The Graeme C and I stopped off here on our way back from the RAM05 meeting. Our heads were full of beautiful rock art but the sun was still up and we had time to squeeze one more site in on our journey south. The Millstone Burn was ideal as it lay beside the A697 and was therefore on our way home.
We parked up beside the field gate and walked up the bank. Unfortunately I had left my ‘Beckensall Bible’ at home and only had a printed map from MAGIC to guide us.
Within a few minutes we had found a number of cup marked rocks and discovered the boulder that Stan describes as “the most complex and pleasing design of this entire group”. Stan is spot-on with his description, we found it very pleasing.
We searched the outcrops further uphill doing a bit of peel-reveal-replace here and there and discovered a number of rocks with cups and weathered-out motifs.
We then moved over onto the moor to the north of the field. Graeme vaulted the barbed wire fence with one fluid cat-like movement. Not wanting to look like a girl I followed suit only to end up entangled in the fence with a great rip in my duds and a slightly bruised ego. Could have been worse I suppose.
We only found one cup marked boulder on the moor but to be honest with you we weren’t looking too hard in the knee-high heather, I guess we’d seen enough for one day. It’s always good to leave something to come back for, I guess we’ll be coming back to Northumbria for a long time yet.
fitzcoraldo
The Fowberry Cairn is one of those places that just leaves you reeling. The rock art and the kerbed-cairn are just too heavy for a light visit
Stan Beckensall says it all
“This is one of the most important sites in Britain, not only for the variety of its motifs but also for the existence of a double-kerbed mound on the outcrop that contains many decorated cobbles and four kerbstones which have cupmarks”.
Prehistoric Rock Art in Northumbria 2001
This is a lovely little very accessible circle located beside the B6276 8 or 9 kilometers north of Brough.
I parked up beside the black shed opposite the entrance to Lune Head farm and then walked up the road to the circle. Be careful on the road it is a popular run for bikers especially in summer.
The circle is about 10 metres in diameter and comprises 8 small boulders with another two possible stones that are outside of ther ring.
The circle looks across the valleys of the Lune Head and Cleave becks with views to Seset reservior in the east along Lunedale.
This area is rich in mineral veins and has been heavily mined in the past. Just across the valley are the remains of the Lunehead lead and Barytes mine. If you check out the mole hills along the road side you can pick up large lumps of Barytes recognisable by it’s white colour and rhombic crystals.
Just behind the circle is a lovely example of a rake, a narrow deep channel cut into the rock to exract a mineral vein.
In the past I have overcome many obstacles that have been presented to me on my stone circle odyssey, rivers, farmers, keepers, bulls, barbed wire, bogs, dogs, nettles and even fighting sheep. But today’s challenge was a big one, possibly my biggest to date.
How to get safely across the trans-Pennine, four lane, full-on gladiatorial madness of the A66. I parked in a lay-by on the westbound carriageway of the road and got out of the car. Ray Mears could not help me here, there is no urban bushcraft solution to this one unless I could sit and whittle a set of traffic lights or a lollypop lady out of the discarded hubcaps and stripped wagon tyres. Standing there amongst the detritus of the road watching the wagons and cars hurtle by at frightening speed. ..Ah bollocks! I decided that all I could do was run for it.
I made it across the road and walked along the verge to the substantial earthworks of the Roman camp. The fence at the camp is low and quite easy to step over; armed with a copy of the SMR summary I located the most easterly entrance of the north wall and paced the 30 meters to the south.
Stone circle? What stone circle? I had risked becoming a road pizza for this?
If had walked past this site on a moor I would have barely given it a second glance.
I can’t sit and write a decent description of this site because there is very little to say about the physical remains of the site other than it’s pretty much unrecognizable as a stone circle.
There are two important things about this site.
1. It’s location
2. Continuity of use.
This site is 400 metres above sea level on one of the bleakest Pennine moors in England. So why put a monument here?
This is the point where you can see both the Cumbrian Fells and the North Yorkshire Moors, this is the point where east coast meets west. Surely a place of some power. We know that there was an network of trade and exchange between the peoples of the west and east coasts of our islands. I think that this may have been one of the main prehistoric routes. This monument may have inspired and offered hope to travelers crossing the bleak Pennine uplands.
The continuity of use links in with the location. The Romans knew it and placed a heavily fortified road along the route of what is now the A66. It was also a significant route for later travelers as can be seen by the Anglian, Rey Cross.
A hundred or so metres west of the circle is the boundary between Cumbria and Durham and this route was also once the border between Scotland and England. So east meets west, north meets south all within sight of the wrecked circle.
On the face of it the Rey Cross circle is definitely ‘one for the enthusiast’ in terms of it’s state of preservation. But on the other hand it is a site of extreme importance to anyone who is interested in the prehistoric and early northern peoples of our islands.
“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!”
The Ballard of East and West
Rudyard Kipling
I cannot find any record of this stone. The stone is situated on the NNW edge of the ridge just west of the stone circle.
I only read about this site a month or two ago and decided to wait until spring had sprung before visiting, the high northern Pennines can be a bit dodgy in wintertime.
This monuments was on the top of my ‘to see’ list as it fulfills most of the criteria that I am currently interested in. A stone circle with a cup mark in a remote locations with views over to Cumbria and Yorkshire. It is situated a couple of miles from the Stainmore Pass, the route from Cumbria to Yorkshire and possibly a prehistoric route that was utilised by the stone axe and flint trade.
I drove up to Mudbeck via Reeth, stopping off at the lovely Silver Street bakery for a Swaledale cheese sarnie and one of their lovely curd cakes for later. Fortified with grub I took the long climbing road along Arkengarthdale.
There is a footpath marked on the 1:25000 map, forget it, there is no path. My tip for finding this site is, from the road, find the sheepfold with the tin hut beside it at NY959074 and use that as your guide keeping it to your right at all times.
The moor here is extremely wet and composed of tussocky grass and sphagnum so water proofed boots are a good idea. You’ll notice that even the sheep stick to the roadsides
Walking over the tussocky grass is like walking on a ploughed field and quite heavy going but it’s not a long walk so worth putting up with and if you go in spring you have the pee-witting lapwings and the odd snipe for company.
As you walk over the moor it is easy to imagine that this landscape hasn’t changed for thousands of years, but you’d be wrong. If you check out the many small channels that have been cut through the peat you’ll see evidence that the area was wooded, numerous branches of what looks like birch protrude through the peat.
When you reach the large beck you’ll have to find somewhere to cross, be careful the rocks are very slippy.
Once over the beck you need to look out for a low ridge, on the eastern end of this ridge is a low mound with numerous patches of sedge upon it, this is the circle.
The views from the circle are superb, to the south east you can see along Arkengarthdale to the hills beyond and to the north west you can see the nothern Pennines that border the Upper Eden valley.
None of the stones of the circle are visible until your actually on them. There are four upright stones and at least five fallen stones. The stones are unusual as they are quite thin, about the thickness of a gravestone
A number of stones are missing but by walking the circumference of the circle you’ll notice a number of small buried stones protruding through the ground. I estimate the diameter of the circle as being about 20 metres.
If you look to the slightly higher ridge to the west of the circle you’ll notice a few low stones. It’s worth checking these out, I haven’t a clue what the feature is but there are a few stones on the top of the mound and it is possible to trace a circular pattern in the small loosely scattered stones on the flanks of the low mound.
The Mudbeck cup marked rock is one of these.
All in all this is a lovely circle set in the wonderfully desolate upper Pennine landscape.
The cup marked rocks are a bonus.
After your labours a pint in Britains highest pub awaits you a couple of miles up the road at Tan Hill.
This site is quite close to the back road from Downholme to Richmond. Beckensall & Laurie describe the site in their 1998 book Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale.
Apparently there are three carved rocks here centred on Thorn Hill. I spent a good hour scouring the area, I found bullet cases, smoke bombs and weird parachute looking things (this is army land) but only found the one boulder. The other two carved rocks are earthfasts so I presume the’ve been buried.
The rock pictured is a large boulder surrounded by sedges. Beckensall and Laurie describe it as the most remarkable of the three carvings and as ” a glacial sandstone boulder, which has a triangular or heart shaped groove pecked into it: unique in this region. The boulder is isolated and obverlooked by rising ground. The upper surface has been defaced in antiquity, possibly to remove a more prominent carving”.
Maiden Castle Revisited.
May 2005
It’s almost 3 years since I was last at Maiden Castle. The last time I visited the site I was totally confused by the whole thing. So today the sun was shining and I thought I would have a run up Swaledale and give the place another coat of looking at hoping that during the intervening 3 years I may have become a little more knowledgeable and could look at the monument with ‘new eyes’. I was wrong it’s still a crazy place and I still haven’t a clue what it’s all about.
The top of my field notes says ‘invisible’. Even though I knew where the site was, I scrambled up the unenclosed hillside almost missing it.
Huge amounts of time and effort were invested in creating this monument, thousands of man hours, think of Mayburgh then double it, I paced the inner rampart and it came to 400 paces exactly. Yet if you didn’t know it was there you would never seen it either from above or below, WHY?
The only possible sign to indicate to anyone that there was something here is the large, eroded mound at the eastern end of the stone avenue. The mound is visible from the high ground above Grinton and may have been a marker for the monument.
There is another mound to the west of the monument which has a modern cairn on top of it, but the mound itself may be natural.
I’ve not too much to add to my original observations of the site.
There appears to be 2 large squarely set blocks at the junction between the avenue and the monument, these could possibly be seen as gateposts. I also found evidence of dry stone wall beneath the rubble of both the avenue and the ramparts. One of the circular structures in the southern rampart has a definite hut circle groove about it with evidence of at least 3 courses of stone walling.
Maiden Castle is a strange site. I get the feeling that if it was located in a more accessible part of the country then it would have been interpreted, reinterpreted, excavated, argued over and classed as a very important monument. I don’t know whether the fact that it remains a little known, poorly understood monument is a good thing or a bad thing. What I would suggest is, if you’re in the area pay it a visit. I guarantee it will impress you and confuse you in equal parts.
Sadly there is nothing left of this site anymore.
I spent half a day searching the hedgerows looking for the mearest hint of a barrow and found nothing.
Pat O’Halloran recently discovered these stones on the flanks of Loose Howe.
I had a walk up there recently and carefully peeled back the heather to reveal further cup marks.
I was back on the moor today in search of Elgees enclosures in Bella Dale Slack themodernantiquarian.com/post/12986. The slack is completely waterlogged, thank god for G-Wax.
There is quite a defined bank & ditch on the westerly margins of the slack but as for his other enclosure walls, I’m not so sure.
I took a look at the pit alignment, one of the pits appears to have been excavated, I’m not sure whether this was done in the past or recently, I can’t recall it being there before.
Winter solstice 2004
I had planned to watch the winter sunset at Long Meg and didn’t want to stray too far away, so a visit to Glassonby was ideal for a pre-Meg visit.
I parked up at the bridge of the Glassonby Beck and then lingered a while to have my lunch and watch a zen heron on the banks of the beck working a lot harder than I was for his lunch.
It was a strange day, sunny and misty, more of an early summers day than midwinter, only the snow covered pennines reminded that winter had arrived. After a mooch up the hill to the field I wandered over to the circle. I reckon this must be the best time of the year to see the circle, the grass is low and the shadows are long, the circle looked beautiful.
I found the carved stone in no time at all but the carvings were a different matter. All I could see was the long linear feature that to be honest with you I would have written off for a plough scar. I then tried feeling for the peckings but found nothing at all. I was hoping to at least feel the chevrons but no joy. He’s some fella that Stan Beckensall.
So all in all, this is a crackin’ circle and well worth a visit. It’s position on the same river terrace as the Long/Little Meg complexes make it even more significant and the fact that there is a possible terminal of a cursus monument and ring ditch in the same field, blows it up into a premier league site. Cursus-ring ditch-cairn circle-rock art, all implies some major continuity of use signifying a site of great importance.
The views across to the Pennines are the icing on the cake.
I was up here again yesterday in search of the other stones of the triple dykes. The dead bracken and winter heather were ablaze with colour in the low winter sunshine. The whole moor seemed to glow with a chimney/brick red light.
I walked from the May Beck car park up onto the moor via John Cross and then followed the path to Biller Howe Dale Slack. I then followed the slack east for about 1km until I had had enough of stepping into knee deep bogs and decided to track north to intercept the dykes and then follow them back to the Robin Hoods Bay Road footpath.
I found 6 large stones along the length of the dykes 5 of which were still erect and one recumbent.
I left the moor as the sun was dropping behind the far-off tabular hills. I was cold, weary and had lost the sensation in my toes, a happy gadgie.
Johnny Cash came to mind “Like that lucky old sun, give me nothing to do but roll around heaven all day”.
Allan Tofts is an area of rough scrub, pasture and moorland on the west-facing, sandstone scarp edge of the Murk Esk Valley.
The area is best accessed via the A169 and then following the signs to Beck Hole. Once on the Beck Hole road you’ll pass the massive linear scars where the igneous Cleveland Dyke was quarried for road stone and cobbles.
The area is well worth a good mooch around. A few carved rocks have been recorded here in the past but this number has been increased significantly by the diligent surveying of the mighty Graeme C. and those tenacious hunters of rock art, Paul & Barbara Brown.
The rock art here appears to be associated with cairns, of which there are over 200 (at least 220 according to the SMR extract). This is a pattern which is repeated on Brow Moor which about 12km due west of this site.
As well as the rock art and the cairns there are numerous earthwork features including banks and irregular enclosures, which have been interpretted as prehistoric field systems.
The site can be quite confusing as you have bields and medieval workings overlaying prehistoric structures.
Another good reason to visit Allan Tofts are the wonderful views across the Murk Esk valley. It’s possible to sit on the scarp edge and lose yourself in the beautiful North Yorkshire mixture of bleak moorland and fertile dales.
Incidentally Graeme C. has discovered marked rocks on the opposite side of the valley on Murk Mire Moor.
If your looking for reasons to drag your family to this area you can always use the excuse that the tv program Heartbeat is filmed about 1km away in Goathland and the NYM steam railway also runs through this valley.
