Welcome to Castlerigg Connections!

I'm Steve Dickinson, an archaeologist and the organiser of the first Castlerigg Connections Festival, based in Keswick in the spectacularly beautiful Lake District National Park World Heritage Site.

Castlerigg stone circle (pictured) is one of the most amazing of over 1300 of these sites in Britain and Ireland. Never excavated with modern archaeological techniques, radiocarbon and other dating aids and technologies, we can nevertheless follow the late champion of stone circle studies, Aubrey Burl, in considering it as one of the earliest of such sites.

Cumbria and the Lake District together hold some 80 stone and timber circles (we can spot the latter using modern remote sensing aids like satellite imaging). This is one of the largest concentrations of such sites per square kilometre anywhere. The majority literally ring the fells (mountains) at the heart of the Lakes. Castlerigg is one of the few that were built amongst the fells. And we're here this June (1st-9th) to explore Castlerigg's connections with other sites in Britain, in Ireland, and in western Europe.

Stone circles are usually represented in the media by Stonehenge. 'Mysterious'... 'enigmatic' ... well, you know the score. Every few months someone else comes up with a theory about it, and archaeologists are currently engaged in what we call a 'debate' about the latest theories... involving the transportation of some of its stones, and its purpose/s. We want to bring a new, different, perspective to stone circles and sites related to them that concentrates on their settings, and the meanings that these held in the prehistoric past. And settings don't get much more amazing than that at Castlerigg.

If you love stone circles, this festival's for you.

Stone circle magic for you, and I hope to see you soon!

Steve