Category: England (north)

To search for any sites in the northern counties of England (previously known as Brigantia), click on the list of relevant counties, below. Please note that not all these english counties were truly in Brigantia, but they came close to its southern edges; and as parts of them tickle the edges of the southern Pennines, I thought they should be included. Hope that’s OK with everyone!

Eller Edge (426), Pock Stones Moor, Thruscross, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 08991 61486

Also Known as:

  1. Spiral Stone
Spiral Stone with cluster of cups (image © QDanT)

Getting Here

A slight walk to get here, but well worth it once you arrive!  From Appletreewick, take the road east through Skyreholme and up Skyreholme Bank track, bearing right at the fork in the tracks along the ancient Forest Road.  Keep going and after a couple of zigzags, you’ll cross the Larnshaw Beck.  Keep walking along the track until it runs wallside — and here, go straight down the field for 75 yards (best climbing over the rickety wooden bridge by the stream 50 yards back and walking up).  Although there are a number of other stones hereby, you can’t really miss this.

Archaeology & History

This carved stone and its close associates rest upon the green slopes overlooking the Blands Valley and further across upper Wharfedale and the lands beyond.  The majestic Simon’s Seat rises on the nearby western slope and there in the greater distance, once more reaches the sacred hill of Pendle, with whom so many other ancient sites commune within our northern lands.  It’s hard to say for sure that the Witch’s Hill was of little relevance to this and other stones, but only a fool would ignore the geomancer’s notes about this constant.

Eller Edge carving, looking south (image © QDanT)
Boughey & Vickerman’s drawing

The carving here doesn’t give much clues in any direct sense either.  We have an almost arrowhead-shaped rock with a dozen decent cup-marks or so cut along and near its western side; but the notable curiosity here is the small circular cluster of smaller cup-marks dotted in a near circular mass near the middle of the stone.

When Danny, Paul and I came here the other week, the initial impression of this cluster was one of a primitive solar symbol etched onto the rock; but the more we looked, the more it seemed that these small cups appeared to have been arranged in a very rough spiral lay-out.  Now I know that spirals are damn rare items in rock art (especially in this part of the world), but the more we looked and then subsequently checked Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) illustration, the more evident it became.  Of course the ‘spiral’ could be merely fortuitous, but I’m not so sure misself.  In discussing this with our field archaeologist later, he suggested getting a rubbing of this part of the stone on his next visit.

The stone was first described by the petroglyph explorer Stuart Feather (1964) and later described by the rock art students Boughey & Vickerman (2004), simply as:

“Large, rough grit rock with face sloping SE down into grass at N.  About twenty cups to W, with three grooves at N corner and group of about twenty small cups at NE.”

A very intriguing carving.  And if you visit here, make sure you check out carving 424 and others in the same field.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  2. Feather, Stuart, “Appletreewick, WR,” in ‘Archaeological Register, 1963’, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, volume 41, 1964.

Links:

  1. Eller Edge Rock Art – more notes & images

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Fairy Holes, Whitewell, Lancashire

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Legendary Cave:  OS Grid Reference – SD 6553 4677

Getting Here

Fairy Holes site

John Dixon took a bunch of us on a pleasant amble here via the Fair Oak Circle site.  From Fair Oak, go round the back of the farm and past the small cluster of hidden cottages, then bear right down the dirt-track and up the slope, then cross the field in front of you, going over the stile, following the footpath round the eastern edge of the slightly limestone New Laund Hill, and down again, thru the gate.  From here, head diagonally across the field 150 yards towards the fencing at the woodland edge.  Over the fence, into the trees, head halfway down the steep-ish slope and keep your eyes peeled for the rocky outcrop nearly halfway down.  Alternatively, an easier way here is apparently from the Inn at Whitewell.  Go across the river via the stepping stones (or wade!) and follow the footpath uphill towards a farm, where you’ll find a large steel gate on the left that leads into the woods.  Here there are 2 paths: follow the higher of the two until it starts bearing to the right.  Once here, look up the hill to the right you’ll see the rock outcrop.  The caves are there!

Archaeology & History

Smaller Fairy Hole

There are at least 3 caves here, close to each other along the edge of the small footpath a few yards apart.  The small rounded entrance of the northernmost one (photo, right) is reported by English Heritage to have had no human remains found therein, but further investigation is required here.  The main cave however is where intriguing prehistoric finds were located.  It appears that the entrance was deliberately built-up and blocked by stone walling a few yards inwards, giving the remains found therein a state of protection and sanctity.  Writer and historian John Dixon (2004) tells what was in the cave:

“In 1946, an excavation was carried out on the site by the archaeologist Reginald C. Musson.  In front of the larger cave is a flat platform on which evidence of Bronze Age daily life was found.  This included animal bones, a pebble pounder (used to extract marrow from bones) and shards of a food vessel.

“All that survived of this tripartite collared urn was a large rim-collar shard, two fragments displaying neck/shoulder/body elements and five smaller pieces, probably from the base of the body.  This is the only collared urn to have been found in a cave in Lancashire.  Its tripartite Pennine form assigns it to an early Bronze Age date.”

The main Fairy Hole
Plan of cave chamber (after J.Dixon 2004)

The artificial walled entrance may not merely have been an ingredient giving sanctity to the place, but this could well have been a site for ritual shamanic practices, including prolonged rites of passage and death rituals (authentic ones, not the modern pagan nonsense).  The ‘ritual death’ elements are highly probable here for, as John Michell (1975) told, caverns and crevasses are “most responsive to the necromancer’s invocation”.  It’s geomancy, spirit association and the archaeological finds therein are strongly suggestive of this usage. (Eliade 1989, 1995; Maringer 1960, etc)  Bearing this in mind, it is of some concern regarding the individual who thought it wise to spray-paint his name against the wall of the cave entrance (see photo); for many are those even in these days of shallow minds who fall prey to the car-crashes and creeping madness brought upon themselves by desecrating ancestral sites of ritual magick.  It would be intriguing to keep a prolonged eye on the ‘Forsh’ who painted his ego in this cave of dead spirits…

Folklore

Not surprisingly, the little people hold legend here.  Jessica Lofthouse (1946) found tales of these ancient peoples in several places close by, but at the Fairy Caves specifically,

“everyone knew that these little caves in the limestone at Whitewell were the homes of the little folk.”

…And in relation to the ingredient mentioned above, about ritual use of the cave in ancient times: are there any serious ritual magickians who’ve spent time working in this cave, overnight or longer, and who can let us know of their encounters here? (long shot, I know – but it’s worth asking, considering the probable use of the place)  Or perhaps spontaneous encounters of other people here…

References:

  1. Dixon, John, The Forest of Bowland, Aussteiger Publications: Clitheroe 2004.
  2. Eliade, Mircea, Shamanism, Arkana: London 1989.
  3. Eliade, Mircea, Rites and Symbols of Initiation, Spring Publications: Woodstock 1995.
  4. Lofthouse, Jessica, Three Rivers, Robert Hale: London 1946.
  5. Maringer, Johannes, The Gods of Prehistoric Man, Weidenfeld & Nicolson: London 1960.
  6. Michell, John, The Earth Spirit: Its Ways, Shrines and Mysteries, Thames & Hudson: London 1975.

© Paul Bennett & John Dixon, The Northern Antiquarian


Fair Oak Circle, Whitewell, Lancashire

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Settlement:  OS Grid Reference – SD 6474 4584

Getting Here

Fair Oak rise

From the village of Chipping, go along Talbot Street until it meets Green Lane and there, on the left, there runs a country lane roughly northwards.  Go along this and after about 1½ mile, watch out for the track of Quiet Lane on your left.  Go all the way up this track for nearly 1½ mile, till you reach its end.  Diagonally across to your right, note the stile into the field.  Go over this and, some 50 yards across the field, look to your south where the field rises to its small peak.  This is the site.

