Tag: neolithic

Cob Stone Field, Keighley, West Yorkshire

megalithix

Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 00549 40888

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.1 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Cob Stone with cup-marks on top
Cob Stone its cup-marks

Go through Laycock village and take the left turn along the lovely, hidden country lane towards Slippery Ford (called Todley Hall Road) until you get near the end of this beautiful wooded valley (called Newsholme Dean). Just by Grey Stones Hill, on your left, is a track heading down to a large farm building with numerous rocks and boulders in the fields either side of you.  Stop! – and look in the field on the right.

Archaeology & History

Cluster of cup-marks on top
Cluster of cup-marks

This particular stone is in the field to the right of the track, over the wall, right near the top of the field.  Described for the first time in Boughey & Vickerman’s (2003) survey where they describe “at least eight cups” on the rock; and it’s listed on the MAGIC Map survey as having 6 cups — which are the ones you can plainly see on the very top edge of the stone. What may be three other faint ones can be discerned on the sloping sides of the rock.

Cob Stone Field carving

Another ‘possible’ cup-marked stone can be seen lower down the field, past the large Cob Stone.  There is also another cup-marked stone in the adjacent field at SE 00610 40841 (listed as stone no.2 in Boughey & Vickerman, 2003) with apparently 17 cups on the large rock there, but this can be difficult to see unless lighting conditions are just right.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cnoc na Croise, Ardminish, Gigha, Argyll

megalithix

Cairns:  OS Grid Reference – NR 6439 4828

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 38549

Archaeology & History

In Thomas Pennant’s A Tour in Scotland and Journey to the Hebrides, 1772 (1790:226), he described there being three prehistoric cairns about four-hundred yards west of Ardminish, or a couple or hundred yards north of the Achamore Standing Stone, on Cnoc na Croise, but they seem to have been destroyed.  At least two of them were between 4 and 5 yards across and contained cists.  A search for the site by the Royal Commission lads in the 1960s found nothing—although they may have been looking in the wrong place (the grid reference given above is an approximation).  Does anyone know anything more about these seemingly lost sites?

References:

  1. Royal Commission for Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 1: Kintyre, HMSO 1971.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cnoc na Carraigh, Gigha, Argyll

megalithix

Standing Stone (destroyed): OS grid reference – NR 6426 4817

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 38540

Archaeology & History

The Scottish Royal Commission (1971) reported a very large

“standing stone that stood 185m NNW of Achmore House (that) was removed at the beginning of the 19th century. It was reported that is measured 4.9m in height (16ft), 1.2m in breadth and 0.2m in thickness.”

A prehistoric cairn seemed to have accompanied this monolith—as reported by Thomas Pennant in 1772—but it too has been destroyed.  Pennant told us how the monolith was,

“a great rude column, sixteen feet high, four broad and eight inches thick.”

Not bad at all!  It was still extant, although leaning to the southwest in the year 1790 (OSA 1791-9); appearing to have been removed about 1800.  No trace of it remained when the Ordnance Survey lads looked here in 1869.

References:

  1. Royal Commission for Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 1: Kintyre, HMSO 1971.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cleatop, Settle, North Yorkshire

megalithix

Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS grid-reference – SD 821 613

Also known as:

  1. Druid’s Hill Circle
  2. Druid’s Circle

Archaeology & History

Speight's 1895 map - showing position of circle
Speight’s 1895 map – showing position of circle

Not included in any previous archaeological surveys of megalithic rings, this circle of stones was apparently visible from quite a distance away, sitting on the hillside where now there is woodland.  It was described by the great Yorkshire historian Harry Speight (1892, 1895), though today it seems that all remains of it have vanished.

An early description of it came after an excursion to the site by local antiquarians, who told that “at Cleatop, about a mile to the south of Settle, are the remains of an ancient stone circle.” (Horsfall-Turner 1888) A few years later, Mr Speight gave us more details of the place, saying:

“A little above Cleatop Farm (near Rathmell)…is Cleatop Wood.  Cleatop derives its name from the A.S. cleof, a rocky aclivity; Latin clivus, a bank or slope. Near the northeast side of the wood there was once a very noticeable Druid’s Circle, about 60 feet in diameter; indeed, Mr Thomas Brayshaw of Settle, informs me that within the memory of persons still living, it was so regular and well-defined that one or two gaps caused by the removal of stones could be easily distinguished. The eminence at the rear of the site has, from time immemorial, been known as Druid’s Hill.”

Some years later, that very same local historian Tom Brayshaw (1932) wrote:

“The Ordnance map marks, on the steep slope to the north of Cleatop Wood, ‘site of Stone Circle’.  It needs a very keen eye to identify the few stumps that remain today, and it is deplorable that this most interesting monument, after enduring for so many centuries, has been destroyed during the last eighty years.  In 1847 a description of the circle, as it then was, was sent to Captain Yolland of the Ordnance Survey.

“”I suppose the circle of stones in Cleatop High Park to be aboriginal British or Druidical remains from the following appearances: the circle is complete and the large stones are set on end, some of them several tons weight.  The stones are twelve in number now standing, beside several others that seem to be rolled a short distance, as it is placed on the ascent of a steep hill and commands a beautiful and extensive prospect (more so than any given point of the same altitude in the vicinity).  The circle is 36 feet in diameter.”

“A few stones were still standing in 1883.  The hill above long bore the name Druids Hill.  The Enclosure Acts passed towards the end of the 18th century greatly increased the number of drystone walls in the parish, and it is probable that many old stone monuments were destroyed in making them and in their subsequent repair”.

We have no references of burials or other excavations here to give us any idea of whether human remains had ever been found.  It’s an intriguing place in the landscape though…and worthy of further explorations…

References:

  1. Brayshaw, Thomas, A History of the Ancient Parish of Giggleswick, Halton & Co.: London 1932.
  2. Horsfall-Turner, J. (ed.), ‘Antiquarian Excursion to Giggleswick and Settle,’ in Yorkshire Folklore Journal, vol.1, T. Harrison: Bingley 1888.
  3. Speight, Harry, The Craven and Northwest Yorkshire Highlands, Elliott Stock: London 1892.
  4. Speight, Harry, Tramps and Drives in the Craven Highlands, Elliot Stock: London 1895.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


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