Tag: neolithic

Clachan Ceann Ile, Ardilistry, Islay

megalithix

Standing Stones:  OS Grid Reference – NR 4368 4832

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 38030
  2. Stones of Islay

Getting Here

Also known as the ‘Stones of Islay,’ these two old stones can be found on the west side of the road between Port Ellen and Ardtalla, up the steepish wood-covered slope, just south of the conical fairy hill of Cnoc Rhaonastil.

Archaeology & History

In recent years, the Scottish Royal Commission commented that “they do not appear to be of prehistoric date,” yet include it in the Argyll survey (vol.5:65), just in case!  The larger of the two monoliths is nearly 6 feet long (it was on the floor when I came here, many years back), and its smaller companion about 3 feet long (also on the deck!).

Folklore

In 1794, in the Statistical Account of Scotland, it was said that these two curious standing stones marked the grave of Yla or Yula, “a daughter of one of the kings of Denmark,” which is most unlikely. Between these two stones, folklore tells, is known as the Tomb of Yla – a Danish princess whom legend tells gave Islay its name.

The hill above these old stones was long known to be the place of the faerie-folk. Indeed, the Queen of Faerie herself lived here. Otta Swire told a fascinating old folktale of this place, whose nature will be know to some:

“The Queen was much troubled by the stupidity of human women, for in the fairy world wisdom is chiefly possessed by the women, since it is they who hold the Cup. After much thought, She decided to try to improve matters, so she sent out an invitation to all the women of the world to visit Her in Her hall in the knoll on a certain date. The invitation spread over the wide Earth – it was carried by the winds and the sea waves, by birds and by fish, even the leaves of the trees whispered it. And the women of the world were very much interested and they talked eagerly together. Some laughed at it, some said they were wiser by far than the Little People, some held that the Little People were cleverer and more powerful than they and that this might be a trap. Indeed, the word of women ‘heaved like hive of bee or hill of ant or byke of wasp.’ Soon, women from all over the isles began to arrive in Islay. Some came to see, many more to be seen, and a few came truly seeking wisdom.

“When the day dawned the hill opened, and into the wonderful hall within streamed the women. And a very wonderful hall it was, hung with bright cloths woven from nettles and fairy lint and dyed with blood of shell-fish and sap of plants in such colours as only the Little People can achieve. Skins of beasts were spread on floors and seats, a banquet set on shells of pearl lay ready on the many tables of wood and stone, and for each guest there was placed ready a beautiful cup formed from a blue-eyed limpet’s shell. A soft green light pervaded the hall. When all were ready and the watchers saw no more coracles on the waters or maidens climbing the green slope, the doors to the outer world were closed and in walked the Queen Herself. She was smaller than any of Her guests but far, far more impressive. She wore a dress of long ago but it suited well Her gentle, kindly dignity and Her face shone with a strange and lovely light. She carried in Her two hands a wonderful flagon and after her came her maids, each holding a similar one. Other maids hastily distributed the cups of shell and then the Queen walked slowly by, pouring into the cup of each of those who, in her heart truly desired wisdom, a few drops of the precious fluid from Her flagon, which held the distilled wisdom of the world throughout the ages. And as each woman drank those few drops she suddenly grew wise and saw and understood much she had never known before. Some were able to see much, others but a little, yet all benefited in their degree. At last, all who sought wisdom had received it and the elixir was finished. Just as the ceremony ended there came a hammering on the walls and the doors. The Little People looked out and, behold!, their hill was covered with late-comers who had arrived after the doors were closed and so had been unable to enter and were now too late to receive the gift. There is still a saying in Gaelic about a stupid woman: ‘She was out on the knoll when wisdom was distributed.'”

A saying I remember my old grandad telling a few folk a few times when I was young!

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 5: Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay, HMSO: Edinburgh 1984.
  2. Swire, O.F., The Inner Hebrides and their Legends, Collins: London & Glasgow 1964.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Clach-na-Cruich, Fearnan, Perthshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Rock:  OS grid reference – NN 71868 44743

Also known as:

  1. Canmore ID 25037
  2. Clach-na-Gruich
  3. St. Ciaran’s Seat
  4. Measles Stone

Getting Here

Pretty easy to get to.  It’s in one of the fields above the old farmhouse of Boreland on the western edge of Fearnan, a couple of hundred yards away on the other side of the road from the Clach an Tuirc.

