Danby Rigg

Also known as:
Ainthorpe
Nearest town:
Loftus (11km N)
OS reference:
NZ708066
OS sheet:
94
Latitude:
54° 26' 58.8 N
Longitude:
0° 54' 28.7 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Danby Rigg (Cairn(s)) by fitzcoraldo

An image of the Pind Howe plateau taken from the large hut circle or ring cairn on Danby Rigg.

This is the point where the landscape changes and the eye is drawn from the northern to the southern horizon on the Rigg

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Apr 12, 2005
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Image of Danby Rigg (Cairn(s)) by fitzcoraldo

As you walk up Danby Rigg you'll notice that Freebrough Hill becomes more visible on the northern horizon. This continues until you reach the fourth Ring cairn when all of a sudden the northern horizon drops-out and the emphasis becomes the southern plateau-like upland of Pind Howes

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Apr 12, 2005
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Image of Danby Rigg (Cairn(s)) by fitzcoraldo

Not 100% (only 90%) sure that these aren't natural but checking the nearby rocks there was nothing similar. Check out the setting, looking straight down the beautiful Little Fryup Dale towards the Esk valley with Easington Moor and the coast beyond that

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Apr 11, 2005
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Image of Danby Rigg (Cairn(s)) by fitzcoraldo

"At the eastern end of the Danby dike there are two ramparts separated by a deep fosse or trench; in the middle and at the western end, three ramparts with two intervening trenches. At the western end a peculiar feature, hitherto undescribed, consists of four small upright stones spaced in an arc on the central ramparts, here much flatter and wider that elsewhere and slightly concave towards the south in conformity with the position of the stones."

Stanhope White

Early Man in NE Yorkshire

Image credit: fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Jan 9, 2003
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Image of Danby Rigg (Cairn(s)) by fitzcoraldo

Looking from the standing stone to the north west reveals the peak of Roseberry (Odinsburgh hill – Odin's hill) just peeping up over the horizon.

Up until 150 years the peak was higher (undermining caused a partial collapse) and may have been more prominent on the horizon.

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Oct 5, 2002
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Image of Danby Rigg (Cairn(s)) by fitzcoraldo

Cairn circle and stone looking north to Freebrough (Freyas' hill ) on the horizon Danby Low Moor. Check out the 'notch' on the stone.

To the immediate east of the rigg is Fryup dale (Freya's dale). This is goddess country!

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Oct 5, 2002
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Articles

Danby Rigg

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat May 6, 2010
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Approaching from Pind Howes to the south (25.4.2010), the first feature seen is the triple dyke, surrounded by neat drystone grouse butts. From there you're walking across an area of open moorland without a huge number of prehistoric monuments, before reaching another, single, dyke to the north.

In between the two dykes the OS map shows a "settlement" which I couldn't really see amongst the heather and a cairn, which we did find. The cairn is a low mound, with a visible kerb of large stones. The heather over the cairn has been cleared, but I imagine this would be difficult to find at other times.

Heading NE, there is a tall stone next to the trig point (presumably a medieval way-marker rather than anything older) and then the single dyke.

After this, the path carries on NE along the edge of the Rigg, where it passes a very large cairn made up of sizeable stones, including one which has been inscribed to record the 1955 excavation.

A little way north, a bridleway crosses the path heading NW, taking this leads us across the Rigg to the lovely cairn circle with its impressive standing stone. The stone itself carries some interesting erosion marks from millenia of standing in this exposed spot. There are good views across the Esk Valley to Danby Low Moor.

It's an easy stroll from here down off the Rigg to Danby village, which has a pub, the Moors Centre, a train station and is visited by the Moors Bus on Spring Sundays and daily during the summer. Well worth the trip!

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Danby Rigg

S
Solarboy Jul 15, 2004
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This site is slap bang in the middle of a well-trodden path from Danby village. Drawing from memory, there is one chunky standing stone and what appears to be the remains of an embanked stone circle or ring cairn. The site has obviously suffered much damage and tampering over the years. On a clear day the view is lovely. I will return to photograph the site.

