Two-year project results in car park to help protect Long Meg and her Daughters

A new car park has been created for visitors to Long Meg and her daughters, near Little Salkeld, by the North Pennines AONB Partnership. The intention is to conserve the scheduled monument and eventually remove the stone circle from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register.

Protection of the site was identified as an important initiative for the Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme (LPS), led by the North Pennines AONB Partnership and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The AONB’s team has worked with the local parish council, the landowner, farmer, and local community to halt and reverse deterioration of the site and enhance the visitor experience.

Long Meg is one of northern England’s most enigmatic ancient monuments – a huge Neolithic stone circle, the third largest in England and fifth largest in the British Isles. The scheduled monument was identified as being at risk from erosion damage, created by visitors parking, turning, and churning up the ground, and, for many years, it has been a source of concern due to the lack of visitor management.

The creation of a Long Meg car park offered a way to resolve the issues at the site and develop a visitor management approach. The process, from identifying the parcel of land on which to create the car park, purchase it, and secure the planning permission to proceed, has taken two years. The contractor started on site in June this year to create the new car park and restore the erosion scars on the monument.

Signage will direct visitors to the parking and the short walk along the country lane to Long Meg. Low key interpretation has also been commissioned to help visitors understand more about the people who built the stone circle, the archaeology and history, and to enhance their visit.

Fiona Knox from the North Pennines AONB Partnership, who manages the Fellfoot Forward scheme, said: “Car parks don’t usually make the news but the new car park for Long Meg is not just any car park. No longer do people have to negotiate parking in muddy lay-bys, carved out of the scheduled monument and damaging the historic site they have come to see. Visitors now have an easier, safer, and enriched experience, visiting the stone circle in its beautiful tranquil setting and helping to protect the site for future generations to learn from and enjoy.

It has been a community project with great support from Hunsonby Parish Council, the landowners, the Rowleys, the grazier, Historic England, and the immediate local community.  We are asking people to help by using the new car park, parking carefully, and taking litter home. There is a disabled parking lay-by at the site if required. We expect that Long Meg will be removed from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register in the coming months.”

Helen Teasdale from Hunsonby Parish Council said: “The Parish Council were very happy to work with Fiona Knox and the team at North Pennines AONB Partnership to create the new car park at Long Meg. Thank you to the landowner and contractors for their contribution. We hope that the new car park will be well used by all visitors, new and old, to Long Meg and that it will help with the long-term protection of the Long Meg site.”