In Charles Pooley’s (1868) definitive account of Gloucestershire county crosses, he informs us that,
“there was formerly a Cross erected in this village, but it has long since disappeared.”
He gives no further information about its history, but we must surmise that it was either associated with the ancient priory on the north side of the village, or in the traditional place at the centre of the the village. The grid-reference cited places the lost cross in the grounds of the priory.
References:
Pooley, Charles, Notes on the Old Crosses of Gloucestershire, Longmans Green: London 1868.
In Charles Pooley’s (1868) definitive history on the county crosses, this monument is mentioned in passing without any known history, apart form it been destroyed sometime in the early 19th century:
“A cross formerly stood in the churchyard, but it has been removed within living memory.”
References:
Pooley, Charles, Notes on the Old Crosses of Gloucestershire, Longmans Green: London 1868.
Cross (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SY 5167 9622
Archaeology & History
This old cross was almost lost to history, but thanks to personal notes written by one John Banger Russell in 1780, we’ve been left with a description of the monument, which Alfred Pope (1906) published in his survey:
“In the middle of this parish are the remains of a large cross, which has been much injured by time. The shaft, which seems to have been of considerable height, has been taken down, tho’ the base or pediment still continues in its proper place. The ascent was by four steps but the whole is very ruinous.”
Nearly a hundred years later in the hugely updated magnum opus of John Hutchins (1863), the site had long gone:
“A mutilated cross which stood in the centre of the village at the beginning of the present century, has since been destroyed.”
References:
Hutchins, John, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset – volume 2, Bowyer & Nichols: London (3rd edition) 1863.
Pope, Alfred, The Old Stone Crosses of Dorset, Chiswick Press: London 1906.
In days of olde an old stone cross used to stand “at the crossroads just outside the churchyard,” wrote Alfred Pope (1906); but even in his day he told that “the cross has long since disappeared.” He continued:
“The Rev A.S.B. Freer, vicar, informs the writer that the site is still known as ‘The Cross’, and is never called by any other name by the villagers.”
The church in the village is dedicated to All Saints, whose festival date was known in older times to be the pre-christian New Year’s Eve, or Halloween, when the spirits of the dead move across the landscape.
References:
Pope, Alfred, The Old Stone Crosses of Dorset, Chiswick Press: London 1906.
Unless the heather’s been burnt back, this takes a bitta finding. Direction-wise, the easiest is from the moorland road above Menston. Go up Moor Lane and then turn right along Hillings Lane. 350 yards on is a dirt-track on your right marked as Public Footpath. Walk up here for two-thirds of a mile—going past where the track goes left to the Shooting Range—to where the track splits. Bear left and after 250 yards you reach a fence on your left where the moorland proper begins. Follow this fence SW for 300 yards until it does a right angle turn. Just before this, you’ll see a large worn overgrown trackway or path running north into the moorland. Walk up here for nearly 100 yards and look around. Best o’ luck!
Archaeology & History
Western arc of earth & stone
Shown on the 1851 OS-map adjacent to the long prehistoric trackway that runs past Roms Law, the Great Skirtful and other prehistoric sites, the antiquarian wanderings of Forrest & Grainge (1868) came past here and, although didn’t mention the Craven Hall cairns directly, they did write of “a group of barrows” hereabouts, and this may have been one of them. James Wardell (1869) gave an even more fleeting skip, only mentioning “pit dwellings” hereby. A little closer to certainty was the literary attention Collyer & Turner’s (1885) pen gave, where they described, “near the adjoining old trackway, which runs from East to West, will be seen a small barrow”—but this could be either of the Craven Hill sites. And the usually brilliant Harry Speight (1900) gave the place only more brevity….
Structurally similar to Roms Law nearly ¾-mile northwest of here, this little-known and much denuded prehistoric tomb has seen better days. It is barely visible even when the heather’s low—and when we visited recently, the heather was indeed low but, as the photos here indicate, it’s troublesome to see. It’s better, of course, with the naked eye.
Highlighted ring cairn, looking NEHighlighted ring cairn, looking SE
It’s the most easterly cairn in the large Bronze Age necropolis (burial ground) on Hawksworth Moor. Measuring some 12 yards across and roughly circular in form, the ring is comprised mainly of many small stones compacted with peat, creating a raised embankment barely two feet high above the heath and about a yard across on average. A number of larger stones can be seen when you walk around the ring, but they don’t appear to have any uniformity in layout such as found at the more traditional stone circles. However, only an excavation will tell us if there was ever any deliberate positioning of these larger stones. It would also tell us if there was ever a burial or cremation here, but the interior of the ring has been dug out, seemingly a century or two ago…
References:
Collyer, Robert & Turner, J.H., Ilkley: Ancient and Modern, William Walker: Otley 1885.
Faull, M.L. & Moorhouse, S.A. (eds.), West Yorkshire: An Archaeological Guide to AD 1500 – volume 1, WYMCC: Wakefield 1981.
Forrest, C. & Grainge, William, A Ramble on Rumbald’s Moor, among the Rocks, Idols and Altars of the Ancient Druids in the Spring of 1869, H. Kelly: Wakefield 1868.
Speight, Harry, Upper Wharfedale, Elliott Stock: London 1900.
Wardell, James, Historical Notes of Ilkley, Rombald’s Moor, Baildon Common, and other Matters of the British and Roman Periods, Joseph Dodgson: Leeds 1869.
Tumulus (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SE 234 336
Archaeology & History
Today, Hough Hill has almost completely given way to modern housing; but in bygone centuries, this hilltop once housed a prehistoric burial mound—albeit an inconspicuous one. It was mentioned briefly in Faull & Morehouse’s (1981) magnum opus, but we know very little of its overall appearance and stature. Its existence was recorded posthumously thanks to the antiquarian John Holmes, without whose notes it would have been lost to history.
During quarrying operations at Hough Hill in December 1879, an ornamental urn was found,
“filled with calcined bones (that) was placed on a dish shaped hollow, some two or three feet deep, with charcoal and burnt earth.”
Holmes compared some markings that were upon this urn to one that was uncovered in Acrehowe Hill above Baildon by J.N.M. Coll in 1845. Unfortunately the Hough Hill urn was broken into fragments shortly after being uncovered. All remains of the burial mound have been completely destroyed.
References:
Faull, M.L. & Moorhouse, S.A. (eds.), West Yorkshire: An Archaeological Guide to AD 1500– volume 1, WYMCC: Wakefield 1981.
Holmes. John, “A Sketch of the Pre-Historic Remains of Rombalds Moor,” in Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological & Polytechnic Society, volume 9, 1886.
Wardell, James, Historical Notes of Ilkley, Rombald’s Moor, Baildon Common, and other Matters of the British and Roman Periods, Joseph Dodgson: Leeds 1869. (2nd edition 1881).
From Skipton head up the B6265 Grassington Road and after a short distance you will reach the Craven Heifer Pub on your left. About ¾-mile past the pub is a small turning on your left called Bog Lane. Go along here for about ¼-mile till you come to a sharp left bend and on the right you will see a gateway with room to park. Once here you’ll notice a sharp-pointed hill—and that’s Sharp Haw! Go through the gate, up the gravel track parallel to the wall on your left for 500 yards. Where the wall ends take the small path on your right and walk up here for ¾-mile where the path splits again. Take the right-hand path for 85 yards and the stone is on the left of the path.
Archaeology & History
Positions of cup-marks
Nowt special to look at, this is merely an elongated earthfast female stone that will be hard to find when the reeds grow high. The design consists of at least three cup-marks, with the most prominent one near the middle of the stone. A second one is shallow and on its northern side, near the middle; whilst the third one on its southern side was uncovered when we peeled back the vegetation; the peck marks are still visible. In the photo to the left I’ve placed numbers below the position of the respective cup-marks. In a cursory meander here, we found no other carvings – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any!
It’s probably easiest to start from the Green Plain settlement, from here crossing the Sun Bank Gill stream and walking east through the scattered heather and grasslands for 450 yards to the right-angled edge of the woodland. Keep walking eastwards alongside the woods for about another 250 yards, then walk into the grasslands north for about 140 yards or so. Zigzag about – you’re damn close!
Archaeology & History
Only for the purists amongst you. This is a simple small triangular stone, with a single notable cup-mark near the middle. It would seem to be in isolation as we could find no others in the immediate vicinity. An early marker no doubt.
Acknowledgements: With thanks to Helen Summerton, who helped with location on this fine day.
This one really takes some finding. Take the high moorland road running between Lofthouse and Healey villages, and at the very top by the cattle-grid, park up. Walk across the road and walk east. A mile or so on you’ll pass the Shooting Lodge house: keep walking for nearly another mile where another track goes left. Walk down here about ½-mile and you’ll see a crag down the the slope on your right. From here, walk uphill to your left; over the wall, and keep going about 500 yards until the moorland levels out. Hereby is a small outcrop of rocks. Look around!
Archaeology & History
Recently rediscovered by young antiquarian Mackenzie Erichs in May 2021, this flat rock—roughly 5 feet by 3 feet— is one of many amidst the heather which, when fully grown, is gonna be hard to see. This is one of the many petroglyphs possessed with both natural and artificial elements roughly of the same number here.
Upon the mainly southern-side of the stone is a cluster of cup-marks with several on the edges of the rock, most of which are probably natural, or naturally affected. The main cluster of cups—about eight in all—have differing levels of erosion, suggesting differing periods of execution. The most obvious cup is the deep one near the middle of the stone; a group of 3-4 very eroded ones are closer to the edge; and 2-3 three others of varying shallow depths can be seen. One of the cups at the edge of the rock may also have been partially worked.
Healing Well (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SP 166 350
Archaeology & History
This is one of several iron-bearing wells (chalybeates) that used exist in and around the village. Mentioned briefly in Alfred Soden’s (1875) history of the parish, he told that,
“years ago, there were several chalybeate springs here, very strongly impregnated. One of these was at the lower end of Westmacott’s Lane: of this spring there is now no visible trace, it having been built over.”
Although Mr Soden said nothing about the healing properties of this well, due to the mineral composition of chalybeates they always tend to be good fortifiers or pick-me-ups, being good for the blood. And in this case, as the waters were “very strongly impregnated” they would have possessed some considerable local renown.
References:
Soden, Alfred J., The History of Blockley, J.W. Parbury: Coventry 1875.
