The Devil’s Arrows

A year ago I spent a fruitless hour in the gloaming driving up and down trying to find these giants and felt quite embarrassed by that failure...then a visit to these parts was an extreme rarity, but now, my life unexpectedly changed, I drive up and down the A1 by them several times a week ...funny old world. After finally spotting one recently after several attempts at rubbernecking while driving south to work, an opportunity to finally visit was not to be missed. For those without OS or GPS, all you have to do is turn on to the Roecliffe road in Boroughbridge and park where the new housing on the right side of the road ends. The southernmost stone, behind a gate with a blue plaque inset into a stone in front of it, will be in your left, while the other two can be seen over the hedge on the right side of the road. An ungated field entrance provides ready access. The field they are in was planted with beet when I visited, this being protected by a electric fence. Hi ho...however a walk round the field edge was still possible. Then, thankfully, a section of fence which had dropped to a height which would not cause injury to my most precious possessions and the realisation that the crop around the perimeter had been damaged beyond saleability spurred me to cross and inspect the beasts basking in the late afternoon sun at close quarters. OK, not Rudston, but still, standing next to one and cast your eyes upwards is a hugely impressive experience...plus there are cupmarks aplenty. The traffic noise from the A1 and the presence of new housing nearby cannot marr what still remains a must see site. Go if you can.

Visited 24.9.10

Despite being so big (the stones are massive) I did have a bit of difficulty locating them and had to rely on asking locals for directions. When I did eventually reach the stones it was a case of 'WOW' – the tallest stone near the road is much bigger than I expected, it is truly huge.

It is hard to put into words the effect it has on you when you get up close. Its size reminded me a bit of the Piper standing stones in Corwall.

The other two stones, still large but not as tall, are in the opposite field which had recently been ploughed so I settled for a view from the road to avoid getting caked in mud. This is one of those 'must see' sites.

Truly impressive and worth travelling far to see.

There can't be a more impressive sight at nine o'clock in the morning as these massive erections! We stopped to admire the sheer unimaginable bulk of the single obelisk next to the road, rudely caged up behind a fence doing it's damnest to out-tall the trees surrounding it. It must've been 25 feet tall – a real neolithic skyscraper. We wondered how deep the root of the stone was and settled on between six and 10 feet UNDER ground. This is one big mother! And if that is not enough, cross the lane and you see two more! The sun broke through as these two of the three magnificent menhirs of an alignment of perhaps five stones jutted out of a field of bright yellow corn, today with added interest as somebody/rutting deer/aliens/weird vortex/UFO/drunken pranksters (delete as applicable) had created a wonderful corn circle. I couldn't make out the pattern precisely as I had no vantage point from which to gain height.

As the traffic swishes past on the A1(M), just 50 metres away, it's great metal gantries and signs looming over the scene, you realise that the route of the A1(M) is probably as old as these stones themselves and it's precisely why they were placed here.

Typical of the North Yokshire ancient monuments, the Council has chosen to ignore that they exist and build a motorway next door. Sorry to be political, but North Yorkshire is the county of destroyed ancient monuments, a trend our current council seems content to continue.

The Arrows sit close to place where the Ure changes it's name to the Ouse. Julian mentions the Ure as the River of the Goddess Ur.

This is the megalithic section of the Ure Swale Landscape, this bit was built by folk from the moors, 'stone people' as their contribution the sacred landscape...

"we'll 'ave nun o' yer fangled swaimish henges,

Tell ye what tho' I can get thee some reet lovely geet big stanes.

Did thee see that job I did at Rudston?"

For me these rude fellas are a gatepost to the North Yorks moors. They stand beside the 'Great North Road' and beside the two main routes onto the moorland plateau.

I think I may have cup-mark fever, is it me or..........

No rampant badgers today, But the new housing developments seem to be gradually stalking the site!

Just off the A1, had to stop as I passed!

These stones are huge spikes – *very* tall and impressive.

One is captive in a small fenced area (what has it done to deserve that?)

Over the other side of the road are the other two, which today were in a newly-sown field so couldn't get closer.

.o0O0o.

The field containing the two large stones has been densely planted with some sort of crop and I found it impossible to get to them. Even from a distance, though, they are an awesome sight and well worth a visit.

My first time seeing these three fantastic stones. The largest stone lies behind a locked gate on a busy road which is way too conspicuous to just leap over, so it's best to be content viewing this one from a short distance. The other two stones are accesible and cannot fail to impress with their immense size.

Another site afflicted by modern intrusions, yet still rising above them so that you don't really notice. The scale of this site is immense, its easy to see why a fourth monolith nay have been present, indeed you wonder what else may have been there.

A spectacular site which should not be missed.

One of the most intersting and easily visited sites in Britain , the DevilÍs Arrows sit adjacent the A1 at Burrowbridge next to the river Ure. The three towering monoliths (originally four it seems) stride across the countryside like stiff legged golems, pockmarked and incised. I dropped in on my way from Leicester to Sunderland to pay my respects. They reminded me of Rudstone in many ways, the grooved tops (which can be also seen at the much smaller Nine Stones in Derbyshire) are always referred to as naturally weathered by the centuries but I have never been convinced of this speculation. The grooves seem far to regular. It would be churlish not to opine that these would have made spectacular conduits for liquid libations to fertilise the stone/earth. Milk poured over the top of these stones would vein them with seminal white and would bring their cold dumbness to life. Putting such romantic speculations aside, I phoned my wife Helen whom, sat at her desk, was delighted to be transported vicariously to this magic spot. The stones are said to come from nearby Knaresborough, a place worthy of a visit with its ancient sacred cavesÍ connections with Saints and Seeresses and a rock cut chapel where one can float in the trancendency of the sacred. Ahh... I must do this more often.

The good news is that the A1 has moved a bit to the west, the bad news is that it is now 6 lanes wide. The old southbound carridgeway is now called the A168 and runs parallel to the A1. A road from the town passes a few yards north of the southern most stone to join the A168. The middle and northern stone were difficult to reach due to a field of 3ft high crops. Still a rather noisey site but the immense size of the stones did not fail to immpress me.

Don't expect to find the Thornborough Henges without an OS map. The gravel pit Julian refers to in TMA is now a wildlife conservation area for birds and has a handy small carpark. From here it's just a short walk to the northern tree covered henge. It's a very eerie place to walk round, in the center was the remains of a recent bonfire and evidence of some nob hacking at the trees with an axe, maybe the local pseudo-druids hang out here.

The central henge is clearly visable from the track that heads south from the crossroad east of the small carpark, though a little tricky to reach through tall crops. A circle of what appear to be young trees (only about 2ft high) have been planted three deep all the way around the henge about 10-15 yards from the perimeter, who knows why? To the east only a few hundred yards away is an annoying landfill site. It seems most of the local birdlife prefer this as a hang out to the newly created 'conservation' area. We left the visit to the southern henge for another day.