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Ancient monument

The Langdale Axe Factory

Pike of Stickle, Cumbria

Stone axes made on a mountainside and traded across Britain.

High on the crags above Great Langdale, Neolithic people quarried a hard volcanic stone and shaped it into axe heads. Rough-outs and waste flakes still litter the scree.

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When
c. 4000–3500 BC
Where
54.4560, -3.1230
Group
Circles & monuments

Visiting

A steep, rough climb. The scree is unstable; take care.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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