North Yorkshire

Snowden Carr (570a), Timble, North Yorkshire

29/09/202430/09/2024 megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 1777 5128

From the Askwith Moor car-park (SE 1757 5067), walk along the road north for a few hundred yards until you reach the gate on your right and head through the heather to the Death’s Head carving. From here walk in a northwesterly direction up the gentle slope for 50-60 yards and, before reaching its crown, keep your eyes peeled for a low flat stone with a curvaceous crack running roughly halfway across it. If the heather’s deep, you might not have a cat in hell’s chance of finding it!

Archaeology & History

This carving isn’t much to look at on two levels: i) it’s a pretty simplistic design with no rings, and (ii) it’s very faint and almost impossible to see until the light is just right—except for one of the cups, which itself might be natural (there are a few like that amidst the Askwith complex). It’s very much a carving for the purists among you, as I always say. Nonetheless, for the record:

The most notable element is the single “cup mark” on the more easterly section of the stone, on one side of the natural crack. It catches your eye and is what makes you give the stone a little more attention, although I couldn’t make up my mind whether this was Nature’s handiwork or humans. It may be a bit of both. On the other side the crack we can see a small group of very faint eroded cup-marks — just! What seems to be three of them cluster in a small triangle formation, but one of these may be natural (tis hard to say for sure), with another isolated cup closer to the crack, and a final one further to the outer edge of the stone. All are very faint but stood out when the sun was low on our recent visit here. Give it your attention when you’re next having a look at the settlement and cairnfield close by.

Snowden Carr, Askwith Moor, North Yorkshire

27/09/202429/09/2024 megalithix

Ring Cairn: OS Grid Reference – SE 1786 5129

Getting Here

From the Askwith Moor car-park (SE 1757 5067), walk along the road north for several hundred yards and go through the gate on your right. Head northeast through the heather to the Death’s Head carving and keep along the same direction for barely another hundred yards onto the ever-so-slight crown of a small hillock. This is a hut circle you’re standing in/on. A few yards away just to the southeast of where you’re standing is the very denuded remains of this ring cairn.

Archaeology & History

Not visible when the heather’s in full growth, it’s nonetheless worth visiting if you’re trying to get a picture of the prehistoric landscape hereby. Less than 10 yards southeast of the notable hut circle on the small crown of a hill, it was first noticed by Sarah Walker on a group visit here recently. Roughly 12 yards across, the most notable section of the circle is the remains of the rubble bank on its east and southeastern sides, raised a few feet above ground level. The majority of the monument comprises of a scatter of various rocks and small stones within and round the edges of the circle. There’s a lot of scattering from other adjacent remains, such as the hut circle and nearby walling, that give the initial impression of it being little more than a spurious mess of stone; but the more you walk around and inside it, the more you come to recognize its structure.

It has that Bronze Age hallmark look about it, but without an excavation this is just educated guesswork. It might actually be older. The widespread mass of prehistoric remains all round here shows that it was once a mass of activity in prehistoric times. It’s a brilliant area, even if you can’t find this particular site!

Hornbeam Farm, Harrogate, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone (destroyed?): OS Grid Reference – SE 314 537

Archaeology & History

The chances of this carving still being alive, so to speak, are pretty slim. It was reported by a Mr. Sullivan to the old Yorkshire petroglyph researcher Stuart Feather back in 1965, in the days when English archaeologists didn’t really give a shit about rock art. Sad but true. The carving was found in the grounds of what used to be the ICI Fibres Research Centre, in the present landscape of Hornbeam Business Park, a hundred yards or more west of Hookstone Beck. According to Feather’s report, the carving consisted of “a single-ringed cup and a groove” surrounding “two short pecked grooves and a meandering groove leading off,” all with clear signs of being pecked and carved in the old-school manner. All trace of the carving has vanished and it was probably destroyed by the Industrialists. (the grid-reference to this site is an approximation)

Snowden Carr (566a), Timble, North Yorkshire

27/09/202427/09/2024 megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 17724 51258

Getting Here

Easiest way is to park up at the Askwith Moor car-park spot, turn right and walk along the road for about 350 yards until you reach the gate on the right (not the one across the road!). You then need to head to the Death Head’s Stone carving about 450 yards across the moor to the east. It’s pretty conspicuous. From here, walk through the heather 80-odd yards northwest. You’ll walk past some extensive rubble walling (whose nature yet eludes us) before you get there.

