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!
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:
Keighley, William, Keighley, Past and Present, Arthur Hall: London 1858.
Speight, Harry, Chronicles and Stories of Old Bingley, Elliott Stock: London 1898.
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:
Baildon, W. Paley, Baildon and the Baildons – parts 1-15, Adelphi: London 1913-1926.
Bennett, Paul, Of Cups and Rings and Things, unpublished: Shipley 1981.
Bennett, Paul, Megalithic Ramblings between Ilkley and Baildon, unpublished: Shipley 1982.
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.
Various ways here. From Keighley, go up the Halifax Road, first left after the Ingrow West train station, uphill, then up the long zizaggy road till you hit the pub at the crossroads. Park up and walk along the road in front of the pub for 1-200 yards and look at the hill above you! Alternatively, from Bingley go up to Harden on the B6429 and literally just where the village ends, there’s a small right-turn (if you’re going past the fields on either side, you’ve just missed the turning!). Go up there till the road reaches the top and stop! Catstones Hill is in the heather over the wall on your left!
Archaeology & History
A somewhat anomalous earthwork site, with lots of archaeohistorical speculation behind it, but no firm conclusion as to its precise nature as yet. Defined variously as an earthwork, an enclosure (for both people and cattle!) and a settlement by respective archaeologists over the years, there is little to be seen of the place on the ground and it doesn’t tend to bring raptures of delight to the common antiquarian. When William Keighley (1858) described this place, Catstones Ring was,
“enclosed on three sides by a considerable bank of earth, and bears evident marks of the plough. The country people believe it to have been an intrenchment or camp.”
Mrs Ella Armitage (1905) thought this site may have been “a prehistoric fort,” but said little more about it. In the same year however, Mr Butler Wood (1905) gave us a much better account of the place, describing Catstones Ring as “the most striking earthwork in the neighbourhood of Bradford.” His broader description told that:
“It encloses the crest and slope of a hill, and measures 266 yards on the east side (which is perfect), and 100 yards on the north side; the latter, however, being traceable at least 100 yards further across cultivated fields. The south side is almost obliterated by quarries, while the western portion has disappeared altogether. The fosse which surrounded this fine fortification is still visible on the eastern side.”
A couple of years later two short notes were made of the site in Forshaw’s Yorkshire Notes and Queries. Peter Craik (1907) of Keighley described the dimensions of the main ring as being “110 x 320 yards (rough guess),” and he also described finding the remains of a cairn in the outer dyke section (marked as ‘X’ on Craik’s diagram, below). On the nature of the site, he wrote:
“Catstones would appear to have been built as a defence against invasion from the south, for in contrast to the early defensible approach from that direction is the fact that to the north lies the undulating expanse of Harden Moor, which for the most part is on a level with the ring, even the highest point in the immediate vicinity being without the main circle, though enclosed in a minor outwork. The large extent of the ring makes it rather difficult to believe that enough men could be collected in the immediate neighbourhood to man the lines satisfactorily; and again as a shelter for cattle, etc, in time of war it does not appear to be well designed, for most of the interior would be commanded within easy range of arrows. Certain old excavations exist within the ring; probably they were made in search of gravel or some such material, but is this conjecture certain? Can they possibly mark the site of dwellings?”
J.J. Brigg (1907) followed up Craik’s short piece with the suggestion that the site was Roman in origin, saying:
“In showing the 6in map to Professor Bosanquet of Liverpool…he said there was no reason why it should not be Roman, merely because there is no masonry. The Roman legions went into laager* every night, and it is quite possible that some very large body of soldiers halting there for the night might have thrown up an earthwork and planted thereon the stakes which they always carried with them for that purpose.”
But I think this is most unlikely. Very little has been found here to give us a better idea of dates and function; and in a limited excavation here in 1962, no artifacts of any kind were located. A little more recently, J.J. Keighley (1981) has suggested the site to be Iron Age in date, describing it as one of the most impressive sites of its kind in the region. The Catstones Ring is “a 6.5 hectare quadrangular ditched enclosure,” he wrote, which he thought had been much destroyed by the adjacent quarrying.
“Aerial photographs taken by the County Archaeology Unit in 1977 however, shows that the southeastern corner of the enclosure and parts of its southern ditch survived the quarrying. Villy (1921) observed an outwork to the north of the main enclosure, which was visible on aerial photographs taken in 1948, and the 1977 aerial photographs…show a possible annexe attached to the outside of the northeastern corner of the main enclosure.”
P. Craik’s 1907 drawing
This extended section of Catstones’ main earthworks were, in fact, first described in the article by Peter Craik (1907), as shown in the hand-drawn plan of the site here. And in all honesty, virtually nowt’s been done since these early antiquarians diggings and essays. The information from the present day Sites and Monuments Record says that the site is a “late prehistoric enclosed settlement” and that quarrying has destroyed much of the west side.
Folklore
Harry Speight (1892) reported the earthworks here to have been a site where a great battle once took place, between the local people and the early Scottish tribes.
