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!

Rudston Monolith, East Yorkshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – TA 09803 67740

Getting Here

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.

Royston’s 1873 drawing
Rudson Monolith (Louise Hutchinson 1988)

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:

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

© Ray Spencer, The Northern Antiquarian 2011


Great Stone of Fourstones, Lowgill, North Yorkshire

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Legendary Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SD 66972 66292

Also Known as:

  1. Big Stone
  2. Four Stones

Getting Here

The Great Stone of Fourstones

From near the middle of the large village (or small town!) of High Bentham, go down Station Road, over the river — where the road becomes known as Thickrash Brow! — and keep going for about a mile.  The landscape opens up into the hills and there, on the left-hand side of the road, is a car-parking spot with a footpath taking you straight up to the large boulder a 100 yards on: that’s our Great Stone!  You can’t really miss it.

Archaeology & History

Great Stone on 1847 map

A meeting place of local tribes in more ancient days, the moorland plain upon which the Great Stone sits, beckons to a vast landscape on all quarters (north, south, east and west) calling the elders from their lands for annual rites and decisions to befit the health of the land and the people.  The stone rests on the ancient boundary of Yorkshire and Lancashire, just on the Yorkshire side, and was visited annually in more later centuries during the beating of the bounds, to define the edges of the local township.

Graffiti & cup-marks on the top

First described in a Yorkshire inquisition account from 1307, this Big Stone was visited by Harry Speight (1892) who described it as measuring 30 feet round and 12 feet high.  I came here for the first time in the 1980s when I was hitch-hiking into the Scottish mountains, but a good old “local” (from the Yorkshire side) took a detour to show me the place!  Once here, I climbed up the very worn “steps” which were carved into the side of the boulder several centuries back and it didn’t surprise me to find a number of cup-markings (no discernible rings) on its top surface.  When I came here again with Michala Potts and Paul Hornby yesterday, I couldn’t believe how many people had carved their names on top of the Great Stone in the intervening years — it’s almost covered in modern graffiti and the old cup-markings were much harder to see.  Taylor (1906) mentions them briefly in his holy wells survey, saying how,

“This great boulder is ascended on its eastern side by fourteen steps, and on the top are two circular holes about two inches deep and two inches in diameter.”

There used to be three others boulders very close to this one (hence its title), making a natural stone circle, but they were “broken up for sharpening scythes” a couple of hundred years back.  A much wider archaeological survey of this region is long overdue.

Folklore

Great Stone, looking east

Harry Speight (1892) told how the (original) Four Stones were the creation of our old friend the Devil, long ago, who dropped them in one his many megalithic travels across our land. The stones were also the meeting place of ancient councils, from the tribes either side of the Yorkshire-Lancashire border. Their presence here also had mythic relationship with the Queen of the Fairies Chair, about a mile southeast, along the same boundary line.

Weird how folklore changes. Whilst old Mr Speight told how the devil created the once great four stones that were here, many years later Jessica Lofthouse (1976) told how the three missing stones – which had been here “since the world began” – were actually taken from here by Old Nick. Carrying them over the land,

“His load he dropped on Casterton Fell, where the rocks he discarded, the Devil’s Apronful, are still lying around. He selected the most suitable, dressed them and carried them in panniers down to the (River) Lune”

— and built the legendary Devil’s Bridge at Kirkby Lonsdale – which itself has strange tales to tell.  Another creation myth about the Great Stone is told on the plaque near the stone, alongside the footpath, which tells:

“Legend has it that it is a small part of the debris hurled by the giant Finn McCool across the Irish Sea in a fit of anger.”

It’s very obvious that a lotta mythic landscape material has been neglected and overlooked around this site.  Something we need to remedy, if we can, in the coming years…

References:

  1. Lofthouse, J., North Country Folklore, Hale: London 1976.
  2. Speight, Harry, The Craven and Northwest Yorkshire Highlands, Elliott Stock: London 1892.
  3. Taylor, Henry, The Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells of Lancashire, Sherratt & Hughes: Manchester 1906.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Fairy Stone, Clunbury, Shropshire

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Legendary Rock:  OS Grid Reference – SO 3723 7958

Also Known as:

  1. The Devil’s Stone

Archaeology & History

The Fairy Stone, on the south-west corner of Clunbury Hill, measures some 3ft by 2 ft 3 in and is some 2ft 6 in high.  Local lore tells that it was once a standing stone, but this may not be the case; it’s thought more likely to be a simple glacial erratic.  The stone is granite with quartz veins and stands very close to the local boundary line.