Archaeology & History

Discovered recently by Sarah Walker on a venture to see the extensive settlement and graveyard around Snowden Crags, this petroglyph is a simple basic design cut into a relatively large flat stone just above ground level. Found less than 100 yards east of the dubious Snowden Carr (565) carving, there are two large cup-marks on this one: one of them is an inch deep and two-inches across and may originally have been geophysical in nature, but has subsequently been worked by human hands. To its side is another much fainter and shallower cup-mark about the same width. On some photos there’s what appears to be a very faint large ring surrounding the faint cup, but until visits are made at low sun and the stone brushed with water, we cannot be sure whether it’s real or just a trick of the light. There may be more cups on this stone beneath the peat. We didn’t brush it all off.

Some 30-40 yards to the east is the rubble of an extensive prehistoric man-made structure, the nature of which has yet to be discerned. The Snowden Moor cairnfield begins immediately to the northwest, with the first tomb barely 50 yards away.

The Hagg, Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire

26/07/202426/07/2024 megalithix

Tumulus (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SE 6803 8695

Also Known as:

Robin Hood’s Howl

Archaeology & History

There once stood a very impressive prehistoric burial mound here, a few hundred yards east of the roadside, just above the wooded valley known curiously as Robin Hood’s Howl. Highlighted on the 1856 Ordnance Survey map as an elongated structure, it was suggested in McDonnell’s (1963) work to have been a long barrow, measuring roughly 70 feet long by 50 feet across and more than six feet in height. It was seemingly written about for the first time by William Eastmead (1824) in his lengthy history of the area and was, he told,

“a tumulus of considerable dimensions (that) was lately opened at a place called the Hag, about a mile northwest of Kirkby-Moorside, in which was found an urn… Great numbers of human bones were also dug out…; and from the immense size of it, a great number of bodies appear to have been burnt indiscriminately, and the ashes of some particular person deposited in the urn.”

The urn would seem to have been either lost or destroyed—as has the tumulus. It was apparently still intact, albeit very denuded, twenty years ago, but has since been ploughed out.

References:

Eastmead, William, Historia Rievallensis: containing the history of Kirkby Moorside, R. Peat: Thirsk 1824.
McDonnell, J. (ed.), History of Helmsley, Rievaulx and District, Stonegate: York 1963.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Almscliffe Crag carving, North Rigton, North Yorkshire

28/05/202428/05/2024 megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 26777 48952

Also Known as:

Ormscliffe Crags

Getting Here

This is an outstanding site visible for miles around in just about every direction – so getting here is easy! If you’re coming from Harrogate, south down the A658, turn right and go thru North Rigton. Ask a local. If you’re coming north up the A658 from the Leeds or Bradford area, do exactly the same! (either way, you’ll see the crags rising up from some distance away) As you walk to the main crags, instead of going to the huge central mass, you need to follow the line of walling down (south) to the extended cluster of much lower sloping rocks. Look around and you’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

On the evening of May 27, 2024, I received a phone call from a Mr James Elkington of Otley. He was up Almscliffe Crags and the wind was howling away in the background, taking his words away half the time, breaking the sentences into piecemeal fragments. But through it all came a simple clarity: as the sun was setting and the low light cut across the rocky surface, a previously unrecorded cup-and-ring design emerged from the stone and was brought to the attention of he and his compatriot Mackenzie Erichs. All previous explorations for rock art here over the last 150 years had proved fruitless—until now!

