Simon Marsden
Long Meg & her daughters, Cumbria, England
Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
41 x 31 cms
16 1/8 x 12 1/4 ins
16 1/8 x 12 1/4 ins
SM022
Literature
Simon Marsden, 'The Haunted Realm. Ghosts, witches and other strange tales', 1987, illustrated p.37
Inscribed with title and signature on the back. 'The Druidic stone circle known as 'Long Meg and her daughters' lies in a beautiful and remote position high up on the...
Inscribed with title and signature on the back.
'The Druidic stone circle known as 'Long Meg and her daughters' lies in a beautiful and remote position high up on the edge of the Cumbrian Pennines. Legend tells that the exact number of stones can never be accurately counted; I totalled sixty-one the first time and sixty-six the second. The largest pillard is known as 'Long Meg' and is eighteen feet high, standing apart from the main circle.
This was, and still is, a very sacred site and nobody in the vicinity was surprised when, some time ago, a certain Colonel Lacy tried to remove the stones by blasting, he and his workmen were frightened away by the ferocity of a sudden storm.
How the circle came by its name is uncertain. Some say that Meg and her daughters were a coven of witches who were turned to stone for performing their infamous 'rites' here. Another version claims that the maidens of the nearby village, Little Salkeld, met with the same fate for dancing here on the Sabbath. Whatever the truth may be, as the evening sun began to set on the circle, and the shadow from Long Meg's stone lengthened, the feeling of ancient power and mysticism was overwhelming.'
Simon Marsden, 'The Haunted Realm. Ghosts, witches and other strange tales', 1987, p.37
'The Druidic stone circle known as 'Long Meg and her daughters' lies in a beautiful and remote position high up on the edge of the Cumbrian Pennines. Legend tells that the exact number of stones can never be accurately counted; I totalled sixty-one the first time and sixty-six the second. The largest pillard is known as 'Long Meg' and is eighteen feet high, standing apart from the main circle.
This was, and still is, a very sacred site and nobody in the vicinity was surprised when, some time ago, a certain Colonel Lacy tried to remove the stones by blasting, he and his workmen were frightened away by the ferocity of a sudden storm.
How the circle came by its name is uncertain. Some say that Meg and her daughters were a coven of witches who were turned to stone for performing their infamous 'rites' here. Another version claims that the maidens of the nearby village, Little Salkeld, met with the same fate for dancing here on the Sabbath. Whatever the truth may be, as the evening sun began to set on the circle, and the shadow from Long Meg's stone lengthened, the feeling of ancient power and mysticism was overwhelming.'
Simon Marsden, 'The Haunted Realm. Ghosts, witches and other strange tales', 1987, p.37