Folklore

Local researcher Jonathon Mullard found this stone, not surprisingly, to have “had a long tradition of fairy lights associated with it; they were said to appear at certain times of year.”  And Mullard found one very intriguing encounter of these supernatural forms, later narrated in Paul Devereux’s (1990) excellent tome, which told:

“The legend would seem to relate to actual folk knowledge of the site, because Mullard was informed by an elderly woman living locally that she recalled her grandfather telling of an encounter with the lights.  Returning home one evening across Clunbury Hill, he saw the whole area around the stone filled with small lights of a gaseous appearance bobbing up and down a short distance above the ground.  Not wanting to go out of his way, the man walked through them. He found that any lights he happened to touch against adhered to his trousers.  He briskly brushed them off, but found when he got home that the fabric was scorched.  The woman had actually kept the trousers up until a decade or so before talking with Mullard!”

References:

  1. Devereux, Paul, Places of Power, Blandford: London 1990.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Solar Stone, Askwith Moor, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 17738 51003

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.567 (Boughey & Vickerman)
  2. TV Stone

Getting Here

Stone at cairn edge

From the scruffy Askwith Moor lay-by car-park, along Askwith Moor road, follow the fence north up along the roadside until you reach the gate on your right.  Go thru this and head due west into the moor, towards the small cluster of other carved stones (carvings 581, 582, etc), particularly the Small Rings Stone (carving 579).  Around here, you’ll notice a cluster of about 10 mounds in the heather, which seem to be prehistoric cairns, and this particular stone rest against the northwestern side of one of them, about 30 yards west of carving 579.  If you’re patient, you’ll find it! (if you fancy a look at all these on the moor, gimme a shout & I’ll take you straight to ’em – but you need to make a booking!)

Archaeology & History

This carving takes a bitta finding amidst the mass of deep heather and open moorland and is probably only gonna be of interest to real cup-and-ring fanatics.  But it’s the setting which makes it more intriguing — for me anyhow!

Trying to highlight the internal CnR
Solar Stone carving

Like other carvings on this moorland, we find it in direct association with a prehistoric tomb (though it aint been excavated), resting up against the edge of one.  However, it seems to have been moved from its original position and may, perhaps, have actually faced the other way at some time in the past.  We might never know.  However, some student in the recent past saw fit to name this small carving the ‘TV Stone’, thanks to the slightly cronky outline of an old television screen, with its small half-cup-and-ring near the bottom corner of the rock.  You can see where they were coming from!

Boughey & Vickerman (2003) made only a brief note of the stone, seeing only the cup-and-half-ring here; but there seems to be a faint cup-marking near the middle of their TV screen, along with faded evidence of an incomplete ring around it.  You can just about make it out in the poor photos we took of it. (sadly, we were without water when we visited it, which would have highlighted the additional cup-and-slight ring more clearly)

Close-up of cup-and-half-ring

We gave this stone the title ‘Solar Stone’* as it seems more appropriate and would certainly have more mythic relevance to the people who carved this.  The curious natural ring, or TV outline, running round most of the stone (with the faded cup-and-part-ring near its centre) may have been attached with more animistic attributes than us moderns tend to give things — children notwithstanding!  Circular forms in Nature have universal tendencies in more traditional cultures with such heavenly bodies as sun or moon, which might have been relevant here with the stones association with a tomb.

…Again, we might never know…

References:

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

* though did debate in somewhat primitive northern lingo: “Ugh – errr…solar? lunar? Ey? — Solar? Lunar?” uttering the same queried mantra numerous times between ourselves till we got tired and stuck with ‘solar’, as seems common these days (though I preferred ‘lunar’, it’s gotta be told!).

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

 


Foldys Cross, Towneley, Burnley, Lancashire

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Cross:  OS Grid Reference – SD 8523 3066

Also Known as:

  1. Foldy’s Cross

Getting Here

To get to Towneley Park head to the south side of the town close to a junction of two roads heading towards Todmorden and Bacup, from here the park and hall are signposted. The old cross stands 300 metres south-west of Townley Hall in the centre of some pathways leading in the direction of Todmorden road (the A671).

