THE SHAP LANDSCAPE TEMPLE

Joint meeting with The Westmorland Dowsers

Saturday April 1st 2023,
10:00 - 3pm

Venue:

The Village Hall, Shap, Cumbria

Friends of Gatekeeper Trust have been invited to join with The Westmorland Dowsers for a day of talks and exploration around the Shap Landscape Temple.

This was one of the most important Neolithic centres in Britain, comprising stone circles linked by an avenue of standing stones with associated burial mounds. In its day it was almost as large as Avebury and mirrored that centre's model of stone circles joined by avenues of standing stones. Sadly over the years the stones have disappeared being used for farm buildings and walls (and possibly in the building of Shap Abbey nearby) but we have the records of various antiquarian investigators from the 17th and 18th centuries showing the layout of the Temple.

The Westmorland Dowsers have been working in the landscape for a number of years looking at the disposition of the stones and refining our picture of the area. Gary Biltcliffe and Caroline Hoare explored the area in their work for their book The Spine of Albion (2012) and showed the importance of Shap in the wider landscape of Britain, linking Shap with other sacred places on the spine to north and south.

Please join us for what promises to be an exciting day in this important area.

For more information:

Please contact Mike Newton
mnewton998@virginmedia.com