Yarnbury Henge Henge View all content for Yarnbury Henge

The henge sits on a small plateau of land with Wharfdale to the west and Hebden Beck to the east. To answer Stu's question about views, it's mainly hills in the near and middle distance with a gap to the east and a larger view down towards the south across the Grassington area. The henge itself is a tiny little thing, English Heritage give it's measurements as a 20-22 metre internal area surrounded by a 3.5 metre wide ditch and then a 3-4 metre wide bank. The bank is made of stone and earth and covered with turf with a single causeway to the southeast. As Stu notes there is a large area that has been quarried away in recent times but considering the amount of mining close by and the fact that the henge is so small and seemingly forgotten about it's done well to survive. Crossing over the wall and into the field I had to disturb a flock of sheep to get to the henge, these critters and the position of the site with hills around gave me the idea that it could well have formed a local meeting point for stock trading and well as other ceremonies that we might expect at such places, but only serving a small local community. I couldn't really picture people travelling great distances to get here - definitely a local henge for local people.

Posted by Chris Collyer 7th November 2003ce

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