Archaeology & History

Foldys Cross, Burnley (Taylor, 1906)

Foldy’s Cross is a tall slender monument on a carved circular pedestal which sits upon a set of seven square-shaped steps. It dates from 1520 when it stood at the south side of St Peter’s parish church, Burnley. It was set up to commemorate a chaplain of St Peter’s church by the name of John Foldy or Foldys, and was then the town’s market cross or St Peter’s churchyard cross. In 1780 it was badly damaged by a Puritan mob, but the Towneley family rescued it and had it brought to their estate where it was repaired in a haphazard way and placed at the north-eastern side of the hall on the Avenue. In 1911 Burnley Borough Council had the cross completely restored for its Jubilee Year celebrations with various sandstone pieces added to replace sections of the cross including the plinth and set of seven steps – which are thought to be an exact copy of the original ones. The cross was then placed in its current position 300 metres to the south-east of Towneley Hall at an intersection of footpaths leading towards Todmorden road.

The original design of Foldy’s Cross was of the Gothic style which can be seen in the cross-head. It is made of sandstone and has an octagonal shaft with a moulded plinth with sunken panels. These panels contain lettering in the Gothic script. The cross-head is very nice with its decorated four arms, one of which is sunk into the shaft to support the head itself; this appears to be the original moulded head or cap with nicely carved emblems and fleurons on the collar – all typically Gothic in style. In the middle of the cross-head is a rather crude crucifix scene and on the other side the letters “IHS”. On the plinth the inscription reads in Latin:

‘Orate pro anima Johannes Foldys, capellani qui istam crucem fieri fecit Anno Domini MCCCCCXX’

— which when translated reads as, “Pray for the soul of John Foldys, chaplain who caused this cross to be made in the year of Our Lord 1520”.

The cross is now grade II listed and the English Heritage Building identity number is 467232.

References:

  1. Peace, Richard, The Curiosities of England – Lancashire Curiosities, The Dovecot Press Ltd 1997.
  2. Taylor, Henry, The Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells of Lancashire, Sherratt & Hughes: Manchester 1906.

© Ray Spencer, 2011


St. Peter’s Cross, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

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Cross:  OS Grid Reference – SJ 8792 4521

Getting Here

Drawing of carved cross shaft (© Ray Spencer)

From the centre of Stoke head west onto Glebe Street and just a couple of hundred yards or so south of the town hall is the minster church of St Peter Ad Vincula (St. Peter in Chains). Go into the large graveyard and there the ancient Saxon cross-shaft stands behind some modern iron railings. There are many other things of interest to see in the churchyard, including some old arches and monuments / gravestones in memory of some famous potters that made Stoke famous during the industrial revolution.

Archaeology & History

The Mercian cross-shaft stands 4 feet high on a 19th century square, socketed lump of stone. It is said to date from about AD 1000 when it was in use as a preaching cross, but could in fact be from earlier than that according to some local historians – perhaps it was originally a Christianized stone. The first Saxon settlement at Stoke (Stoiche) was said to date from c 800 AD. The cylindrical shaped shaft was discovered in 1876 by a gravedigger who spotted it being used as a door lintel inside the old church which was being demolished to make way for a newer church building. During its recovery the shaft broke in two so it was placed in storage, but in 1935 it was formally identified by Mr Charles Lynam who had it restored and re-erected in the churchyard.

Sadly the shaft is quite badly eroded with the carvings on one side being difficult to make out, but the front face has interlacing and scroll-work; there is some key-patterning on the sides and reverse side along with a series or section of small holes – these perhaps done in more recent times. The break across the middle of the shaft can still be seen today, but that does not detract from its great antiquity, the ancient monument being carefully restored. On the base there is an inscription that reads:

‘This fragment of a pre-Norman cross identified by Chas Lynam F.S.A. was re-erected near to its original position in the 25th year of the reign of H.M. King George V by P.W.L.Adams F.S.A.’

The cross-shaft is a Grade II listed monument.

