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

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


Burhill Kiln Allotment (415), Appletreewick, North Yorkshire

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

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


Dumpit Hill Enclosure, Hebden, North Yorkshire

Enclosure / Settlement:  OS Grid Reference – SE 02884 64062 —  NEW FIND

Getting Here

Line of enclosure walls

Follow the same directions to get to the Dumpit Hill A stone circle; but instead when you get to the point where you need to walk off-track and into the heather to get to the circle, keep walking up the dirt-track for about another 200 yards, watching diligently thereby for a reasonable sized, fallen, “standing-stone”-like character just yards into the heather on your right (on your left, there’s a U-shaped dip where the wall is).  This is the northern edge of the walled enclosure.  From this fallen ‘standing stone’ follow the overgrown walling along carefully into the heather along and down the slight slope.  You’re now either on the very edge, or perhaps going into the middle of the enclosure.  Look around!

Archaeology & History

East section of walling

There’s no previous written history of this site, discovered for the first time last week on our sojourn to the Dumpit Hill stone circles, by Michala Potts.  She didn’t seem too excited by it at the time, but an amble back to what she’d found got me going! (easily done) With the help of the heather being burned away, open and exposed was a distinct line of prehistoric walling — perhaps Bronze Age, perhaps later.  It’s hard to tell.

Structurally similar to the enclosure walling at Horse Close and Rough Haw, either side of Skipton, a few miles to the south, here we have about 100 yards of walling seeming to enclose the eastern side of the small hilltop, but running into the heather on its southern edge and the moorland track on its northern side, where it disappears again, leaving no trace of what one would assume would be a consistent western section.

From the grid reference for the site, the line of walling runs northwards for about 20 yards before taking a very slight shift in direction for another 20 yards.  Here the walling goes to the left (west) for another 20 yards, before edging slightly northwest and back into the heather.  A section of the walling is visible at each end, though we lose any accurate trace of it after a short distance in the long heather.  However, at the northwestern point in the enclosure walling, a very distinct long stone about 4 feet high leans at an angle in the ling.  It seems apparent that this stone at one point in the not-too-distant past stood upright, making it the tallest stone here.

Northern section of walling
Fallen monolith?

What may be other features can be seen inside this enclosure section: a possible hut circle and other portions of walling were noted.  However, we didn’t spend much time exploring the site in detail, so there is a high probability of other prehistoric remains in and around this enclosure awaiting discovery.  The site’s proximity to the stone circles of Dumpit Hill A and Dumpit Hill B should be noted; along with what the North Yorkshire’s Historic Environment Officer, Robert White, said were “three, possibly four small circular enclosures (about 9m in diameter)” a short distance away.  A further survey of the site is necessary to enable us a better picture of what we’re looking at here.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Dumpit Hill B, Hebden, Grassington, North Yorkshire

Stone Circle:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0307 6406

Getting Here

Follow the directions to reach the Dumpit Hill A circle.  From here walk about 100 yards ENE till you see an arc of small upright stones.  If the heather’s in full growth it’s highly unlikely you’ll see anything; but if the heather’s been burnt away, the site’s worth looking at.

Archaeology & History

As with the small companion Dumpit Hill A circle more than 100 yards to the southwest, this site of similar dimensions was first reported by Arthur Raistrick in 1963, and then described — albeit briefly — in H.G. Ramm’s “Yorkshire Archaeological Register” for 1964, as “33ft in diameter. One third of the circle robbed but other stones standing.”  And apart from that (with a repeat of the same info in Burl’s [2000] magnum opus) little else has been said.  But there’s quite a bit more to this place than what our mentors have written…

Northern arc of circle, with stones A, B, C & D
Dumpit B Stone Circle (white sticks showing position of stones)

In a team visit to the site last week, it was Paul Hornby who called our attention to Dumpit Hill B.  Thankfully the heather had been burnt back several months earlier, fortunately allowing us a better assessment of the place than Mr Raistrick’s initial survey forty years ago.  Instead of just the 3 stones that he found here, we uncovered a near-complete ring of eight stones, arranged in a pretty decent circle (Alexander Thom would have classed it as a Type 1 circle).  Paul’s attention was first drawn to an arc of three obvious upright stones and another laid down along the same arc.  This arc then turned out to be a semicircle when he found another stone laid half-covered in the peat.

