Long Meg and Her Daughters

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Long Meg and Her Daughters, also known as Maughanby Circle is the name of a Bronze Age stone circle near Penrith in the English county of Cumbria. It is the largest stone circle in the north of England.

It primarily consists of 51 stones (of which 27 remain upright) set in an oval shape measuring 100 m on its long axis. There may originally been as many as 70 stones. Long Meg herself is a 3.6 m high monolith of red sandstone 18 m to the southwest of the circle made by her Daughters. Long Meg is marked with examples of megalithic art including a cup and ring mark, a spiral and rings of concentric circles.

Aubrey Burl has argued that Meg is from an earlier period than the stone circle and is possibly an unrelated Neolithic menhir.

Aerial photography has identified several undated enclosures in the area and the smaller stone circle of Little Meg is close nearby.


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