Chris Collyer

This was a hard one to find, I walked right past it although it is just next to the track (to the east) and only found it on my second attempt. Stanton Moor South (T43) is one of those sites that it’s only really possible to see as you move round it due to the rich covering of heather, if you stand still and close one eye it just disappears into the undergrowth. Once you start picking through the greenery it does become a little clearer though, a bank about 15 metres in diameter and about half a metre high in places with a small gap for an entrance to the south. There are a few stones dotted around the bank but it’s hard to tell which may have stood and which were boulders used to pack the bank, there is also a slight trace of a cairn near the centre. The entrance that leads from the path through the west side of the bank into the circle is a modern intrusion but is useful for finding the site which like most of the others on this eastern side of the moor has fine views across the Derwent valley and to the hills beyond.

This ring cairn or ruined stone circle is easy enough to find as you walk north along the main path that leads to the Nine Ladies. About 230 metres south of the Nine Ladies look to you left (west) for a raised oval of heather about 20 metres away. Evidence of the bank is heavily covered with heather like most of the other sites on the moor but from the central cairn it’s form is clear and walking around it reveals the bank still stands nearly a metre high in places. It seemed to me to be better preserved to the west, which is also the most overgrown side. There are entrances to the north and south and in a couple of places on the eastern side the small boulders of the bank have been knocked down making them look a little like extra entrances – it’s worth rooting around at the south entrance for the inscribed stone that bears the Heathcote’s T56 identification for the site. My estimate for the diameter of the bank is about 25 metres, as to whether it was originally a ring cairn or stone circle is difficult to say, if it was a circle then it has suffered differently from the nearby Nine Ladies that managed to keep its uprights and (just about) loose its bank and central mound. Here the situation is reversed – it reminded me a little of a larger version of Barbrook II minus the uprights.

What a mess. The stones here are so strewn around that I wasn’t entirely sure I had found the remains of this ring cairn/stone circle at all Add to that the heavy undergrowth and the covering of birch trees and the site is almost impossible to work out – Stubob’s pictures taken early in the year give a much better idea of what’s left.
Sometimes known as SM1 (Stanton Moor 1?) or just plain “61” by the Heathcotes, Rooke recorded two entrances to the north-north-east and south-south-west but I couldn’t figure them out, there were certainly traces of an earth and rubble bank, along with much disturbance in the centre as well as several scattered smallish boulders, one of which could have well have been a standing stone. A rough estimate of the diameter would be 8-10 metres although it could well have been larger. The position of the site is interesting despite the destruction and flora intrusions, at this point the land is already beginning to drop away to the northeast towards Stanton Woodhouse and the River Derwent just beyond.
Probably best visited in winter.

A strange looking boulder resembling a giant golf flag that greets you as the land drops away on the southwest of the moor down towards the road from Birchover to Stanton-in-Peak. One side is hideously disfigured by modern graffiti, foot holes and iron handles and the weathering around the narrow base makes it look like it could topple over at any time. Although there seems to be little evidence of ancient activity around the stone, the early inhabitants of the moor would certainly been aware of the boulder and Fitz’s description of it as a mini Sphinx is quite apt, imagine the stone as a mute guardian of the moor, forever gazing blindly out towards Doll Tor whilst protecting the circles and cairns behind.

Somehow this stone seemed smaller than I remembered it from the last time I saw it about 4 years ago, I was thinking that the battered wall and the greenery encompassed the entire size of the boulder so I was somewhat disappointed when I realised it’s actual size. Being a shortarse and on my own I had doubts that I’d be able to climb it although I really wanted to check out the views of the surrounding countryside and the large cups on top but the decision was soon made for me anyway. Making sure everything was packed in my bag so as not to drop anything on the way up I realised I had left my GPS standing on the roof of my car acquiring a fix, needless to say I beat a hasty retreat to recover the offending article. Technology? –Pah!

A nice sized boulder perched in a commanding position on the east side of the moor. From here there are views southwest and northeast along the moor edges while straight ahead to the northwest the land immediately drops away slightly before rising up to the gently rounded plateau where the modern track (which based on the proximity of the many monuments must have been where the prehistoric track lay) winds down towards the Nine Ladies. I can quite believe this formed a meeting point for people in the distant past to view the circles and cairns in front of them, it still does today, there were several walkers resting around the stone when I got there.

Wow, seriously impressive. As you approach from the west it’s hard to judge the scale of the hill until you start to pass by on the south side of it. If you then take the turn north and follow the old road as far as it goes you get a whole other perspective on Mam Tor as you stand facing the crumbling eastern face with its alternate bands of sandstone and shale and distant birds of prey hovering over the summit. Turning round 180 degrees gives and entirely different view down the Hope Valley, on the right hand side lies Castleton and the intrusive tower of the cement works beyond but to the left is an interesting line of hills, one of which, Win Hill stands like a tiny pyramid on the horizon 4 miles away. Coming from Lincolnshire I’m not used to landscapes like these and I wonder if early settlers had the same reaction when travelling west up the valley, Mam Tor stands like a giant full stop that marks the end of the journey. Stood at the foot of it looking east I was strangely reminded of standing at the west end of the Stonehenge Cursus near to the destroyed long barrow looking in the same direction down the faint parallel banks into the distance – this place is like the Cursus landscape written large in nature.
I’ve never been that convinced by Sacred Hill theories in the past but this one certainly does it for me, I didn’t have time to attempt the climb up to the top or see the hillfort or barrows but definitely a place to revisit soon.

Edit:
A couple of weeks later I went back and climbed Mam Tor – well worth it but a bit exhausting – the views are spectactular.

Ooo, I like these! A line of three round cairns that are worth investigating while looking at the Wheeldale Stones. To the north of Collier Gill (no relation) and the west of a Julian Park and a Randy Mere, they can be seen from the road but are best approached from the track that leads southwest from NZ797012. The track is blocked to vehicles by a steel post but it’s an easy enough walk to the mounds. They are aligned roughly southwest-northeast and follow the contours of the moor, the middle one is slightly offset to the south and to the west and is also quite a bit smaller than the other two. The north and south mounds look to be about the same size, the one to the north perhaps being a little larger, both have flattened tops when viewed from the side and on closer inspection this turns out to be the result of robbing or excavation, the northern one in particular has a large volcano like crater in it’s top. Although scheduled as round cairns they seemed to me to be more earth than stone or rubble, looking round the base of one of the mounds however did reveal a small cut-away area that showed a couple of stone slabs placed at right angles to each other. Although they could be part of the mound they may have been placed here recently for some unknown purpose (probably something to do with shooting, no doubt).

Just to the northeast of Breckon Howe and a little lower down the northeast slope of Sleight’s Moor are a pair of barrows which can best be seen from the cattle grid on the road that links the A169 via the Bridestones to Grosmont. Parking by the side of the A169 would be a bit risky, it’s a very busy road. The barrows look to be heavily overgrown with heather and I didn’t walk up to them but it would have been fairly easy to follow the line of the fence leading southwest to reach them. I’m not sure whether the name Pen Howe applies to one or both of the barrows.

I took a wrong turn when heading to the High Bridestones and spotted this barrow to the right of the road. I recognised it immediately as one I had visited and photographed some 10 years ago while on the way to Whitby but had since forgotten where it was – it was nice to put a name to it at last. The barrow is easy enough to get to, park just to the west of the cattle grid on the open road that leads from the A169 to Goathland and follow the line of the fence north before cutting across to the barrow. The barrow itself stands on the highest point of this part of the moor with a spot height of 297 metres and the land slopes away gently on all sides. It is about 2-3 metres tall but the top has been badly bashed about/excavated/pillaged and it now has a boundary stone on top. There are also several medium sized boulders scattered around that could have formed part of the barrow, a couple near the bottom looked like they may have been part of a kerb, I had a look for cup marks on them but couldn’t spot anything. On the other hand they could just be the result of field clearance.

As Arthur Atkinson would say, “How queer!”
I have to agree with Moth on these stones, the ones with the holes just don’t look old at all – they almost look like modern stones cut to look like old stones. The flat faces are just too flat for my liking as well and the stones don’t seem to be eroded to any great extent, in an exposed place like this they should be weathered stumps surely, and look more like mini Devil’s Arrows, but they just don’t. The rectangular holes are just too perfect, although of course they could have been cut much later.
The stone at the south, which is a tall slender thing could be older than the others but I’m still not convinced. I did like the third stone from the south though, a large flat thin slab that stands face-on to the road and does have a megalithic air about it but again an almost complete lack of weathering on the top and sides says ‘modern’ to my eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed visiting these stones, Murk Mire Moor is a great place and all the stones have a lovely view down to the sea, I just don’t think they are more than a couple of hundred years old at most. I’d love to be proved wrong though ! (And I probably will be)
As for the holes? My guess is they could have been for placing lamps in, or for hanging lamps from either side.
Further south down the road where it passes by the side of the woods on Pickering Moor there are some more stones, a set of three, one of which forms a gatepost and a little further along is another pair in some long grass behind the fence, probably all just old fence posts but pretty none the less.

A megalithic mess indeed, it really does look like somebody let a bomb off in the middle of this one. Burl says it could have been a pair of four-posters, but three of the stones on the eastern arrangement are not so much fallen as strewn and look to me as if they’ve been moved making an interpretation difficult – they gave me the impression of having been dumped here during field clearance. They also seem to have a different appearance to the standing stone next to them, it is sandy coloured, smoothish but fractured while the more solid looking prostrate slabs seem a darker colour and are heavily pitted. Perhaps the eroded surface is evidence that they fell a very long time ago though, rather than being toppled recently. A smaller stone stands just to the east.
To the west are the stones of the second setting, for some reason I didn’t go over to look at them, sadly the site doesn’t really inspire you to spend a lot of time here – I’ll investigate the other stones another day.

Just down the road from the High Bridestones this is a line of stones running north-south across the hillside. The Low Bridestones are marked on the 1:25000 an 1:50000 OS Maps and are even scheduled monuments but there seems to be very little information about them, they appear to form a rough alignment but could be the remains of a field system or something else entirely. How many Bridestones? Difficult to tell, they are partly buried in high grasses and as you approach them 6-8 stones stand clear of the vegetation with the tallest standing about a metre high, but as you root round several more smaller stones are lurking in the grass to extend the alignment to about 20-30 metres in length, the total number of stones is probably between a dozen and 15 in all.