swinside stone circle.

the stones used in its construction were porphyritic slate collected from the adjacent swinside fells, and are of the type that is known locally as ‘grey cobbles’. the ring has a diameter of about 26.8m, and currently contains 55 stones, although when originally constructed there probably would have been more. it has been suggested that along with castlerigg and other cumbrian stone circles, that it has a close affinity with the kings stones circle in oxfordshire and may be by the same builders as part of a thriving axe trade. the lake district has been an important part of the axe industry since the neolithic and is based on outcrops of fine grained greenstone made into highly polished stone axes. #swinside stone circle. the stones used in its construction were porphyritic slate collected from the adjacent swinside fells, and are of the type that is known locally as ‘grey cobbles’. the ring has a diameter of about 26.8m, and currently contains 55 stones, although when originally constructed there probably would have been more. it has been suggested that along with castlerigg and other cumbrian stone circles, that it has a close affinity with the kings stones circle in oxfordshire and may be by the same builders as part of a thriving axe trade. the lake district has been an important source of stone axes since the beginning of the neolithic. the langdale valley has outcrops of fine-grained greenstone that can be highly polished and produced highly valued stone axes that were traded throughout britain. it has been suggested that these stone circles provided the basis for their distribution.