stubob
From ‘The Beauties of England and Wales’ – J.Britton and E.W.Brayley, 1802:
On the eminence above the church, called Riber Hill, are the remains of what has been supposed a Druidical altar, but which has more resemblance to a cromlech; although it may only have been intended for a point to transmit signals.It is called the Hirst Stones, and consists of four rude masses of gritstone, on which apparently the smallest is placed on the others, and is computed to weigh about 2 tons. on the upper stone is a circular hole, wherein 50yrs ago stood a stone pillar
“Blacks Guide To Derbyshire 1881” mentions a stone in the centre of the circle, it wasn’t there at the time the guide was written, and Barnatt seems to think it may not have been there at all. The book also mentions the sizes of the barrows on the moor. The Eyam Moor Barrow was approx. 90ft in diameter and 35ft high. And one at Hayley’s Piece being 66ft wide and 36ft high.
There doesn’t seem to be many references to these rocking stones I first came across it on a geological map of Matlock;
In Bulmers ‘History of Derbyshire’ from 1895 he mentions the two stones..
“As being some way connected with Druidical worship”.
Also the ‘Gentlemans Library’. In their Derbyshire guide under ’ Ancient State and Remains” the stones are one of the few sites mentioned. Along with Arbor Low and the infamous Hirst Stones at Riber.
I’ve been up on Overton Tor looking for the Turning Stone on and off for a while now.
One of a pair of rocking stones, the other was known as ‘Robin Hoods Mark’, which was 26ft round and weighed 14 tons. I’ve never come across a size for the Turning St’.
If they are still rocking, they may be somewhere amongst the mass of Rhododendruns, that run along the edge of the tor. There’s just no way thru’ them.
The rock carvings at Ashover school are about 1mile away.
Under the bracken and trees are 2 arcs of low bank. Approx. 20x19m in diameter.
Marsden in 1977 reckoned it was a ring cairn with central cairn.
Barnatt in 1989 said it was upcast from robbing the SE side of a small cairn.
Marked as an Enclosure on O.S maps.
In the book ’ Timpsons Leylines- a layman tracking the leys’, he mentions the Arbor Low line, but doesn’t manage to find the Wishing Stone.....
“That’ll be the transit van sized boulder at the end of the road called WishingStone Way”.
This site is easy to get to being between the path and the ring at Beeley Central.
There have been several suggestions as to what it could be....A cairn with a surrounding bank. A ring cairn that had a cairn built into its centre. Or a well robbed round barrow.
The cairn is around 1m high about 15m in diameter. Surrounding the cairn is a low bank, visible really only in the SW.
03/03. The ‘lip’ of the banking can be made out on the top of the dark brown heather patch in the centre of pic.
J.Barnatt has this down to be a robbed cairn rather than a ring cairn.
It’s quite large still even tho’ it’s been damaged in the NE. By the side of the path and marked ‘enclosure’ on some O.S maps.
03/03. Ring just visible in the heather. Stones of Beeley North (South 2) in background.
Sorting out all the ring cairns is a confusing business on Beeley Moor with it’s NE & NW Warrens, the Souths, the Centrals and more Warrens.
This rubble ring could be a robbed or ring cairn or maybe even a house.
It’s around 8m in diameter and about 20ft from the more visible Beeley North (South 2).
Still tricky to spot as it’s now only a slight raise in the heather.
It’s taken me ages to find this scrubby looking Ring Cairn.
It’s roughly 9x8m in diameter and the bank is built of turf and stones, roughly 30-40cm in height.
If your in the area it’s not far from the road, but I wouldn’t make a special journey to see it.
If you’re using the Wraggs Quarry route to get to the Raven Tor Triple Cairn. This cairn is worth finding, just on the edge of the workings.
The disturbed cairn has a visible cist, made up of 5(?) vertical slabs, rectangular in shape. There looks to be a capstone south of the cist.
Not a bad site despite it closeness to the quarrying, and probably one of the better preserved cists of the 12 or so that are visible in the Peak.
Laying in a field behind Eldon quarry slag heaps and at the bottom of what must have been the once impressive.... and soon to be no more Eldon Hill.
The long barrow is orientated ENE/WSW and is around 50x25m and over 1m high in places. A round barrow is superimposed on the eastern end.
It’s still well worth a look.
Only a short walk across a field off the B6061 Castleton – Sparrowpit, there’s room for a car on the roadside.
03/03. Looking across the barrow’s pitted top to Gautries Hill, where a small barrow can just about be seen.
03/03. The long barrow, the superimposed round barrow can be made out on the right.
The old slag heaps from Eldon Hill quarry in the background.
It’s only a short walk from Harrod Low up Gautries Hill to the barrow on the top, it’s well hammered now, but it’s so obvious why it’s here. It’s only when you’re fully at the top that the views open up. Mam Tor in the NE and views over Crowden and Hayfield in the West.
