Chris Collyer

MAGIC seems to back up Stan about this stone calling it a Bronze Age standing stone associated with a cist a couple of metres away.

Due to current renewed interest in Star Carr I’ve added the following text I wrote elsewhere.

Star Carr must be one of the most unassuming yet archaeologically important sites it is possible to visit in the British Isles. An empty field hides below its surface the waterlogged remains of what was once a Mesolithic settlement standing on the eastern shores of the now vanished Lake Pickering, a glacial lake formed by meltwaters at the end of the last ice age that stretched as far west as the Hambleton and Howardian Hills towards the north of York. At this time lower sea levels meant Britain was not yet an island being still connected to the continent and as the ice retreated hunters followed herds of migrating animals across land which is now under the North Sea and began to move into new territories. One of these that seems to have been particularly to their liking was beside Lake Pickering where they burned back the sedges and rushes on the marshy edges of its shore and laid down mats of brushwood and a trackway of split timbers to make a platform out into the clearer water – evidence of a wooden oar suggests they also used boats to move out onto the lake to fish.

It is thought that the edge of the lake was not used as a habitation area but that camps would have been set up a short distance to the north on slightly raised ground. These would probably have been temporary seasonal camps and archaeologists seem to be divided on when the site would have been in use, analysis of plant remains suggests the main activity taking place here was during the summer months while finds of worked and natural deer antler suggest people were hunting here during winter.

Although animals such as auroch, elk and boar were taken as food sources it seems that red deer held a special place in the Mesolithic world view of these people. Not only were they hunted in large numbers but they are also responsible for the most famous finds at Star Carr – the antler headdresses. These consisted of the frontal forehead bone of red deer stags with the longer parts of the antler trimmed off and holes drilled through the bone to form either eye-holes or to tie the headdress to the wearer. What these were used for has fired the imagination of many writers (this one included) – were they worn as disguises to allow the hunters to get close to their prey or were they worn during ceremonies where perhaps a tribal leader would enter a trance state to try to commune with the spirit of the animal? Whatever their purpose it seems to have been an important one as twenty one of these headdresses where found here and it appears that they were placed into the wet areas of the site perhaps as an offerings after use. A more pragmatic reason could be they they were submerged to soften the bone prior to it being further worked and what we could be looking at is Star Carr as a production centre with the headdresses being traded further afield.

This theory could be supported by the finds of nearly two hundred barbed antler points which would have been tied to the end of poles to make spears or harpoons for catching fish. Other finds from the site include many flint artifacts such such as scrapers, burins and microliths, pieces of worked and unworked antler and bone as well as wood working tools. Several perforated stone beads, perhaps used as jewelry, hint at the more personal lives of the occupants of the site.

At some point the site was abandoned, perhaps the settlers moved elsewhere as the level of the lake fell although luckily the ground remained waterlogged and a layer of peat slowly formed helping to preserve so much of the organic remains that make Star Carr such a unique and archaeologically rich resource. It slipped from memory until it was rediscovered in 1947 by local archaeologist John Moore and was then excavated between 1949-1951 by Sir Grahame Clark whose discoveries, particularly of the headdresses, sparked so much interest in this quiet corner of Yorkshire. Further excavation work during the 1980’s and within the last ten years have helped to shine more light on the activities that were taking place on this shore line and carbon dating of organic remains have given us a date range of activity at Star Carr of between 8770BC-8460BC suggesting that the site remained important for many generations of Mesolithic families.

Despite all that has been learned from the study of the area much remains unexcavated and the true extent of the site has yet to be discovered however recent research indicate that drainage is now threatening the very existence of Star Carr. Falling water levels mean that the water-logged peats that have protected the bone and wooden artifacts that make the site so important are now drying up leading to the decay and destruction of these irreplaceable items with some experts predicting that much will be lost within 5-10 years. To lose all that can be learned from this unique 10000 year old site would be a real archaeological shame.

From Mortimer, 1897-

These mounds, covered by the trees of an old plantation, may be seen in a little valley within the boundaries of the Lordships of Driffield and Kilham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, nearly four miles due north of Driffield.

They measure from 1 ft. to 3½ ft. in height and 9 ft. to 33 ft. in diameter. The place has from time immemorial been called ” Danes’ Graves ” and ” Danesdale.” Some accounts say there were originally 500 at least of these mounds; but on the Ordnance Map 197 is the number given. Their comparative preservation seems to be due entirely to the protection afforded by the old trees growing on them. Very probably they once extended, on two sides at least, beyond the boundary of the plantation into the adjoining fields, but there the plough has obliterated all surface trace of them. Many of them within the plantation have been more or less levelled, and some wholly obliterated by persons digging for rabbits ; while others have been frequently excavated at various periods by relic seekers and the otherwise curious, who have left no authentic account of their finds.
The first written record respecting these barrow is given by Leland more than 300 years ago.

This elongated barrow has nearly five pages devoted to it in Bateman’s “Ten years diggings” book which goes into detail about the various cists and bone remains found. In cist 4 on the plan he found ‘the skeleton of a young hog inside a roughly built cist’ and he later notes ‘we are inclined to assign the post of honour to the cist containing the hog, which was placed nearest the centre’.

The SMR for this site lists it as a ring cairn with an internal diameter of 6-7.5 metres and a 3 metre wide bank.

Just to clarify access to this site, the 2005 edition of the OS Explorer Map OL28 shows the circle to be on access land as is the whole of Ringmoor Down *except* the fields immediately south of the circle.

This is one of two sites close to Skipwith known as Danes Hills. The other is just over a mile and a half away to the southwest. Both are Iron Age square barrow cemeteries.

There are two sites close to Skipwith, both called Danes Hills and both Iron Age square barrow cemeteries. The other site is just over a mile and a half to the northeast.

English Heritage have Little Meg recorded as a Round Cairn.

John Wesley (the preacher) wrote the following about the site in 1770 –

“I took a walk to the top of that celebrated hill, Carn-Brae. Here are many monuments of remote antiquity, scarce to be found in any other part of Europe: Druid altars of enormous size, being only huge rocks, strangely suspended one upon the other; and rockbasins, hollowed on the surface of the rock, it is supposed, to contain the holy water. It is probable these are at least co-eval with Pompey’s Theatre, if not with the Pyramids of Egypt. And what are they the better for this? Of what consequence is it either to the dead or the living, whether they have withstood the wastes of time for three thousand, or three hundred years?”

EH gives the following measurements for the barrows.
North – 12 metres diameter and .75 metres high with a 2 metre wide ditch on the south side.
Centre – 20 metres wide and 1.75 metres tall with traces of a 2 metre wide ditch.
South – 20 metres diameter and 2 metres high with traces of a 2 metre wide ditch.

Canon Greenwell writing in 1890 mentions the following in respect to carved rocks in the area –

“Eight stones with these markings are preserved in the gardens at Peak House, or, as it is now usually called, Raven Hall, some of which are said to have been taken out of neighbouring barrows.”

So where did the other seven carved rocks go?

Although there remains nothing to see on the ground this is nevertheless an important site in the understanding and unfolding story of prehistoric Lincolnshire. It was first discovered by the aerial photography of crop marks in the 1970’s that revealed a slightly oval area measuring about 25 metres in diameter surrounded by a 2 metre wide segmented ditch with entrances to the northwest and southeast, making this a Class II henge. No trace of the external bank that we might expect to find associated with this type of monument has been found but we could reasonably assume that this would have extended the size of the monument by another 2-3 metres on either side. Just beyond this proposed bank was discovered a ring of 24 pits or post holes, whether these were originally left as pits, perhaps for ceremonial offerings, or used to support wooden posts is not known at present but an extract from English Heritage’s scheduling report of the site tantalisingly suggests that they may have held standing stones. Personally I think this is highly unlikely as there appears to be almost no tradition of the use of stone within Lincolnshire (or at least no surviving evidence) – it is not used at other sites, so why here, and where would this stone have come from?
Looking at aerial photographs of the site shows what looks like the dried remains of a stream or river just to the east of the current course of the River Bain – was this the original course of the river? If so then the henge was closer to the Bain than it is now and this might strengthen the argument that this site was somehow linked to other sites that could be associated with the Bain such as Grim’s Mound and Ludford Barrow further north.

