 2 description 1 -
Oddendale Multi-Phase Ring Cairn (destroyed)
description 1 -
Skellaw Hill
photo 9 description 6 link 1 -
Shap Barrow
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 -
Thunder Stone
photo 8 forum 1 description 4 -
The Thunder Stone
photo 5 description 2 -
Seal Howe
photo 7 description 4 -
Castlehowe Scar Stone Row
photo 3 forum 2 description 1 -
Castlehowe Scar
photo 26 forum 1 description 10 -
White Raise
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Iron Hill
photo 25 description 5 link 1 -
Harberwain Stone
photo 1 description 1 -
Long Scar Pike
photo 3 description 1 -
The Galloway Stone
photo 4 description 1 link 1 -
Shap Wells
photo 4 description 1 -
Wicker Street
photo 8 description 3 -
White Hag
photo 19 description 6 link 1 -
Threaplands (destroyed?)
description 1 -
Gunnerkeld
photo 66 forum 1 description 14 link 3 -
White Hag Round Cairn
photo 9 description 2 -
Cow Green Long Barrow
description 1 -
Wilson Scar
photo 1 description 2 -
The Thunder Stone
photo 2 description 1 -
Shapbeck Plantation
photo 18 description 6 -
Robin Hood’s Grave
description 1 -
Knipescar Common
photo 1 -
Penhurrock
photo 10 description 5 -
Scarside Plantation
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Raise Howe
photo 2 description 1 -
Broadfell Cairn
photo 1 description 1 -
Knipe Moor
photo 15 description 8 -
13 Stones
photo 3 description 1 -
Thunder Stone (Great Asby Scar)
photo 3 -
Selside Pike
photo 5 description 1 -
Cairns A & B
photo 8 description 2 -
Crosby Ravensworth Common
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Gaythorn Plain
photo 4 description 2 -
Four Stones Hill
photo 25 description 4 -
Hollin Stump
photo 5 description 2 -
Towtop Kirk
photo 9 forum 1 description 4 -
Gamelands
photo 62 forum 2 description 8 link 2 -
Sunbiggin
photo 7 description 1 -
Castle Crags, Mardale
photo 3 description 1 -
Gaisgill
photo 1 description 2 -
Little Kinmond
photo 3 description 1 -
Castle Folds
photo 16 forum 1 description 2 -
The Cop Stone
photo 20 description 6 -
Low Raise
photo 2 description 1 -
Moor Divock
photo 2 description 4 link 2 -
Moor Divock SE
photo 20 description 4 -
Low Moor
photo 14 description 7 -
Moor Divock Centre
photo 6 description 2 -
Moor Divock Alignment
photo 2 description 3 -
Lousy Brow 2
photo 3 -
High Raise
photo 4 description 1 -
Cockpit Cairns
photo 11 description 3 -
White Raise
photo 8 description 4 -
Skirsgill Hill
photo 1 -
The Cockpit
photo 46 forum 1 description 5 link 1 -
Sunbiggin Tarn
photo 6 description 4 -
Swarth Fell
photo 16 forum 2 description 5 -
Leacet Circle
photo 25 description 8 link 1 -
Clifton Standing Stones
photo 12 description 7 -
Rayseat Pike
photo 18 description 5 -
Mazon Wath
photo 2 description 1 -
The Coombs, Martindale
photo 4 description 1 -
Brougham
description 2 -
Dunmallard Hill
photo 6 description 1 link 1 -
Mill Rigg Settlement
description 1 -
Troutbeck Park
photo 6 description 1 -
Little Round Table
photo 2 forum 1 description 4 -
King Arthur’s Round Table
photo 37 forum 2 description 21 -
Potter Fell
photo 4 description 2 -
Mayburgh Henge
photo 93 forum 1 description 20 link 6 -
Maiden Castle (Ullswater)
photo 4 forum 1 description 3 link 1 -
Winderwath
photo 6 description 2 -
Druidical Judgement Seat
photo 4 description 4 link 1 -
Beckstones
photo 19 description 1 link 1 -
Skirsgill Standing Stone
photo 6 forum 1 description 5 -
Hird Wood Circle
photo 14 description 3 -
Honeypot Stone
photo 4 forum 1 description 1 -
Dovedale Henge
photo 21 description 2 -
The Kirkstone
photo 9 description 4 -
High Hugill Settlement
description 3 -
Sewborrans
photo 8 description 4 -
Stag Stones Farm
photo 1 description 1 -
Rasett Hill
photo 1 description 1 -
Mossthorn
photo 2 description 2 -
Waitby Castle
photo 3 description 1 -
Scober
description 1 link 1