Driving through the wood on the lower left follow the road behind the wall up and right and just off picture. The smaller wood in the middle has a wall running just above it, follow that wall right and where it meets the road off picture is where to park. Then follow that wall back left, there is a path, a bit of an ankle breaker though,and the circle is in the fifth field on your left at the bottom of the field.
Thar she blew, i’m going.
Keeping an eye out for the bull at all times....
Complete with sheep poo (for purposes of scale only!)
The stones are really very small.....
Scale of the earthworks.
another badly carcked stone.
The sun-bathed circle from above looking westish – I couldnt’ve wished to be anywhere else!!! This is heaven to me.
Circle looking south – big skies & beautiful views
Looking east across the circle to the hillside we approached from
Approaching from the hillside above (east), the circle stones are not too obvious... but the platform is!!!!
The stones really are this small. And I’m only a size 6!
Badly cracked stone at the south.
I found it on my first attempt, and with no OS map either, I google earthed the crap out of the site at home first though.
Heading north on the A683 out of Kirkby Lonsdale, take first right turn to High Casterton, keep going over two crossroads, the second of which has you going up a dead end road to Bullpot, near the top of the hill look for a footpath going left. Parking for two or three. The rest is easy, up the path the circle is in the fifth field on your left.
Ta daa!
A lovely little stone circle is this, perfect in it’s littleness. It is very similar to a lot of Welsh stone circles, same size, same small stones, similar setting, the more things change the more they stay the same, or some such bollocks. I counted 18 stones, then 17, then 18 again, then I lost count half way round, gave up and lay on the floor.
Erect once more I circle the ring inspecting it 360 degrees, the mound/platform is a bit weird, why bother? just put it twenty feet that way, unless there is some overwhelming reason to put it exactly where it is. Who knows the mind of ancient man? they were all bonkers.
The view down into the Lune Valley is pretty good, lets be honest there’s thousands of them in England alone, but not many of them have a fine stone circle to appreciate them from, that is why were here of course.
The hillside directly behind the circle is in my opinion a bit untidy, a tadd scruffy, unkempt, there’s loads of big clearance cairns made into half shelters, but one lone rock caught my eye on the way back, it had some cup mark like thingies on it, I presume they must be natural, but only because they’ve not been mentioned before, til now.
At last, at last!
Embarrassingly, this was my 4th attempt to find this circle and I set out today in the knowledge that this time I absolutley KNEW where it was. In the past I have parked at Bent Lane but today I continued past for another 1/2 mile or so up the hill until I came to the next public footpath on the left and parked here.
The footpath is really very stoney and uneven so not suitable for those with mobility problems, or pushchairs. When I hit the 5th field boundary, I stood on the gate and spotted the circle; it is tiny so quite easy to miss. Then I spotted the bull....bugger!
There was no way I was going home without getting closer than this, so I hopped over the drystone wall into the adjacent field and walked down the very steep and uneven hill until I was level with the circle. I then had to contend with some of the most belligerent sheep I have come across but finally made it to the circle, keeping my eye on the top end of the field where the bull was residing. It was then I remembered I was wearing a cerise pink top and started wondering whether bulls react to pink in the same way they react to red!
What a beauty! Similar in size to the 9 Ladies on Stanton Moor but with the added bonus of the most spectacular views over the Lune Valley and sitting on it’s own tiny platform, this is just the most perfect of circles. I wish I could’ve stayed longer but I didn’t want to push my luck with the livestock and so took a few pix and a video then headed back up the VERY STEEP hill. Knackering but worth it!
Theres not much to add about this site that the previous post hasnt already said its so tranquil i loved it here!
The directions at the bottom will guide you directly to it as long as you take the first right and not your first left like it says below, like ive done a couple of times!
Counting the field boundaries to find our way, we looked over the gate at the top and there it was! Looking down the hill, the stones were almost too small to see but raised up on their little platform they became clear. Fourteen or perhaps even sixteen tiny weeny stones make up this most charming of circles at the side of a valley. The level platform is the perfect stage for the minuscule stones to dance endlessly around. I cannot state powerfully enough just how small the stones are and cannot express my amazement enough of how these frail and vulnerable stones have survived. The land here is unploughable and this maybe what has saved it. A man with a sharp spade could have all these stones up in a couple of hours.
A couple of the stones were badly cracked, one was quite loose. But the peace here... the peace! We picnicked, we sat, we lay down, we chilled out. Perfection. Come here.
For directions, see my miscellaneous post below.
Spent 2 hours looking for this and still didn’t find it! Please could somone give CLEAR directions of how to get there!
This is such a beautiful area and I’m quite happy to come back and look for it again!
From others fieldnotes, I see that I am not the only one who has tried but failed to find this site. I couldn’t even find it on an OS map....so maybe it just isn’t to be....did enjoy the Sheepfold sculptures though
Small but perfect circle of 14 stones set in field overlooking Kirby Lonsdale and the Lune Valley. A delightful site.
Fab to see Casterton on the map! What really makes the site for me is the mysterious stone avenue that runs along the trackway below the circle itself. It is truly from another world . . . definitely worth a visit . . . walk all the way up to the cairn at the top for some breathtaking views of the Lune Valley. NB I’ve now discovered that the ‘stone avenue’ is in fact the Casterton Sheepfolds Walk – the mystery is solved – for me at least – a great work Mr Goldsworthy.
Casterton, albeit small and flimsy (Burl), is a lovely little site just above the Lune Valley close to Kirby Lonsdale. It is situated close to a dry stone wall near a clump of trees. The site is a beautiful vantage point to look out over the valley. The stones themselves are low and set into a rubble bank. This is a small circle but in my opinion worth a visit. The circle is pretty much overlooked by the tourists and can be a place for a quiet meditation – Robby Lowton 2001 CE.
How to find it From the A65 at Kirkby Lonsdale, drive north on the A683 for about half a mile. Turn left onto a single track road signposted High Casterton. Go straight over the next two crossroads onto equally narrow singletrack roads until you start to climb the escarpment. After two very sharp turns, you’ll see a track clearly marked ‘footpath’ at SD640793. Park here. Walk up the hill for 3/4 mile. Enter the fifth field up on your left, climb over the gate and look down diagonally towards the copse at the bottom. You’ll see the stone circle raised up on its own little platform. Et voila!
