Anne mæppe by St. Matty. Returne to the Maine Page.

The Shrine

In the foothills of the mountains, obscured by a thick wood of ancient yews and birch trees, ruins of an ancient temple or shrine lie against a steep cliff, the crumbling stones a remaining monument to some long-forgotten culture.

The outer walls are some 25 feet high measured from the flat ground at the foot of the stairs. A wide, steep stair leads up twenty feet, to the inner ring. At that level, set in the cliff at the far side of the temple, is a smooth-floored cave. Two sets of stairs lead down from the inner ring to the main floor of the temple, set five feet below the ring; a splayed stair below the entrance, and a straight stair leading up to the cave.

To the left of the temple the cliff runs alongside the outer wall, but to the right the ground is raised in terraces; a steep, ten foot high slope bends away from the corner of the temple, protecting a fairly level lawn; and another slope divides the lawn from the higher ground, set some twenty feet back from the first slope, almost level with the inner ring of the temple.

A small cleft, deepening to almost ten feet, is set before the terraces, bridged over haphazardly by a fallen birch log.