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All the United Kingdom England North Yorkshire Swinton Druids Temple

Swinton Druids Temple

Although it appears ancient and mysterious, the quirky folly was actually built 200 years ago by an eccentric estate owner.

North Yorkshire, England

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Declan Murray
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Alignment.   decmurray / Atlas Obscura User
View to the bottom.   decmurray / Atlas Obscura User
The standing stones.   decmurray / Atlas Obscura User
The final cave.   decmurray / Atlas Obscura User
  Juliejoolz / Atlas Obscura User
  nicolajhebson / Atlas Obscura User
31st oct 2020   nicolajhebson / Atlas Obscura User
From inside the final cave   katielou106 / Atlas Obscura User
The nearby “giant’s benches”   katielou106 / Atlas Obscura User
The temple   katielou106 / Atlas Obscura User
The Entrance   Juliejoolz / Atlas Obscura User
View from the edge of the woods   Juliejoolz / Atlas Obscura User
Stone tower next to Druid’s Temple   Juliejoolz / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Stones litter the winding avenue to the Temple Druid. As the path ends an enormous oval of standing dark stones rises from the low clearing, shadows sweeping across them. The hollow in the center is filled with rough-hewn boulders. Did an ancient roof once lie over the circle? Did the wild bearded pagans make sacrifices on the stones?

No, no they did not.

The Swinton Druids Temple is a modern folly, built in the 1820s on the orders of William Danby, the eccentric owner of the Swinton Estate. As an inventive solution to local unemployment, he decided to pay workers a shilling a day to prop up stones to create his own personal little Stonehenge.

Once the task was complete, Danby set out a challenge, offering a salary for someone to live at the site for seven years as a hermit. No one passed the test, not even one possibly apocryphal figure who managed four and a half years before giving up.

Today the artfully arranged stone circle is visited by new-age pagans as a pilgrimage on the summer solstice, and by visitors to Swinton as a stopping spot for a quiet cup of tea.

Related Tags

Rocks Paganism Stonehenge Follies Geology

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Added By

decmurray

Edited By

katielou106, Juliejoolz, nicolajhebson

  • katielou106
  • Juliejoolz
  • nicolajhebson

Published

March 2, 2018

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Sources
  • http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=22515
  • https://www.visitharrogate.co.uk/things-to-do/the-druids-temple-p1237221
  • http://bivouac.swintonestate.com/the-experience/druids-temple/
Swinton Druids Temple
Knowle Lane
North Yorkshire, England
United Kingdom
54.206304, -1.724372
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