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!

Low Snaygill Stone, Skipton, North Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SD 9940 4973

Also Known as:

  1. Carving SK1 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.16 (Boughey & Vickerman)
  3. Snaygill Farm Stone

Getting Here

Stone by the roadside

Not too far from the High Laithe cup-and-ring stone.  Along the A6131 out of Skipton, park up at the Rendezvous hotel and go up the road on your left, over the canal.  As you approach the second house up, note the rock on the right-hand side of the tiny road, perched on the edge above the stream, with ivy creeping up one side of it.  That’s it!

Archaeology & History

This stone was moved to its present position a few decades back, sometime before Hedges (1986) first recorded it in his Carved Rocks work.  It’s a reasonably large boulder, resting on the slope above the drop to the stream below, and will probably drop into the waters in the not-too-distant future.  Whether the stream had any initial relationship with the cup-markings etched on its surface, we’ll probably never know (a number of rock art students love the water-stone relationship — and this one is no doubt in their listings!).  Its first literary appearance by Hedges described it thus:

“Large fairly smooth grit rock sloping down to stream at E and into ground and grass at W.  Eleven cups, circle of nine very small cups at one end, groove from depression, one other groove and possible cup.”

Lower half of CR-016

Which just about does it justice.  When we visited the place yesterday, the cluster of small cups at the top of the rock were difficult to see clearly in the grey daylight; but what seems to be another 2 cups (not in Hedges, nor Boughey & Vickerman’s [1986] survey) may be on the lower-half of the stone, and can be seen in the photo here.  We need to go back again on a bright day and catch the stone in a different mood to suss out whether we were just seeing things.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
  2. Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Horse Close Hill, Skipton, North Yorkshire

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Enclosure / Settlement:  OS Grid Reference – SD 9966 5046

Also Known as:

  1. Cawder Hall Enclosure
  2. MNY21002
  3. Scheduled Monument 29151

Getting Here

From Skipton town centre follow the A6131 road south, out of town, for less than a mile, and turn left up Cawder Lane. Avoid following the road into the housing, instead bearing up the country lane to your left.  Just before reaching the farmhouses 200 yards up, note the stony hilltop above you on your left (up behind Horse Close Farm).  Walk up there for 250 yards NE and you’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

Horse Hill enclosure, looking W

This is an impressive site.  I’d say very impressive! (but I’m easily pleased)  Oddly however, I can’t find a damn thing about this place in any of my archaeo-records and it appears (as far as I’m aware) that no survey has ever been made of it.  Which is bloody incredible!  Indeed, the only archaeological notes that appear to exist about this very impressive and well-preserved Iron Age enclosure, states, “Subcircular enclosed settlement on Horse Close Hill 250m north of Horse Close Farm.”  That’s it!  Nothing else!  So I’m afraid you’ve only got my crappy description of it to go on for the time being…

As the aerial image below shows, this is a large oval-shaped enclosure, defined primarily by an almost complete ring of double walling arranged around this hilltop site.  Measuring approximately 78 yards (71m) north-south, and nearly 75 yards (70m) along its longer east-west axis, with a circumference of about 235 yards (215m), many of the upright stones which define its edges stand between 1-3 feet in height.  Some of these stones have obviously been moved into position by the lads who built the structure, but the site has also taken advantage of a number of large earthfast boulders in its construction.

If you walk around the edges of the walled enclosure, almost every bit of it is clearly visible.  Between the defining inner and outer walling of the structure we find sections of the site packed with smaller stones, giving the impression that it may once have been filled all round, making the walls thick strong defensive ones.  But without a more detailed investigation, we’ll never really know…

Horse Close settlement, looking NE
Aerial view of enclosure

It is clearly very similar in structure, and probably date, to the well-known Brackenhall circle on Shipley Glen, near Baildon (though the nature of the Brackenhall site has long been a topic of controversy).  And, as with the Brackenhall site, a number of cup-and-ring stones are found close by — including the Great Wood Laithe carving in the field immediately below on the west side.  I’ve also found a similar structure to this on the hills above Steeton, a few miles to the south (though it’s not as well-defined as this one).