Archaeology & History

Clach-na-Cruich in 1884

In the field we find this great chair-shaped boulder with a great ‘bowl’ on it where the seating section is, and on its top and sides are a few cup-markings — MacMillan (1884) noted seven of them, two of which had half-rings around them, “associated together in a singular manner, and forming a figure like the eyes of a pair of spectacles.”

Folklore

Regarded in local legends to be an ancient initiation seat, this was taken over and ordained as being the seat of St. Ciaran at some time when the Celtic church started having influence up here.

The ‘seat’ of this great stone regularly fills up with rainwater and was, wrote William A. Gillies, “regarded as an effectual cure for measles, and there are persons still residing at Fearnan who were taken as children to drink from the water in the hollow of Clach-na-Gruich, the Measles Stone.”  His lengthy account of the site told:

“In the district of Breadalbane, Perthshire – which has in it the Pool of St Fillans, famous for its supposed power of curing mentally afflicted persons – there are two boulders with water-filled cavities, which have a local reputation for their healing virtues. One is at Fernan, situated on the north side of Loch Tay, about three miles from Kenmore. It is a large rough stone with an irregular outline, somewhat like a rude chair, in the middle of a field immediately below the farmhouse of Mr Campbell, Borland. The rest of the field is ploughed; but the spot on which it stands is carefully preserved as an oasis amid the furrows. The material of which it is composed is a coarse clay slate; and the stone has evidently been a boulder transported to the spot from a considerable distance.

“In the centre on one side there is a deep square cavity capable of holding about two quarts of water. I found it nearly full, although the weather had been unusually dry for several weeks previously. There were some clods of earth around it, and a few small stones and a quantity of rubbish in the cavity itself, which defiled the water. This I carefully scooped out, and found the cavity showing unmistakeable evidence of being artificial. On the upper surface of the stone I also discovered seven faint cup-marks, very much weather-worn; two of them associated together in a singular manner, and forming a figure like the eyes of a pair of spectacles.

“The boulder goes in the locality by the name of Clach-na-Cruich, or the Stone of the Measles; and the rain-water contained in its cavity, when drunk by the patient, was supposed to be a sovereign remedy for that disease. At one time it had a wide reputation, and persons afflicted with the disease came from all parts of the district to drink its water. Indeed, there are many persons still alive who were taken in their youth, when suffering from this infantile disease, to the stone at Fernan; and I have met a man not much past forty, who remembers distinctly having drunk the water in the cavity when suffering from measles.

“It is is only within the lifetime of the present generation that the Clach-na-Cruich has fallen into disuse. I am not sure, indeed, whether any one has resorted to it within the last thirty years. Its neglected state would seem to indicate that all faith in it had for many years been abandoned.”

References:

  1. Gillies, William A., In Famed Breadalbane, Munro Press: Perth 1938.
  2. MacMillan, Hugh, ‘Notice of Two Boulders having Rain-Filled Cavities on the Shores of Loch Tay, Formerly Associated with the Cure of Disease,’ in PSAS 18, 1884.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Calverley Woods (12), Leeds, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 2006 3790

Also Known as

  1. Carving no.12 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Lost Cup-Marked Stone, Calverley Woods
Lost Cup-Marked Stone, Calverley Woods

Troublesome really, as it’s got lost somewhere amidst the undergrowth.  From the valley bottom at Apperley Bridge, take the road-then-track which goes up thru the Calverley Cutting (as locals call it), turning left along the dirt-track just as the track begins to slope uphill.  Go past the detached house in the edge of the trees and shortly past there is a small footpath taking you into the trees on your left,  Walk down and along here, near the bottom of the tree-line above the walling.  If you find it, let us know!

Archaeology & History

Included in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey as ‘stone 12’ – it was first described by Sidney Jackson in 1954, who later gave us a map and drawing of the stone.  I looked for it several times x-number of years back, but never found it (though was led astray a little by the profusion of Amanitas in the locale!).  Comprising at least 18 cup-markings on a generally flat rock surface, to this day the carving remains unfound, though is probably under the herbage hereabouts.  The same fate seems to have befallen the West Woods 1 and West Woods 2 carvings in another part of the same woods.  Does anyone know what’s become of them?

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, “The Undiscovered Old Stones of Calverley Woods,” in Earth no.2, 1986.
  2. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
  3. Jackson, Sidney (ed.), ‘Calverley Wood Cup-Marked Rock,’ in Bradford Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 1:1, 1954.
  4. Jackson, Sidney (ed.), ‘Cup-Marked Boulder in Calverley Wood,’ in Bradford Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 1:7, 1955.
  5. Jackson, Sidney (ed.), ‘Cup-and-Ring Boulders near Calverley,’ in Bradford Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 1:16, 1956.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Cairnbane, Portnacroish, Argyll

megalithix

Chambered Cairn (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NM 925 473

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 23301
  2. Karn Vain

Getting Here

Sadly this site can no longer be seen, but it was evidently something worth seeing in its day.  Twas found “on the north side of Loch Laich, opposite Castle Stalker.”

Archaeology & History

In 1758 W. Burrell wrote about “a very large circular heap of stones, called Cairnbane, in which are said to be several subterraneous apartments, the passages leading to them, supported by large beams of timber in some places, in others by large stones, the entrance is now closed with a stone.” But in 1760 Richard Pococke reported that he could enter the cairn, saying that,

“on the west side of it a little way up is a very difficult entrance which leads to a cell about two yards long and one and a half broad, a this by a sort of door place to another about the same dimensions. I observed in some parts the stones on the side are laid flat, in others edge way, and a little sloping, and large stones are laid across on the top; To the north of it is a low heap of stones, in which three mouths of entrances are very visible, and there seemed to be two more; …the large one is twelve yards long at the top and about a yard broad: It is not improbable that these cells were built all round and several stories of them one over another.”

Explorations here by A.S. Henshall and the Royal Commission for Historic Scotland were unable to find the site and it has been deemed missing or destroyed.  I have yet to seek out any folklore relating to this lost site, but would be very surprised if there wasn’t something loitering in some of the old tongues and tomes!

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 2: Lorn, HMSO: Edinburgh 1975.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Brimham Rocks Circle, Summerbridge, North Yorkshire

megalithix

Stone Circle:  OS Grid Reference – SE 2056 6507

Archaeology & History

Druid's Circle on 1854 map
Druid’s Circle on 1854 map

A site that was illustrated by the early Ordnance Survey lads between the haunted Boggart Crag and Brimham Rocks to the south, I haven’t thoroughly explored this area so don’t know if anything at all remains of what was described.  It may or may not have been an early folly.  The earliest reference to this missing circle comes from Mr Hayman Rooke’s (1787) essay on the Brimham Rocks complex in Archaeologia journal.  Described in context with other prehistoric remains in the locale, Mr Rooke said,

“About a quarter of a mile further to the west (of Brimham Rocks) is a Druid circle, with a vallum of earth and stones, thirty feet diameter. It is exactly of the same construction as those on Stanton Moor, in the Peak of Derbyshire. There are likewise several small tumuli. Thirteen of them are ranged in a kind of circle, the largest not above eighteen feet in diameter. They are formed of earth and large stones. Two of these I opened; towards the bottom the effects of fire appeared on the stones; and ashes were scattered about, but there were no urns to be found.”

This description was echoed a few years later by Ely Hargrove (1809) and reiterated by Godfrey Higgins (1829) in his work on the Druids, but neither authors added anything new (strongly implying they never actually saw this ‘circle’).  The last description I’ve found of the site is in Mr Speight’s (1906) survey — which gives the reality of the site considerably more credence!  He told us:

“About 80 yards west of the Cannon Rock is a large tumulus, and about 300 yards still further is a Druid’s Circle, thirty feet in diameter, mentioned by Hargrove in 1809.”

But that’s it!  Nowt else!  It would seem from Hooke’s initial writing, that we are perhaps looking at a lost cairn circle in this locale, but until someone finds it we will never know for sure.

Intriguingly, there are a number of other prehistoric remains not far from this seemingly lost ‘circle’.  There’s a large standing stone not far away on Standing Stone Hill a half-mile south (kinda gives the game away really, dunnit!?) which I first saw as a kid; some cup-and-ring stones nearby; and the seemingly lost tumuli of Graffa Plain, southeast of Brimham Rocks, showing that prehistoric folk were up to the usual tricks nearby.  But the ‘circle’ is seemingly lost.  Is there anyone out there who knows anything more about yet another one of Yorkshire’s lost stone circles?  More information about the circle or the tombs would be very welcome!

References:

  1. Hargrove, Ely, The History of the Castle, Town and Forest of Knaresborough, Hargrove & Sons: Knaresborough 1809.
  2. Higgins, Godfrey, The Celtic Druids, R. Hunter: London 1829.
  3. Rooke, Hayman, “Some Account of the Brimham Rocks in Yorkshire,” in Archaeologia journal, volume 8, 1787.
  4. Speight, Harry, Upper Nidderdale, with the Forest of Knaresborough, Elliot Stock: London 1906.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Ringstone Hill, Brierley, South Yorkshire

megalithix

Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SE 426 099

Archaeology & History

On the southern outskirts of Brierley and the northeastern edge of Grimethorpe is the curiously-named site of Ringstone Hill.  I say “curiously,” as there are no physical remnants of anything which would presently tell us of there ever being such a ring of stones here — well, nothing authentic anyway!  Some doods stuck a modern ring of stones here, but it’s pretty obviously a recent construction (apparently 1990-ish); but sometime in the not-too-distant past another circle, very probably prehistoric, could be found here…

First mentioned in 1591, the original stone circle which gave this place its name has seemingly gone; but the hill which preserves its name is a prominent place in the landscape, and this was very probably of some relevance to the builders.  On the eastern side of the hill were two large oak trees known locally as Adam & Eve, or the Well-Bred Oaks: the first name implying a creation-myth story which may have related to the ring of stones.  It also stands at the edge of the old boundary line along which, somewhere, was another tree called the Gospel Thorn, “where the gospel was read when beating the bounds.” (A.H. Smith 1961: 1:269)

This was a theme explored and developed in Mr Gomme’s (1880) old work on ancient meeting, or moot spots.  He told:

“Ringston Hill, an eminence partly natural and partly artificial, is near a point at which meet the three wapentakes (district boundaries, PB) of Strafford, Stancross and Osgodcross.  This mound appears to be connected in some manner with the early political state of this district.  It was a place of rendezvous in the time of the Civil War; for in the accounts of the township of Sheffield in 1645 occurs this entry: ‘In money, coats and the charging of a guard which went to Ringston Hill with five men that were pressed, £4, 13s, 3d.’ (Hunter’s South Yorkshire ii, 407)”

References:

  1. Gomme, G.L., Primitive Folk-Moots, Sampson Low: London 1880.
  2. Smith, A.H., The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire – volume 1, Cambridge University Press 1961.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Bride Stone, Farnley Moor, North Yorkshire

megalithix

Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1991 4932

Getting Here

From Otley go north straight over the river and upwards into the countryside for nearly two miles (past the TV mast on the right).  As you reach near the top of the hill, there’s a turn to your right.  Go on here for a hundred yards or so, then walk along the footpath to your right.  After a few hundred yards, keep your eyes out for the stone just through the gate, in the walling on your left.

Archaeology & History

Although we see named on the 1853 Ordnance Survey map the respective place-names of Bride Cross House and Bride Cross Allotment, the first literary reference to any site here as a standing stone appears to be Eric Cowling (1946) who, when commenting on the pagan tradition and folklore of ancient sites, told that

“The name of Bride Cross Farm, Dob Park, is very significant, for at the meeting place of several tracks to the south-east is a squat standing stone built into a wall and marked as a boundary stone, which was probably Brides Cross.”

Bride Stone, Farnley Moor
Boundary markers on top

Although I’d read about this place as a kid, it was Graeme Chappell who first brought me here some twenty years back, in one of our many exploratory forays into the prehistory of this area.  It’s a nice fat squat standing stone, similar in stature to the more famous Bull Stone near Otley Chevin, a few miles to the south — though our Bride Stone here is about half as high.  Only about three-feet tall, it stands by the gate at the wall-side about 200 yards down the footpath from the Dob Park Lodge road and does seems to have been used as a boundary marker, as the letters “F.F.” are carved deeply on top of the upright (possibly denoting the Fawkes family of Farnley).

Cowling’s assertion that this old stone accounts for the ‘Bride Cross’ place-name is probably right, as the site is roughly midway between the respective place-names of the House and Allotment.  There is an old field-name of Crosse Close in the vicinity, from 1692, but I haven’t located it.  If such a cross ever existed nearby (most likely, it’s gotta be said), it’s obviously the relic which left the place-names — though the standing stone was certainly here first!  As yet, we’ve found no references to this place before 1853…which can’t be right…

Folklore

Seems to be a petrification legend in here somewhere. Although the short tale doesn’t say as much, it is supposed to have got its name through “the murder of a bride, rejected by a suitor, on her return from a wedding.”  Indeed, I’d go so far as to say ‘fertility’ as well!

Eric Cowling (1946) really stuck his neck out and reckoned sacrifices occurred here in the not too distant past. This may relate to the nearby Haddock Stones, a few hundred yards south, thought to derive its name from a cairn and ‘altar stones.’

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
  2. Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  3. Phillips, Guy Ragland, Brigantia — A Mysteriography, RKP: London 1976.
  4. Smith, A.H., The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire – volume 5, Cambridge University Press 1961.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Bent Head, Todmorden, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SD 9602 2587

Also Known as:

  1. Upper Eastwood Carving

Getting Here

Bent Head cup-marking

From Todmorden go east on the A646 for less than a mile and take the Cross Stone road on your left.  Keep going all the way up till you hit the moorland edge road, where you’ll see the Great Rock (a massive boulder right by the roadside). Then go down Eastwood Lane, past the house where the lane swings right and here you’ll see a stile in the wall on the right (just after the next lane on your left).  Walk along this path, over the stiles in the walling until you reach a wooden stile. The carving is hereby!

Archaeology & History

This carving was described just once by Mr J.A. Heginbottom (1979) as, “a small cup-marked boulder in a stile 100 metres east of Bent Head, Todmorden.” A small, innocuous stone used in the drystone walling, it gives the distinct impression of being one of the many ‘portable’ cup-marked stones typical of those found in prehistoric cairns and other tombs — but the record-books speak of no such remains here; and various ambles about in search of such a potential tomb have drawn a blank. Nevertheless, the cup-markings here are pretty obvious once you see ’em (assuming the daylight aint overcast, which can hide the carvings sometimes).  About 2 feet long, about a foot wide and a foot high, this cup-marked portable is similar in size and form to the Nine Stones cup-marking, Derbyshire, recently found in walling very close to where an old tomb was recorded (though the Derbyshire one has only 2-3 cups).  Certainly worth a look if you’re in the area.

References:

  1. Heginbottom, J.A., The Prehistoric Rock Art of Upper Calderdale and the Surrounding Area, YAS: Leeds 1979.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Battle Hill Dolmen, Huntly, Aberdeenshire

megalithix

Cairn (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NJ 542 401

Archaeology & History

In a short article, ‘Dolmens in Scotland’, written by Dr H.O. Forbes in the esteemed Antiquity journal of June 1929, Dr Forbes reported the former existence of a dolmen-like monument that stood,

“some 70 years ago…at the north or northwestern extremity of Battle Hill which looks down on the town of Huntly on the River Bogie in Aberdeenshire.  In walking from Drumblade to the town, about 3 miles off, one usually took a short cut over Battle Hill.  This bypath diverged from the turnpike road leading north to Banff and led to the top of Battle Hil (400ft), close past the edge of the wood, a few yards within which stood this monument.  It was a typical dolmen, of which I retain a perfectly clear recollection, with its large granite capstone supported by three massive, rudely shaped pillars.  On the aspect towards the bypath, there were some blocks of stone on the ground which may have constituted a fourth pillar or the ruins of a dromos, otherwise the dolmen was in excellent preservation.  It stood about 6 to 7 feet high above the ground level, for I remember it took some climbing for me as a small boy to get on top.”

Folklore

Dr Forbes also described several legends attached to this long forgotten old tomb.  He told “that it was a ruined druid’s altar; that the stones were dropped down through a hole in the devil’s apron when on his way to Knock Hill to deposit the cloven-stone there (a large glacial erratic); and that it is the tomb of a great warrior.”  A story that we find at a number of prehistoric tombs in both Britain and abroad.  At some nearby tumuli, legend told that they stood on the site of a great battle.

References:

  1. Forbes, H.O., ‘Dolmens in Scotland,’ in Antiquity journal, volume 3, June 1929.

  2. Grinsell, Leslie, Folklore of Prehistoric Sites in Britain, David & Charles: Newton Abbot 1976.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Baildon Moor (171), West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 13842 40268

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.37 (Hedges)

Getting Here

W.P. Baildon’s sketch

Upon the heights of Baildon Hill, get to the Dobrudden Farm caravan site. 100 yards up the track leading from it (north), go into the tribbles of grassland immediately to your left.  Look around!

Archaeology & History

This is only a small stone and takes some finding when the grasses are long.  It’s found upon the once archaeologically rich High Plain with at least 17 cup-markings etched onto its surface.  A single prehistoric tomb appears to have accompanied the rock and its cup-marks.

It was first described by Mr Baildon (1913) in his magnum opus; then later catalogued in Hedges (1986) survey, a couple of years after I did my first drawing of this stone.

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, unpublished: Shipley 1982.
  3. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Leeds 2003.
  4. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian