Standing Stones – Page 16

Rudston Monolith, East Yorkshire

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Standing Stone: OS Grid Reference – TA 09803 67740

Rudston monolith2 — Rudston’s monolith (photo by ‘QDanT’)

To get to the monolith travel along the B1253 road to the west of Bridlington for about 5 miles or from York take the A166 in an easterly direction then onto the B1251 and at Fridaythorpe take the B1253 east again toward Bridlington. The huge stone cannot be missed from the road and from the surrounding area. It stands within the graveyard of All Saints’ church at the north-eastern side of Rudston village.

Archaeology & History

Located in the graveyard of All Saints’ church, this huge and mighty monolith or menhir stands at 25 foot 9 inches high (7.7 metres), and is the tallest prehistoric standing stone in Britain. It is estimated to weigh 40 tons, and it is thought to be the same in height below ground as what it is above the ground, though I don’t know whether anyone has ever checked that theory out. It probably dates from the Bronze-Age about 1,600 BC. Because of vandalism and erosion the top of the stone now has a lead cap, so it is said the stone could have originally been 28 feet high. So where has the top part gone to, I wonder. We are told that the stone was dragged, or rolled on logs, all the way from an outcrop at Cayton Bay some 10 miles as the crow flies to the north.

Rudston monlith (Royston) sm — Royston’s 1873 drawing

Rudston monolith stands at the end of at least one cursus monument on an old prehistoric alignment (see the Rudston B Cursus entry). It would appear to have played an important ingredient in a huge ceremonial landscape on the Gypsey Race. Also in the churchyard (north-east corner) there is a large slab-stone cist which was removed from a nearby round barrow and also a gritstone. At Breeze Farm about one mile to the south-west of the village is the site of a Roman villa.

Folklore

The folklore elements tell us that this is, in fact, a phallic stone and in pagan times some form of ritual was held around the monolith, but then the Christian church was built around it in the Dark Ages – it was a case of Christianity adopting the pagan religion and allowing the stone to stay where it was, but what else could they do because the stone was to big to move, so a lot of tolerance was in order here. The present church of All Saints’ dates from the Norman period. In any case the stone had stood here for a good 2,000 years or more before any church was established in the village. According to the legend, the devil hurled the huge stone at the first Christian church on the site, but as usual he just missed – doesn’t he always!

References:

Bord, Janet & Colin, Ancient Mysteries of Britain, Diamond Books: London 1991.
Anderton, Bill, Guide To Ancient Britain, Foulsham: London 1991.
Darvill, Timothy, AA Glovebox Guide – Ancient Britain, AA Publishing Division: Basingstoke 1988.
Royston, Peter, Rudston: A Sketch of its History and Antiquities, George Furby: Bridlington 1873.

Stones Farm, Todmorden, West Yorkshire

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Standing Stones: OS Grid Reference – SD 92520 23593 and SD 92256 23800

Getting Here

Stones05 — One of the Stones monoliths, looking west

If you wanna drive here, be prepared for a long uphill winding haul, with very poor turning, single-track roads and no parking spots. It’s dodgy as hell! But, if y’ must – from the central roundabout in Todmorden, take the road diagonally across as if you’re going to the train station, and barely 50 yards up, take the right turn under the railways arches, bearing sharp left, then up the very steep zigzagging dangerous road for a mile or so. You’ll eventually reach Stones Lane on your left. Go down this, nearly to the end, slowly – and keep your eyes peeled until you see the big one! You can’t miss it! If you want walk up (a much safer, healthier and preferable route), take the Calderdale Way route up past Dobroyd Castle, and where you get to the top of the hill and the fields open up ahead of you, look down the slope into the field for one stone, and up past the shrubs to Centre Hill. You can’t miss them!

Archaeology & History

Three 'stones' on 1911 map — Three ‘stones’ on 1911 map

This is a quite extraordinary sight to those who visit here for the first time. Moreso because, until very recently, the place was excluded from all text-books and surveys. But if you like your megaliths, this place is well worth the trek up the hill. You’ll be amazed! The tallest and largest of these giant monoliths was recorded when a team from Ordnance Survey mapped the area in 1844, but gave no antiquated note to it. When another Ordnance Survey team re-surveyed the area again in 1911, they noted two other ‘stones’ three fields away to the northeast. More than a decade later, the industrialist historian Abraham Newall (1925) described them at some length in his fine work on the region.

Stones06 — Stone 2, at top of hillock (soz about the crap picture)

The first thing generally noticed is the 12-foot tall standing stone near the bottom of the field (stone 1). Then you’ll see the curiously-worked thin standing stone, nearly as tall, on the hillock at the top of the same field (stone 2). This stone has been surmounted onto an old millstone and the hillock itself was once an old beacon hill. Then on the other side of the road a few hundred yards along, another stone just over 4-feet tall can be seen (stone 3); and in the same field is another one laid down at the side of a well (stone 4). This stone used to stand just where the water appears. It’s seems probable that other standing stones may once have been in close attendance, but have been destroyed over time.

Stone 1 is hemmed in at the base by several stones, giving the impression that it was resurrected at some time in the recent past. Several local stories attest to this. Stone 2 was once further down in the same field but was moved to its present position in the 19th century and was, it is alleged, moved there to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo. Several local historians contest this. Stone 3 has nothing said of it; apart from by the local farmer who said it once had a companion (as illustrated on the early map, above). We were told that this companion (stone 4) was uprooted and a spring of water appeared where it stood, so they laid it down in the position it still occupies, just by the spring 10 yards into the field.

If you’re into megaliths and live in Yorkshire or Lancashire, check these beauties out! Just respect the local farmer – he’s not into ignorant tourists clambering over walls. (don’t say you’ve not been warned!)

References:

Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
Newell, Abraham, A Hillside View of Industrial History, J. Bentley: Todmorden 1925.

Nafferton Slack, Driffield, East Yorkshire

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Standing Stone (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – TA 040 587

Archaeology & History

Information on this stone is sparse and the grid-reference cited is a close approximation of its precise location. And were it not for the records of Victorian folklorists, its existence may have been completely lost. The first reference I’ve found of it is in Nicholson’s East Yorkshire (1890) survey, but I am hoping that someone, somewhere, made archaeological notes of the site (am I hoping for too much here…?) The stone appears to have stood upon, or was very close to, the local boundary line between Nafferton and Driffield—which means there could be a record of it in any perambulation accounts of the region.

Folklore

John Nicholson (1890) told us the following intriguing bitta folklore about this stone, saying:

“About half way down the hill forming the eastern slope of Nafferton Slack, by the roadside, to prevent waggons leaving the roadway, stood a large stone, which was believed to have wonderful powers. At night, at certain seasons, it glowed like fire, sometimes it seemed but the portal of a well-lighted hall; and one old stone-breaker declared he had heard wonderful music issuing therefrom, the like of which he had never heard before; while on one occasion he had seen troops of gaily-dressed elfins repairing thither, some on foot and some on carriages, and they all went into this mysterious hall. The old man is dead, the stone is gone, and the fairies have departed.”

Some twenty years later, Mrs Gutch repeated the story, but added no further details. One wonders whether the information about a fairy hall implied the former existence of a mound or tumulus next to the old stone (a few hundred yards south, just off the same boundary line, we find the remains of the curiously named tumulus of Cheesecake Hill). Any further info would be most welcome…

References:

Gutch, Mrs E., Examples of Printed Folk-lore Concerning the East Riding of Yorkshire, David Nutt: London 1912.
Nicholson, Folk-lore of East Yorkshire, Simpkin Marshall: London 1890.

Causeway Edge, Littleborough, Lancs

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‘Standing Stone’: OS Grid Reference – SD 97239 17135

Getting Here

Causeway Edge stone02 — Causeway Edge stone, looking east

Get up to the Aiggin Stone and turn your back to Robin Hood’s Bed and Blackstone Edge, facing (roughly) north. There’s a small path just to the left of the Aiggin Stone, running northwest (don’t take the more pronounced footpath on its right, or you’ll get a bit lost). Walk down this path for about 60-70 yards and you can’t miss it!

Archaeology & History

Initially I thought this was the stone described in James Maxim’s (1965) exploratory study of the ancient route of the Long Causeway, not far from the Aiggin Stone, running up between Littleborough and Sowerby Bridge, across the Yorkshire border — but I quickly realised my error! Maxim’s upright was one of the boundary markers and is a good 100 yards away from this little fella, seemingly divorced from history. But he’s a curiosity that could do with an explanation…

Causeway Edge stone01 — Standing Stone, with Robin Hoods Bed on horizon

The stone is less than a metre tall but appears to have had been a little taller in earlier days, having the top of it knocked off — either accidentally or otherwise (someone suggested that the small stone on the ground by its side was once the top of the stone). It stands just a yard to the side of an old causeway running from the disused quarries a few hundred yards away, up to the Aiggin Stone. It may have been an old wayside marker stone. It’s certainly old and nobody seems to have said owt about it, so I thought that I’d highlight it here. Any further info on the little fella’s history would be most welcome!

In the heathlands above here we found remains of old walling in the edge of the ancient peat, some of it cutting through into view and some of it still beneath the surface. There wasn’t much of it (though we weren’t here for long), but it looked familiar and old… How old is hard to say at the moment. Who built them? How much more can be found nearby? Were they part of the quarrying operations, or destroyed by them? Anyone know owt more?

References:

Maxim, James L., A Lancashire Lion, J.L. Maxim Trustees: Leeds 1965.

Aiggin Stone, Blackstone Edge, Lancashire

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‘Standing Stone’: OS Grid Reference – SD 97329 17069

Getting Here

From Littleborough, take the Ripponden and Halifax A58 road up-uphill till you get to the White House pub near the very top. From here, cross the road and walk along the track below the disused quarry for a coupla hundred yards till you meet with the straight uphill track. Go up here and, near the very top, you’ll see the upright stone right beside the footpath on your left.

Archaeology & History

Aiggin Stone 06 — Aiggin Stone and cairn

This ancient boundary stone has long been an etymological oddity. It aint a prehistoric stone by any means (soz…), though its nature has never truly been decided for sure. Some have posited it as Roman in origin, others that it’s merely a waymarker (in case y’ get lost in the fog up here), others that it’s a milestone, and the more common notion is that it’s a boundary marker of the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire (it’s position in the landscape presently sits it in Lancashire). As far as I’m concerned, the stone’s late-medieval in nature…

Standing by the old Roman road a short distance from the very top of these high Pennine hills on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, a faint old Latin cross, plus the letters “I.T.” are etched onto its sides. In the 1930s the stone was found laid in the moorland heather, but was thankfully resurrected in 1933. Since then however, it’s been knocked over a couple more times, but presently stands proudly upright — until the day comes when some other halfwits decide to knock it down again! In its earlier days, James Maxim (1965) described the stone thus:

“It is an irregular block of gritstone 7 feet long, tapering from 2 feet 6 inches to 2 feet wide and it is about 10 inches thick. On one bedding face and a few inches from the top is an incised cross with the ends of the arms slightly expanded. This is 1 foot 4 inches long and 10 inches wide, the horizontal bar crossing the vertical at about 5 inches from its upper end.”

First highlighted on an engineer’s map from 1800, Herbert Collins (1950) assumes Aiggin to be “a corruption of Agger”, being a Latin word meaning, “a pile, heap, mound, dike, mole, pier – in Roman antiquity, an earthwork or other artificial mound or rampart.” Due to the monolith’s proximity to the supposed Roman road there is great likelihood in it being as such, plus “agger” can also mean a Roman road or military way. Collins cites other possibilities: aggerere, “to bear to a place, to heap up,” or “that which is gathered to form an elevation above a surface” – which is certainly applicable here! James Maxim (1965) thought,

“The name ‘Aiggin’ suggests a pronunciation resembling either ‘edge’ or ‘hedge’ and thus it might mean ‘Edge Stone’. Alternatively it could be derived from the French ‘aguille’, meaning a needle or sharp-pointing rock.”

The view from here is truly excellent — though if you walk to the rocky crags of Blackstone Edge a half-mile to the south (y’ can’t miss ’em from here) and sit by Robin Hood’s Bed, it gets even better! A smaller, possible standing stone can be seen just 200 yards northwest of our Aiggin Stone; with the top of the stone seemingly knocked off in bygone years. Not far from here are the remains of some old hut circles, emerging from beneath the old landscape.

References:

Collins, Herbert C., The Roof of Lancashire, J.M. Dent: London 1950.
Maxim, James L., A Lancashire Lion, J.L. Maxim Trustees: Leeds 1965.

Links:

Ray Spencer on the Aiggin Stone

Turley Holes Stones, Cragg Vale, West Yorkshire

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Standing Stones: OS Grid Reference – SD 9954 2199

Also Known as:

Turley Holes Moor Standing Stones

Getting Here

Turley Holes Stone03 — The 3 main stones (on a piss-wet thru afternoon!)

Get right to the top of the valley, past the end of the tree-line where the moor opens up ahead of you. Keep going till you reach the farmhouse on the left (there are usually sheepdogs outside, barking their heads off!). Take the track on the right, making sure y’ close the gate (the farmer here is infamous – so please shut the gate!). Cross the yummy stream at the bottom & double-back on y’self. If or when y’ reach the derelict house (an old shooting house), drop down the small valley, over the stream and stick to the bottom edge of the slope. (if y’ don’t reach the house, just cross the stream and keep to the contours) Keep walking for about 200 yards, keeping your eyes peeled for some uprights!

Archaeology & History

As with the Turvin Stone a half-mile southwest of here, this too is a very peculiar site. ‘Peculiar’ inasmuch as no-one really seems to be able to make head or tails what the place actually was. As you’re approaching the place, it looks like some decent ‘four-poster’ stone circle is ahead of you; but once you reach the place there are a veritable number of other earthfast rocks and tumbled stones all round, making your initial appraisal of the place suddenly grind to a halt! Added to this is the oddity of finding the standing stones on a considerable geological slope, unlike most other megalithic sites in the region (and elsewhere for that matter!).

Turley Holes Stone01 — The tallest standing stone

The tallest, easternmost of the three stones (SD 99547 21992) is more than five-feet tall and is lower down the slope than the other uprights here. Almost ‘surrounded’ by some denuded stone enclave (a large robbed cairn perhaps?), this is the most visually impressive of the stones here. Up the slope from here 15 yards (13.56m) away is what may, or may not, be a simple earthfast boulder (at SD 99535 21999): but it’s upright, about 3 feet tall, and due to proximity gives the impression that it was part of whatever monument this site once was. Due west of the tallest standing stone nearly 20 yards (17.6m) away, is a more rounded stone of ‘female’ character, less than 4 feet tall (at SD 99528 21993). That’s the general gist of the place.

If you visit here you’ll notice another smaller upright a short distance further down the slope in the green, less than three feet tall And there’s possibly another one of similar stature more than 200 yards SSE. But what is this place? Is it prehistoric? Was it built in the Dark Ages? Medieval times? Does anyone have a clue!?

References:

Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
Burl, Aubrey, Four Posters: Bronze Age Stone Circles of Western Europe, BAR 195: Oxford 1988.