Archaeology & History

Fair Oak enclosure

Although little can be seen of this site at ground level, aerial photography in the 1980s identified a large circular earthwork at Fair Oak Farm.  The circle has a surrounding ditch and bank enclosing a raised circular mound of approximately 100m in diameter.  It is thought that the feature may represent Bronze/Iron Age settlement in the area, and may possibly be a village site.   The site requires further survey.

Aerial photography has identified a number of possible settlement sites in the area between Dinkling Green and the River Hodder at Whitewell and in the area around Whitmore below Totridge Fell. The largest being that at Fair Oak.

Folklore

Jessica Lofthouse (1946) told of a number of places close by that were said by local people to be inhabited by faerie folk — Fair Oak itself being no exception.  Hinting of earlier heathen gatherings, she wrote:

“As for the farm of Fair Oak, where we take the path to Dinkling Green, nearby was the fairy oak, the scene of so much midsummer revelry.”

References:

  1. Dixon, John, The Forest of Bowland, Aussteiger Publications: Clitheroe 2004.
  2. Lofthouse, Jessica, Three Rivers, Robert Hale: London 1946.

© Paul Bennett & John Dixon, The Northern Antiquarian


Ashleigh Barrow, Darwen, Lancashire

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Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SD 696 208

Also Known as:

  1. Whitehall Tumulus
Ashleigh Barrow urns (after John Dixon)

Archaeology & History

Early accounts of this site tell of its destruction in the 19th century, but a modern reconstruction of the site has been made close to where it once stood.  And this tomb sounded quite impressive!  Within the ‘tomb’ were found a large number of urns, one of which was curiously empty.  In John Dixon’s excellent Journeys through Brigantia (2003) work he told that,

“Contemporary reports about its excavation state that it was of circular form about 30 yards in diameter, being formed on a naze or promontory of an undulating plateau overlooking the Darwen valley.  Its height was said to vary between 10 to 12 feet on the east side and between 2 or 3 feet on the west, the centre being about 6 feet in diameter and consisting of a slight hollow.

“Ten interments appear to have been made, one being just a heap of burnt bones, the others, having been enclosed in urns, the majority of which are badly broken, consisted of ashes and fragments of bone together with unrecognizable pieces of bronze.  Two urns also contained ‘incense cups’ and another a 7½-inch bronze knife or dagger.

“The design of the urns is similar to those from the Middle Bronze Age… All but two of the urns were found within an area 21 feet by 14 feet, whilst one was 40 feet away.  They were, with one exception, placed in the Earth with the orifice pointing upwards and were covered with slabs, the depth at which they were found varying from 1 to 2 feet.”

Remains of the urns can be seen on display in the Darwen Library.

Folklore

Once again in John Dixon’s (2003) fine Journey’s through Brigantia volume, we read of folklore relating to the respect of the dead which local people used to give this old tomb, telling:

“Many superstitions were attached to the barrow and its destruction in the 1860s, with the country people speaking of the place being haunted by ‘boggarts’ and children having been known to take off their clogs or shoes and walk past it barefoot in the night time.”

References:

  1. Dixon, John, Journeys through Brigantia – volume 11: East Lancashire Pennines, Aussteiger Publications: Barnoldswick 2003.

© John Dixon & Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Burhill Kiln Allotment (415), Appletreewick, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 07792 61829

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.415 (Boughey & Vickerman)
Burhill’s cup-and-ring stone (image courtesy ‘QDanT’)

Getting Here

Probably the easiest way is to park up at Stump Cross Caverns on the B6265 road, then walk down the road for 200 yards till you reach the track on your left running over the fields in the direction towards Simon’s Seat.  Walk along the track past the Skyreholme Wall carving, where it starts going downhill and, 100 yards before you reach the fork in the tracks, look in the field on your left.  The other route is to go east through Appletreewick village up to and through Skyreholme as far as you can drive, where the dirt-track begins.  Keep going up till you hit the fork in the tracks.  Go left, then thru the first gate you come to and walk up into the second field up where the notable rock stands out.  If you can’t see it at first, look around!

Archaeology & History

Boughey & Vickerman’s plan of the carving

This carving was rediscovered by Stuart Feather (1964) in one of his ambles in the area — and he would have been pretty pleased when he found this one!  It is the most complex and ornate of all the prehistoric carvings in and around this large open field.  With at least nine cup-and-rings and more than fifty other cups etched onto its rounded upper surface, there are various other lines and grooves linking up some elements of this mythic design. The best ones are on the upright and sloping east-face of the rock, into the rising sun.  In animistic terms the rock is distinctly female in nature.

Illustrated in one of Stan Beckensall’s (1999) works, the rock art students Boughey & Vickerman (2003) also include it in their survey, but give an inaccurate grid reference for the site.  They nevertheless describe it as:

“Large upstanding rock with slightly domed top surface. Most of top surface decorated but weathering makes detail uncertain: over sixty cups, eight or more with rings, many grooves.”

Many other carvings can be found in the area.

References:

  1. Beckensall, Stan, British Prehistoric Rock Art, Tempus: Stroud 1999.
  2. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  3. Feather, Stuart, “Appletreewick, W.R.” in ‘The Yorkshire Archaeological Register, 1963’, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 41 (part 162), 1964.
  4. Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Prehistoric Rock Art of Great Britain: A Survey of All Sites Bearing Motifs more Complex than Simple Cup-marks,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 55, 1989.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks to the pseudonymous ‘QDanT‘ for use of the photo in this profile.  Cheers Danny!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Burnett’s Ridge (421), Appletreewick, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 08103 61500

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.421 (Boughey & Vickerman)
The beautiful stone… (courtesy ‘QDanT’)

Getting Here

One way is to go east through Appletreewick village up to and through Skyreholme (making sure you bear right at the turn and not go up the left turn, which takes you uphill and elsewhere!) as far as you can drive, where the dirt-track begins.  Keep going up till you hit the fork in the tracks, and here, look into the field on your right.   The other way is to park up at Stump Cross Caverns on the B6265 road, then walk down the road for 200 yards till you reach the track on your left running towards Simon’s Seat.  Walk all the way down this till you reach the fork in the tracks.  There’s a gate into the field just yards below the split in the tracks.  Go thru it and walk into the middle of the field where the stone unmistakably calls out for you to go sit with it for a while!

Archaeology & History

Boughey & Vickerman’s plan of the cup-marks

Sat near a ridge due north of the magnificent Simon’s Seat, this faded carved stone gets its name from the field in which it lives — and as Danny’s photo here shows, it’s a fine stone indeed in a very fine setting.  The cup-marks on its top were first described by Stuart Feather (1964), who found there to be around 20 cup-markings on the top, with some grooves — possibly natural, possibly man-made — linking them together.

However, in the fields north of here are a number of other cup-and-ring carvings, but much of the landscape has been damaged by industrial workings.  It makes you wonder how many there used to be here before the industrialists started digging the land up…

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  2. Feather, Stuart, “Appletreewick, WR,” in Archaeological Register, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, volume 41, 1964.
  3. Morris, Ronald W.B., “The Prehistoric Rock Art of Great Britain: A Survey of All Sites Bearing Motifs more Complex than Simple Cup-Marks,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 55, 1989.

Acknowledgements:

Huge thanks to the pseudonymous ‘QDanT‘ for use of the photo in this profile.  Cheers Danny!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Yarnbury Henge, Grassington, North Yorkshire

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Henge:  OS Grid Reference – SE 01405 65413

Getting Here

Yarnbury henge from the air

In Grassington, go up the main street and keep going uphill, out of town.  You’re on Moor Road now and it keeps going northeast for about a mile, where the small copse of trees grows just before Yarnbury House.  However, on the other side of the road (right) two field before you reach the house, you’ll notice a slightly raised elevation in the field, close to the wall.  A footpath runs right past it, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding it!