On the east-facing slope of the stone, just below the curvaceous wind-and-rain hewn shapes at the very top of the boulder, is a singular archetypal cup-and-ring. It’s faint, as the photos show, but it’s definitely there. What might be another cup-and-ring is visible slightly higher up the sloping face, but the site needs looking at again when lighting conditions are just right! (you can just about make it out in one of the photos) But, at long last, this giant legend-infested mass of Almscliffe has its prehistoric animistic fingerprint, bearing fruit and giving watch to the countless heathen activities going back centuries. Rombald’s wife Herself might have been the mythic artist of this very carving! (if you want to read about the many legends attached to the major Almscliffe rock outcrop, check out the main entry for Almscliffe Crags)

References:

Bennett, Paul, “Almscliffe Crags, North Rigton,” Northern Antiquarian 2010.

High Sleets, Hawkswick, North Yorkshire

21/04/202424/04/2024 megalithix

Enclosure: OS Grid Reference – SD 95415 69019

Getting Here

Going along the B6160 road from Grassington to Kettlewell and taking the little road to Arncliffe on your left just a few hundred yards past Kilnsey Crags, after ¾ of a mile keep your eyes peeled for the small parking spot on the left-side of the road, with the steep rocky stream that leads up to the Sleet Gill Cave. Walk up this steep slope, following the same directions to reach the Sleets Gill Top enclosure. From here you’ll notice a large gap in the rocky crags about 200 yards WSW that you can walk through. On the other side of this gap, along a small footpath about another 200 yards along you’ll reach a large ovoid rock. Just before this, on your right, is a long rocky rise with distinct drystone walling below it. That’s the spot!

Archaeology & History

Encircling a slightly sloping area of ground that stretches out beneath a long line of limestone crags is this notable walled enclosure running almost the full length of the rocky ridge. Measuring 40 yards (36m) in length by 10 yards (9m) across at its greatest width, this elongated rectangular enclosure has all attributes of being Iron Age in origin, much like many others in this area. However, in comparison with the others close by, this is a pretty small construction and—if used for human habitation, as is likely—would have housed only two or three families.

Within the enclosure itself, near its western end, we find an internal line of walling that creates a single room: enough for a single family, or perhaps even where animals were kept. Only an excavation would tell us for sure.

One notable interesting feature exists roughly halfway along the enclosure, up against the crag itself: here is small man-made stone “cupboard” of sorts, akin to some modern pantry. You’ll get an idea of it in the photo. At first I wondered if this would have been a sleeping space, but, unless it was where a shaman liked to encase him/herself inside a domestic household cave (highly improbable), it would have served a simple pragmatic function. Make up your own mind.

I liked this place. It’s surrounded by crags on almost all sides with some ancient spirit-infested rocky hills very close by, giving it a beautiful ambience. Immediately below the enclosure is what looks to be a large dried-up pool, which was probably well stocked with fish. A perfect living environment. Check it out!

References:

Raistrick, Arthur, Prehistoric Yorkshire, Dalesman: Clapham 1964.

Sleets Gill Top, Hawkswick, North Yorkshire

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Enclosure: OS Grid Reference – SD 95735 69145

Getting Here

Go up the B6160 road from Grassington to Kettlewell and just a few hundred yards past the famous Kilnsey Crags, take the little road to Arncliffe on your left. After ¾ of a mile, keep your eyes peeled for the small parking spot on the left-side of the road, with the steep rocky stream that leads up to the Sleet Gill Cave. Walk up to the cave, then keep going up the same steep slope to the wall/fence above. You can get over the wooden fence and keep following the wall until it just about levels out nearly 200 yards up. From here, walk 100 yards to your right where the land rises up and you’re at the edge of the walled enclosure. Look around.

Archaeology & History

On top of a small rise in the land is this large, roughly rectangular walled enclosure measuring about 55 yards across at its longest axis (roughly WNW to ESE) and averaging 24 yards wide. The walling is pretty low down and, in some areas (mainly on its eastern edges) almost disappears beneath the vegetation—but you can still make it out – just! The southernmost edge of the enclosure is built upon a the edge of a natural rocky outcrop (typical of many enclosure and settlement sites in this neck o’ the woods) and when you stand on this section you see a very distinct rectangular enclosure, sloping down from here. This would likely have been where animals were kept as it makes no sense as a human living quarter due it being on a slope. But below this, where the land levels out, another low line of ancient walling reaches towards the high modern walls. This is one of three lines of ancient walling running, roughly parallel to the more modern walls (which themselves may have an Iron Age origin) from the main enclosure.

The entire structure is Iron Age in origin, but the site would have been in continual use throughout the Romano-British period and possibly even into early medieval centuries (though only an excavation would confirm that). Its basic architecture is replicated in the many other prehistoric settlements that still exist on the hills all round here (there are dozens of them). You’ll see this clearly when you visit the High Sleets enclosure less than 400 yards southwest from here.

References:

Raistrick, Arthur, Prehistoric Yorkshire, Dalesman: Clapham 1964.

Cat Nab, Brotton, North Yorkshire

19/02/202419/02/2024 megalithix

Tumulus (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – NZ 6692 2154

Archaeology & History

This long lost burial mound was first located by the local antiquarian William Hornsby in the early 20th century. It had been constructed close to the summit of the prominent rise of Cat Nab, immediately east above Saltburn. Its position was shown on the 1930 OS-map of the area. Destroyed by quarrying, it was thankfully excavated by Hornsby in 1913; and although his finds were never published, he left notes which told us that,

“there were two cremations and the sherds of at least three vessels: a collared urn, a pygmy cup and a vessel with an everted rim.” (Crawford 1980)

Crawford (1980) told that these finds could been seen in the Middlesborough Collection.

References:

Crawford, G.M., Bronze Age Burial Mounds in Cleveland, Cleveland County Council 1980.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Way Hagg, West Ayton Moor, North Yorkshire

18/01/202419/01/2024 megalithix

Cup-Marked Stones (lost): OS Grid Reference – SE 9657 8840

Archaeology & History

In the autumn of 1848, antiquarian John Tissiman (1850) and his associates took to uncovering two burial mounds amidst a large cluster of them on the eastern edge of West Ayton Moor. This one at Way Hagg was quite a big fella, measuring 36 yards across. When they cut into its northern edge towards the centre, 8-10 feet in, they came across an upright stone, nearly two feet high, on which five cup-marks had been cut. (see sketch, no.2) Slightly beyond this were three other stones (in sketch, nos.1, 3 & 4), each with cup-marks on them, beneath which was a tall urn. Whether or not the carvings had been deliberately positioned to cover the urn, we do not know. Nonetheless, we can be reasonably assured that these petroglyphs had some mythic association with death when they were placed here.

Tissiman gave us the following detailed measurements of the respective carvings:

“1: Nearly even surface. Length, from 16 to 18 inches; breadth, 10 to 20 ditto; depth, 8 to 9 ditto; with large oval hole cut in the centre, 7½ inches long, 4 inches broad, and 3½ inches in depth. On the opposite side are three holes, from 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and from 1 inch to 1½ deep. 2: Uneven surface. Length, 23 inches; breadth, 14 inches; depth, 13 inches; with five holes, from l½ to 3½ inches in diameter, and 1 to 1½ inches in depth. 3: Uneven surface. Length, 33 inches; breadth, 22 inches; depth, 10 inches, with four holes, the largest being 4½ inches in diameter and 3 inches deep; the others, from 1½ inches to 2 inches in diameter, and 1 to 1½ inches deep. 4: Uneven surface. Length, 27 inches; breadth, 23½ inches; depth, 10 inches, with 13 holes, from 1½ inches to 5 inches in diameter, and ¾ of an inch to 3 inches in depth; also three lines at the end of the stone.”

The carvings were included in Brown & Chappell’s (2005) fine survey, but they weren’t able to find out what happened to them after Tissiman’s excavation. They remain lost. If anyone has any information as to where they might be, please let us know.

References:

Brown, Paul & Chappell, Graeme, Prehistoric Rock Art in the North York Moors, Tempus: Stroud 2005.
Tissiman, John, “Report on Excavations in Barrows, in Yorkshire,” in Journal British Archaeological Association, April 1850.

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.