Swinside

Swinside, which is also known as Sunkenkirk and Swineshead, is a stone circle lying beside Swinside Fell, part of Black Combe in southern Cumbria [1]. The stone circle at Swinside is located in the south-west corner of the Lake District in the ancient district of Millom, 5 miles north of the town of Millom [1]. The stones used in the construction of Swinside were porphyritic slate collected from the adjacent fells, and are of the type that was known locally as "grey cobbles" by the 20th century [1]. Swinside's builders included a well defined entrance, 2.1 m wide, at the south-eastern side, which is defined by the placing of two large portal stones outside the circumference of the circle [1]. Such portal openings can also be found at Long Meg and Her Daughters, 64 km to the northeast in the Eden Valley [1]. In 1901, the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society sponsored the first archaeological excavation at Swinside [1]. The excavators reported finding a lump of charcoal and a piece of decayed bone as well as some modern coins in the turf layer [1].