Cheetham Close is a
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...
ic site and
scheduled ancient monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
located in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, very close to the boundary with
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, England. The megalith was in good condition until a farmer from
Turton sledgehammered the circle in the 1870s. According to an article published in 1829, Cheetham Close was once a
druid
A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no wr ...
ical ritual place and a
Roman road
Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
passed 'within two hundred yards' of the megalith.
The stone circle at Cheetham Close measured about in diameter. Six stones are definitely part of the circle and other smaller stones are scattered about the place. The monument has been damaged, and the stones fractured.
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Archaeological surveys
The area was surveyed in 1850 by Dryden, who identified a circle of six stones. In 1871 Greenhalgh identified a seventh stone and drew attention to the destruction of the site. In 1894 French discovered a second site which was a "ring bank" type cairn
A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
. A saddle quern
Quern () is a former municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Since 1 March 2013, it has been part of the municipality of Steinbergkirche
Steinbergkirche () is a municipality in the district of ...
was found in 1954 and the site was scheduled in 1958. Three barb
Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to:
People
* Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves
* The Barbs, a band
Places
* Barb, ...
ed and tanged arrowhead
An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling.
...
s were found at a third site in 1959.
In 1983 a large-scale survey was undertaken by the Bury Archaeological Group and M. Fletcher. The stone circle was in a severely damaged state, with only two of the seven megaliths still in situ. The site probably originally contained ten equally spaced gritstone slabs.
The ring cairn lies to the south of the stone circle. Fletcher suggests that Cheetham Close dates from an early period between 2100 and 1500 BC in the Early Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
. The quern and arrowheads suggest the settlers were a pastoral community who supplemented their diet by hunting.
See also
* Scheduled monuments in Lancashire
* Humphrey Chetham (1580–1653), local landowner and merchant
References
External links
The Megalith Portal entry on Cheetham Close
{{Stone Circles of Ireland, Britain, and Brittany
Buildings and structures in Blackburn with Darwen
History of Lancashire
Archaeological sites in Lancashire
Scheduled monuments in Lancashire
Stone circles in England