We called in on this stone circle near Penrith. I knew that the idea was to line up the tall lone stone called Long Meg (the other stones are her Daughters) with the sun on Winter solstice.But was it sunrise or sunset? I got my compass out and stood in the middle of the ring. 220 degrees - nearly south-west so certainly sunset. Long Meg is the odd one out. She is red sandstone from nearby. The other stones are different - glacial erratics I believe. You don't need a circle for a once-a-year alignment. Only two stones would be needed. Was she a late addition?
The stone below even looks like Cross Fell above it. The oddity is that in the picture above, you can't quite see the Lakeland Fells above the stones because of the slope. If the circle had been 50m further it would have had a brilliant view in all directions.
So if the other stones mark calendar points marked by the Sun or stars, the stones would be placed by observation not calculation. Hence this is an early example of calibrating a scale.
