X-Files from the Bog: Easter Dive, Long Meg & Her Daughters

Long Meg

Long Meg and Her Daughters is a stone circle near Langwathby in Cumbria, and dates from the Bronze Age. Slightly smaller than Stanton Drew in Somerset, the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney, and Newgrange in County Meath, it is nevertheless one of the largest circles in North West Europe. According to legend the circle was once a coven of witches who were turned to stone by a wizard. The stones allegedly cannot be counted, but it is generally held that there are 59 in all of which 27 remain upright. There may have been as many as 70 stones at one point. Another legend has it that if you walk around the circle and count the number of stones correctly, then put your ear to Long Meg, you will hear her whisper. The name "Long Meg" is said to come from a local 17th century witch called Meg of Meldon. A face can indeed be seen in the stone if you look at it from a certain angle, and this supposedly looks like the profile of a witch. I could see a face clearly, and I was able to take a photograph which I think shows it fairly well.

The circle is oviform and measures 340 feet on its longer axis. Long Meg herself is a red sandstone monolith 12 feet high, and lies 80 feet southwest of the circle made up by her "Daughters". She is placed in alignment with the centre of the circle and midwinter sunset, and is carved with examples of megalithic art including a cup and ring mark. Note that this particular alignment is one I was also able to discern at Orton Stone Circle during a Yule dive.

There is a complex of monuments in the area including the "Little Meg" circle which lies close by, Mayburgh Henge, and King Arthur's Round Table. It is thought possible that they may represent the nodes of a communication route along the River Eamont. The "Shap Stone Avenue" south of Penrith forms a recognized 'avenue' near the River Lowther which takes in the Goggleby Stone, the Thunder Stone, Skellaw Hill and Oddendale.

When I studied an aerial photograph of Long Meg, I could make out a track leading north-east from the circle and which seemed to extend into a field boundary. It's well known that these boundaries can mark earlier structures which are no longer present, such as Roman roads. It may therefore be possible that the line of a very old track is preserved, and which once extended further over two fields or more. Certainly the boundary looks very different to that of the fields nearby, and presumably there must be a reason for the discrepancy. Although purely conjectural on my part, I wonder if it may be the echo of an earlier cursus, perhaps along the lines of that which I encountered at Thornborough Henge.

A Bearing to a Bog

Now, if you continue the line further on the same bearing, after about the same distance again you'll come to a nice bog just south of the local airfield. Of course you know what I'm like for bogs, and one Easter weekend I found myself heading out there for a dive.I parked on the roadside near the small wood in which the bog dwells. After unloading my gear and assembling it in the wood, I suited up quickly and walked through the trees to the water. Geese honked at me, but they carried on paddling and soon fell silent. As I approached the edge of the bog, I could feel myself sinking. Quicksand.

I quickly climbed to firmer ground, put on my fins, and stepped out into the bog itself. It was very, very muddy. I was sinking again and it was impossible to tell where the water ended and the bottom of the bog began. I knelt down in an attempt to spread my weight and perhaps to start a dive, but my arms just sank into the ooze. Visibility was absolute zero.

So what's in there anyhow? Any bottles?

Goodness knows. It would have been hopelessly dangerous to continue further, and it was only with great difficulty that I was able to scramble out at all. It's the closest I've ever come to being a bog body, and I wonder how many others may have been sacrificed there.

After loading my kit back into the car, I headed out to Long Meg to see the stones and take photographs for this report. It's a place I've visited many times before, but this Easter was going to prove different in so many ways. As I approached the ring, a hare loped by me and disappeared into the field - the Easter Bunny, I suppose. I could not enter the circle. My foray in the bog had upset things and time was needed for them to restabilize. I walked around the outer edge and across to Meg, but did not touch the stones.

WEIRD-O-METER READING: OFF THE SCALE

FILE STATUS: CLOSED