Tag: prehistoric sites

Mini-Skirtful of Stones, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1346 4606

Getting Here

Follow directions to get to the Pancake Stone.  From here walk SE on the footpath that runs on the edge of the moor.  After about 200 yards you’ll hit a small footpath which heads into the moor (south).  Walk on here for about 200 yards and notice the small rise in the land to your right (if you cross the small stream where the land dips into a very small valley, you’ve gone past).  That’s it!  The Little Haystack Rock is less than 100 yards away down the slope from here.

Mini-Skirtful of Stones, looking north

Archaeology & History

Of approximately eighty prehistoric cairns that have been alleged to exist along the Green Crag Slack ridge on Ilkley Moor, this site in particular is worthy of note, due mainly to its size. As independent archaeological researcher Paul Bowers said of it when he first saw this cairn-spoil, “it seemed too big to have not been discovered in the past.”  Too right!

Mini-Skirtful, looking west
Mini-Skirtful, looking west

When we tracked across Green Crag Plain a few days ago, it was Michala Potts that called our attention to it.  Half-covered in full heather growth, only the eastern edge was exposed.  At first it seemed that it was loose prehistoric walling, but then I realised it was on the edge of small knoll and the stone work was deeper and wider than walling.  As we explored through the heather atop of the knoll, it was obvious that there was a more extensive gathering of stones scattered all over the top of this small rise, and it seemed that we were looking at the remains of a reasonable sized cairn. Its extent carries about ten yards down the slope from the small hillock, but only a few yards either side of it.  It seems likely that the extended loose stones have, over the centuries, simply slipped further down the slope.  However, not until a decent excavation occurs will we know anything certain.  It is possibile that this is simply the scattered remains of damaged neolithic or Bronze Age walling, but only a more detailed exploration of the site will tell us for sure.

Cowling (1946) mentioned the numerous cairns and scattered walling reaching across this part of Ilkley Moor, but gave no specific information relating to this mini-skirt full of stones! (blame Mikki for the title!)

References:

  1. Cowling, E.T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Eastwoods Farm Cup, Heyshaw, North Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1852 6201

Also Known as:

  1. IAG637a (Boughey)

Single cup-marked stone in the field below Eastwoods Farm

Getting Here

From the large village of Summerbridge, go west along the B6541 towards Dacre Banks, where you’ll see the signpost for the Nidderdale Way footpath.  Follow this past the disused quarry and onto the meadows.  When you hit the Monk Ing road, bear right (north) and keep going till you’re 100 yards from Eastwoods Farm.  Go right, down into the fields for 50 yards or so.  Look around!

Archaeology & History

A previously unlisted single cup-marked stone which is likely to become overgrown by the grasses pretty soon.  Several other carvings are in close attendance in this field.  It’s not far from the cup-marked Eastwoods Cross Base (aka CR 637) in the same field, but a little further down.  In all probability there are other carvings yet to be found in this area.  The rock art student Keith Boughey (2007) mentioned it briefly in an article on the other carvings nearby, saying simply:

“A small area of rock (very possibly bedrock) measuring 40cm x 14cm at its greatest extent pokes up through the turf, showing one worn but clear cup-mark on its western edge (Fig 3). On its own, this marking would not be significant were it not for the fact that four other carved rocks are already recorded from this particular locality.”

The hugely impressive Morphing Stone and a prehistoric lightning-carving can be found in the next field, full of rocks, on the other side of the stream.

(NB: In a more recent visit to the site (August 2011), the carving had all but disappeared beneath ever-growing Earth.)

References:

  1. Boughey, K., “Prehistoric Rock Art: Four New Discoveries in Nidderdale,” in Prehistoric Research Section Bulletin, no.44, Yorkshire Archaeological Society 2007.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Cat Heaps, Swanston, Edinburgh, Midlothian

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Cairns (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NT 2447 6828

Archaeology & History

Not far from the giant cup-marked Caiy Stone, there used to be two very large prehistoric cairns, which local historian Daviid Shankie told us “were foolishly broken up by some sacriligious hand and used for road metal”!  Not good…  Remains of human bones and several fragments of old weapons were found in them.  Fred Coles (1903) told us that:

“In the neighbourhood of this [i.e. Morton Hall], but further southwest, on the grounds of Comiston, were found, in forming the public road, under large heaps of stones, various sepulchral stone enclosures, in which were deposited urns with dead men’s ashes, and divers warlike weapons.” And again, when speaking of the levelling of a part of the ground close to the old (so-called Roman) road, by Sir John Clerk of Pennycuick, the same writer adds, there ” were discovered several stone coffins with human bones.”

