Skellaw Hill

Also known as:
Hill of Skulls and Scale How
Nearest town:
Appleby-in-Westmorland (13km ENE)
OS reference:
NY556155
OS sheet:
90
Latitude:
54° 31' 57.32 N
Longitude:
2° 41' 10.36 W

Images

Image of Skellaw Hill (Round Barrow(s)) by Vicster

Set amidst spectacular scenery, looking towards the Thunder Stone from the top of (what is left of) Skellaw

Vicster
Vicster Mar 27, 2006
Image of Skellaw Hill (Round Barrow(s)) by fitzcoraldo

Two un-named stones at NY556153 on the path from Skellaw Hill to the Goggleby Stone

Image credit: fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Feb 24, 2003

Articles

Skellaw Hill

C
CARL Aug 4, 2011

Visited this site about two years ago when on my way to the Thunder Stone. As reported elsewhere, not much to see just a grass covered mound in a field. Easy to spot from the road so worth a look when in the area.

Skellaw Hill

Vicster
Vicster Mar 27, 2006

I couldn’t help but feel some small disappointment when we finally realised that the low hump at the top of the field was indeed the place we were looking for.

Maybe its something to do with the rather OTT name (Hill of Skulls???) but once you wander up the field and stand on top of what remains, the beauty of the vista before you and the fact that you can see both the Goggelby Stone and the site of the Thunder Stone make up for the initial reaction.

I would recommend walking between the 3 sites (and Asper’s Field) to get sense of the landscape.

Skellaw Hill

The Eternal
The Eternal May 21, 2005

Also known as Scale How, this is a low mound in a field, just over a drystone wall. There are stone “steps” built into the wall for access.

It is a Bronze Age bowl barrow, constructed of earth and stones, 17m in diameter and 1.5m in height. Human remains were found during 19th C excavations.

It is part of the huge Shap complex of circles and avenues, most of which have sadly been destroyed.

When approaching on the road from Haweswater (from the NW and W as it winds) the barrow can be seen outlined against the sky.

Skellaw Hill

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Feb 21, 2003

Mr Cope informs us that this humble bump was once a “splendid sepulchral heap”.
All that remains today is a slight rise in the south eastern corner of the field. The field wall to the south of the hill contains a couple of decent size stones, especially when viewed from the field side.
The Goggleby Stone is visible from the hill with another large, unnamed, stone in between. To get to the Goggleby Stone from Skellaw Hill just walk along the narrow marked corridor between two fields that starts at the crossroads. On this path you will also come a cross another couple of decent sized stones.

Folklore

Skellaw Hill
Round Barrow(s)
fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Jun 7, 2007

Tony Walker in his online book, The Ghostly Guide to the Lake District, reports that the Skellaw mound was haunted by a ‘gypsy looking man with a dark complexion who would glide among the rocks’. Apparently he stopped visiting the mound once it had been excavated.

www.ghoststories.org.uk/stories/ghostlyguidelakedistrict.pdf

Miscellaneous

Skellaw Hill
Round Barrow(s)
fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Feb 21, 2003

“The remains belong to two, possibly three, alignments or avenues spread over a distance of more than 1.5m (2.3km). The two identifiable ends were a stone circle and a burial mound and as elsewhere male and female forms were paired. By analogy a Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age date can be assumed”

Archeaological Sites of the Lake District
T. Clare
Moorland Pub. Co. Ltd
1981

Sites within 20km of Skellaw Hill

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