Elva Hill Stone Circle

A friend and I recently climbed a fairly steep hill overlooking Bassenthwaite lake, which is more famously overlooked by mighty Skiddaw. It was a beautiful March evening, the sun going down, casting long shadows while bathing the landscape in a golden glow. We were looking for a large stone circle, on Elva Plain dating back sometime between 1000 and 2000 years before the birth of the Lord Jesus. The ancients erected 30 large stones to form a perfect circle of which only 15 now remain. Once again, the intrigue we have for such a place is countered by our ignorance of its original purpose. Some scholars have suggested it overlooked the trade route by which stone axes made in the mountains were taken down south for commercial profit. Others consider the name of Elva hill and plain to be connected to the elves, a magical and powerful little people.

Writing of elves and special places of ancient power marked by stones causes one to think of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and the scenery afforded by the climb up Elva was not unworthy of Middle Earth. Yet the forces of darkness we Christians face are greater than those of Mordor, and the great God for whose glory we live is far worthier than Eru Ilúvatar. He saves His people, not by hoping someone will come along to destroy a ring, but by becoming a man Himself in order to pay for sin and destroy death itself. Reality is more amazing than fiction. 

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6