Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society 12 (series 3)

This paper discusses the three great Cumbrian stone circles '“ Long Meg, Castlerigg and Swinside '“ their environs and the moon. It also examines how attention to sacred places and observation of the moon have long been subjects of curiosity to people in many parts of the world. Although the three Cumbrian sites have some features and aspects in common, they have differing environs and horizons, are of different shapes and sizes, and the portals are located in different areas of each circle. Nonetheless, the investigations indicate that they do all appear to have solar and lunar alignments. Au/LD

The date of the civitas stones from Hadrian's Wall is reviewed and the evidence for the date of completion of the Stone Wall and the extent of the rebuilding of the Turf Wall under Hadrian reconsidered. Emphasis is placed on the lack of evidence for the date of the rebuilding in stone of most of the Turf Wall and for how much of Hadrian's Wall was completed by the time Hadrian died. A second century date for the civitas stones, it is argued, is unlikely. The paper includes a catalogue of the stones.

This article shows by means of detailed comparisons how a small tenth-century sculptural fragment at Gosforth, Cumbria, long argued to be a portion of a cross-shaft, is more likely the remains of a second hogback similar in overall design to an extant monument, the 'Saint's Tomb'. This reassessment adds another major monument to the corpus of known pre-Conquest sculptures in Gosforth. The addition further strengthens the argument made for such sites as Lythe, Yorkshire and Penrith, Cumbria, that the crosses and hogbacks functioned as parts of complex sculptural groups.

Brief notes on archaeological investigations carried out in Cumbria during 2011, arranged in alphabetical order by town or parish, with a separate section covering the Lake District National Park.