Chris Collyer
An interesting rock by the gate to the Sanctuary. Anybody have any ideas about it?
3rd September 2002. The earthwork is almost impossible to make out at certain times of the year and under different light conditions. RG’s picture is much clearer!
The Avenue is the faint double line from the middle to the bottom right corner of the picture. Photo taken from the New King’s Barrows.
The two barrows at the northern end. Photo taken from The Avenue.
Round barrow to the south of the western end of the Cursus in Fargo Plantation.
Looking east along the line of the cursus from the western terminal. Its sides are marked by the trees to the left and the hedges to the right.
Bell Barrow. Contained an elm coffin with skeleton, Breton type urn, 2 bronze daggers and a bronze awl.
Bell barrow. 54metres x 4 metres. Contained a wooden box with cremation and 2 daggers, bone pin and tweezers.
Group of bowl-barrows beside the A360, with a large disk-barrow in the foreground.
I’ve bumped up the contrast on the photo to make the dagger (centre, just above rock in foreground) a little more visible.
The graffitti above says -
‘ION: LUD: DETERRE‘
Rollright was one of the first circles I visited back in the early ‘90s, and the King Stone was the first time I saw some of the strange offerings that get left at these places.
Hanging from a nearby tree/bush was a silver spraypainted piece of toast.
Yeah, go figure....
Burl says this is an 11 metre embanked circle or ring cairn, he also calls it Froggatt Edge, which is what I’ve always known it as.
As Holy says, it is bypassed by most of the walkers on the nearby track, who tend to look at you as if you are loitering with some kind of malicious intent.
Discussions on the conflicts between modern Pagans, archaeologists, land owners and other interested parties over ancient sites.
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.
Gwytherin Page on the Celtic Inscribed Stones Project (CISP) online database.
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.
Article – ‘The Gypsey Race and the Great Wolds Valley Sacred Landscape‘
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.
Back in the early ‘90’s Heads had to contend with a rickity wooden fence that used to ‘protect’ the 26 ton chunk of millstone grit.
The fence is now long gone.