Folklore

According to Shankie (1902), these two great cairns were built upon lands previously known as the Templelands of Swanston and commemorated a great battle that was fought “between the ancient Picts and Scots.”

References:

  1. Coles, Fred, ‘Notice of…Cairns and Standing Stones in Midlothian and Fife,’ in PSAS 37, 1903.
  2. Harris, Stuart, The Place-Names of Edinburgh, Gordon Wright: Edinburgh 1996.
  3. Royal Commission for the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Midlothian and West Lothian, HMSO: Edinburgh 1929.
  4. Shankie, David, The Parish of Colinton, John Wilson: Edinburgh 1902.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Urn Stone, Green Crag, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone: OS Grid Reference – SE 12832 46163

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.130 (Hedges)
  2. Carving no.287 (Boughey & Vickerman)

Getting Here

Drawing of the Urn Stone (after Hedges 1986)
Drawing of the Urn Stone (after Hedges 1986)

Follow the directions for getting to the Haystack Rock, then bear right (west) along the footpath, past the little Three Cups Stone, until the path bends and goes up onto the moor.  A hundred yards or so, walk left into the heather (you’re straddling the remains of considerable prehistoric walling and enclosure remains by now) and look around.  You’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

I was only about 12-years old when I first saw this and the nearby prehistoric carvings — but when I came to look for any references to it as a boy, there were none I could find at the time.  Then, ten years later when John Hedges (1986) brought out his fine work on the cup-and-ring art of Ilkley Moor, its presence was shown in pen-and-ink at last.  Found amidst the remains of an extensive settlement or series of walled enclosures, the carving’s name comes from the curious urn-like element that Hedges showed faintly.   There is also an additional ring around one of the cups above the ‘urn’.

Excavations that were done on the prehistoric ‘enclosure’ close to this petroglyph in the 1990s, uncovered the remains of a decent amount of ‘grooved ware’ pottery and worked flint (Edwards & Bradley 1999), dated between 2900 and 2600 BC.  As such pottery has been found elsewhere in Britain within and/or near earthworks and other prehistoric remains (obviously!), its incidence here isn’t really too much of a surprise.  However, Edwards & Bradley (1999) speculate — albeit vaguely — that there may be a link between the cup-and-rings here and the pottery, saying, “if so, the rock carvings (here) might be indicating a place of special significance.”

This may be so: considering the prevalence of rock-art along the geological ridge and its close association with the large number of burial cairns.  If it can be ascertained that the charred remains of humans were kept inside the pottery or vases, the relationship between death and the carvings (well established on this part of Ilkley Moor) would be reinforced.

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service 2003.
  2. Edwards, Gavin & Bradley, Richard, ‘Rock Carvings and Neolithic Artefacts on Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire,’ in Grooved Ware in Britain and Ireland (edited by Cleal, R. & MacSween, A.), Oxbow: Oxford 1999.
  3. Hedges, John, The Carved Rocks on Rombald’s Moor, WYMCC: Wakefield 1986.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Middlesknowes, Oxnam, Jedburgh, Roxburghshire

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Standing Stone (destroyed?):  OS Grid Reference – NT 7420 1487

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 58143

Archaeology & History

There’s considerable Bronze- and Iron-Age archaeology all round here (cairns, settlements, earthworks and more), but it seems that the once-proud standing stone highlighted on the 1899 Ordnance Survey map found on the higher ground a half-mile north of Middlesknowes, no longer stands where it had been standing for all those thousands of years.  What, pray, has become of it…?

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Roxburghshire – volume 2, HMSO: Edinburgh 1956.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Harlaw, Fairnington, Roxburghshire

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Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NT 666 286

Archaeology & History

One of those site place-names with a familiar ring to it: Har, boundary; law, tumulus (though it can also be used to mean ‘a meeting place’).  Nevertheless, whatever the precise origin of the name, the site here seems to have been destroyed.

Although listed by the Royal Commission in 1956 as a stone circle, John Barnatt thinks it may have been a tomb of sorts – which is what the place-name infers if we’re puritanical about it.  Alexander Jeffrey (1864) told us the most, saying that:

“A field to the east of Fairnington village is called Harlaw, from a circle of large stones which stood within it, but which have been removed to serve farm purposes.”

Its exact location is unknown, though the Royal Commission lads thought it probably “stood somewhere near the present Harelaw Plantation,” about a mile east of the village.  Any more info on this lost site would be most welcome!

References:

  1. Burl, Aubrey, The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, Yale University Press 2000.
  2. Gelling, Margaret, Place-Names in the Landscape, Phoenix: London 2000.
  3. Jeffrey, Alexander, The History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire – volume 3, Seton & MacKenzie: Edinburgh 1864.
  4. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Roxburghshire – volume 2, HMSO: Edinburgh 1956.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Lidstone, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

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Standing Stones:  OS Grid Reference – SP 35487 24627

Also Known as:

  1. King Lud’s Stone
  2. Leodwine’s stone

Getting Here

Just get to the top of the hill thru the village and where the sharp bend turns, you’ll find one of the monoliths up against the wall above the roadside (hard to find in the undergrowth sometimes!).  The other stone is on the eastern side of the road through Lidstone from the A44, halfway into the village itself.

Archaeology & History

Lidstone monolith
Lidstone monolith

There are two small stones to be found in the lovely little hamlet of Lidstone.  The main one—Leodwin’s Stone—is at coordinate SP 35517 24656; and the smaller stone further up the hill is at SP 35487 24627.  First described in a treatise from 1235 AD as Lidenstan, the great place-name writer Ekwall (1940) thought this derived from ‘Leodwine’s Stone.” A few years later Gelling (1954) told us that “there is a monolith at Lidstone”, which she thought gave rise to the place-name, and not some chap named Leodwine.  Whichever it may be, we certainly have two small upright stones here — both worth having a look at if such things take your interest. (Tom Wilson and I included them in our short survey of the standing stones of the region in 1999) Further up at the top of the hill from here are the remains of an old tumulus.

Folklore

Said by Caroline Pumphrey (1990) to be the resting place of old King Lud, one of England’s last great pagan kings; another local writer Elsie Corbett (1962) also told a tale well-known to folklore students about this little monolith.  She related how a local man they knew as Mr Hitchcock told them,

“that they used to kid the boys there by telling them that when the stone hears the clock strike twelve it goes down to the stream to drink, and that it was just a ‘catch’ because there was no striking clock in the first place; but it is a ‘catch’ tacked onto some tale that must have been told in the hamlet long ages before there were clocks at all.”

The said stream is a short distance due north of here, down the little valley.  The tale may come from it once acting as a shadow-marker, highlighting midday when the sun was high in the sky due south.  Makes sense of the folktale anyway!

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul & Wilson, Tom, The Old Stones of Rollright and District, Cockley: London 1999.
  2. Corbett, Elsie, A History of Spelsbury, Cheney & Sons: Banbury 1962.
  3. Ekwall, Eilert, Oxford Dictionary of Place-Names, OUP: Oxford 1940.
  4. Gelling, Margaret, The Place-Names of Oxfordshire – volume 2, Cambridge University Press 1954.
  5. Pumphrey, Caroline, Charlbury of our Childhood, Sessions Books: York 1990.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Loch Seil, Kilninver, Argyll

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Crannog (submerged):  OS Grid Reference – NM 80390 20292

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 22994

Getting Here

A beautiful place found along the roadside towards Seil Island, on the B844 a few miles south of Oban.  When you get near the south end of the loch right by the road, have a gander!  If the waters are low you can sometimes see the ghostly island appear above the waves…

Archaeology & History

You’re lucky to see anything here – as the crannog has all but submerged.  This old artificial island could once be clearly seen less than 400 yards south of Duachy farmhouse, near the southwestern edge of the loch.  It measured roughly 10 yards by 8 yards, was built of stones, seemingly “with a boat-slip on the west side and a ‘square place’ on the east as if for a landing stage.”  All trace of the causeway linking it to the shore has apparently vanished.  But if you do stop here, check out the Duachy Standing Stones on the hillside behind you!

References:

  1. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland, Argyll – volume 2: Lorn, HMSO: Edinburgh 1974.#

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Minning Low, Ballidon, Derbyshire

megalithix

Cairns:  OS Grid Reference – SK 2091 5731

Also Known as:

  1. Minninglow
  2. Roystone Cairn

Getting Here

Minning Low from the air, looking NE (photo © Pete Glastonbury)

You can see the copse of trees here from all directions it seems, and there seem various ways in.  Don’t think there’s a direct footpath, but from all accounts the locals are friendly and you can cross the fields from various directions.  From either Pikehall to the north, Aldwark to the east, or Brassington from the south, head towards the distinct wooded copse atop of the hill and you’ll get there!

Archaeology & History

This superb-looking view catches the remains of at least two prehistoric tombs.  In Marsden’s (1977) brief notes of the site he describes,

“Disturbed mound in plantation with exposed limestone cist.  Primary cist rifled.  Secondary cremation.  A second barrow had been raised against the earlier cairn, containing a primary cremation in situ., with a burnt bronze razor, 2 flint knives and a bone tool.”

Barnatt & Collis (1986) give more detailed descriptions of the respective tombs.  The first is categorized as a passage grave chambered cairn:

“This large but mutilated barrow measures c.45 x 38m and in parts is over 2m high.  It had been much robbed for stone before the site was first recorded in the late 18th century.  The ruined remains of four chambers can be seen.  In 1843 Bateman located a fifth partially-collapsed chamber passage, now lost somewhere within the mound.  Rooke recorded a further one of two structures to the north and possibly west sides of the mound (Douglas 1793), that had gone or been reburied in Bateman’s day.  Small excavations by Marsden in 1973-4 clarified the design of the four visible chambers.  Each originally had tall portals, back stone, side slabs, low septal slabs and short entrance passages.  Drystone walling had been used to fill gaps between orthostats and in places to increase the heights of the sides.”

Although human remains were found here, the authors tell how the site was initially plundered as far back as the Romano-British period.  It had once been a long cairn, aligned ENE-WSW, but they give no notice of any potential astronomical orientation (does anyone know?).

References:

  1. Barnatt, John & Collis, John, Barrows in the Peak District, J.R. Collis: Sheffield 1986.
  2. Bateman, Thomas, Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire, London 1848.
  3. Douglas, J., Naenia Britannica, London 1793.
  4. Marsden, Barry M., The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire, privately printed: Bingley 1977.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Haulgh, Bolton, Lancashire

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Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SD 7242 0899

Archaeology & History

This single-grave burial — described by Barnes (1982) as a kerbed or revetted cairn — close to the very centre of modern-day Bolton, was once an impressive prehistoric tomb.  It was described by a local historian, Matthew Dawes, amidst a variety of prehistoric remains in and around Bolton, most of which have long-since been forgotten.

“Near Haulgh, about a quarter of a mile south-east from Bolton Parish Church, on a piece of high flat land, on the east bank of the Croal, and about fifty feet above the river, was a tumulus, about thirty feet in diameter, and four feet deep, consisting of small boulders… It was discovered in September, 1826, in forming a branch of the new road leading from Bolton to Bury. It was probably much depressed in its formation and was covered with a few inches of mound. The cop or fence crossed it in a north and south direction. About the centre of this tumulus was a cist-vaen, about four feet six inches long and one foot deep, formed of four upright stones and a coverer, and its length was nearly north and south. In this cist-vaen was a skeleton, with the legs doubled up, and the head to the north. Near the head, and on the west side, was found an urn, inverted, four and a half inches in the widest diameter, and three and a quarter inches high, and perforated by four small holes in the widest part. On the other side of the head was a bronze spear-head, four and three-eighths inches long, and one and three-eighths inch wide, of which the point was bent back, and a piece of the side chipped away. The urn and spear-head were taken to the Countess of Bradford, the Earl of Bradford being the owner of the land.”

Intriguingly, if you’re from the Bolton region, Mr Dawes also told that, “A man in the employ of the Earl of Bradford, the superintendent of the work, who made the discovery, informs me (1862) that two other tumuli were found shortly after the one just described, a few yards to the south of it, in the same fence.”  As yet I have no more information about these other tombs (gimme time though!)

References:

  1. Barnes, Bernard, Man and the Changing Landscape, Unversity of Liverpool 1982.
  2. Dawes, M., ‘British Burial Places near Bolton,’ in Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancs & Cheshire, volume 4, 1852.
  3. Scholes, James C., History of Bolton, Daily Chronicle: Bolton 1892.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian