FINDS FROM THE BLEASDALE CIRCLE Access to the circle on foot HOW TO FIND THE CIRCLE Road to Footpath Garstang The Harris Museum and Art Gallery on the to Calder Vale Vicarage Farm Market Square in Preston houses the artefacts BLEASDALE A6 Bleasdale CIRCLE Vicarage L M6 Tower a Circle Farm n c Oakenclough collected from the Bleasdale Circle excavations. a s Admarsh St Eadmers t Admarsh Barn e St. Eadmer's Barn Church r C Broadgate Disabled only They are on permanent display. The museum is a school Farm Bleasdale n School and a village hall P l open Monday - Friday Delph Village Hall Quarry P (disabled only) River Wyre Common Tootle Hall Delph private road 10am until 5pm and Layby Quarry public footpath Road to Common to Bleasdale Sundays 11am until 4pm, Claughton Higher Layby Brock Bridge Calder Vale Higher except Bank Holidays Brock A586 Bridge River Brock Wickins when the museum is Lane End eston r Waddecar closed. The museum can Scout Camp N Brock Road to River Calder picnic be contacted on wyn, P Chipping area P Garstang Beacon Fell 01772 258248. Nor Footpath to Country Park Brock Picnic Heatherway Farm Area A6 River Brock Key Mway Public footpath Beacon Fell Concessionary path Country Park P Road Access to the Circle and car parking Roads P Private Road & Track M6 Public Footpath River River Canal This map is based upon Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Parking Access to the circle is across private land on a Survey on behalf of the Controller of her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or concessionary footpath. Please look out for the civil proceedings. This map is based upon Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised waymarks and keep to the route. There is an reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. More details of walk routes from Delph Quarry Common Layby information point next to the village hall and and Beacon Fell are available from the following websites. OBSERVE THE COUNTRYSIDE CODE one at the circle. www.wyrebc.gov.uk www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/countryside/index.asp • Be safe - plan ahead and follow any signs A footpath runs through Bleasdale Estate from www.forestofbowland.com • Leave gates and property as you find them • Protect plants and animals, and take your litter home the main road at Higher Brock Bridge. Car If you need to use a disabled only car park please ring the estate office (Mon-Fri) • Keep dogs under close control parking is available at nearby Beacon Fell or Bleasdale Estate Office 01995 61492 • Consider other people Delph Quarry Common Layby. If you wish to At weekends please ring www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk park in the estate on either the shared village Bowland Visitor Centre 01995 640557 A BRONZE AGE TIMBER CIRCLE Wyre Countryside Ranger Service at We would like to thank everyone who assisted in the hall and school car park or the church car park Garstang Discovery Centre 01995 606654 production of this leaflet. you will need to obtain permission. Please avoid This leaflet will be available from the above places on request and school start and finish times and church service also at St. Eadmer’s Church and the Harris Museum and Art Gallery. days. As access to the circle is across fields More Contact Information:www.wyrebc.gov.uk through 3 kissing gates on a concessionary Please use an ordnance survey map to find your route: path. It can be very muddy; wellingtons or boots Explorer 0L41 - Forest of Bowland and Ribblesdale available from Garstang Tourist Information Centre and Bowland Visitor Centre. are recommended. Cover illustration: Based on an illustration by Terry Rushworth, commissioned by the Harris Museum and Art Gallery. History and Description OF THE CIRCLE The birch poles in the ditch, the shape of the This is a plan view of St. Eadmer’s Church and other heritage in bleasdale ditch itself and the relationship between the two the original circle. circles make Bleasdale unique. The Church is the only one in England Bleasdale Circle is a Bronze Age timber structure Enjoy your visit to a very special place and dedicated to this Saint whose origin is obscure. consisting of two circles set within one another. please help to keep it that way by treating There is a possibility that the Parkinson family, The Circle was discovered in 1898 by Shadrach the monument with respect. who built the original church on the site in Jackson and Thomas Kelsall. Excavation of the 1577, chose Eadmer because of their inner circle revealed posts, poles and a grave. Bleasdale C.E. School Northumbrian connections. (Eadmer was a In 1924 the site was scheduled as an Ancient monk whose vision led to the placing of the Monument but it was not until 1935 that the Originally built in 1850 Bleasdale body of St. Cuthbert on a site which is now outer circle and the area between the circles School has served the local Durham Cathedral). The building we see today were excavated. At this time the inner circle community for many dates mainly from 1835, though it re-uses posts were replaced by concrete ones. Four of generations. High windows earlier decorated stonework and has newer the posts were moved to the Harris Museum. were a feature of Victorian additions. schools such as at Bleasdale - The outer circle, diameter 150 feet, consisted of children were meant to keep The Forest of Bowland timber posts set closely together with an entrance their eyes on their work! In the on the south western side. The inner circle, 1960’s the windows were diameter 75 feet, consisted of 11 oak posts lowered to give the classroom a coming up through a small mound or barrow. more cheerful aspect. Today the This was surrounded by a horseshoe shaped ditch school offers children individual with an entrance to the east. This ditch was lined tuition, a full range of outdoor with birch poles. Within the inner circle a grave activities including a woodland area for was found complete with 2 urns buried inverted adventurous activities, a school garden, and containing charcoal and cremated human woodland trail and pond. The wide range bones. In one of the urns a very much smaller of outdoor activities and trails are shared with The Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding cup was found. This would probably have held visiting schools. The quiet rural environment Natural Beauty (AONB) is a nationally protected food and drink for the afterlife. The contents of being an added bonus to this educational landscape and internationally important for its the grave, decorative urns and cup, were also facility. heather moorland, blanket bog and rare birds. moved to the Harris Museum in Preston. The AONB is managed by a partnership of Admarsh Barn landowners, farmers, voluntary organisations, Bleasdale Circle has been dated to local councils and government agencies, who approximately 1700 BC which makes it Bronze This Georgian building, dated 1720, stands on work to protect, conserve and enhance the Age. It was probably not a village settlement a lane opposite the church. This lane leads natural and cultural heritage of this special but possibly a religious centre. The alignment down to the Old Packhorse Bridge which was area. For more information regarding the of the circles within the surrounding fells may used by horses transporting wool to the Pennine Forest of Bowland AONB, visit the website at have been used to follow the sun and stars. manufacturing areas. www.forestofbowland.com or call 01772 531473. What the circle looks like Urns found at the site which can now be now. seen at the Harris Museum, Preston.