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Sedburgh - Cumbria
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IronMan
IronMan
601 posts

Re: Sedburgh - Cumbria
Feb 13, 2002, 12:36
The Langdale Valley is the site a Neolithic hand axe 'factory' which isn't too far from Sedbergh if you're in a car (1/2 - 3/4 hr drive?). To be honest it just looks like another scree slope - it gets used as a quick escape route in bad weather by folk coming down from the tops, so it's badly eroded. If you're interested, it's the (very steep) slope at the right hand side of the magnificent Pike o' Stickle, approached from Mickleden down below.

Langdale itself more than fits the 'pretty places' requirement! It's my personal favourite Lakeland location and IMHO it is one of the most beautiful places imaginable. If you've got plenty of time to kill and aren't just on the look out for stone sites, then a good walk is from the 'Stickle Barn' (New Hotel on OS map) up to Stickle tarn and over Pavey Ark, a fantastic sheer rock cliff. Once you are up there the top is pretty easy moorland and you could walk it over to Pike O' Stickle then descend into the valley below via the handaxe factory route, taking care to look for any bits of handaxe. They do, apparently, turn up in the scree. Having said all that I went up on Sunday, with a walk up Bowfell in mind and ended up bailing out, the weather was absolutely fucking dreadful! In that case though the Old Dungeon Ghyll (pub) at the bottom is always worth a visit ;-)

I don't want to build your hopes up too much but I recently found this article, about rock art found around the same area of Langdale:

"One of the largest and most elaborate panels of prehistoric rock art in Britain has been 'discovered' in the central Lake District. The carvings are openly visible, but until now they have been completely overlooked by prehistorians. The concentric ring and cup designs, identified last year by amateur rock art sleuth Paul Brown, can be found in Langdale on an important routeway to and from the Neolithic 'axe factories' around Pike of Stickle, commanding extensive views up and down the Langdale valley. Stan Beckensall, author of many books on rock art, described the Langdale panel as the 'rock art discovery of the decade', adding that its revelation had caused astonishment among rock art scholars. A second new rock art panel in the Lake District, as large as the Langdale example but less elaborate, has recently been found at Greenrigg in Paterdale. "

I'm thinking of going up to check it out in the next couple of weeks, weather permitting. Apparently the discovery was made in 1999, but I've only managed to find a few websites that mention it. I haven't been able to find an OS ref. yet, and Langdale being a valley full of large boulders the proverbial needle and haystack spring to mind. If I manage to find a reference I'll let you know. If anyone else knows anything about it I'd definitely be interested in some information.

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