References:

  1. Pickford, Doug., Staffordshire – Its Magic & Mystery, Sigma Press Wilmslow, Cheshire 1994.

© Ray Spencer, 2011


Grimeford Cross, Adlington, Lancashire

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Cross:  OS Grid Reference – SD 6200 1284

Also Known as:

  1. Headless Cross

Archaeology & History

Within the Harris Museum, Preston can be found the Upper section of a pre-Conquest stone ‘cross’. Though much damaged on three of its sides the main face displays the upper section of a horned-helmeted figure holding a sword before it. The spreading horns suggest an important figure from the Viking period in Lancashire (c.900). This large and important piece of sculpture was found during the construction of Rivington reservoir on the River Yarrow near the village of Grimeford, Anderton in the 19th century.

Also found at that time during the reservoir construction was the lower section of a ‘cross’ shaft. This shaft is decorated on all four sides with carvings which include: the figure of a man from the waist down; a trellis filled with geometrical ornamentation of horizontal and vertical straight lines repeated to form a band known as a fret; a modified version of T-fret; and a combination of vine scroll and frets. The top of the shaft serves as the base for what is possibly a post medieval sundial base which has been adapted for use as a direction stone with directions to “Preston, Wiggan, Boulton, and Blagburn” (spelled as on the stone) being carved on the sides.  I would suggest that the two fragments are parts of the same monolith and may even depict the Viking Gunnolf (the latter being my own fancy).  This headless ‘cross’ is sited at the junction on the old road near the Millstone pub in Anderton and Grimeford Lane on the way to Rivington (SD 618 130). The stone is known as the ‘Grimeford Headless Cross’ or more locally as the ‘Headless Boggart’.

Folklore

Legend has it that there used to be a chapel near the junction and a tunnel running to a nearby farm on a hill. In the 16th century shortly before troops came to destroy the chapel, a priest hid in the tunnel and became trapped underground. His body was never found. Many people are said to have seen a ghost at the Headless Cross.

Addenda

To complement John’s entry, here are Mr Taylor’s notes written more than a hundred years ago in his Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells (1906), where he told:

“The HEADLESS CROSS — These words appear on the ordnance maps at a hilly spot in the extreme south-eastern corner of the hundred, five hundred feet above sea level, and distant one mile from the village of Adlington and about the same distance north from Blackrod.  Both villages have histories going back into the far past… A ‘Windy Harbour’, near the cross, sufficiently indicates the breezy nature of the situation.  The well and the ancient stocks are shown in close proximity to the cross.  The remains of the stocks are still in existence.

“Respecting the Headless Cross and others in this locality, Mr J.W. Crompton of Rivington Hall, writes (February, 1899):

“‘In reply to your note, I never heard of any cross, ancient or modern, in Rivington proper.  There was a tenement known as Butter Cross. Possibly some ancient cross may have existed there, but I know of no record to it.  There used to be a Headless Cross in Anderton, but old Mr Ridgeway, of Ridgemont, removed it many years ago, when he had sporting rights rented in that township, and I believe and old road surveyor broke up a cross in Anglezark to repair his roads early in this century: his name was Gerrard.  Crosses seem to have been specially erected to warn people of dangerous moors they were about to cross, and as a call to prayer in this part of the country, they were frequent.’

“…The subjoined deed is printed in the Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey, circa 1184-1190:

‘Grant in frankalmoign from Ranulf Gogard and his heirs to God [and the canons of Cockersand] for the health of the souls of his mother and his wife Edith, of all the land from Fulford to the path which crosses Rascahay Brook, between Heath Charnock and Adlington, as it was marked out by the crosses and marks of the said canons; with comon right of Charnock, in wood and plain, feeding grounds and mast in all other liberties.'”

References:

  1. Taylor, Henry, The Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells of Lancashire, Sherratt & Hughes: Manchester 1906.

© John Dixon, 2010


Dean Church, Dean, Cumbria

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – NY 0708 2536

Getting Here

Photo & drawing of Dean’s cup-and-ring (after Beckensall 1992)

St Oswald’s church stands at the western edge of the village of Dean beside the road to Branthwaite. The village is located some 5 miles due south-west of Cockermouth and about 6 miles to the south-east of Workington.

Archaeology & History

In the nave of St Oswald’s church there is now housed a small sandstone boulder that has a well-defined central cup-mark around which are two large concentric rings, a third ring being left open – perhaps indicating a portal (gateway), and three other well defined cup-marks at the side of that, one of which has become almost adjoined to the other through erosion.

The boulder was ploughed up in a field at nearby Park Hill to the south-west of the village in 1918. It was then placed in the churchyard but, in recent times it was brought into the church for safety reasons.

References:

  1. Beckensall, Stan, Cumbrian Prehistoric Rock Art, Abbey Press: Hexham 1992.
  2. Beckensall, Stan, British Prehistoric Rock Art,Tempus: Stroud 1999.
  3. Beckensall, Stan, Prehistoric Rock Art in Cumbria, Tempus: Stroud 2002.

© Ray Spencer, 2011


Bleara Moor, Earby, Lancashire

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Tumulus:  OS Grid Reference – SD 9242 4539

Getting Here

To get here, take the same direction as to reach the Bleara Lowe tumulus, stopping a short distance away when you reach the large heap just by the walling where the moorland levels out.  Y’ can’t really miss it!

Archaeology & History

Bleara Moor tumulus

Found on the top of the slope above the Bleara Moor Cairnfield, this is quite a large burial mound that seems to have been forgotten on the small moorland heights above Earby and Lothersdale.  No archaeological excavation has been done here and there seem to be no accounts of any finds in local antiquarian records.  When we visited the place it was very overgrown and covered in heather, but it stood out in the open landscape.  Slightly larger than its more famous companion to the east, this tomb stands three- to four-feet high on average, with a diameter of around 25 yards on its longest northeast/southwest axis.  Consistent in structure with the larger cairns on Burley Moor like the Little Skirtful, this tomb was probably built in the Bronze Age.  It also seems that a lot of stone has been robbed from this cairn for use in the local walling.  The site was given a minimal description on the Pastscape website, where it was described as:

“Round cairn 230m W of Bleara Howe (sic). Scheduled RSM No 23718. A partly mutilated slightly oval mound of peat and heather-covered stones up to 1.2m high with max dimensions of 23m NNE-SSW x 21m WNW-ESE.”

The views from here are considerable and this probably had some relevance when it was first built, but I’m not aware if an assessment of this aspect of the site has been made.  More information about the Bleara Moor tumulus (and its companions!) would be hugely appreciated!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Bleara Lowe, Earby, Lancashire

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Tumulus:  OS Grid Reference – SD 92663 45387

Getting Here

Bleara Lowe mound, looking NW

There’s no footpath to this site, but we came to it via the car park on Coolham Lane on the southeast side of Earby.  Walking uphill, we got over the wooden stile on the moorside and walked up the side of the walling, all the way upwards till we reached the top of the moor.  You’ll pass the large Bleara Moor tumulus just by the walling, then head towards the rounded hillock on the top of the moor a coupla hundred yards away.  Y’ can’t really miss it!

Archaeology & History

As with many sites in this area, very little has been said of this usually overgrown Bronze Age burial mound.  Although no known recorded excavation of the tomb has ever been done, someone dug into the top of the mound in the 1960s, but we have no record of any finds.  The tomb stands on the local boundary line between Earby and Lothersdale to the east and was known as ‘Bleara Haugh’ in the 1819 Enclosure Act.  But little else has ever been said of it.

Bleara Lowe
OS-map of site

When we visited the place a few months ago, we were fortunate in that the heather had been burnt back, so allowing a much better view of the site than normally afforded when it’s covered in heather.  The rounded mound was between 4 and 5 feet high and measured approximately 20 yards across.  The pit which had been dug into the top of the mound was still visible, though much overgrown.  The view from the tomb itself was very impressive — which would have been of some importance in the construction of the place.  The Pastscape website describes Bleara Lowe as:

“A slightly oval mound of peat and heather-covered stones up to 1.4m high with max dimensions of 21m E-W x 19m N-S. There is a rectangular hollow 3m x 1.5m x 0.4m deep on the cairn’s summit.”

Another larger tumulus or overgrown cairn can be found over 200 yards west of here; plus a number of small singular prehistoric cairns have been located further down the western slope of the moor, known as the Bleara Moor Cairnfield.  None of these sites have ever been excavated.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian