Just when I thought . . .

. . . I had found all the stone circles in Cumbria, I find another one. And ironically it is probably the closest one to where we live. However, it is the smallest circle and not technically a circle anyway.

Everyone knows about Long Meg, but I wonder how many people, like us, had never heard of Little Meg! Here it is – on a very gloomy, damp day.
 
Close by Long Meg on the Little Salkeld/Glassonby road, you have to know where it is, as it is hidden behind a hedge and there is no sign or anything. You also have to make your way through a field, skirting a large and extremely muddy section. And there it is against the edge of the field. 
 
Little Meg is thought to be a kerb-circle, that is, it formed a semi-circle at the end of a long barrow or burial chamber. Some of the stones have been moved, probably to make it look like a circle. Only one stone is upright, the others have all toppled.
   
But the most important thing about these stones, as many of you will already have guessed from the picture, is the Rock Art that is on some of the stones. In particular the front one, which has two spirals carved into it. There is much speculation about what these signs were all about, but one thing that is known is that spirals are rare in this country, so this is special and appears in many books on the subject. (Apparently there was a more elaborately decorated stone found here, but it was ‘appropriated’ by Tullie House Museum in Carlisle!)