Although the site is mainly defined by its oval walling, we also find other stretches of walling that run outwards from the central site: one in particular running north-east for 35 yards out towards a small standing-stone further up the field.  Other curious earthworks and remains scatter the fields on the eastern sides of this main feature, which the helpful farmer here pointed out to us.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


High Laithe Stone, Skipton, North Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SD 9952 4991

Also Known as:

  1. Carving SK2 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.17 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

High Laithe cup-and-ring stone

Worth the short trek if you like your cup&rings!  On the Aire Valley Keighley-to-Skipton road (A629), as you approach the southern outskirts of Skipton, take the turning at the roundabout as if you’re going into the town up the A6131. Go over the next roundabout a coupla hundred yards on, then 200 yards further on note the right-turn up over the canal (big hotel just here, where you could park up).  Walk over the canal up the tiny country lane. Ignore the first left turn and walk up, bearing next left uphill and onto the footpath. Walk up the hillocky quarried bit until you reach the stile in the wall.  Once on the other side, look in the walling 20 yards uphill.  You can’t miss it!

Archaeology & History

First described by Messrs Hartley and Radley in the Yorkshire Archaeological Register of 1968, this small “standing stone”, less than three-feet tall, has a distinct cup-and-double- ring carved onto its upright north-facing edge.  The outline of the carving is visible even in bad light, though you might wanna rest and gaze for a minute or two for yourself and the lighting to adjust if it’s a grey day.  There’s another cup-marking below the bottom right of the double-ring, with another ‘possible’ just above ground-level.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
  2. Hedges, John (ed.), The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Swinston Hill, Dinnington, South Yorkshire

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Settlement:  OS Grid Reference – SK 5395 8460

Archaeology & History

Bronze Torc found at site
Details drawn by R.Sheppard

In August, 1984, a Mr James Rickett was out with his metal-detector, scanning the Swinston woodland area south of Dinnington, when he was fortunate to locate a superb, ornamental ‘Celtic’-design bronze torc, thought to be of Romano-British origin, and believed to have been made in either the 1st or 2nd century AD.  Following Mr Rickett’s discovery, a small team from the Sheffield City Museum and the South Yorkshire Archaeoloogy Unit got off their backsides and did a survey of the region where the torc had been found —and they weren’t to be disappointed!

An initial assumption based on place-name evidences led them to believe that a settlement of the Saxon period may once have been here; but their investigations

“located the earthworks of a sub-rectangular enclosure, 40m by 25m, and possible fields about 140m south of the discovery site (South Yorkshire SMR record no.PI3021).  The enclosure is sub-divided into a smaller and a larger compound with no surface evidence for ditches associated with the stony banks, which enclose a total area of about 0.1 hectares.  In both size and shape it compares closely with the class of very numerous small ditched enclosures… The origins of some may lie in the late Iron Age, but fieldwork and excavation have produced predominantly Romano-British material. Other local metal detector finds, some from this enclosure, include first- to fourth-century Romano-British material.”

References:

  1. Beswick, Pauline, Megaw, M.R., Megaw, J.V.S. & Northover, Peter, “A Decorated Late Iron Age Torc from Dinnington, South Yorkshire,” in The Antiquaries Journal, 70:1, 1990.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Thursday Market Cross, York, North Yorkshire

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Cross (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SE 603 519

Archaeology & History

Early drawing of York’s Market Cross

This old cross was demolished long since, but I think it’s important to rejunevate a memory of its existence back into our times.  Little has been written about the site as it was destroyed more than 200 years ago and images of the edifice are rare indeed!  It was found near the modern centre of the city and although this ornate-looking thirty-foot tall cross was obviously impressive, an even earlier upright stone stood here in the 13th and 14th century.  But this new carved monument took precedence over its older and lesser upright.  First described — I think! — by Thomas Gent (1730), he told us that,

“The old cross stood towards the Kennel, against the middle of the market.  The lower part was an octagon, had an ascent of six high steps, covered with Tyles for Butchers, higher up with nitches, in which had been effigies and a small pillar above with four Dials and over them a Fane.”

A few years later when Francis Drake (1788) described the same monument, he added very few extra details; though told us it had five steps and not six — but this seems to have been an error on his behalf.  In C.B. Knight’s (1944) work we have what seems to be the most complete historical description of this lost stone edifice.  He wrote:

“In 1429 a new stone cross had been erected in Thursday Market in place of its predecessor by Marion Braythwayt, widow of John Braythwayt, who was Lord Mayor in 1394… This Cross was described by a writer in 1683 as “a fair Cross of stone, built upon the ascent of five steps, and hath neatly cut in stone a turret or battlement eight square, upon which is placed a round pillar with a four-square stone upon the top, which hath a sundial placed upon every square, and a vane above.  The Cross hath a penthouse round about it, covered over with tile, to shelter the market people in rainy weather, and is supported upon eight posts, upon one of which, on the south side, is fixed an iron yard-wand, the standard measure of the market.”  In 1705 the ancient Market Cross…was pulled down.”

References:

  1. Cobb, Gerald, “Note on a Drawing of Thursday Market Cross, York,” in The Antiquaries Journal, 43:1, 1963.
  2. Davies, Robert, Walks about the City of York, Nichols & Sons: Westminster 1880.
  3. Drake, Francis, Eboracum; or the History and Antiquities of the City of York, Wilson & Spence: York 1788.
  4. Gent, Thomas, The Antient and Modern History of the Famous City of York, Thomas Hammond: York 1730.
  5. Knight, Charles Bruton, A History of the City of York, Herald: York & London 1944.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Glovershaw Quarry Stone, Baildon Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 13044 40093

Also Known as:

  1. Carving BM5 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.122 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Follow the same directions as those to reach the small Central Design Stone up past the top-end of Shipley Glen.  You’ll notice the small disused quarry just a few yards away, and this partly-covered flat stone lies right at the very edge of the quarry itself.

Archaeology & History

Faint cups on CR-122
Plan of CR-122 (after Hedges)

Unless you catch this stone in good light, many of the cups on this design are difficult to make out; but defocus for a bit and they’ll come to you.  Around 13 cups have been counted on this stone, with a couple of grooves: one of which descends just by the small arc (a common local feature on Baildon’s carvings), near the eastern side of the stone.  A larger basin below this, covered by earth, may or may not be natural.  Two of the cups here may have been carved sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, probably around the time the quarrying was being done.

As is common in some parts of Britain, this carving (and others nearby) was found in association with a small cairn-field, much of which has long since gone.

It’s very probable that there were other petroglyphs close to this one, but which have subsequently been destroyed as a result of the quarrying operations here.

References:

  1. Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons – parts 1-15, Adelphi: London 1913-1926.
  2. Bennett, Paul, Megalithic Ramblings between Ilkley and Baildon, private manuscript: Shipley 1982.
  3. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
  4. Jackson, Sidney, “Cup-Marked Boulder near the Glovershaw Footpath,” in Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 2:17, 1957.
  5. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Harden Moor Stone Row, Bingley, West Yorkshire

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Standing Stones (lost):  OS Grid Reference – SE 07 38

Getting Here

This site hasn’t been located. However, if it hasn’t been destroyed by the quarrying on the SW side of the moor, remains of it should still be found amidst the heather and would be a good discovery for any enthusiast.

Archaeology & History

The first notes I found about this place were those by archaeologist Sydney Jackson in 1956, who wrote:

“It would be interesting to know what Dr Richard Richardson, of Bierley Hall, Bradford meant when, writing about 1709, he said that Mr Benjamin Ferrand show him a ‘skirt of stones’ on Harden Moor, near to a row of stones placed in a line nigh two hundred paces in length some two feet above the heath, others hidden beneath it.” (my italics)

The undoubted man-made nature of this row of stones was emphasized by Dr Richardson when he wrote,

“That these stones were placed here by design, no person can doubt; but for what I end cannot conjecture, having never seen anything of this kind before.”

The great Yorkshire historian Harry Speight (1898) also came across the same antiquarian notes many years before and speculated how,

“it may be inferred from this that it had been a double row of stones, like the avenue of Maiden Castle in Swaledale.”

The ‘skirt of stones’ that were described here may be the well-preserved Harden Moor Circle.  However in recently finding the short essay of Peter Craik (1907) of Keighley, this idea may need re-assessing, as Craik clearly shows in his survey of the the nearby Catstones Ring earthwork, what he described as the “remains of a cairn” on the northern edge of that ring, giving us a different location for this lost stone row.

However, another potential position for our lost stone row that needs exploring is the one described by Butler Wood following an exploratory visit here with the Bradford historian, William E. Preston, at the beginning of the 20th century.  Mr Wood (1905) told of them both coming across some sort of earth-and-stone line “half-a-mile north of” the Catstones Ring, telling:

“Mr W.E. Preston and myself traced a short time ago on Harden Moor, remains of an entrenchment for a distance of 80 or 90 yards.  It faces south, and lies near Spring Head Heights.  The wall consisting of boulder and earth rising three feet above the soil, but there is no trace of a ditch.”

This is obviously half the length described by Richardson and Ferrand in 1709, but nearly two centuries separate the two accounts (the position of Mr Woods’ line is roughly SE 072 387; whilst that nearer to the Catstones Ring would be nearer SE 069 383).

I’ve searched the tops of this moorland a number of times hoping to locate this seemingly important megalithic stone row, obviously without success.  Further searches on the moor are needed after the heather’s been burnt back.

References:

  1. Craik, Peter, “Catstones Ring,” in C.F. Forshaw’s Yorkshire Notes & Queries, volume 3 (H.C. Derwent: Bradford 1907).
  2. Jackson, Sidney, “Harden Circle Found,” in Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 2:1, July 1956.
  3. Speight, Harry, Chronicles and Stories of Old Bingley, Elliott Stock: London 1898.
  4. Wood, Butler, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities of the Bradford District,’ in Bradford Antiquary, volume 2, 1905.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Adam’s Oak, Brierley, South Yorkshire

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Legendary Tree:  OS Grid Reference – SE 4280 1015

Also Known as:

  1. Adam & Eve’s Oak
  2. Wind-gap Oak

Archaeology & History

Highlighted on the 1854 Ordnance Survey map close to the township boundary line as Adam & Eve’s Oak, between Brierley and South Kirkby, I can’t find too much about this once great tree.  However the Wakefield historian W.S. Banks (1871) told us the following:

“Upon the common at Ringston Hill grows the remarkable ‘old Adam’ oak, much decreased in size in late years.  It is an ancient and large tree measuring twenty-seven feet in girth at a yard above the ground.  The trunk is hollow and the north side is broken away.  Most of the branches are also gone.  In 1868 a very large branch was blown off by the wind; but on the southerly side are still some very vigorous limbs.”

The old oak on the 1854 map
The old oak on the 1854 map

Even when Banks wrote this he said how the tree “must be many centuries old.”  In the time of King Charles II there used to be an old inn by Adam’s Oak at the foot of Ringston Hill, where the famous highwayman, Nevison (much-loved by many Yorkshire-folk because of his Robin-Hood-like character), used to stay.  The inn was owned by one Adam Hawksworth, but was ordered “to have his sign taken down for harbouring Nevison.”

Folklore

W.S. Banks also wrote of this once great tree:

“The people at Brierley tell of Nevison the highwayman lodging in it and hiding stolen treasures in it, things which probably did not happen, though Nevison’s name is connected with Ringston Hill.”

The treasure legend may have more to do with the adjacent stone circle, as we find ‘treasure’ a common motif at such places.

References:

  1. Banks, W.S., Walks in Yorkshire: Wakefield and its Neighbourhood, Longmans, Green  Co.: London 1871.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Goff Well, Keighley, West Yorkshire

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Healing Well:  OS Grid Reference – SE 06149 38822

Getting Here

Goff Well is by the Elder tree in the middle

Various ways here. From Keighley, go up the A629 Halifax Road, first left after the Ingrow West train station, uphill; then turn right, and up the long, cobbled, zizaggy road past the little hamlet of Hainworth and uphill till you reach the solitary farmhouse of Goff Well Farm (where its friendly owners can sell you organic fresh eggs!).  It’s the field just before here on your left (if you reach the Guide Inn pub further uphill by the crossroads, you’ve gone too far). Alternatively start at the Guide Inn pub and walk across the road and downhill till you reach the farm. It’s in the first field on the right just past it.

Archaeology & History

Little is known about the history of this water source.  The first description of it seems to be in 1852.  Harry Speight (1898) mentions it briefly when he talks about the holy wells of the locale, saying simply:

“Goff Well, close to the road on Harden Moor leading to Hainworth, has given name to a neighbouring farm, but the purpose or virtues of this water are not now known.”

Goff Well on 1852 OS-map

Today the well is much overgrown and in need of attention.  It’s near the bottom corner of the field where the larger of the elder tree grows (the witch’s tree par excellence) and could do with being cleaned out.  When the owner of Goff Well Farm, Barry, took us to see the site, the waters couldn’t be seen but we could hear the water running clearly just beneath the surface, so it just needs a few hours work to bring it back into life.  Twouldst do the land and the genius loci the world of good!

The very name of the well is something of an anomaly.  There are several possibilities and we (as yet) cannot say which is the more likely derivation.  We know in northern dialect that Goff is a simpleton or fool, and although we can apply that definition in some cases, it’s unlikely to apply here.  If we could ascertain there was ever an apple tree growing here, the mystery would be solved, as a goff was an old word used for the common apple.  In West Yorkshire dialect the word was also used to denote “a hammer worked by water-power”; aswell as it being a corrupted form of the word ‘God.’  Take your pick!

Folklore

The early Victorian historian William Keighley (1858) thought Goff Well was named after a long-forgotten hermit called Goff who, at some time in the past, gave his name to the old hamlet of Hermit Hole, a half-mile downhill from this water source.  Mr Keighley wrote:

“On the skirts of Harden Moor is a farmhouse known by the name of Goff Well; and as goff is said to be the Danish word for red, it would probably be no great stretch of the imagination to suppose that the hermit was so named on account of his red hair, and the spring or well designated after him from the frequency and sanctimonious nature of his visits.”

But this is pure supposition on Keighley’s part — nice idea though it is!  The only tangible piece of folklore we have is that the well “was a famous resort of gypsies before the moor was enclosed in 1861.” (Speight 1898)

References:

  1. Keighley, William, Keighley, Past and Present, Arthur Hall: London 1858.
  2. Speight, Harry, Chronicles and Stories of Old Bingley, Elliott Stock: London 1898.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Baildon Moor (126), West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 13066 40095

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.9 (Hedges)
  2. Central Design Stone

Getting Here

Arc of deep cups

From the old Glen House pub, walk up the road onto ‘Shipley Glen’ as all locals call the place.  Go up the Glen Road for about half a mile, watching out for the small dirt-track turning going the slope on your left-hand side just near where the road starting swerving uphill to the right.  At this point where the track heads down and into the trees, there’s a footpath going into the bracken along to the right, heading onto level ground.  Walk up and along here.  After 100 yards or so you’ll notice the disused quarry on your left.  Keep walking along the footpath (two end up running parallel to each other) and you’ll see this carving right beneath your feet!

Archaeology & History

Baildon Moor carving 126

This was one of the very first examples of “cup and ring stones” that I ever saw, when I was a mere 10 or 11 years old!  I’m not quite sure what I expected to find, but something about this stone with its deeply set cup-markings obviously had an effect on me – as I’m still foraging about looking at them more than 35 years later!  About 20 yards away from the Glovershaw quarry carving (Baildon Moor 122), this central design stone — as I used to call it — was first recorded in W. Paley Baildon’s (1913) magnum opus and was then all-but-forgotten until the Bradford Archaeology Group mentioned it again more than forty years later.  Although you can only see three distinct cups on this small rock, another 2 or 3 seem in evidence under better lighting conditions, and a small line runs below the cups in the photo here, which you can just make out above the central cup.

This carving and others close by give the distinct impression that they were once part of some seemingly lost cairn-field, awaiting rediscovery…

References:

  1. Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons – parts 1-15, Adelphi: London 1913-1926.
  2. Bennett, Paul, Of Cups and Rings and Things, unpublished: Shipley 1981.
  3. Bennett, Paul, Megalithic Ramblings between Ilkley and Baildon, unpublished: Shipley 1982.
  4. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
  5. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  6. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian