BrigantesNation

“The Nine Stone Close stone circle with Robin Hood’s Stride in the background. It is probably not a coincidence that this small stone circle was situated near the impressive natural outcrop of Robin Hood’s Stryde, on Harthill Moor, itself probably regarded as a sacred place in prehistory. The crag forms an impressive backdrop to ceremonies that would have taken place at the ring. Arounf midsummer the moon is low in the sky and would have passed between the two natural pillars. The circle today has four tall stones but originally there were eight or nine, the missing ones removed in the last two hundred and fifty years.” Peak District – John Barnatt and Ken Smith.

“The Barbrook II Stone Circle. This small stone circle is one of two that lie within a large cairnfield on Ramsley Moor, which is part of the Big Moor complexlying to the east of Bar Brook. It was extensively excavated in the 1960’s and restored in 1989. The circle is now probably much as it was around 2000BC The irregular ring of standing stones is set in a drystone wall retaining the inner edge of a rubble bank, with an entrance to the north east. Only one standing stone is significantly higher than the bank,. This lies a little south of west and has no obvious astronomical explanation. Although a variety of rituals and ceremonies probably took place at the circle, it is those connected with death that not surprisingly have left traces in the ground. Four human cremations were deposited in the south western half of the interior, two in simple pits, one in a pit under a small cairn, and one in a small burial box known as a cist. ” Peak District – John Barnatt and Ken Smith.

“There is a large enclosure on Gardom’s Edge above Baslow. This has recently been recognised as being Neolithic in date, possibly built between 3500 and 3000BC. It is a rare upland equivalent to the causewayed enclosures found in the lowlands or southern England. The Gardoms Edge enclosure has a massive bank built of boulders, in its collapsed and robbed state 5-9m wide and 1-1.5m high, with entrances spaced along it. It defines the eastern side of a large area at the crest of the ridge, the western side being a precipitous scarp overlooking the Derwent Valley. The interior is largely boulder strewn and unsuitable for settlement, although there are a few places where buildings have been erected.” PEak District – John Barnatt and Ken Smith

“At Mill Riggs, Kentmere, Westmoreland, the settlement occupies a small terrace flanked by a cliff on the east, and is oval in form, measuring 240ft north and south, 160ft across its wider end at the north, and 140 feet at the south, where it narrows. The walls seem to have been 7 to 10 feet thick, but they are now chiefly to be traced by their foundations. It is suggested that they were not of solid construction, but were faced with stone and filled up inside with softer stone.” Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England Bertram Windle 1909.

“At High Hugill, near Windermere, in Westmoreland, the site of the settlement consists of an enclosure, two sides of which are angular and two rounded. It was encompassed by the foundations of a wall or rampart, which has been, in places, 14ft in width. The foundations were apparently formed by stones set on edge, the spaces in between which was probably filled in with smaller stones. Within this enclosure are sundry ill-defined lines of division walls, courts, and hut-dwellings, one or two of which are circular, and measure about 7ft and 13ft in diameter.” Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England, Bertram Windle 1909.

“Gib Hill, adjacent to Arbour Low. The original focus for ceremonial activity at Arbour Low, high on a ridgetop south of Monyash, was not at the large henge monument, but here at this mound. Carefull examination of this mounds profile shows that it is a long barrow with a large circular mound superimposed at the south western end. The round barrow is Bronze Age in date, one of two built at this time overlying the main ceremonial monuments of the complex. This one contained a burial in a stone cist, placed at the surface of the original mound, which fell through the roof of Bateman’s tunnel when he dug here in the middle of the nineteenth century. In the earlier mound underneath, probably built several centuries before the henge, early nineteenth century excavations appear to have found cremated human bone in layers. ” Peak District, John Barnatt and Ken Smith.

“A phenomenon in the Peak District, of which there are at least three examples, is the practice of superimposing round barrows at one end of long barrows. Another very unusual site, probably Later Neolithic, is Long Low near Wetton. This comprises of an exceptional mound, 210m (689ft) long and 12-28m (40-92ft) wide. At the wider eastern end there is a possible horned forecourt and a collapsed burial chamber” EH, Peak District – John Barnatt and Ken Smith.

