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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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’.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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