Grey Croft stone circle is a restored

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The ...

near

Seascale Seascale is a village and civil parish on the Irish Sea coast of Cumbria, England, historically within Cumberland. The parish had a population of 1,747 in 2001, barely increasing by 0.4 % in 2011. History The place-name indicates that it was ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, England (). It is situated near the site of the former nuclear-power stations at

Sellafield Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nu ...

Description

Grey Croft stone circle is a circle of 12 stones situated south of the

nuclear site.GREY CROFT STONE CIRCLE
Pastscape, retrieved 13 November 2013 The circle is about from the sea. Only 10 of the original 12 stones are currently standing.Aubrey Burl (2005), ''A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany'', page 44. Yale University Press. There is a small outlying stone to the north.

History

The stones in the circle were toppled over and buried in 1820 by a tenant farmer, with the exception of one stone. In 1949 the site was excavated and nine of the stones were located, and replaced as accurately as possible. The excavations uncovered an oval stone cairn situated in the circle centre.

Trench A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from ero ...

ing under the cairn revealed charcoal traces,

calcine Calcination refers to thermal treatment of a solid chemical compound (e.g. mixed carbonate ores) whereby the compound is raised to high temperature without melting under restricted supply of ambient oxygen (i.e. gaseous O2 fraction of air), genera ...

d bones, a broken early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

jet Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...

or lignite ring, and flint flakes and

scraper Scrape, scraper or scraping may refer to: Biology and medicine * Abrasion (medical), a type of injury * Scraper (biology), grazer-scraper, a water animal that feeds on stones and other substrates by grazing algae, microorganism and other matter ...

. A

Great Langdale Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...

Late-

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...

stone axe was found near to the eastern stone of the circle.

References

Stone circles in Cumbria Seascale {{UK-archaeology-stub

Description

History

See also

References