Folk Rite & Fertility · Keswick, Cumbria (Cumberland)
Castlerigg — the Invented Fertility Circle
The 'Druid fertility temple' that isn't: Georgian and Victorian romantics literally rearranged the stones to make the legend fit.
Evidence note. HONESTY FLAG: the Druid/fertility associations are Romantic and Victorian invention. English Heritage records that 13 stones were re-erected or moved 1794–1848 and a fake 'druidical grove' planted; Coleridge noted in 1799 'the Keswickians have been playing Tricks with the stones'.
The story
the "Druid temple" whose stones were literally rearranged to fit the legend. The story: c.3000 BC; Stukeley; the 1794–1848 tampering; Coleridge's 1799 "playing Tricks with the stones"; scheduled 18 August 1882. Honesty note: fertility/Druid claims are Romantic invention. What survives: the complete circle in its mountain amphitheatre — the client's single best photographic subject. Visiting: English Heritage/NT, free daylight access, limited parking; sunrise/sunset with Blencathra and Helvellyn behind.
Sources
Nearby on the map
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Documented historyHot spotSpotted an error, or hold a better source? Write to marquis@marquisdemayfair.com — corrections are made, never defended. Our methodology.