The stones themselves are on fenced off land, but you can view them without crossing any fences or disturbing any crops by walking S on the minor road (Centenary Way) from Wharram Percy car park past the junction of footpaths to where the field edge joins the road, then walking back N along the field edge. The field edge moves away from the road, and you get a good view of the stones.
Mythopoetic coincidence - a disused railway tunnel enters the dale just to the N of the stones.
There are at least seven round barrows on the overlooking ground close by, but the Fairy Stones are in a chalk valley below. They are weird brecca-y stones sticking out of the ground. One would imagine they are the home of fairies, but they have other uses:
The superstitious among men, in order to see their future love, would hie them to the fairy stones, at Burdale, and there, with the full moon brightly shining, at midnight, would see the one who should be all the world to them.
From 'Folk Lore of East Yorkshire' by John Nicholson (1890).
Log in |
Register
0 discussions
Show map (inline Google Map)
Add an image 
Posted by Rhiannon
Top of page