“One large chambered cairn, at Minninglow on a high hilltop between Parwich and Elton, started life as a small mound with a chamber. It was later enveloped in a long cairn with at least four chambers entered from the sides. Later still it was enlarged again, to make it into a massive near-circular mound. There are four or five such “great barrows” in the region, each about 40m (131ft) across, which were probably the local equivalents of later Neolithic mounds such as Silbury Hill and Duggelby Howe (Yorks Wolds).“EH – Peak District John Barnatt and Ken Smith.

In 2001 the West Yorkshire Archaeological Service did extensive geophysics of the site to see what evidence of archaeology remained in the interior of the hillfort, they comcluded:

“Much of the inner ward has been subject to varying degrees of landscaping or other forms of ground disturbance in the recent past. It seems unlikely that there any surviving archaeological remains in this part of the site. ”

Few hill forts of central Britain can rival Almondbury. It must have been a significant regional capital in it’s day, commanding views for miles around, clearly showing where the boss lives.

Almondbury is one of Englands few vitrified hill forts, the suggestion that it was a result of spontaneous combustion makes it unique – only one other fort in France has had the same claim.

“The hill-figure of the horse at Uffington may represent Epona (Celtic God), who not unreasonably might be considered to be the tutelary duvinity of the neighboring hillfort”. Nora Chadwick, The Celts.

Castle Steads is an interesting hillfort, It appears to guard a causeway that runs through it, so much so that there is an external fortified entrance, the other side of a ravine to the hillfort.

It would appear that the initial fort was significantly extended at some point by the building of a large dyke to the south.

A damn good reason to visit a church! This mound is still very much visible and close to the road that links Kirklington to the A1. One the THE most accessible pieces of archaeology in the region, the barrow was excavated in the nineteeth century and the Beaker type pot was held (and is today) in the local (Kirklington) church. Also check out the Iron Age bead and do not miss the carved heads, both inside and outside the church.

This Bronze Age round barrow was destroyed by quarrying in the fifties.

The skeleton of a 25 year old male was found whilst quarrying in the seventies, the site is now destroyed. This was a crouched inhumation associated with a Beaker vessel.

“A section of what could be a cursus monument appears on aerial photographs to the east of the Northern Henge. Surviving for a length of 240 metres and a width of 72 metres, the feature has a squared terminal immediately south-east of the Northern Double Pit Alignment. Geophysics undertaken by the VMNLP was inconclusive about the nature of this monument, but located a possible ring ditch (Harding J et al unpub. 1999b). The latter is not evident on any aerial photographs.” Jan Harding/Newcastle University website (see link).

This barrow has been completely destroyed by ploughing. It is associated with a double pit alignment which travels from its eastern side, roughly NNE to the eastern side of the Centre Hill barrow.

This round barrow has been completely destroyed by quarrying with no records remaining.

This barrow is now completely flat. It was dug out in the nineteenth century and in it was found an “ancient wooden coffin”.

“A large artificial mound here, apparently raised for defensive purposes, bears the name of Picts’ Hill, and an improbable belief prevails that the Picts defeated the Romans in battle at a spot, not far off, called Roman Castle. This mound is also known as Money Hill, but, though partially cut away for the construction of the railway, the traditionary hidden treasure was not found.”

Bulmer’s History and Directory of North Yorkshire (1890)

This is a new and previously forgotten discovery. It may link to the Thornborough Cursus, as it was rediscovered by extending the line of the cursus towards the river swale.

“There is a large artificial mound at Pickhill called Pict’s Hill (or Money Hill), which now forms part of the railway embankment.

Mr Longstaffe gives the following particulars, for which, he says, he is indebted to his friend M. M. Milburm, Esq., land agent, Thirsk. Mother Shipton is said to have prophesied that Pickhill would never thrive till a certain family became extinct, and Picks or Money Hill was cut open. Some years ago an old man dreamed that there was an archway in the hill, beneath which was a black chest, with three locks, containing the money which gives the name to the mound. Well, the family did become extinct in 1850, and the Leeds and Thirsk railway Company cut the hill open in 1851 – though it naturally formed part of its embankment, and their line passes over it. Still the directors ordered it to be excavated – the old man, the dreamer, was still alive, and pointed out the spot where the archway lay. The hill was cut through in all directions, but nothing was found, save in the foss, where portions of tile and a small brick, both vitrified on one side, and fragments of urns, and a piece of thin iron, like the crest of a helmet, were discovered. The mound was squarish, 113 by 80 feet, and surrounded by a moat.” Wellans History and Topogrphy of York and North Yorkshire. 1859.