References:
Armitage, E., ‘The Non-Sepulchral Earthworks of Yorkshire,’ in Bradford Antiquary, New Series 2, 1905.
Pretty easy to find. From Ampleforth town centre, go left at the T-junction and 100 yards on a footpath takes you up into the sloping fields above the town. Follow the footpath up (avoiding the fall into the small wooded valley on your left) and keep going across the fields. Follow the path towards the point of the woodland on the level, then walk along its edge until you see a rounded copse of trees on your left, with a surrounding ditch. You’ve found it! (if you hit the road, turn back & walk 100 yards)
Archaeology & History
Thought to have been first constructed in the late Bronze Age period, in 1963 R.H. Hayes described this site as being “the finest enclosure type of earthwork in the district,” telling:
“It is roughly quadrangular, some 54 yards across, rampart to rampart, with internal ditch 12ft wide and in places still 4ft in depth. The rampart is 24-26ft wide and 9-10ft high above the bottom of the ditch. It is of earth and rubble with an entrance 9ft wide on the ESE. One gets the impression that the central area is a araised platform above the level of the surrounding moor.”
Studfold Ring on 1856 OS-map
At the time of Hayes’ description, conclusions about the purpose of this site were difficult. He drew parallels between this and two other sites in northeast Yorkshire: one on Great Ayton Moor and another near Borrowby on Newton Mulgrave Moor.
On the outside of the ‘enclosure’ he described “a curious turf (?) bank 6ft wide and 2ft high which curves around the tumuli to the northeast, following the ditch of one of them, thence to another mound 32ft in diameter north of the Ring, whence it turns due west and runs towards a dewpond in the junction of three turf walls,” finally adding, “It could be connected with ancient cultivation.”
According to Eilert Ekwall (1922), the name Studfold probably derives from,
“‘Stodfalod’, which is a common name for old Roman (or other) enclosures. The name indicates that the Anglo-Saxons often used such old enclosures for horsefolds.”
Place-name master A.H. Smith (1956) reinforces this and tells us the dates of this name are even later; describing,
“stod-fald OE, ‘a stud-fold, a horse enclosure’; the word is often applied to ancient enclosures which the Anglo-Saxons used for horse-folds.”
Modern archaeo’s have added the etymologist’s notion of a ‘horse enclosure’ onto their summaries of the site in recent years.
…to be continued…
References:
Ekwall, Eilert, The Place-Names of Lancashire, Manchester University Press 1922.
Hayes, R.H. ‘Archaeology: Dikes and Earthworks,’ in J. McDonnell’s A History of Helmsley, Rievaulx and District, Stonegate Press: York 1963.
Smith, A.H. English Place-Name Elements, II, Cambridge University Press 1956.
White, Stanhope, The North York Moors: An Introduction, Dalesman: Clapham 1979.
Acknowledgements: Huge thanks to Martin Dawes for correcting my initial erroneous route to the site.
Another off-the-beaten track site! Follow the directions to reach the Middleton Moor 001 carving, then walk due east for about 500 yards until you reach the distinct footpath that’s the Roman Road. Once here, zigzag along its edge on the western side, up and down hereabouts. Keep looking around till you see the stone shown in Richard’s photo here!
Archaeology & History
First found in April 2005, this medium-sized flattish stone is just 10 yards west of the prehistoric trackway which cuts across the moors — later used as a Roman road — on Middle Gill Bents. A somewhat simplistic design, it was found by Richard Stroud when we were exploring some of the many other carvings up here, and looking for previously unrecorded ones hiding in the heather. Carved onto this stone are eight, perhaps nine cup-markings, with grooved lines connecting at least two of them. That’s it!
From the back of Moor End Farm on the south-side of Langbar village, follow the Long Ridge footpath up onto the moor. Walk along the path until its starts dipping down again, onto the moor proper and where another footpath crosses and goes down into the small valley of the Dryas Dike stream, follow it – though only for about 75 yards, heading diagonally into the heather slowly towards the stream. You’re getting close!
Archaeology & History
Crude drawing of CR441
Yet another small carving found amidst a decent cluster of cup-and-rings and other archaeological remains near the top of Dryas Dike, this stone was first described in the Boughey & Vickerman (2003) survey. It’s located about 10 yards below Middleton Moor CR-440, above the stream of Dryas Dike. It’s a simple design, comprising of a central groove with a cup at either end and several other cups either side of this central line. (cheers to Richard Stroud for use of his photo).
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
Very little is known about this forgotten heathen water source. It was described in some notes attached on a piece of paper accompanying John Warburton’s description of Lee Hall and its surroundings. The notes were first printed in an early edition of Archaeologia Aeliana and subsquently included in Binnall & Dodds’ (1942) fine survey on the holy wells of the region. It’s exact whereabouts appears to be lost, but it may be either the small pool across from the present Hall, or a small spring found in the edge of the small copse of trees just east of Lee Hall Farm. Does anyone know?
Folklore
Written verbatim in that dyslexic olde english beloved of antiquarians like misself, the only piece of folklore said of this spring of water told:
“At the Lee hall an exclent spring, the vertue is such that if the lady of the Hall dip aney children that have the rickets or any other groone destemper, it is either a speedy cure of death. The maner and form is as followeth: The days of dipping are on Whitsunday Even, on Midsumer Even, on Saint Peeter’s Even. They must bee dipt in the well before the sun rise and in the River Tine after the sun bee sett: then the shift taken from the child and thrown into the river and if it swim…child liveth, but if it sink dyeth.”
The latter sentence echoing the crazy folklore of the christians to identify witches in bygone days!
References:
Binnall, P.B.G. & Dodds, M. Hope, ‘Holy Wells in Northumberland and Durham,’ in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (4th Series), 10:1, July 1942.
Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NU 021 278
Also known as:
North Plantation 3
Fowberry Moor Stone 3
Archaeology & History
Davison’s sketch
This is an excellent-looking carving which, it would seem, remains buried in the Earth nice n’ sleepy! Located “in the inner rampart on the south side of an unrecorded camp in North Plantation, Fowberry Moor, Chatton,” the carving was unexpectedly found during some basic excavation work on the camp itself. Described and illustrated by W.B. Davison (1934), this was one of two cup-and-ring stones hereby. He reckoned it wasn’t in its original position and seems – from the illustration here – to have been etched onto a fallen monolith. Davison’s detailed description told:
“The…stone was completely excavated and was found to be built into the inner rampart across its track. This stone measures 7’6″ north to south, is 1’2″ wide at its north end, 1’11” at its widest part, and 1’3″ at its foot. The average depth is 2’6″. The base is rough-surfaced and is prow-shaped at the northern end.
“Incised markings occur on the top only, and are as follows, reading from north to south. 1 cup surrounded by a ring and a half-ring lying east to west by south. 1 small cup. 1 cup. 1 cup surrounded by four rings, the largest of which has a diameter of 13½”. On the top of the outer ring occurs an abutting semicircle enclosing a cup. On the accompanying (image) will be observed what appears to be another cup on the innermost ring. 1 cup. 1 cup surrounded by a ring and a half-ring lying north to south by west. This marking rests on a two-inch deep slot possibly made for quarrying purposes. No other markings occur between this slot and the foot of the stone. Tool marks are very distinct on some of the above markings.”
Rock art researchers Jan Brouwer (2007) and Stan Beckensall have searched unsuccessfully for the stone in recent years.
Beckensall, Stan, Prehistoric Rock Art in Northumberland, Tempus: Stroud 2001.
Brouwer, Jan, ‘In Search of the Crowbar Stone,’ BRAC 2007.
Davison, W.B., ‘Cup-and-Ring Marked Rocks at Fowberry Park,’ in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (4th Series), 4:7, October 1934.
Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – NU 029 261
Also known as:
Deershed Plantation Stone
Archaeology & History
This is a small but impressive stone, presently housed in the Musuem of Antiquities in Newcastle. It was first mentioned by Mr H.L. Honeyman (1934) as being donated to Newcastle’s Society of Antiquaries by a Mr J.M. Strother of Fowberry Moor Farm in 1934. He described the carving as,
“a sculptured ring-marked stone, 1ft 2in by 1ft 2in, bearing a cup with three rings and duct. Found in Island Plantation (camp), Fowberry Moor, Chatton, 22.7.34, by Mr Wake.”
Stan Beckensall (1983:127) described it in passing his early work on Northumberland rock art, then again in his updated edition.
Beckensall, Stan, Prehistoric Rock Art in Northumberland, Tempus: Stroud 2001.
Honeyman, Herbert L., ‘The Society’s Meetings: July,’ in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (4th Series), 4:7, October 1934.
From Ilkley go up to Middleton and from there go up Harding Lane and, where the road bends left a track goes straight north onto the moors. Go up this until you’re onto the moor proper. Keep going until you’re following the line of walling, where a small stream is trickling right by your right-hand side. Follow this to its source a coupla hundred yards up. Stop!
Archaeology & History
Middleton Moor CR483: single cup-and-line
First mentioned by Stuart Feather in 1965, this simple cup-marking has a long line squirming away to the edge of the rock on which it’s carved. The cup-marking is some 3 inches across and about ½-inch deep, with the long line about 24 inches long. There’s really nowt much to look at here unless you’re a real cup-and-ring freak — though note that the carving occurs on a broken piece of stone just where a spring of water emerges from the ground. Some archaeo’s have a notion that sometimes our cup-and-ring stones have some sorta relationship with water — though they’re not into sticking their necks out and saying anymore than that! And of course, some carvings obviously relate to water. This one here is a strong contender, with the long wiggly line perhaps representative of the stream running from its source, which itself is the cup-mark.
However, we might just aswell surmise that the carving here was executed by some bored teenager, just testing out his first antler pick, or flintstone, telling his mates, “I woz ‘ere!”
References:
Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS 2003.
ather, Stuart, ‘Cup and Ring Boulders,’ in the Cartwright Hall Archaeology group Bulletin, 10:7, July 1965.
