 Little Meg cairn. The carved stone is the low flat rock to the left of the tallest upright. |
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Although
the stones of Little Meg are sometimes referred to as a small stone
circle, they are in fact the remains of a burial mound or round
cairn. This would have originally consisted of a central burial
cist
covered by a low barrow of stones and rubble, the whole structure surrounded
by kerb stones. The cist, now destroyed, was found to have contained
a cremation in an urn.
The mound has also now gone, but the ring of kerb stones remain measuring
between 8-9 metres in diameter, although it is probable that their positions
have been disturbed in the past. These ten or eleven remaining stones stand
at the edge of a quiet field about half a mile northeast from the huge
standing stone and circle of Long
Meg and her Daughters but are thought to be of a later date, perhaps form the Bronze
Age. Two intricately carved rocks were discovered at Little Meg, one was removed and can now be seen in Penrith museum, the other is still in place at the north of the kerb (image below) and shows a clockwise spiral motif on the left hand side that links in with a series of concentric circles to the right. The whole design measures around 80 cm across. To get to Little Meg, follow the road northeast from the village of Little Salkeld to Glassonby. About half way along stop just before a small wood on the left. The stones are a short distance down the gated track that runs between two fields. |
 Little Meg carved rock, a clockwise spiral linked to a set of concentric circles. |
 C. W. Dymond's plan of the Little Meg stones from 1875 with the carved rock at the north and using the old name of the site as Maughanby Circle. The scale of 10 feet is near-enough equal to 3 metres. |