Western stones D & E
Stone F

But then it seemed, if this was an authentic stone circle, we were gonna struggle to see the rest of it as the deep heather had grown up over the southern side of this semi-circle of stones.  But thankfully, with just a little bit of stomping on the ground in the right areas, three other stones of similar size and stature were located and within just a few minutes this small arc of stones had become a full prehistoric ring — except perhaps on the eastern side, where there was a distinct gap in the monument.  Michala Potts and Paul did come across a couple of stones in this “missing” section, but they were just small rocks and didn’t account for an expected 9th stone.  If such a stone ever stood at this eastern point in the circle, it remains unfound.

Two of the stones (G & H) that were initially covered in heather, after we’d carefully peeled the vegetation back, had what seems like small packing stones at one end, where it seemed obvious they had stood upright.  It was tempting to carefully stand each stone back up into position, but we managed to overcome the temptation!  None of the stones are higher or longer than 3 feet.  At least three of them seemed to have been set along their longer axis rather than being set in the tall upright position — but again, this needs verifying by excavation.  (With good evidence, some students posit that upright stones are male; rounded, wider stones are female — though such a lay-out here seems unlikely)

Stone G
Stone H

An additional curiosity was found in the middle of the circle, where there was a small but distinct scattering of stones, very much like a denuded cairn.  If this turns out to be the case (as seems likely) it’d mean a new classification for this monument.  We could do with having another look at this place the next time the heather’s been burnt away, enabling us to find out more about its nature and function.

…And if you walk west down the slight slope, over the couple of small drainage-ditch streams (which they really should stop cutting into our moorlands) and then up the slight slope towards the trackway, stopping some 20 yards before it, you’ll find you’ve walked right into the middle of a previously undiscovered Bronze Age enclosure, or settlement: the Dumpit Hill enclosure.  It’s pretty impressive aswell! (more on that in due course)

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
  2. Ramm, H.G., “Yorkshire Archaeological Register, 1964,” in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, part 163, 1965.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Huge thanks again to Dave Hazell, Paul Hornby and Michala Potts in seeking out & helping with this and the adjacent sites!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Dumpit Hill A, Hebden, Grassington, North Yorkshire

Stone Circle:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0299 6399

  1. Hebden Stone Circle
  2. MYD4403

Getting Here

Main stone in this circle

From Grassington, head east along the B6265 road for a mile or so, thru the hamlet of Hebden and, once up the hill on the other side of the village, take the track up your left and walk up until the land just about levels out and the moorland opens up on the right-hand side of the track.  If you’ve got the trackway which takes you to Scar Top House on your left (where the walling breaks), head straight into the heather and walk about 150 yards NE, keeping your eyes peeled for a singular upright, less than 3ft high.  Once here, check the small overgrown ring you should be stood in!

Archaeology & History

A relatively small site that can be difficult to see when the moorland heather’s in full growth — but it’s in a lovely setting, with a hidden view of the hills for nearly 360°, yet quietly hidden from prying eyes until you’re all but upon the place.  Although it has a likely Bronze Age pedigree (it aint yet been excavated), it was ignored by the confines of written history until Arthur Raistrick brought it back to life in a brief note in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal of 1965 when Mr H.G. Ramm told what he’d found, described it simply as,

“32ft in diameter, 5 stones still stand leaving spaces where other stones have been taken for walling.  A large stone is flat at the centre.”

Alignment east: ring, outlier, human, hill!

And that’s that!  No doubt the remarks about some stones taken from here to be used in some walling were told Raistrick by a local, but he says no more about this.

The main feature to see in this small ring is the flattish, wide upright, less than three-feet high, on the eastern side.  A smaller upright stands in half-boggy Juncus grasses as you spin round towards the north, with a smaller stone laid on the ground in between.  Originally it appears there were at least eight standing stones making up this circle.  If you walk around it you’ll make out several of the other stones laid down.  About 30 yards due east of the tallest upright in the ring is another small outlying standing stone.  And, less than 100 yards northeast from this outlier, we come across the equally small, little-known stone circle of Dumpit Hill B

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
  2. Dixon, John & Phillip, Journeys through Brigantia: volume 2 – Walks in Ribblesdale, Malhamdale and Central Wharfedale, Aussteiger: Barnoldwick 1990.
  3. Raistrick, Arthur, Prehistoric Yorkshire, Dalesman: Clapham 1972.
  4. Ramm, H.G., “Yorkshire Archaeological Register, 1964,” in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, part 163, 1965.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Line Stone, Skyreholme, Appletreewick, North Yorkshire