Turvin Stone, Cragg Vale, West Yorkshire

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Standing Stone: OS Grid Reference – SD 98924 21378

Getting Here

Turvin Stone01 — Turvin Stone (lookin’ south)

From Mytholmroyd, take the Cragg Vale road (B6138) up and up and up, until you get past the tree-level and the hills open up on either side of you. Take note of the farmhouse on the right-hand side of the road a half-mile on and park where you can. Walk down the track by the farmhouse (known as Washfold Road) and cross the stream at the bottom. OK – from here walk straight up the hill in front of you! (not along the footpath) In less than 100 yards it levels out and you’re onto the moorland proper. From here walk straight west for about 400 yards. If you deviate a little, don’t worry. You’ll see this small upright stone as you’re getting closer, seemingly in line with several other rocks, almost giving the impression you’ve come across a stone row. Good luck!

Archaeology & History

This small squat standing stone is just over three feet tall (1m), about 10 inches thick and 3½-feet across. Leaning at an angle into the ground, this broad but thin monolith has sunk some distance into the moorland peat.

It was located on February 15, 2011, in the company of Dave Hazell (pacemaker in tow!) on our first sojourn of the year. It hasn’t been mentioned in any previous surveys and aint in anyway what you’d call impressive. Nearby are the early remains of old walling north, east and west of here (one of them being a small enclosure of some type), for which I can again find no other references. What looks distinctly like the remains of a large cairn isn’t far away either. However, it may be that some of the remains up here are medieval in nature and it would be of benefit if someone who specializes in remains from that period could have a look here. The equally curious Turley Holes standing stones can be seen a half-mile northeast of here.

Parc-y Meirw, Llanychaer, Pembroke

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Standing Stones: OS Grid Reference – SM 9988 3591

Also Known as:

Parc y Marw
Parc y Meirw

Archaeology & History

Parc y Meirw - by Liz Haines — Parc y Meirw – by Liz Haines

This is an impressive and well-known megalithic stone row, found just 4-5 miles inland from the coastal town of Fishguard. The drawing here is used courtesy of Elizabeth Haines, landscape artist, and gives a fine representation of the site as I’m sure you’d agree! Consisting of at least eight standing stones — four still upright and four laid down — aligning northwest to southeast, the tallest stone stands at the southerly end measuring 11 feet tall. The stone row is found in a region rich in prehistoric remains. Aubrey Burl (1993) said of the place:

“Four of the eight stones in this unusual row still stand, trapped in a field-wall, tow of them now gateposts. Thom suggested that the line, 131ft (40m) long, was laid out downhill towards the WNW and the minor northern moonset just north of Mount Leinster ninety-one miles away across the Irish Sea.”

Quite a distance! And perhaps because of this, Burl thought that the nature of this line of stones was more archaeological than astronomical, with its focal point being more likely up the slope to the ESE instead.

Folklore

There was once an adjacent chambered tomb here which, when it was “destroyed for a house in 1844 brought the owner no luck” (Thom, Thom & Burl 1990) – which is damn good to hear! There was a piece of folklore mentioned by E.L. Barnwell (1868) and other writers that the fields here marked the fall of three Welsh princes in the Battle of Mynydd Carn in 1084. In Roger Worsley’s (1988) fine tour of Pembrokeshire’s historical sites, he tells how these megaliths in the “field of the dead” are also haunted, saying:

“A local tale tells of Ladi Wen, a ghostly White Lady wandering about the fields at night, and who will kill anyone who ventures near; it was enough to keep villagers away from the site well into this century, though the stone row is over five thousand years old.”

References:

Barber, Chris & Williams, John Godfrey, The Ancient Stones of Wales, Blorenge: Abergavenny 1989.
Barnwell, E.L., “Alignments in Wales,” in Archaeologia Cambrensis, volume 14, 1868.
Burl, Aubrey, From Carnac to Callanish, Yale University Press 1993.
Thom, Alexander, Thom, A.S. & Burl, Aubrey, Stone Rows and Standing Stones, BAR 560: Oxford 1990.
Worsley, Roger, The Pembrokeshire Explorer, CCP: Abercastle 1988.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: A huge thanks to Elizabeth Haines, Landscape Artist, for use of her drawing of Parc-y Meirw.

Skip Knowe, Newton, Dumfriesshire

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Standing Stone: OS Grid Reference – NY 1118 9443

Also Known as:

Site no.66950 (Canmore ID)
Skipknowe

Getting Here

From junction 16 on the A74(M) turn off an go up the B7076 road, roughly parallel with the motorway, for about 2 miles, turning right – over the A74(M) – until you hit the T-junction by the lovely hamlet of Newton. At the T-junction turn right again and along down the road for just 300 yards or so. You’ll see the small Skip Cottage, almost overgrown by the tiny roadside on your right. Stop here and look into the field across the road. It’s right in front of you!

Archaeology & History

Despite the size and almost romantic setting of this large standing stone, I can find little by way of early descriptions or archaeological reports here. Nearly six feet tall with its long axis aligned east-west and in seeming isolation, I find it hard to believe that we have no other sites or relevant data here. Echoing the work by Alexander Thom (1990:2), Aubrey Burl (1993) makes mention of it as one in a possible “pair” of standing stones, with its companion being “18ft (5.5m) away…in roadside bank,” but this is debatable. This second stone seems as much a part of the old walling. On purely subjective grounds, it gave the impression of once playing a part in a stone circle — an opinion also held by the Scottish Royal Commission (1920) lads after their visit here in August, 1912. Does anyone know anything more about this place?

References:

Burl, Aubrey, From Carnac to Callanish, Yale University Press 1993.
Royal Commission on Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the County of Dumfries, HMSO: Edinburgh 1920.
Thom, A., Thom, A.S. & Burl, Aubrey, Stone Rows and Standing Stones – volume 2, BAR 560: Oxford 1990.

Achnancarranan, Islay, Argyll

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Standing Stones: OS Grid Reference – NR 3895 4606

Also Known as:

Canmore ID 37581

Getting Here

From Port Ellen take the A846 road east to Laphroaig, and on the far side of the village, past the small forested part on your left, walk up the slightly sloping hill alongside the small River Kilbride. Over a couple of walls on your way up, look up the small hill to your right (north) and you’ll see these large standing stones.

Archaeology & History

A triple-stone row no less! Although only two of these stones are upright, a third central prostrate stone is included in archaeological surveys as an original upright. And it seems likely. Although passed over in Alexander Thom’s astroarchaeological analyses, Clive Ruggles (1984) looked at this stone row and found the alignment here to possess no solar or lunar function. But if it aligns north the mythic relationship obviously relates to death, as North “is the place of greatest symbolic darkness” where neither sun nor moon ever rise nor set. There may have been an early association with Alpha Draconis, or Thuban in the constellation of the Dragon: the Pole Star in early neolithic times around which the heavens were seen to revolve by our ancestors and hold the pillar of the sky in place. But we may never know. Perhaps by the time these monoliths were erected, the mythos relating to A.Draconis may have faded…

The stones are found amidst a scatter of other neolithic and Bronze Age remains. In the Royal Commission (1984) report on the stones they described the respective monoliths as follows:

“The north stone, measuring 1.28m by 0.35m at the base and 2.70m in height, rises with a gradual taper, the top curving gently to its highest point at the top of the south side. The centre stone, now prone, has fallen onto its E face and lies embedded in the ground with its upper surface (originally the west face) flush with turf; it is 3m long and up to 0.9m broad. The south stone measures 0.80m by 0.40m at the foot and 2.85m in height. It leans towards the west and the top slopes down sharply from the south to a shoulder 2.1m above ground level on the north side.”

…to be continued…

References:

Burl, Aubrey, From Carnac to Callanish, Yale University Press 1993.
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 5: Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay, HMSO: Edinburgh 1984.
Ruggles, C.L.N., Megalithic Astronomy: A New Archaeological and Statistical Study of 300 Western Scottish Sites, BAR: Oxford 1984.