Archaeology & History

This is a fine, roughly circular neolithic monument, sat not-quite-on-the-heights, but still possessing damn good views all round (except immediately west), begging the question, ‘what on earth are you and why were you built here?’  Answers to which, we don’t really know.  But ascertaining its geomantic nature wouldn’t be too difficult for local people who have spent years visiting the site.  John Dixon (1990) mentioned how, in the winter months,

“the sun falls behind Pendle (Hill) providing it with a sky-red backdrop.  In my own view the site is related to the presence of Pendle…and may have been the major factor in the location of the monument.”

He may be right!  It has been suggested by one archaeologist (King et al, 1995) that the site was “most probably a wood henge” with upright rings of wooden posts that were built onto the central platform — but until we get a full dig here, we’re not gonna know.

N-NE section of henge
SW section of the henge

Found close to an extensive amount of other prehistoric remains in the area (dating from the neolithic to Iron Age), this henge monument is notable for its size, as it’s only a little fella!  It’s like a mini-version of the Castle Dykes henge near Aysgarth, 14 miles to the north!  First mentioned as a ‘disc barrow’ in 1929, J. Barrett (1963) added the Yarnbury Henge to the archaeological registers 32 years later, citing it as a “circular platform 60-63 ft diameter, surrounded by a ditch 20ft wide (crest to crest) and an outer bank.”  A couple of years later D.P. Dymond (1965) described the henge in slightly more detail, telling:

“At Yarnbury, just over one mile north-east of Grassington there is an earthwork 116ft in diameter overall, consisting of a ditch with external bank.  On surface inspection the earthwork appeared to have the characteristics of a henge monument.  An excavation carried out in July 1964 , by an archaeological summer school based on Grantley Hall, proved this thesis.  There was no trace of an internal mound and the entrance to the southeast was obviously  original.  No traces were found of any sort of internal structure, and a square pit in the centre of the circle had been caused by an excavation earlier this century.  The ditch was rock-cut and the bank of simple dump construction.  No dating evidence was found… With its single entrance the Yarnbury henge falls into Atkinson’s Class 1.”

SW area of the henge

In recent years it seems that some damage has been done by digging into the east and southeastern sections of the henge.  Summat we hope doesn’t get any worse.  In the field on the other side of the road we found traces of prehistoric enclosure walling (along with a curious, large, almost cursiform shadow, 44 yards across and running 110 yards NE), typical of the extensive settlement remains found less than a mile away at Lea Green and High Close Pasture, Grassington.  It’s an impressive area, well worth checking out!

References:

  1. Barrett, J., “Grassington, W.R.,” in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, part 161, 1963.
  2. Beck, Howard, Yorkshire’s Roots, Sigma: Wilmslow 1996.
  3. Dixon, John & Phillip, Journeys through Brigantia – volume 2: Walks in Ribblesdale, Malhamdale and Central Wharfedale, Aussteiger Publishing: Barnoldswick 1990.
  4. Dymond, D.P., “Grassington, W.R.,” in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, part 163, 1965.
  5. Harding, A.F., Henge Monuments and Related Sites of Great Britain, BAR 175: Oxford 1987.
  6. Harding, Jan, The Henge Monuments of the British Isles, Tempus: Stroud 2003.
  7. King, Alan, et al, Early Grassington, Yorkshire Archaeological Society 1995.
  8. Wainwright, G.J., “A Review of Henge Monuments in the Light of Recent Research,” Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 35, 1969.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Redmire Maypole, North Yorkshire

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Maypole (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SE 0458 9121

Redmire’s ancient Oak

Archaeology & History

As with many of Britain’s old maypoles, the one at Redmire has long since disappeared and no local in the 20th century appears to have had any memory of it.  However, it was mentioned in Victorian times and described in McGregor’s (1989) fine history work on the village:

