1.—The Blawith and Kirkby Moors.
The Beacon of Blawith, already noticed, can be climbed in about half-an-hour from Lakebank Hotel. South of the cairn on the top is Beacon Tarn, and two miles south-west over the heather (in which are various unimportant cairns and platforms, perhaps ancient, but more probably "tries" for slate) rises Blawith Knott, and beyond, at its foot where four roads meet, the Giant's Grave. The Giant's Grave can be easily reached by road; 2-1/2 miles from Woodland Station, or 4 miles (via Blawith and Subberthwaite) from Lakebank. This walk, as described, is well under 10 miles by cross roads. The story, still current in the neighbourhood, tells that in the Heathwaite "British settlement" (half a mile south of the cross roads) lived a race of giants, of whom the last was shot with an arrow on the Knott and buried in the grave; and, on opening it, the Rev. Francis Evans found calcined bones and charcoal.
The Heathwaite settlement consists of the foundations of ancient dwellings, just to the north of Pewit Tarn, and surrounded by extensive ruined stone walls, and a great number of cairns. Many of these are mere heaps of stones thrown together by the farmers to clear the land, in order to mow the bracken which they carry away for litter. Some of the cairns and walls, however, appear to be ancient.
A mile and a half south of this, on the headland to the right-hand side of the road, just before we reach Burney Farm, is the ruined enclosure, roughly square, with a party wall across the middle of it, known as the "Stone Rings." The walls are of a type seen in the British settlement near High Borrans, Windermere, and at Urswick Stone Walls—that is to say, flanked by big slabs set on edge, as though the builders were rudely trying to imitate the Roman walls of rubble thrown into an outer casing of masonry.
Following the road for a mile to south-east, shortly before coming to the Goathwaite Quarries, in the heather on the left may be found a small ring embankment; and about a mile as the crow flies south-east of this, across a little valley and only to be reached by a somewhat roundabout road, is the remnant of what was once a fine stone circle (quarter of a mile north of Knapperthaw).
Looking south-west from here we see a pass across Kirkby Moor, to the left of the rounded summit (over 1,000 feet) opposite. From the top of that pass, a short mile to the west, is a conspicuous grey cairn of loose stones, which was opened by Mr. Jopling (author of A Sketch of Furness and Cartmel, 1843), and found to contain burnt bones in a prehistoric "kist" of flagstones.
Turning south from this, by a grassy track through the heather, five minutes' walk brings us to the "Kirk," a ring embankment on the brink of the gill which encloses the site on two sides, probably sepulchral, and perhaps connected with the great cairn, as there are the remains of an avenue of standing stones leading in that direction. A field near this is called "Kirk Sinkings," with which compare "Kirk Sunken," the name of the Swinside Circle, and of other similar sites. Kirk or Currock does not imply a consecrated spot, but is the common word (surviving from the "Cumbrian" or Welsh) for stone monuments.
From this, twenty minutes westward down a steep road through the picturesque gill brings us to Kirkby Watermill and Church (Norman door and font, and a tombstone in the chancel which combines the simple cross with rudimentary effigy). Kirkby Hall, a mile to the north, is a fine specimen of the ancient manor house. Another mile northward is Grizebeck, with remains of a ring embankment, unimportant, behind the cottages. Hence it is a little over two miles to Foxfield, or three to Broughton; or, omitting Grizebeck, from Kirkby Church ten minutes' walk brings us down to Kirkby station.