OK it’s spoilt a little by Eldon Hill quarry nearby..... but it’s still a top place.
This long barrow is orientated East-West and is approx. 42x17m.
On the whole it’s not very impressive suffering from stone pits and ploughing.
It was dug in the 1770’s where the only recorded finds were bones, of an unspecified type.
There’s places to park in Sparrowpit and the barrow is half a mile across the fields.
Strawberry Lea is an arc of four stones varying in height from 1m to 30cm. There may be the ruins of a cist in the centre.
If this is the remains of a ring cairn, it’s position seems a bit odd, being at the bottom of the slopes Wimble Holme Hill. In J Barnatt’s barrow corpus he suggests the site may be similar to that of Moscar Moor and that both were originally stone circles and later had their interiors filled.
(Although Barnatt doesn’t mention Crook Hill in his books, this too may be a similar site)
A tricky one to spot, even though it’s close to the path... probably no chance of finding it in the summer, when the bracken is high.
The only archaeological reference to Strawberry Lea I’ve come across is that, in 1824 Mitchell dug “a remarkably conspicous and well shaped tumulus”. He made no finds.
The stones at Strawberry Lea are thought to the remains of this tumulus as there is nothing now visible in the area.
I stumbled on this site on the ‘Archi’ disc......
I risked it and droved down a private road, and that’s when the problems started. Just as I started out walking, some geezer spotted me....and said there was no chance I was gonna be walking round the fields. Big bloke too, so I didn’t.
Looking closer at the map when I got back I realised I’d taken the wrong road anyhow.........
The ‘Archi’ disc reckons there’s an Iron Age hillfort with a number of defensive banks there.
03/03. The circular earthwork is difficult to photgraph, but a bit easier to see when you see it on the ground.
Action Stalled Against Stanton Moor Protestors
The Peak District National Park Authority today agreed not to take legal action that could have led to the eviction of protestors campaigning against the proposed re-opening of two quarries on Stanton Moor in the Peak District.
The Authority’s Planning Committee had been concerned that the protestors, who are occupying Lees Cross and Endcliffe Quarries, could break planning regulations, but it decided it would be inappropriate to take action at this time.
Tony Hams, Chair of the Authority, said, “The real issue at these quarries is whether they should be re-opened. Stancliffe Stone Ltd, the quarry company, want to restart work on the sites. They submitted proposals to us in 1999, under the requirements of the Environment Act (1995). We are still awaiting information from the company before we can consider their application.”
More at: nineladies.uklinux.net/upd0203.htm
aaaarrgh!...Not another picture of Long Meg.
Oh yes...but like all the others are colour or B/W tho’ where as mine is both.
Further to Purejoys Misc. posting....
The cairn is very close to the Mayon lookout post and has great views along the coast especially toward Lands End.
The remaining stones of the kerb and cist are quite impressive.
During excavations on the henges, they found a white layer of gypsum covering the banks, it is thought to have come from deposits in the River Ure.
1970’s Sheffield City Museum Book.
Burr Tor is quite a large fort enclosing roughly 8 acres. On the ground there is not a great deal to see, there are faint traces of a bank and ditch toward the eastern edge of the fort.
The fort is now the airfield for the Derbyshire Gliding Club, they’re alright about you sniffing around as long as you ask and stick to where they tell you to walk.
The gliding club offer flights for around £25, should give you a good view of the fort.
This circular enclosure lays right next to the Roman road Batham Gate.
Over the years the enclosure was thought to be a Roman camp of some kind, until the road was found to built over and around the section of the enclosure it crosses over.
Nowadays it’s thought to be a stock enclosure dating to the Bronze or Iron Age.
A modern drystone wall cuts the site in half.
Access is easy as it’s by the side of the road, parking on the lane ain’t.
Eyam Moor II lays right next to the footpath but is probably the hardest circle to find on the moor. Despite its closeness to the path it was only rediscovered in the 1980’s.
The four remaining uprights are near enough totally covered in bilberry and none are above 30cm. It is a small circle approx. 8x8m, and there is a small dug out cairn in the centre of the circle.
I always approach Eyam Moor III from the Leam side of the Moor. There is a space on the verge, near Leam & the footpath that takes you up onto the moor. (SK232794). When you reach the drystone wall, look left, the circle is near the corner of the wall 200m away.
The 4 upright stones are covered with bilberry and there are a further 2 laying in the heather. In the centre is a ruined oval cairn, with a large trench cut into it.
The longbarrow is around 35m in length and is situated in a field to the east of Minninglow. The actual barrow is rather unimpressive and it struggles to get noticed above the long grass.
As with Minninglow it lies on private land.