The picture from C. Phillips report on Lincolnshire published in 1932 says that the stone stood ‘until recently’ which would vaguely tie in with Grays assertion that it was broken up in 1917. He also states that although it stood on chalk land it was formed from ironstone which occurs several miles away concluding that it was either moved here and then erected or that it was a glacial erratic. He goes on to say that it ‘did not exceed 3 feet in height and was a cheesewring of three superimposed pieces of stone’ that was ‘religiously removed during ploughing and then replaced in position before it finally fell to pieces’.

On the opposite side of the Waithe Beck valley from Hoe Hill barrow, Ash Hill is around 40 metres long, 16 metres wide to the north-east trailing to 10 metres wide at the south-west and stands about 2 metres tall. C. W. Phillips reported in 1932 that there were a number of large trees growing from the mound and that rabbits were ‘burrowing freely’ in several places.

The first evidence of activity here consists of Neolithic flints and a polished axe head, next comes the pair of round barrows. The hillfort itself (known as a slight univallate hillfort) dates from the later Bronze Age and seems to have been used and modified into the Iron Age with the original wood and earth rampart being replaced by a stronger stone affair. The defences which enclose an area of about 6 hectares are built (from the inside outwards) with a rampart about 3 metres high and 5 metres wide followed by a flat berm and a U shaped ditch which would have been a couple of metres deep and about the same wide. This has now silted up and the berm and ditch are at the same level. Beyond these was a small outer bank that was probably no more than a metre high. There were entrances to the north and the southwest and the central area was covered with over 70 huts whose bases had been cut into the hillside giving a flat platform before the walls were erected. Excavations have revealed hearths and storage pits as well as large amounts of pottery sherds and whetstones.

There seems to have been 3 main occupation periods at the site which was used as a summer camp by groups following herds of reindeer, bison, mammoth and horses. The first group were Neanderthals from 50000 years ago onwards, then the first modern humans were here around 30000 years ago. The last group left their Creswell Points and bone carvings as well as the recently discovered wall engravings about 11-13000 years ago. Sporadic evidence of use of the caves continues through the prehistoric period. A great deal of information has been lost however as the Victorians actually used explosives to excavate some of the caves On the plus side, when plans were being made to lay a railway through the gorge the land owner thwarted them by damming the stream and creating the modern lake – nice one!

This small stone circle or ring cairn is situated just beyond the north-eastern edge of the southern end of Harwood Dale Forest on Standingstones Rigg close to several cairns and barrows. There are originally thought to have been around 24 stones here with the 15 that remain set into a low 14 metre earth bank, the circle itself having a diameter of 8 metres – it is possible that an earth mound extended over, and covered the stones but has since been eroded away leaving the circle visible. The tallest of the stones measures just over a metre in height while most of the others are much shorter and many are leaning outwards. In the centre of the circle are three uprights which are believed to have formed part of a burial cist – four of the stones from this cist were decorated with cup and ring marks and are the ones mentioned by Stubob as being in Scarborough Museum.

There are also replicas of the drums in the Hull and East Riding Museum in Hull city centre.

Sir J.Y. Simpson wrote about Little Meg in the 19th century-
‘Two or three cairns or tumuli existed locally …. One of them, of large size, stood on land belonging to the free school of the township of Maughanby. After removing from its central mound or barrow a quantity of cobble stones mixed with earth, several large stones, one of them only erect, were found arranged in a circle about eighteen feet in diameter. Several of them were buried beneath the projecting edges of the barrow. In the centre of the circle was placed a semi-ovoid cist formed of rough stones, and measuring only three feet nine inches in length, two feet four inches in breadth and ten inches in depth. The cist contained an urn, burnt bones and charcoal. The only ornament upon the rude urn was a raised line near the top.’

Seamer Beacon can be seen from a fair distance from the south especially from the Starr Carr area about 5 miles away. Unfortunately Fitz failed to mention that at least some of the hill forms part of GCHQ Scarborough – I don’t know where he parked but the entrance I found was less than welcoming ;-) A sign did state however that there was a ‘permissive’ path up the hill, it’s actually a public footpath so yah boo sucks to GCHQ.
The stone folly will be Baron Albert’s Tower which was built in the 19th century on the top of a levelled barrow. Hagworm Hill is about 44 metres in diameter and 3 metres high with a silted-up 2 metre wide ditch. When it was excavated in the 19th century several burials were found in stone lined cists, although I don’t know whether the stone was left in the barrow or transported to a local museum. A excavation in the 1970s found more burials, sherds and flint, it also established that the barrow had an outer kerb of stones and a smaller internal stone ring. Could it be that these stones were Elgee’s stone circle?

There’s bit of confusion about the stone setting at the base of Blakey Topping hill. Burl says it is so damaged that it cannot be said for certain that it was ever a circle, Dyer on the other hand thinks it was, as does JC while the scheduling report calls it an alignment. As the first three cover the stones in their own books I’ll give a brief summary of the scheduling instead.
It mentions the 4 stones calling them ‘roughly hewn sandstone boulders’ with 2 of the stones on the west side in a SSW to NNE alignment. The stone to the north is 80cm high but was once higher, the top having been broken off. The southern stone is 15 metres to the SSW and is 1.7 metres tall. On the eastern side of the alignment the southernmost stone is now part of the field boundary and is 20 metres to the southeast of the southern stone on the west side. It stands 1.3 metres above the modern ground level with a slight lean to the south. The north stone of this pair has been moved at some point in time and is now 85 metres north of its partner and is 1.1 metres high.
The report then mentions that there would originally have been more stones in the alignment, the others having been removed in land clearance or for reuse elsewhere and it goes on to speculate that the line of these stones would have continued the curve formed by the 3 stones still in their original positions or formed 2 parallel rows, part of which survives as the 2 western stones. The report makes almost no mention of the hill.

The name of this huge earthwork is misleading, in the past it was believed to have been built by Danish invaders, then more recently Hawkes and Dyer recorded it as Iron Age. Current opinion is that it was constructed in the middle to late Bronze Age as were many of the defensive/boundary banks and ditches that cover large areas further west on the Yorkshire Wolds, although it is entirely probable that it was later used and modified during the Iron Age and even as late as the 9-10th century AD.
The bank’s construction started with a layer of compacted stones which were overlaid with chalk blocks, rubble and earth and covered over with a layer of turf to a height of between 4-5 metres and a width at the base of about 20 metres. To the west of the bank the ditch, which has become partly infilled over time, is estimated to have been around 3-4 metres deep and up to 12 metres wide. In places the existing single ditch/bank is joined by another smaller bank on the western side, and occasionally a pair of banks.
It is interesting that the southern end of Danes Dyke starts (or ends) at a natural deep gully that leads down to the sea and it could be that this natural defensive feature was the inspiration for the earthwork which runs north for two and a half miles to the northern edge of the Flamborough peninsular. The enclosed area measures about 5 square miles and is naturally defended to the north, east and south by cliffs making it an ideal fortified settlement site although there seems to be no obvious signs of occupation except for a single barrow and I have yet to find any archaeological information for the area. The bank and ditch are cut in half by the B1229 and are further bisected by the B1255 a little further south – there is a car-park and paths down to the sea at it’s southern end and access through the RSPB reserve to the north – the map ref is for this northern end.

I thought this stone got its name from the fact that it looks a bit like a nose (as in ‘keep yer neb out’ = stop being nosey). Apparently it is a Yorkshire term meaning ‘to kiss’, Paul Bennett say in ‘Circles, Standing Stones and legendary rocks of West Yorkshire’ that lovers used to meet to hold their trysts here.

This is the huge barrow that can be seen just to the north of Maiden Castle and is one of the largest mounds in Dorset. It was part of a group of round barrows that seem to be related to an early long barrow that has since be ploughed out. It has only ever been partly excavated – a secondary burial of the Romano-Celtic era was discovered in 1862.
Ann Woodward in her book British Barrows (pages 139-143) goes into great detail about viewsheds from the top of the barrow and suggests that it was enlarged and heightened over time specifically for this purpose. Her evidence is certainly convincing, from the base of the barrow the views are limited, from the top there are sightlines to several long barrows as well as extensive views to the north and east from the North Dorset Ridge to Purbeck.

Info –
Ann Woodward – British Barrows, A Matter of Life and Death ISBN 0-7524-1468-2
English Heritage, Record of Scheduled Monuments

Northwest of Maiden Castle, this barrow was excavated by Cunnington in 1882. It is important for the finds from the site which included fragments of an incense cup, a broken dagger, a macehead made of shale which originally had 5 inlaid gold bosses and a patterned gold lozenge similar to the one found in the Bush Barrow near Stonehenge.

Further to what Fitz says there were in fact 8 barrows in this group that were excavated by Canon Greenwell – there were 2 to the south and one to the northeast of the close group of 5 barrows.
The barrow that Fitz mentions was called Sharp Howe by Greenwell but is now marked on the OS map as ‘Sharpe Howe’.

In TMA there is a photo of the three chalk drums recovered from the barrow but no indication of scale. Buried with the body of a child their heights are only 11.8cm, 10.5cm, 8.6cm and their diameters are 14.6cm, 12.7cm, 10.2cm respectively. Although the tops of the drums appear to form lids, they are in fact solid and not hollow. The apparent markings of eyes, eyebrows and noses have lead some to think that they may be idol figures of some kind, others believe they could be copies of incense cups.
Info –
Canon Greenwell’s excavation report 1890
Dyer – Discovering Prehistoric England
Note, Dyers map reference is wrong. It should be TA not SE.

These three barrows were all excavated by JR Mortimer between 1870-1884. The first one at SE881639 contained the bones of a child above a primary burial of an extended male skeleton. Grave finds consisted of a pot sherd, flint fragments, 2 saws, a black flint scraper, a hammer stone, a black flint knife and a fine bronze dagger blade. Mortimer noted that the barrow was constructed of alternating layers of local red soil and clay brought from Duggleby.
At the second barrow at SE884641 he found the cremated remain of an adult inside an oak coffin as well as 3 knives, 2 parts of knives, many flint flakes and fragments, 10 scrapers and 2 sling stones. Again, clay had been brought in from Dugglby for part of the construction of the mound. The third barrow at SE885641 contained a male skeleton as well as some other pieces of human bone in an oval grave. The skeleton was accompanied by a bronze dagger, the only other grave goods being the crushed remains of a food vessel. Yet again clay from Duggleby had been partly used for the covering mound.

Info from English Heritage.
Note – In Dyer’s ‘Discovering Prehistoric Britain’ the map reference of 879638 does not refer to the barrow in his text – the correct reference is 881639.

According to Dyer in ‘Discovering Prehistoric England’ some of these barrows follow the line of a possible ancient trackway close to Bridsall Brow. Some were dug into by JR Mortimer in 1866 who found – inhumations, cremations (some in the same barrows) food-vessels, a bone pin, flint knife and punch, collared urns and jet ear plugs.

This group of monuments consists of a long barrow, a line of later round barrows, some earthworks and a Roman road. The long barrow is aligned east-west and was excavated in the 1868 by JR Mortimer who recorded a burned wooden mortuary house and traces of a timber crescent façade at the eastern end. Burials included pig jaws without the tusks, bowls and a human leg bone. The remains have since been dated to about 3450BC. Estimates of the original size of the barrow are around 24 metres long by 15 metres wide with 8 metre wide side ditches. Later the barrow became part of a linear earthwork now known as Queen Dyke, thought to date from the middle bronze age.
The round barrows follow the line of what could be an ancient trackway over Hanging Grimston Wold that later became a Roman Road. Many of them are ploughed out but some were excavated and recorded by Mortimer who found beakers, remains of a funeral pyre, oak coffins, collared urns and jet buttons. The most interesting barrow at SE806613 was found to contain a limestone ring of six stones with the remains of 11 burials inside.

Info source – Dyer, Hawkes, English Heritage

This group has been badly plough damaged since the 19th century when 17 barrows were recorded and excavated by the Yorkshire Antiquarian Club in the middle of the century and by JR Mortimer in the 1870’s. All the barrows were found to contain either cremations or several inhumations of men, women and children. Grave goods found included an 18.5 centimetre white flint dagger, a 12.7 centimetre bronze dagger, beakers, jet buttons, amber buttons and a jet ring.

Info from – James Dyer, Jacquetta Hawkes, English Heritage/NMR

Found this in a booklet about carved rocks -

“In 1890 Dr. Fletcher Little, medical officer at Ben Rhydding Hydro bought the stones for £10 from the owner of the land at Panorama Rocks. The land was due to be developed. Whilst being removed the largest, known as the Panorama Stone was broken in two pieces.”

I visited this site some time ago and it wasn’t until I was flicking through TMA today that I discovered that this wheel cross is in fact a ‘Christianised’ Bronze age monolith.

Julian mentions that one of the stones has a Dark Age inscription ‘WINNE something or other’ and speculates the link with the name of the church – St. Winnifred. Seems reasonable enough, but the full inscription reads – VINNEMAGLI FILI SENEMAGLI, roughly translated as (The stone) of Vinnemaglus, son of Senemaglus‘

However Julian is right in his theory, but more by luck than judgement! The church was indeed dedicated to Saint Winnifred, but not until 1869. Before that it was St. James, before that even, it was St. Eleri.

Also known as Maidensgrave Henge, it was excavated in 1964 and found to consist of an oval bank with 2 entrances with a line of 4 post holes at the centre.

There is very little to be seen on the ground here, but the site is interesting for the grave finds in four of the 100 or so Iron Age barrows investigated early in the 19th century.

King’s Barrow – contained a body of an old man surrounded by the remains of a cart, along with 2 horses.

Queen’s Barrow – the female buried in this mound was found wearing a glass necklace consisting of nearly 100 blue and white beads along with 2 bronze armlets, bronze pin and tweezers, amber and gold rings and a bronze brooch and pendent inlaid with white coral.

Lady’s Barrow – this female was buried with a iron mirror and also the remains of another cart.

Charioteer’s Barrow – as the name implies, this also contained a cart, as well as a bronze shield boss.

As usual Julian seems to have all the info, where he gets it from I don’t know but anyway he says the barrow was originally around 9 feet high and 100 feet across. It was contained within an encircling ditch that has now been filled in, with a further square ditch beyond that.

This group was excavated by J R Mortimer between 1860 and 1892.

A barrow at SE829556 covered 2 concentric rings of wooden posts, 6.5 and 8.5 metres across, with a surrounding 30 metre ditch. Grave finds included a crouched skeleton, food vessel and large stone axe.
Finds from the other barrows, which contained a mixture of inhumations and cremations, included more vessels and collared urns, a jet necklace and jet and faience beads.

This mesolithic lakeside settlement, dated to around 7500BC was investigated by Professor Grahame Clark (Excavations at Starr Carr: An Early Mesolithic Site at Seamer near Scarborough, Yorkshire -Cambridge University Press 1954), while Jacquetta Hawkes calls it ‘the most informative Middle Stone Age site in Britain‘
Starr Carr has since been reburied.

Edit: New evidence suggests the site dates from 8700BC and was seasonally occupied over a course of 200-300 years

In another version of the story, the man on the ass is Jesus (see link)
In his book ‘Hidden Lincolnshire’ ISBN 1-85306-299-5 Adrian Gray records the ‘stone’ as three stones and reports that they were broken up in 1917. He gives their position as TA123033

After a little research I found out that due to the damage to the mound, Stukeley believed this site was a row of round barrows!