Oddendale#Oddendale stone circle
{{Short description|Hamlet in Cumbria, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = England
| static_image_name = Oddendale - geograph.org.uk - 202609.jpg
| static_image_caption = Oddendale hamlet
| coordinates = {{coord|54.514|-2.628|display=inline,title}}
| official_name = Oddendale
| population =
| population_ref =
| civil_parish = Crosby Ravensworth
|unitary_england= Westmorland and Furness
|lieutenancy_england= Cumbria
| region = North West England
| constituency_westminster = Westmorland and Lonsdale
| post_town = PENRITH
| postcode_district = CA10
| postcode_area = CA
| dial_code = 01931
| os_grid_reference = NY593133
| pushpin_map = United Kingdom Eden
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Eden, Cumbria
| label_position =
}}
Oddendale is a hamlet in Cumbria, England, near the large village of Shap. For transport there is the M6 motorway and the A6 road.
History
=Oddendale stone circle=
File:Cairn circle, Oddendale - geograph.org.uk - 2400493.jpg
File:Cairn circle, Oddendale - geograph.org.uk - 2400491.jpg
Oddendale has a stone circle nearby, ({{gbmapping|NY59201290}}), part of the complex of cairns, stone circles and standing stones that includes the 'Shap Stone Avenue' of monuments.{{Cite book|last=Clare|first=Tom|title=Prehistoric monuments of the Lake District|location=Stroud|publisher=Tempus|year=2007|pages=159, pp.93–96|ISBN=9780752441054}} The site has benefitted from an extensive and relatively recent (1997) excavation{{cite journal |last=Turnbull |first=P |last2=Walsh |first2=D |year=1997 |title=A prehistoric ritual sequence at Oddendale, near Shap |journal=Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society |series=2 |volume=97 |pages=11–44 |doi=10.5284/1061426}} that revealed various stages in the monument's history: firstly, two concentric circles of oak wooden posts (dating to the Neolithic, c. 2,872–2,350 BC); followed by their removal and replacement with stone cappings of pink granite; followed by an Early Bronze Age ring cairn built over the inner circle surfaced with blue/gray stones and yellow/white pieces of flat limestone, with cremated bone, pottery and other 'token' grave goods; and then a fourth stage which saw the addition of a pink granite platform on to the side of the cairn, which itself had a kerb of red stones around it.{{Cite book|last=Barrowclough|first=David|title=Prehistoric Cumbria|location=Stroud|publisher=The History Press|year=2010|pages=251, p. 114–119|ISBN=9780752450872}}
The colouring of the stones may have had ritualistic significance. The replacement of the wooden circles by stone ones is a feature shared with some other monuments and may represent the replacement of concern for the living (and the Sun) by devotion to the dead (and the Moon or Sunset).Barrowclough, 2010, p.117, 119
A second circle and ring cairn was excavated not far away at {{gbmapping|NY59031352}}.Clare, 2007, p.95
See also
{{Portal|Cumbria}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Oddendale}}
- [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=329 The Megalithic Portal: Oddendale]
- [http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/1689/oddendale.html The Modern Antiquarian: Oddendale]
- http://www.british-towns.net/cy/level_4_display.asp?GetL3=16604
Category:Archaeological sites in Cumbria
Category:Stone circles in Cumbria
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