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Danby Rigg

H
herbwormwood Apr 14, 2003
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For those who don't want to use cars, there is a railway station a short walk away (maybe a mile)at Danby. There is also the Moors Bus, phone 0870 6082608. Public toilets in Danby. You can park your car opposite The Fox and Hounds pub which is a little way down the hill from the start of the bridle path. The bridlepath up from Ainthorpe was in terible condition, a mess of deep ruts and loose stones and the sandstone underneath falling away, this path is in dire need of some conservation work on it, and the motorbikes who passed us on the way up to Danby Rigg are not helping. When we got home our eyes were full off gritty dust. Probably a combination of dry weather, periodic heavy rain, walkers, motorbikes, possibly horses too, and the sandy consistency of the soil.

It is a place full of atmosphere and you can hear the sheep and curlews. Many little piles of white grit are here and there beside the path, what are they?

There is a stone chair to rest on and some natural springs past the trig point. Watch out for the bogs and adder snakes on Ainthorpe Rigg. Lots for the naturalist to enjoy too.

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Danby Rigg

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Nov 28, 2002
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On a recent visit, the eagle-eyed Moggymiaow spotted what could possibly be another circle, (she has a talent for this sort of thing) there are a couple of large-ish stones and a hint of a possible embankment.

The circle is amongst the cairn graveyard to the east of the cairn circle/standing stone and is best seen in winter with the heather burned back.

It's subtle, so keep your mind opened pilgrim.

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Danby Rigg

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Sep 8, 2002
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Revisited.

A little more meat to add to the bones.

The settlement marked on the OS map is a large stone banked circle with a raised bank and ditch. It would have been the foundation for a very large 'hut'*. It is stone walled with a definite entrance marked by large stones.

Nearby are other smaller earthworks that could be the remains of hut circles. And the site is defended by large double ditches to the south.

The cairn circle is the prize site

It is 12m in diameter and contains one large standing stone.

One thing I have never noticed about the Rigg before is that the peaks of both Freebrough hill (to the north) and Roseberry Topping ( to the west) are visible poking up over the surrounding moors. The site is overlooked by the areas main mother and father hills.

I'm sure this wasn't lost on our ancestors.

*19th September 2004

According to Harding & Ostoja-Zagorski's 1994 report, this is a Ring Cairn

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Danby Rigg

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Oct 16, 2000
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Me and Tess driving over to Danby pass the wonderful Mother Mound, Freebrough Hill (Freyas Hill) once called the Silbury of the North.

Down into Danby then up to Ainthorpe, park-up and hike up to the Rigg. Elgee described the northern end of the Rigg as a Beaker burial ground, he wasn't wrong, your tripping over cairns. As we moved through, the mists came down which was exactly what the scene called for. From the cairn field we moved onto a well defined cairn circle with a lovely big standing stone on the edge. Then onto the cross dykes and a large round barrow with a  lovely inscribed boulder perched on top stating the date of excavation and where the artifacts may be viewed (Whitby museum). Then we got a bit lost and decided to test our compass skills in the mist, to our suprise everything worked and we found a large hut circle exactly where we thought it would be. Bit more mooching then we dropped down into the wonderfully named Little Fryup Dale and the clement weather.

Down to Danby castle which has morphed from a ruined castle to a farmhouse and back to a castle (top abode). Further down the road is the Duck Bridge an 500 year old packhorse bridge. We sat under the bridge like a couple of trolls and ate our lunch listening to the voices eminating from the fast flowing water of the Esk.

All in all a top day, top company, top sites.

love Fitz

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Folklore

Danby Rigg
Cairn(s)
fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Sep 8, 2002
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"The twin dales of Fryup (Fri-hop = Frigas valley) meet to th south of the elevated oval-shaped barrier which seperates them. The southerly tip of that rising piece of moorland is called Fairy Cross Plain, a name which dates to more than two centuries, and accordingly to local folklore, this used to be the haunt of fairies"

Folktales from the North York Moors

Peter N. Walker

Pub. Hale

1990

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Sites within 20km of Danby Rigg

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