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0732 6251

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.401 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Skyreholme 401 carving (photo © Richard Stroud)
Skyreholme 401 carving (photo © Richard Stroud)

Along the B6265 Pateley Bridge-Grassington road, roughly halfway between Stump Cross Caverns and the turn down to Skyreholme and Appletreewick (New Lane) is a dirt-track on your right-hand side called Black Hill Road. Walk along here for a few hundred yards till y’ reach the gate on the right. A track meanders downhill to the psilocybin-rich pastures of Nussey Green. Several hundred yards down, to the right-hand side of the track, we find this stone and its several nearby companions. Look around – you’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

I like this carving — I think because of the initial impression it gave, which was one of numeracy and linearity: an unusual quality for a cup-and-ring stone. Those of you with an astronomical or mathematical slant may have a similar response.

Line Stone Carving, Skyreholme
Line Stone Carving, Skyreholme

The stone was first described in one of Stuart Feather’s (1964) many short notices.  Its existence then remained dormant until it was eventually listed in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey on the West Riding rock-art, where they catalogued it as ‘stone no.401.’  The carving comprises of two parallel lines—one quite deep—with cup-marks at either end; one of the lines having another 2 cups along it. A third line at an angle has one or two cups along it aswell.  Several other single cups scatter the rock (forgive my crap drawing of it!).

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
  2. Feather, Stuart, ‘Appletreewick (WR),’ in Yorkshire Archaeology Journal 41, 1964.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Skyreholme Wall Stone, Appletreewick, North Yorkshire

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0772 6231

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.413 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Skyreholme Wall Carving
Skyreholme Wall Carving (after Boughey & Vickerman)

Various ways here, but for the sake of newcomers I’d say it was best following directions from Burnsall.  From here, take the Appletreewick road thru the village, past the left turn a few hundred yards along, and another 500 yards or so there’s a split in the road: take the one on your right!  Follow this up, keeping right (don’t turn into Perceval Hall, tempting though it may be!) and park-up where the road turns into a track.  Walk up the track, past the haunted junction, bearing left uphill up Black Hill Road until you reach the very peak of the track where, in the walling on your left, you’ll see this big boulder.  If you can’t see it, you’re bloody close!

Archaeology & History

This is at the very peak of Black Hill Road, with excellent views of Simon’s Seat climbing to the immediate south, the prominent and rounded Nursery Knot Hill immediately north, and grand views to peaks east and west. It is very likely this position had something to do with it being deemed worthy of relevance.  The rock itself defines a point along the old boundary line.

Skyreholme Wall Boundary carving
Skyreholme Wall Boundary carving

One peculiarity on this boulder is the deep cup-mark with a strange ‘lip’ to it, which has been mentioned by others in the past.  This is surrounded by at least five others cups — not dissimilar to some of the ‘rosary-designs’ of cup-and-rings further north.

The rock art student’s Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) drawing of this design is pretty accurate — where they call it stone 413 — though it doesn’t actually give this carving the justice it deserves.  They also erroneously tell that some of the cups here are doubtful.

Check it out for y’self.  This is an excellent stone for cup-and-ring lovers! (with plenty of other sites scattered about all round here)

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Simon’s Seat, Skyreholme, North Yorkshire

Sacred Hill:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0788 5981

Getting Here

Simon’s Seat in the centre & the Lord’s Seat immediately east

Tons of ways here.   To those who drive, take the Grassington-Pateley Bridge (B6265) road and a couple of miles past the village of Hebden, you’ll see the high rocks climbing on your southern horizon, with another group of rocks a few hundred yards along the same ridge.  That’s it!

Archaeology & History

This is an awesome site, full of raw power. It commands a brilliant view all round, but it is the north which truly draws the eye’s attention. Beneath the great drop of this huge outcrop is the haunted and legendary Troller’s Ghyll. The scent of as yet undisclosed neolithic and Bronze Age sites purrs from the moors all round you and there can be little doubt that this was a place of important magick in ancient days.

