Tag: prehistoric sites

Alresford Hill, Alresford, Essex

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Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – TM 0628 2022

Archaeology & History

Alresford Hill urn

In a region well known for the finding of early British remains (Belloc 1905), another prehistoric burial mound was destroyed in the Essex landscape simply due to ignorance and neglect.  Thankfully once more we have local antiquarians and an astute schoolgirl for discovering and preserving a record of this site, otherwise we’d have no record of the place at all!  Described in M.R. Hull’s (1946) article on some of the Bronze Age relics of the area, he told how a well-preserved urn in the edge of the tumulus,

“was found in June 1942 by a schoolgirl, Miss Anne Pilkington, on the top of the hill overlooking Alresford Creek and the Colne Estuary, about 70 yards northwest of Bench Mark 74.8 and 560 yards slightly west of south from Alresford church, west of the road to the creek and south of the lane running west along the north side of the field.  This is the northern limit of a huge gravel-pit. She noticed the vessel standing upright in the side of the pit and recovered it. Nothing else was noticed…

“Afterwards the diary of our late Fellow, Mr P.G. Laver came into my hands and I find under the date 8th July, 1922, that he noticed, when motoring past the site, ‘a definite tumulus, but much ploughed down, now barely 18ins above the field level.  It is close to the road through the field, the centre being roughly 20 yards S of the road and about 200 yards from the road to the ford.’ The sketch-plan leaves no doubt on the identity of the site.”

Annoyingly though, Mr Hull didn’t think it worthwhile to reproduce this alleged sketch-map.  He did however give us a good description of the urn and its position in the ground, saying,

“The vessel is stated to have been about 5ft below the surface when found, but I am not certain whether the top-soil had been removed or not.  The clay is fine, burnt light red, but black within, and the whole body is covered with horizontal lines impressed in exactly the same way as (those on the Flag Inn urn), but much less clearly.  The base is slightly hollowed beneath and is not far from having a foot-ring.”

Folklore

Mr Hull (1946) also made an interesting comment on the views of local people about the site where Anne had found this urn, reminding me of what Highland and hill folk would have put down to faerie-lore, though no such memory was noted. He told:

“On enquiry I learnt that no one had observed a mound at the spot, but that it had been observed that exactly there the corn, when the field was cultivated, grew taller and greener in a large round patch”!

References:

  1. Belloc, Hilaire, The Old Road, Archibald Constable: London 1905.
  2. Hull, M.R., “Five Bronze Age Beakers from North-East Essex,” in Antiquaries Journal, volume 26, Jan-April 1946.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Flag Inn, St. Osyth, Essex

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Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – TM 117 178

Archaeology & History

Bronze Age beaker from the Flag Inn tumulus

Roughly halfway between Thorrington and St. Osyth, a few hundred yards east of the Flag Creek on the grassy wasteland south of the historic Flag Inn, could once be found a fine tumulus, of whose past we sadly know so little.  Nothing now remains of the old burial mound apart from a carved urn that once lived therein and was recovered from the site before its final demise.  According to M.R. Hull (1946) the well-preserved Bronze Age beaker found here—which he said “stood out as different” from others in this area—

“was found in 1930 on the 50ft contour-line about 200 yards south-southeast of the Flag Inn, in a gravel pit, in St. Osyth parish. The position is a mile and a quarter north-northwest of St. Osyth church.  On this occasion it was not possible to examine the site, which could only be established with moderate accuracy some time after the discovery…

“The clay is fine, of light red colour, ornamented with three bands of trellis pattern, each bounded by three horizontal lines, and a band of four such lines at the base, all executed with an instrument making a short line of square impressions, probably the end of a comb used in weaving.”

References:

  1. Hull, M.R., “Five Bronze Age Beakers from North-East Essex,” in Antiquaries Journal, volume 26, Jan-April 1946.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Perces, Halstead, Essex

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Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – TL 8228 2704

Archaeology & History

Aerial image showing ghostly circular outline

This is one of many lost prehistoric burial sites destroyed in Essex in recent centuries and whose only remains now, as seen here to the right, are the ghostly outlines left in the Earth when looking down from above.  We are very fortunate indeed in even having a record of this place—this time thanks to an astute fellow antiquarian hearing of some old remains alleged to have been in an old burial mound, south of Greenstead Green.

It’s short story was described in M.R. Hull’s (1946) essay on a series of Bronze Age beakers in Essex that were found in association with once-proud tumuli, living amidst a landscape held as sacred by our peasant ancestors.  Although we have no good description of the tumulus, Mr Hull said that this well-preserved clay beaker,

Perces Bronze Age beaker

“was found in 1930 on the 200ft contour-line 366 yards due south of Piercys in the parish of Halstead…that is 2¼ miles south-southeast of Halstead Church.  I visited the site immediately after the discovery with our late Fellow, Mr P.G. Laver, and the finder assured us that no other remains were found.  He had dug a small pit into the natural gravel, and in doing so came upon this vessel at a depth of 7ft from the surface.  When we arrived the burial pit had been destroyed, and, although the depth of the vessel from the surface suggests that a tumulus existed, we were unable to see any remains of it.  We found a calcined flint…in the excavation. The vessel…(of) clay is fine, containing a very small quantity of quartz-like grit; the colour is a warm red-brown, and the body is decorated all over with finger-nail impressions.”

References:

  1. Hull, M.R., “Five Bronze Age Beakers from North-East Essex,” in Antiquaries Journal, volume 26, Jan-April 1946.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Bowling Green Stone, Shipley, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 14505 37525

Also Known as:

  1. Carving no.8 (Boughey & Vickerman)
  2. Shipley Old Hall Carving

Getting Here

Carved stone beside the path

From Shipley town centre open market, take the Kirkgate road up to Saltaire, past the old town hall. On the other side of the road take the little path into the Bowling Club, in the trees (if you hit the church you’ve gone too far).  Once standing in front of the bowling green itself, you need to walk along the left-side path. Two-thirds of the way down, now laid in the ivy-covered area below the old quarry face, you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Archaeology & History

I remember first seeking out this carving when I was still at school and wondering how the hell it got here – and believed it to be a fallen standing stone at the time!  It seems that the stone was cut and readied for use as a gatepost instead, at some time long ago.

Close-up showing cups & lines
In its previous locale

The curious cup-marked stone has travelled about a bit, somehow.  Formerly at the edge of a field in the grounds of Bradford Grammar School 3 miles away (at SE 1523 3583), the fella was then built into the wall of the now-demolished Shipley Old Hall, before reaching its present resting place at the edge of the bowling green.  Consisting of around 16 cup-markings with carved lines seeming to link them here and there, it was first mentioned by the late great Sydney Jackson (1955) in an early edition of the Bradford Archaeology Journal.  The carving was recently included in the Boughey & Vickerman (2003) survey, where they described it as,

“Medium-sized fairly smooth grit rock with coarse line down top, probably natural, evidence of quarrying on edge.  Sixteen or seventeen cups, one with a groove out has a deeper cut within it and twelve of the others are linked in pairs by short grooves.  This has been interpreted as feathering for quarrying, but the grooves are across the line of likely split, rather than along it.”

And for those of you who live nearby: if you check this out, see if you can locate an earthfast boulder near here which I recall having a cluster of distinct cup-marks running on top of the rock along one side. I couldn’t find it when I looked a short while ago, it’s not in the archaeology survey lists, and it remains lost—in the heart of Shipley no less!

References:

  1. Boughey, Keith & Vickerman, E.A., Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding, WYAS: Wakefield 2003.
  2. Jackson, Sydney, “Cup-Marked Boulder, Shipley Old Hall,” in Bradford Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 1:10, 1955.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Gill Head, Blubberhouses Moor, North Yorkshire

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Enclosures:  OS Grid Reference – SE 1338 5493

Getting Here

Upright stone in prehistoric walling

ON the A59 Harrogate to Skipton road, right on top where it crosses the barren moors, get to the parking spot right near where the road levels out at the highest point (2-300 yards past the turning to the derelict Dovestones Quarry). From here, go thru the gate onto the moor for about 100 yard. Then turn straight east (left) for another few hundred yards till y’ reach the spot marked as Gill Head Peat Moor on the OS-map. This small standing stone (right) is where you need to start – the other remains continue east of here.

Archaeology & History

Richard’s original photo, with walling clearly visible

The discovery of this site began in April 2005, when rock art student Richard Stroud and I were exploring the moors here and he called our attention to what seemed like a singular upright standing stone, some 3 feet high, with a debatable cup-marking on top, standing amidst a scatter of smaller stones running north and south from here, implying that the stone may have been a part of some much denuded walling from our ancient past.  But we weren’t sure—and simply noted its location (at SE 13378 54924) and carried on our way.  But in revisiting this site after looking at some old archaeology papers, Paul Hornby and I chanced to find a lot more on the burnt heathland running east of here.

The upright stone found by Mr Stroud is certainly part of some ancient walling, but it is much denuded and falls back into the peat after only a short distance.  A short distance west of this stone is a small cairn which seems of more recent origin; but due east, along the flat plain on the moorland itself, the burnt heathland showed a scattering of extensive human remains, comprising mainly of walling, hut circles and possible cairns—lots of it!

One issue we have to contend with on this moorland is the evidence of considerable peat-cutting in places, which was being done on a large scale into the Victorian period.  Scatterings of medieval work are also found across this moor, in places directly interfering with little-known Bronze Age monuments in the middle of the remote uplands.  There is no doubt that some of these medieval and later workings have destroyed some of the uncatalogued prehistoric archaeological remains on this moor.  But thankfully, on the ridge running west to east along Gill Head to above the source of the Black Dike, scattered remains of human habitation and activity are still in evidence.  The only problem with what we’ve found, is the date…

Two rows of straight walling, with stone scatter all round
Another overgrown curve of walling

In 1960, Mr J. Davies first mentioned finding good evidence of flint-workings at a site close by; then described his discoveries in greater detail in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal (1963) a few years later — but contended that the remains were of mesolithic origin.  A few years earlier, Mr D. Walker described a similar mesolithic “microlith site” a bit further north at Stump Cross.  Earlier still, Eric Cowling (1946) and others had made similar finds on these and adjacent moors.  Yet all of them missed this scatter of habitation sites, perched near the edge of the ridge running east-west atop of the ridge above the A59 road.  It’s quite extensive and, from the state of the walled remains, seems very early, probably neolithic in origin.

A number of small hut circles, 2-3 yards across, are scattered amidst the heather, with lines of walling—some straight, some not—broken here and there by people who came to gather their peat for fuel.  The walling and hut circle remains are very low to the ground, having themselves been robbed for stone it would seem.  The area initially appeared to be little more than a mass of stones scattered across the Earth (and much of it is), but amidst this are very clear lines of walls and circles, although they proved difficult to photograph because of the excessive growth of Calluna vulgaris.

Curious man-made structure in dried peat-bog

A couple of hundred yards south there are remains of one of the many dried black peat-bogs—with one large section that has been tampered with by humans at some point in the ancient past.  Over one section of it there has been built a small stone path, or possible fish-trap; plus elsewhere is a most curious rectangular walled structure (right) obviously made by people a long time ago.  Also amidst this dried peat-bog are the truly ancient remains of prehistoric tree-roots emerging from the Earth, a few thousand years old at least – and perhaps the last remnants of the ancient forests that once covered these moors.

How far back in time do all these walled remains take us?  Iron Age? Bronze Age?  Or much much further…?  Excavations anyone!?

References:

  1. Cowling, Eric T., Rombald’s Way, William Walker: Otley 1946.
  2. Davies, J., “A Mesolithic Workshop in Upper Wharfedale,” in Bradford’s Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletin, 5:1, 1960.
  3. Davies, J., “A Mesolithic Site on Blubberhouses Moor, Wharfedale,” in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, part 161 (volume 41), 1963.
  4. Walker, D., “A Site at Stump Cross, near Grassington, Yorkshire, and the Age of the Pennine Microlith Industry,” in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, volume 22, 1956.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Healey Stone Circles, Masham, North Yorkshire

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Stone Circles (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference –  SE 170 810

Archaeology & History

I was hoping to get a Northern Antiquarian team to explore this arena before moving to Scotland, as I lived in hope that we might uncover some remains of an important cluster of megalithic rings in this quiet North Yorkshire area — but we didn’t manage to get here.  So this short profile is one based purely on texts.

A mile east of the standing stone and impressive cup-and-ring carvings of West Agra, was once to be found several stone circles — according to John Fisher (1865), who told us about them in his magnum opus on the history of the region.  Not to be confused with the giant Druid’s Temple a couple of miles south, Fisher was contextualizing them with the “huge circles of upright stones” which our great heathen ancestors built.  Although he made some mistakes trying to link the local place-names with these stone circles (a common pastime of Victorian writers), his remarks still make interesting reading. He told that,

“In this parish there are places which fully answer to this description, as well in situation and appearance, as in the names which they still bear. I refer more especially to Healey-Baals, Beldin Gill, and Baal Hill, which latter place is situate either upon or near to the range of hills known by the name of Healey-Baals.  The very name of Baal-Hill, without reference to its appearance or locality, indicates that the place is a hill dedicated to the worship of the heathen god Baal; and the name Healey-Baals, according to the interpretation which I put upon these words, is, if possible, still more conclusive of the matter. I take it that the name of Healey is derived from Heil, holy or sacred, and ley, land consisting of fallow-ground, pastures, or meadows. If, therefore, I am right in my interpretation of the name of Healey, then Healey-Baals means simply land sacred to Baal. This supposition is strengthened by the circumstance of circles of upright stones having recently existed near to the place, and from ancient relics which have been found within the parish, and at but a short distance from Healey and Healey-Baals, which are supposed to have been used in the mystical rites of the Druids or priests of Britain, for at least antiquaries can assign no other use to them…”

There are very few other references I can find that tell of these lost stone circles.  Edmund Bogg (1906) mentioned them briefly, saying that between Fearby and the hamlet of Healey a mile west, “there were formerly circles of upright stones and other relics suggestive of druidical origin.” But there’s little more.

In exploring the local field-names we find that three of them here carried the name “Standing Stones” – which seems to tell us where once we could find these old stones.  It may be possible that some of the stones were removed into the hedgerows at the sides of the fields.

Folklore

Fisher told of the local tradition of quarterly fire ceremonies close by, which he thought may have related to religious practices at the stone circles, telling:

“There are traditions, too, which have been handed down to us, to the effect that the heathen custom of making feasts and Baal-fires (which although unknown to the persons making them, were in truth so made in honour of Baal) have been continued until very recent times in this district — and especially in Nidderdale — the remembrance of which is transmitted to us in the annual feast which is still held at Healey.”

References:

  1. Bogg, Edmund, Richmondshire and the Vale of Mowbray, James Miles: Leeds 1906.
  2. Cunliffe-Lister, Susan, Days of Yore, privately printed: Bath 1978.
  3. Fisher, John, The History and Antiquities of Masham and Mashamshire, Simpkin Marshall: London 1865.
  4. Smith, A.H., The Place-Names of the North Riding of Yorkshire, Cambridge University Press 1928.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Hawk Hill Cairn, Alloa, Clackmannanshire

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Cairn:  OS Grid Reference – NS 8911 9282

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 47168

Getting Here

The Hawk Hill cairn, Alloa

From the railways station, walk to the dual carriageway (crossing the road) and walk on the A907 road to your left; cross the next road & walk round the corner, crossing the next road by the zebra crossing. OK, walk to your right, bearing immediately left down Devon Road, then just 20 yards on take the footpath up the side of the house on your left, and keep walking until you go into the trees. Then keep your eyes peeled for the fairy mound with a rock on top of it!

Archaeology & History

Overgrown cairn, looking NE

This is a large rounded, almost archetypal tumulus, sitting just a couple of minutes walk out of Alloa town centre, sandwiched between streets in the remaining copse of trees running east-west along Hawk Hill.  Although the mound is of considerable size—with a large curious block of stone plonked on top—it hasn’t always been like that and has evidently been rebuilt sometime in the 20th century, for when the Royal Commission (1933) lads visited the site in July 1927, they reported only a bare trace of the old tomb, saying:

“The site of the cairn at Hawk Hill lies about 100 yds SSE of the lodge gate. The position is marked by a setting of young trees, but the ground has been cultivated and no definite outline of any structure can now be traced. A few loose stones of no great size, lying scattered about, are the only signs of a cairn.”

But the site is quite large, being more than 4 feet high and about 18 yards across, with a large flattened circular top.  Nearby there was reported to have been another cairn, but this turned out to be little more than some recent debris.

Folklore

Local folklore tells that this monument is along a ley line that links it with the Hawk Hill Cross and destroyed stone circle east of here and the remains of a little-known standing on the outskirts of Alloa, to the west. I’ve not checked the precision of this alignment, but a quick scan of it looks pretty decent!

References:

  1. Arabaolaza, Iraia, “Hawk Hill, Alloa,” in Discovery & Excavation in Scotland, New Series volume 10, 2009.
  2. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Counties of Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, HMSO: Edinburgh 1933.
  3. Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments, Scotland, The Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Clackmannan District and Falkirk District, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1978.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Buck Woods Carving (03), Thackley, Bradford, West Yorkshire

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Cup-and-Ring Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 17456 39162

Getting Here

A mossy cup-and-ring

Follow the same directions as if you’re visiting the largest and most ornate of the Buck Woods carvings. From here, about 10 yards ahead of you, roughly north, you’ll see another stone, less than half-size of Buck Woods 1, moss-covered and not rising too much out of the Earth.  It’s not difficult to find once you’ve located the largest of the Buck Woods stones.

Archaeology & History

A cup-and-half-ring

Another of the small cluster of little-known prehistoric carved stones in this woodland on the edge of Bradford, not in the Boughey & Vickerman (2003) survey.  This however is possessed of a cup-and-half-ring, with other seemingly carved ingredients fusing onto natural aspects of the rock.  The design is found on the highest part of the stone; and whilst the main cup is easy to make out, the encircling half-ring is slightly troublesome.

…and from another angle

There are two distinct lines running down one side of the rock, both seemingly natural, but they may have been added to—it’s difficult to say with any certainty.  Certainly the one closest to the cup-and-half-ring has the carved line etched to meet the natural geological feature, as you can just make out in the photos here.  There also seems to be other carved features surrounding the central design, with other marks round the main cup, almost suggesting that a complete ring was being made, but never accomplished.  It’s an odd one.  If I’d have stripped the moss from the stone I could have seen the design in greater detail, but I’ve gotta bittova soft spot for mosses and lichens, so left it alone!

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Buck Woods Carving (04), Thackley, Bradford, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 17418 39163

Getting Here

It’s the moss-covered stone, centre-right

Follow the same directions as if you’re visiting the largest and most ornate of the Buck Woods carvings. From here, walk 10 yards to the Buck Woods 3 carving, then about the same distance forward again until you reach the low lines of (what looks like) Iron Age walling running roughly east-west through the trees.  Walk 10-20 yards east along the walling until a gap or entrance appears – and on the other side where the walling starts again, check the 2nd or 3rd rock along, beneath the mosses.

Archaeology & History

More simple cup-marks

There are no previous references to this small cup-marked stone, whose cups are on the topmost surface of the stone in this ancient stretch of walling (into which some vandal has recently carved his name, ‘Hunt’). It’s another one for the purists amongst you though, as we only have 2 or 3 cupmarks here, as the photos show – with just one which I can say is a certainty.  Curiously the other two look, for all the world, as if they’re mollusc cups!—but considering you’re about 50 miles from the sea, this seems a little unlikely.  Worth having a look at when you’re checking the other four carvings close by.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Buck Woods Carving (02), Thackley, Bradford, West Yorkshire

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Cup-Marked Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 17473 39152

Getting Here

Buck Woods cup-marks

Follow the same directions as if you’re visiting the largest and most ornate of the Buck Woods carvings. Once there, notice the green field on the other side of the wall less than 50 yards away. Walk towards the wall, about 20 yards from the Buck Woods 1 carving, keeping your eyes peeled for a flat mossy stone.  You’ll find it!

Archaeology & History

Close-up of the cups

A nice simple, almost cute cup-marked stone—not included in the Boughey & Vickerman (2003) survey—with three simple cups running almost in a straight line from the middle of this long stone to its outward, eastern edge.  One of the good features of this and its associated carvings is the setting amidst which it’s found. We tend to associate these carvings with open moorland, where many now live, but when they were first carved they were surrounded by woodland and much more: important ingredients relevant to understanding the nature of these curious carvings…

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian