Tag: Standing Stones

Roms Hill, Wadsworth, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 0080 3261

Getting Here

Roms Hill Stone

Whether coming from Hebden Bridge or Oxenhope: at the very top of the long uphill road, at the very top where a small radio station sits by the roadside (the views from here are effing superb!) – stop! On the opposite side of the road from the radio station, get over the fence (I think there’s a gate nearby) and walk roughly westwards down the gently inclining grassland slope.  Keep westward-ish for about 200 yards (if that) and you’re damn close!

Archaeology & History

Rediscovered in January 2002, this is a very curious stone, over a metre in height, isolated on the southern edge of Roms Hill, close to the folklore-sounding Halfpenny Hole Clough, near the very top of the hill between Hebden Bridge and Oxenhope. The base of the stone is almost wedged into a space between two rocks and its positioning here seems quite deliberate.  It stands upon a small geological ridge in the ground that stretches for some distance, east and west, either side of here.

Roms Hill Stone in good fog!

Despite this, it seems unlikely to have an authentic prehistoric pedigree, but as there’s little else been said of the stone (apart from Dave Shepherd’s (2003) article on local megalithic remains, many of which are highly dubious as archaeological remains), it deserves a mention here.  It’s not recorded in any of the old boundary records — unlike the upright boundary stone that can be found a few hundred yards northwest of here on the same moorland plain.

The land here has an etymological relationship with the Roms Law (or Grubstones) Circle on Rombald’s Moor, but as yet we can ascertain little more about this site.  Well worth a visit — if only for the superb views it affords!

References:

  1. Shepherd, David, “Prehistoric Activity in the Central Pennines,” in Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, volume 11 New Series, 2003.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Ringstones, Lowgill, Lancashire

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Stone Circle (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SD 664 655

Archaeology & History

I have found no archaeological references whatsoever to this site (though to be honest, the Lancashire archaeological fraternity are pretty poor when it comes to finding and recording sites).  The place has its existence preserved in the aptly-named Ringstones Lane and the farmhouse, Ringstones.

Michala Potts found several records of the place in the 17th century, and the site is shown on the 1844 OS-map with the same name, but we have been unable to ascertain when/if any standing stones were here.  The place may well have been a burial-site of some sort, as found at other Ringstone place-names in Lancashire.  But we can clearly see on aerial imagery that there is a large, distinct, circular outline in the heavily ploughed fields about 100 yards north of the farm.  There is what may be the remains of a second circle above this, but the outline is faint; but it appears that an enclosure of some sort, ovoid in shape and a couple of hundred feet across, was also evident in the same field where the more distinct circular outline is seen.

My favourite outline however, is a large linear mark on the ground stretching for several hundred yards running roughly north-south, starting in the field between Aikengill and Ringstones and going dead straight, bypassing the circle and crossing Ringstones Lane, where it seems to disappear and is no longer visible.  The curious ‘ground line’ is roughly 100 feet across.  Cursus anyone!?

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

Wart Stone, Bradford, West Yorkshire

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Standing Stone (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SE 15940 34211

Also known as:

  1. Ash Stone
  2. Pin Stone

Archaeology & History

Wart Stone on 1852 OS-map

At Bradford City’s football ground there used to be the holy well known as the Holy Ash Well, adjacent to which was this old stone (as shown on the 1852 OS map).  For some reason it was uprooted and moved further up the hill around the end of the 19th century and was resurrected beside the old Belle Vue Hotel on Manningham Lane.  From thereon however, I’ve not been able to trace what happened to it, and presume it’s been destroyed.  It was known by local people to have had a ritual relationship with the adjacent healing well, to which people were said to visit from far and wide.

It seems to have been described first by Abraham Holroyd (1873), who told us that:

“In Manningham Lane there is a fine well, in old deeds called Hellywell, i.e., holy well, in a field now called Halliwell Ash, now a stone quarry… Near this is the ancient Pin Stone.”

The Bradford historian William Preston also made mention of the stone in one of his early surveys, where he told how local people also knew the stone as the Ash Stone, due to its proximity and ritual relationship to a great old tree.

Folklore

Also known as the Wart Stone, thanks to its ability to cure them and other skin afflictions.  Intriguingly, the building which now stands on the site is said to be haunted.

As my old school-mate, Dave Pendleton (1997), said of the place and its associated well:

“Prior to 1886 the only feature of any real note in the Valley Parade environs was a holy well that emerged near the corner of the football grounds Midland Road and Bradford End stands; hence the road Holywell Ash Lane. Today the site of the well is covered by the football pitch.

Only the road name survives as a reminder of what was apparently one of the district’s foremost attractions. On Sundays and holidays people would gather to take the waters and leave pins, coins, rags and food as offerings to the spirit that resided in the waters.