What seems to be several cup-markings on one of the topmost rocks are, to me, authentic. Harry Speight mentioned them in his 1892 work on the Craven and Northwest Yorkshire Highlands – but there are a number of other rocks in this giant outcrop with “possibles” on them.

Folklore

The name of this great rock outcrop has long been a puzzle to historians and place-name experts.  One tale that was told of Simon’s Seat to the travelling pen of one Frederic Montagu in 1838, told that,

“It was upon the top of this mountain that an infant was found by a shepherd, who took it to his home, and after feeding and clothing it, he had the child named Simon; being himself but a poor man, he was unable to maintain the foundling, when it was ultimately agreed to by the shepherds, that the child should be kept “amang ’em.”  The child was called Simon Amangham and the descendants of this child are now living in Wharfedale.”

The usually sober pen of Mr Speight thinks this to have been one the high places of druidic worship, named after the legendary Simon Druid. “It is however, hardly likely,” he wrote, “that he ever sat there himself, but was probably represented by some druidical soothsayer on whom his mystic gifts descended.”

I’ve gotta say, I think there’s something distinctly true about those lines. Visit this place a few times, alone, during the week, or at night – when there’s no tourists about – and tell me it isn’t…

References:

  1. Bogg, Edmund, Higher Wharfeland, James Miles: Leeds 1904.
  2. Montagu, Frederic, Gleanings in Craven, Simpkin Marshall: London 1838.
  3. Speight, Harry, The Craven and Northwest Yorkshire Highlands, Elliott Stock: London 1892.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Nursery Knot, Appletreewick Moor, North Yorkshire

Sacred Hill:  OS Grid Reference – SE 081 636

Also known as:

  1. Nursa Knott
  2. Nursery Hill

Getting Here

Dead easy.  Follow the Grassington-Pateley Bridge road (B6265) east and about 2 miles past Hebden village, the craggy hill rises to the left-hand side of the road, as you can see in the photo below.  Simple!

Archaeology & History

Nursery Knott hill
Nursery Knott hill

When fellow rock-art freaks Graeme Chappell, Richard Stroud and I were exploring the cup-and-ring stones in the area just south of here a few years back, this hill kept calling out with some repeated awe. “There’s summat about that place,” were the remarks we kept saying – but we could never put our finger on it. (still haven’t if truth be had!).  Between here and the awesome Simon’s Seat to the south, a whole panoply of neolithic and Bronze Age remains scatter the land — and if ritual landscape has any validity, this hill is undoubtedly enmeshed in the mythic framework of such a paradigm. But without any folklore I didn’t feel right to include it here…

At the northern or rear-end of this great outcrop (SE 082 640) is a scattering of many boulders, one of which in particular at Knot Head was explored by a Mr Gill in 1955 and found to have a number of Mesolithic worked flints all round it. Seems as if folk have been up to things round here for even longer than we first thought.  Microlith or flint-hunters would probably do well on the moors up here!

Folklore

It’s the old pen of our Yorkshire topographer Edmund Bogg which brings the lost folktale of this place back to life – and it’s typical of aboriginal creation myths from elsewhere in the world. In his Higher Wharfeland he had this to say of old ‘Nursa Knott’, as it was locally known:

“The old legend is that the devil, for some reason anxious to fill up Dibb Gill,* was carrying these ponderous crags in his apron when, stumbling over Nursa Knott, the strings broke and the crags fell. Legend also says, should the crags be removed they will be carried by some invisible power back to their original position.”

He then reminds us of links with old Wade, plus the settlement of old Grim, a short distance to the north.

Across the road down the track running south to Skyreholme, Jessica Lofthouse ( 1976) told the tale of a ghostly horseman, seen by her great-grandfather no less! Suggesting he may have been ‘market merry’ (i.e., pissed!), she told how he “struck out at a spectral white horse at the Skyreholme three-land ends near Appletreewick – and his stick passed through it!”

References:

  1. Bogg, E., Higher Wharfeland: The Dale of Romance, James Miles: Leeds 1904.
  2. Lofthouse, Jessica, North Country Folklore, Hale: London 1976.
  3. Walker, D., ‘A Site at Stump Cross, near Grassington, Yorkshire, and the Age of the Pennine Microlithic Industry,’ in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1956.

* Dibb Gill is nearly a mile due west of here – and Dibble’s Bridge which crosses the beck was also known as the Devil’s Bridge, with a few typical creation myths of its own attached.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian