Mayburgh henge is situated just south of Penrith and is now located between the village of Eamont Bridge to the east, the M6 to the west and the River Eamont (a tributary of the River Eden) to the north. In addition to being an intrinsically impressive monument Mayburgh is also very interesting from an architectural point of view and it is this characteristic that may help give an insight into the purposes of its original builders. The henge now is currently approached from the south west past through a gateway by an adjacent minor road. As you approach the henge the first impression obtained is of the huge bank ahead although there is no sign of a ditch.
When the banking is climbed the visitor is rewarded with the vista below. The banking can be seen to be composed of eroded cobbles that look as if they have come from a river bed. The henge only has one entrance (on the eastern side) and in its centre a single standing stone stands guard over the scene.
Looking at the layout of the henge it is clear that the layout of Mayburgh has more relation to the architecture of henges found on the island of Ireland rather than on the island of Britain. British henges tend to be constructed using material from a ditch around the henge to form a bank whereas the Irish henge builders scraped out material from the interior of the henge enclosure to from a banking with no associated ditch. Walking into the centre of the henge allows the full scale of the place to be appreciated and it there is certainly a feeling of being in a sacred space.
The first time you visit Mayburgh you will probably do as I did and ascend the bank immediately on the south west side. However on subsequent occasions I have always walked round to the eastern side of the henge and walked into the henge using the entrance as the members of the original Mayburgh visiting community surely did. The image below shows the interior of the henge as viewed from the entrance.
Impressive though this view is it does not exactly replicate what our prehistoric forebears would have seen for Mayburgh has not survived the last 4000 years unscathed. Unfortunately much of the damage seems to have been done in recent times. There were originally eight stones associated with the henge, however all bar the remaining one of these have been removed in the past few hundred years to make agriculture more straightforward. The original configuration of these stones is informative. Four of them stood within the henge proper in the configuration of a type of circle known as a 'four poster''. Such circles are predominantly found in Scotland. The other four stones were arranged around the entrance of the circle in the manner of the stones that demarcate the entrances to early Cumbrian circles such as Swinside and Long Meg. As such Mayburgh seems to combine a number of different traditions. To add to the diversity about 500 metres down the road is another henge (known as King Arthur's round table). King Arthur's Round table is a double entranced bank and ditch henge of similar layout to the Thornborough henges in Yorkshire.
So why the diversity of styles and why the proximity of two henges? A clue is provided by the discovery of the remains of a Langdale axe at Mayburgh. Such axes which originated in the Cumbrian fells have been found in both Yorkshire and Ireland. Mayburgh, lying near the river Eden (navigable by Irish boats) and accessible from the Stainmore pass across the pennines could have been an ideal meeting place for those involved in trading these axes. Its impressiveness and architectural diversity could reflect both its original importance and the origins of those who originally used it.
Back to Cumbria index