Accounts suggest that the well was covered and had a great ash tree standing over it (hence ‘holy ash’). There was also a standing stone called the wart stone of unknown antiquity. The stone had a carved depression that collected water. It was believed that the water was a miraculous cure for warts. Indeed, as early as 1638 the Holy Well had been credited with healing powers.

The well suffered a decline in popularity during the late nineteenth century and its keepers resorted to importing sulphur water from Harrogate, which they sold for a half penny per cup. The well disappeared under the Valley Parade pitch during the summer of 1886 and the wart stone was moved to the top of Holywell Ash Lane – which then ran straight up to Manningham Lane. The stone was still there as late as 1911 but thereafter it seems to have disappeared into the mists of time.”

Unfortunately we have no old photos or drawings of this lost standing stone – though I imagine that some local, somewhere must be able to help us out with this one.  Surely there’s summat hiding away…

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
  2. Holroyd, Abraham, Collecteana Bradfordiana, Saltaire 1873.
  3. Pendleton, David & Dewhirst, John, Along the Midland Road, Bradford City AFC 1997.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian 


Picts Cross Stone, Sellack, Herefordshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SO 5607 2669

Archaeology & History

Picts Cross Stone (after Alfred Watkins, 1930)
Picts Cross Stone (A. Watkins, 1930)

In September, 1928, the old ley-hunter Alfred Watkins was out on one of his many rambles when he “saw a tall stone almost buried in the bank at this crossroads,” appropriately known as Picts Cross, about a mile south of Sellack — so he called it the ‘Picts Cross Stone.’  He also said, “It was Pricker’s and Prick’s Cross in 18th century maps, and Pig’s Cross in the 1832 Ord. Map. Now ‘pig’ is the present Welsh word for “a peak, a point, a pike.””

And a lovely pointy old stone it looks in his old photo!  The monolith is in the hedgerow along the old boundary line.

References:

  1. Watkins, Alfred, The Old Standing Crosses of Herefordshire, Simpkin Marshall: London 1930.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Old Bess Stone, Oakworth Moor, West Yorkshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SD 978 389

Getting Here

A bittova wander with not much to see, if truth be had.  Best way here’s from the top Oakworth Road heading to the Lancashire border, right on the moor-edge.  Go along the Hare Hill Edge road for a coupla miles till you hit the Pennine Way.  Walk along it up onto the moor, following the dead straight walling for several hundred yards.  Where the walling stops, all of a sudden, stop! (there’s a wooden post here)  Now walk left (west) across the heath for less than 100 yards.  You’ll find it…

Archaeology & History

Old Bess Stone, with Crow Hill on the distant skyline
Old Bess Stone, with Crow Hill on the distant skyline

I’ve found nothing of this site in archaeology records – but that’s likely down to me not looking hard enough!  I’m not even sure that it’s prehistoric – but as there’s nowt written about it, and there are other sites which relate to this old stone, it’s certainly worthy of mention.

The stone lays in the grasses, some four-feet long, with a more recent 18th-19th century boundary stone laid a few feet away.  It seems most likely that Old Bess had stood here much longer though.  Old Bess seems to be the first in a row of at least 6 seemingly unrecognized boundary stones running northwest in a straight line up to the Wolf Stones, about half-a-mile from here.  Neither the early, nor modern OS-maps show any of these stones, several of which are accompanied by earlier, more worn stones – two of which have the letters ‘C.C.’ or ‘G.C.’ carved on them.

Old Bess 'hut circle'
Old Bess ‘hut circle’ (it’s there – honest!)

About 10 yards north of Old Bess are the remains of a very noticeable oval-shaped ‘hut circle’ – or something closely resembling such remains.  About five yards across at the most, with stone walling making up the edge of the ring beneath the moorland grasses, an excavation here wouldn’t go amiss!  Although it’s hard to see in this photo (it’s the roughly circular rise in the middle), when you’re on the moor it’s obvious.   It looks and feels as if the remains were something from medieval times, or perhaps even later – but it’d be good to know for sure!  The remains of an old delph 100 yards south may account for more of Old Bess and its accompanying hut circle than owt prehistoric.

From Old Bess, walk in a straight line towards the large rock outcrop of the Wolf Stones, northwest of here.  After a short distance you’ll come across another large stone, cut and shaped in bygone centuries (not prehistoric though) laying in the boggy tussock grass and looking similar to Old Bess.  Another 100 yards on from here, along the same straight line towards the Wolf Stones, you’ll find another cut stone of similar dimensions; and from here you’ll see another stone about the same distance again ahead of you.  These would appear to be the lost medieval boundary stones which led to a boundary dispute between the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire a few centuries ago.  For those medieval historians amongst you, check ’em out: it would appear that these are the lost stones (pushed over, obviously) which led to the said dispute.  How on earth no-one’s found ’em previously beggars belief!

Folklore

A little-known site with a spirit ancestor giving rise to its name.  Surrounding it are tales of little people, for just above it is where the faerie lived at the Fairy Fold Dike.  While a couple of hundred yards west lived an old hob (another faerie creature) who used to drink from an old well named after him, the Hob Ing Spring.  Victorian lore tells of druidic folklore further up the moor by the old Wolf Stones, which is linked to Old Bess by virtue of the line of old boundary stones running from here.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Kilninver, Oban, Argyll

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Standing Stone (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NM 8250 2207

Also Known as:

  1. Canmore ID 22969

Archaeology & History

Marked on the earliest 6-inch Ordnance Survey map of this area (1875), this 4ft tall standing stone (now gone) once stood on the east bank of the River Euchar. The prehistoric cairn 400 yards to the west on the other side of the river would seem to have had some relationship with the stone, as they aligned to the equinoxes.

References:

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

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Keill Vreeshey, Crosby, Isle of Man

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SC 3316 8014

Archaeology & History

Keeill Carved Stone (Shaw 1877)

Seemingly destroyed, this carved standing stone was first described in Shaw’s Tourist Guide to the Isle of Man (1877), where he says it stood by the wall of the chapel, telling how it was “one of several stones inscribed with various designs and inscriptions.”

Hope that I’m wrong, but it seems like we’ve lost some more good old cup-and-ring art…

References:

  1. Shaw, N., Tourist Guide to the Isle of Man, 1877.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Hare Hill Stone, Oakworth, West Yorkshire

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Standing Stone:  OS Grid Reference – SE 014 381

Archaeology & History

Hare Hill Stone, Oldfield, Oakworth

About a metre tall and found standing near the bottom of one of the fields diagonally across from the old farmhouse of Laverock Hall, here’s another old stone which may not have a prehistoric provenance.  It is seemingly unknown by all but local people and would seem to be an old rubbing post for cattle — albeit a small one!  There seems to be no written accounts of this stone; though until all of the local field-name maps have been checked, we can’t discount the possibility that this is the “standing stone” described in early place-name records that was mentioned by A.H. Smith in 1963.

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
  2. Smith, A.H., The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire – volume 6, Cambridge University Press 1963.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Hamblethorpe, Low Bradley, Skipton, North Yorkshire

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Standing Stones:  OS Grid Reference – SE 00303 47622

Getting Here

Hamblethorpe Stones, Low Bradley
Hamblethorpe Stones, Low Bradley

Take the single-track country lane between Farnhill and Low Bradley until you reach Hamblethorpe farmhouse.  Where the birch woodland is on the slope going uphill, the field on the other side of the road, protected by walling, is where the stones are, just south of the farmhouse.  There’s nowhere to park any car hereabouts, so it’s best walking here.

Archaeology & History

It seems that nothing has previously been written of this place.  Hidden away at the top of the field we find two curious-looking standing stones: one nearly six-feet tall, and its companion about four-feet.  They’re near the bottom of the slope from the giant Round Cairn and Long Cairn tombs of Low Bradley Moor, several hundred yards to the east— and were it not for the fact that they have a distinctive Castlerigg-like appearance about them, perhaps I wouldn’t have given them a second chance.  Curious earthworks are in the same field, to which written records also appear silent.  Tis a lovely little spot…

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Gull Stones, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

megalithix

Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – TG 524 035

Archaeology & History

Several local history records describe there being a circle of ten standing stones in a field called ‘Stone-field’ or ‘Stone-piece’ – now covered by a housing estate at Gorleston-on-Sea, south of Yarmouth.  In 1875, C. J. Palmer said that,

“there is a tradition that the Druids had a temple at Gorleston, some remains of which existed down to a comparatively recent period. It is supposed to have stood on a field next to the road to Lowestoft, upon what is called Great Stone Close; and it has been asserted that some huge stones remained standing until 1768, when they were destroyed by digging round their base and dragging them down by ropes. There are also two fields called Further Stone Close and Middle Stone Close, so that it is possible the Druidical circle, if it ever existed, may have had a wide extent”.

A painting of the site was reported to have been viewed by members of the Norfolk & Norwich Archaeological Society in 1888, but I’ve been unable to find out where this has gone.  Anyone out there got a copy?  Or know where it hangs?  An image of this lost stone circle would be hugely welcome!

References:

  1. Burgess, Michael W., The Standing Stones of Norfolk and Suffolk, ESNA 1: Lowestoft 1978.
  2. Palmer, C.J., The Perlustration of Great Yarmouth – volume 3, George Nall: Gt Yarmouth 1875.

Links:

  1. Hidden East Anglia: Ancient Sites & Legends

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian