Oddendale
| Oddendale | |
| Westmorland | |
|---|---|
 Oddendale hamlet | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY593133 |
| Location: | 54°30’50"N, 2°37’41"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Penrith |
| Postcode: | CA10 |
| Dialling code: | 01931 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Westmorland & Furness |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Penrith and The Border |
Oddendale is a hamlet in Westmorland, near the larger village of Shap, high in the fells. It sits at the end of a dead-end lane on the flank of Seal How, a mile and a half east of the valley of the River Lowther through which the M6 motorway, the A6 road and the main railway line run.
A mile to the west is a similarly sized hamlet, Hardendale, though the two are connected only by footpaths and unmade tracks, so a drive between the two takes a seven-and-a-half mile round trip over the motorway and by way of Shap, or the use of unmade tracks.
Oddendale stone circle
Near the village stands Oddendale Stone Circle (NY59201290), part of the complex of cairns, stone circles and standing stones hereabouts which includes the 'Shap Stone Avenue' of monuments.[1]
The site underwent an extensive excavation in 1997[2] 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.[3]
The replacement of the wooden circles by stone ones is a feature shared with some other monuments.
A second circle and ring cairn was excavated not far away at NY59031352.[4]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Oddendale) |
References
- ↑ Clare, Tom: 'Prehistoric monuments of the Lake District' (Tempus, 2007) pages 159, 93–96; ISBN 9780752441054
- ↑ Turnbull, P; Walsh, D (1997). "A prehistoric ritual sequence at Oddendale, near Shap". Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. 2 97: 11–44.
- ↑ Barrowclough, David (2010). Prehistoric Cumbria. Stroud: The History Press. pp. 251, p. 114–119. ISBN 9780752450872.
- ↑ Clare, 2007, p.95
