© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic England (NHLE)
Sunkenkirk Stone Circle is a Bronze Age ritual monument located in the Lake District fells of Cumberland, comprising a ring of standing stones typical of the prehistoric ceremonial landscape of northern England. The circle sits at approximately 230 metres south-east of Swinside, itself a neighbouring stone circle of considerable archaeological importance. Like other circles in the region, Sunkenkirk dates to the Bronze Age and represents a significant example of the monumental stone architecture constructed during this period for communal, ritual or territorial purposes. The monument's name, derived from its partially sunken appearance relative to the surrounding ground level, reflects the effects of millennia of erosion and soil accumulation on this upland site.
Sunkenkirk Stone Circle, 230m south east of Swinside is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1007226. View the official record →
Sunkenkirk Stone Circle is a Bronze Age ritual monument located in the Lake District fells of Cumberland, comprising a ring of standing stones typical of the prehistoric ceremonial landscape of northern England. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1007226.
Sunkenkirk Stone Circle, 230m south east of Swinside is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1007226.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Duddon Bridge Ironworks and associated leats and Duddon Bridge Bobbin Mill and associated leats 370m north west of Duddon Bridge (2.5 km), Little Grassoms prehistoric field system, two cairnfields and six funerary cairns on Bootle Fell (3.3 km), Great Grassoms prehistoric cairnfield, four funerary cairns, two medieval dispersed settlements and associated field systems on Bootle Fell (3.9 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Sunkenkirk Stone Circle, 230m south east of Swinside's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Sunkenkirk Stone Circle, 230m south east of Swinside stands on Ordovician Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Ordovician. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.