“At one time, somewhere on the Green, stood a maypole which was destroyed by lightning.  I never heard the memory of it recalled during my early life, but it is mentioned in their books by both Barker and Bogg.  The remnants of it appear to have been there in 1850 or 1852, as Barker, writing at that time says, ‘A maypole, rare in Yorkshire, stands on the Green.  It was shivered to pieces by the electric fluid, during a thunderstorm, in the summer of 1849.  This poor maypoles catastrophe would have been regarded by the old Puritans as a direct and visible manifestation of the wrath of heaven at such a heathenish practice.’  Redmire, as we know, took pleasure in dancing in the 19th century, and continued to do so, especially after the building of the Town Hall…”

When Edmund Bogg came here at the end of th 19th century, he saw “the base of the ancient maypole…near to, a twisted and ancient oak” whose ancient branches were being held upright by large wooden posts.  This sacred oak itself was said to “still cast its shade over a small spring of water.”  Unfortunately I ‘ve found no more about this lost pagan relic…

References:

  1. Barker, W.G.M.J., The Three Days of Wensleydale, Charles Dolman: London 1854.
  2. Bogg, Edmund, Wensleydale and the Lower Vale of Yore, E. Bogg: Leeds n.d. (c.1900)
  3. McGregor, Isabelle, Redmire – A Patchwork of its History, privately printed: Redmire 1989.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Lowlands Well, Wycoller, Lancashire

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Healing Well:  OS Grid Reference – SD 9317 3944

Archaeology & History

Lowlands Well

The huge stone trough at the side of the Wycoller Beck further down than the old bridge had a pipe leading to it from a spring on the other side of the beck.  Cookson & Hindle (1974) told that this was “the only source of drinking water” — which wasn’t quite true.  In the old photo shown here, the groove in the supporting vertical stone once held a lid over the top of the trough, “to prevent animals, dead leaves, etc, from fouling it.”  In addition to the old photo shown here, the well is also illustrated in Folley’s Romantic Wycoller (1949) with two young girls drinking the running water.

References:

  1. Bentley, John, Portrait of Wycoller, Nelson Local History Society 1975.
  2. Cookson, Stanley & Hindle, Herbert, Wycoller Country Park, H. Hindle: Colne 1974.
  3. Folley, E.W., Romantic Wycoller, Coulton & Co.: Nelson 1949.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Round Hill, Middleton Moor, North Yorkshire

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Tumulus:  OS Grid Reference – SE 107 509

Also known as:

  1. Black Hill tumulus

Getting Here

Round Hill tumulus, Middleton Moor

From Ilkley town centre, taken the road north across the River Wharfe, turning left and up the country lane towards Nesfield.  As you’re driving with the farmed fields on either side, you’ll go round a couple of swerves in the lane and reach the open moorland on your right, just past the small copse of trees on the same side.  There’s a small place to pullover on the right 100 yards on and walk up the footpath running northeast onto the moor.  Go past the disused quarry and up further till you reach the rounded hill where the tumulus stands.

Archaeology & History

On the moors north of Ilkley – as shown on OS-maps since the 1850s – on the southeastern edge of Middleton Moor, is this singular tumulus, a short distance west of some old quarrying at the curiously-named Lurgy Delf.  The small hill is easy to find and appears at the western edge of a whole host of neolithic and Bronze Age remains.  It is included as a boundary marker between Middleton and Langbar, as marked by an old stone on its southern side.  Eric Cowling (1946) described this as “a spread of stones on Round Hill” in the same context as other burial mounds and cairns in the region, also naming it as the Black Hill tumulus.  Many flints had been found all round here and it stands at the western edge of a great number of cup-and-ring stones, stretching eastwards across the moors for several miles.  To my knowledge, no excavation has taken place here.

References:

  1. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian