“Stone circles apart, Swaledale lacks obvious ceremonial monuments unless some elements are incorporated in the undated complex of maiden Castle, Grinton. The pear shaped earthwork partly cut into the slope cannot be defensive, the parallel stone walls leading up to its entrance begins immediately south of a large round barrow. The relationship is suggestive of some of the arrangements of some long barrows, long enclosures and posted avenues in eastern Yorkshire. The structures at Maiden Castle, including a roundhouse, suggest that this is not a single phase monument”.
The Archaeology of Yorkshire
The Neolithic & Bronze Ages
T.G. Manby, A. King & B.E. Vyner
YAS Occasional Paper No.3
2003