The Ambleside Hoard: 4,000 year-old bronze weapons

Cumbria’s very lucky this summer to have a number of stunning local artefacts on display that we wouldn’t normally be able to see. Tullie House in Carlisle has borrowed the Sewell’s Lane Jug and Embleton Sword from the British Museum; the Dock Museum in Barrow-in-Furness has a hoard of Viking coins until mid July; and the Armitt Museum in Ambleside has persuaded the BM to let them borrow their very own hoard.

Ambleside hoard, copyright British Museum

The Ambleside Hoard comprises two swords, a dagger and a rather impressive spear head. They were made from bronze in the aptly named Bronze Age and could be 4,000 years old*.

And a Happy Midsummer to you all…

Midsummer isn’t much celebrated in Britain these days. There are a few revived festivals around – in Cornwall, especially – but most people’s ‘celebration’ is restricted to a TV news clip of folks at Stonehenge having a knees-up, courtesy of English Heritage.

Summer Solstice, Stonehenge copyright A Dunn

Most of Britain’s midsummer festivities – including Cumbria’s – were dying out by the end of the 17^th century¹, although there is evidence that they lingered in the north of the county into the mid 19^th century².

Castlerigg, a 5,000-year-old stone circle

Castlerigg Copyright D McIlmoyle

There are a lot of stone circles in Cumbria; about 65, in fact. Some are huge¹, and some are tiny². Some have massive standing stones that can hardly be missed from miles away as long as you have an eye line¹ and others are so stumpy that you could literally trip over them before you realise they’re not sleeping sheep³.

Cumbria’s most famous, and most visited stone circle is Castlerigg, which is a