No need for hopping gates anymore, thanks to the wonderful right to roam and the nice little walkers gate.
The moor is a bizarre place with huge post-industrial piles of rocks, quarries and pits all over the place.
The Triple Cairn is an incredible site and considering the surrounding industrial landscape it’s a wonder that it has survived. The kerbing is suberb and the views across the dales are second to none. Stu even spotted a fox running across the moor.
Definitely a megalithic jewel and proof that even in prehistory people liked to do things ‘a little differently’ in the Peaks.
Unfortunately a modern cairn has recently been built into the middle of the centre cairn.
It’s difficult to know what to make of Hob Hursts House. It’s an impressive structure sure enough, the bank and ditch inform you that this is not your run-of-the-mill burial mound, but what lets the place down is the big impenetratable blanket of heather and bracken that obliterates all but the largest features of what I’m sure is an excellent site.
Surely given the importance of this site and the fact that it is already fenced-off. Replacing the heather with layer of lovely turf would be far better?
The trick to finding this elusive circle is......
to have a mate like Stubob to take you there.
It’s a lovely little embanked circle set in a beautiful moorland landscape.
Well worth the walk and the soggy boots.
Stu took me to see this stone after a mooch to the Bamford Moor South Circle.
As Holy mentions, the beautiful deeply weathered grooves on the top and bottom of the stone let you know that this lovely stone was once upright and had been that way for at least a couple of thousand years.
It’s possible by tracing the channels to see how deeply the stone was buried.
Stu informs me that the authorities in the Peaks are re-erecting guide stones that were toppled during the second world war to prevent the German invaders from navigating their way across the Peak District. I think given the recent history of this stone being toppled, a good case could be made for its re-erection / ressurection
Don’t let the fact that this is a replica of the original carved rock put you off. It’s a beautiful reproduction.
What makes me feel comfortable about this replica is that the original rock is buried directly beneath it.
I find it curious that the artist chose to ignore the rocks on the scarp edge within the enclosure and placed the carving in this particular place in the landscape.
This is a beautiful stone and as Stu observed, when you view it from each side, you see a completely different stone.
I’m sure this is why it was selected.
My impressions of the Gardoms Edge Enclosure reflect those of Davey.
Stu had told me about the enclosure and I expected to see the usual barely-visible humps and bumps in the fields. What I actually saw was a revelation. These walls were massive, truly megalithic, and wouldn’t have looked out of place on a medieval fortification
The huge stone-built enclosure walls have been severly robbed to provide stone for the modern dry stone walling but enough is left to give you some idea of the impression this enclosure would have made on any Neolithic visitors to Gardoms.
It makes you wonder why the modern stone masons bothered to take down the enclosure walls to build the dry stone wall. The original wall would have served the same purpose.
Yesterday Hob and I decided to have a run up to Barningham to see what we could see.
We parked up at Haythwaite Farm and followed the footpath onto the moor.
The rocks that we looked at are basically split into two groups, one on either side of Osmonds Gill (marked Osmiril Gill on the OS map).
We initially had trouble locating any cup marked stones as were unsure which contour we were walking on.
I would advise that you follow the footpath to the area marked Black Hill Gate and then backtrack east along the terrace. The first group of stones are just below the craggy outcrop and scattered around a bizarre ‘cairn’ – you’ll know what I mean when you see it.
Many of the rocks are covered in vegetation so it’s a case of peel to reveal.
After checking out the westerly group I would advise that you have a mooch up the hill and seek out the wonderful Eel Hill stone. From here you can cross Osmonds Gill and check out the How Tallon circle. After the circle you can walk through the gill and head east along the 420m contour, this is roughly on the same level as the boulder laden slope on the east side of the gill.
There are a number of cup marked rocks here along with a decent hut circle and some confusing linear features ?walls.
The burnt mount that Hob mentions is a bugger to see. We only really knew it was there because Hob found a burnt cobble.
This is a beautiful North Pennine landscape. The scarp edge of the moor has many features that imply that this was a pretty special place to our ancestors.
The rock art may look pretty but you really have to experience the place to get any idea of it’s power.
Djang by the bucketload!
It has taken me three visits to Barningham Moor to locate this gorgeous stone, I finally found it today with the help of Hob.
The stone is located just west of the highest point of Eel hill and is in the perfect postion to look out over Barningham Moor to County Durham in the north and the Cleveland Hills to the east.
A beautiful North Pennine stone.
The Face Stone is a bit of a mystery. When you read about it you will see it described in non-commital terms like ‘celtic look’ or ‘celtic type’.
The stone is mentioned in the first preamble of the Duncombe Estate (1642) and therefore predates the erection of the majority of the moorland waymarking stones in the early 1700’s.
The stone sits beside the Cleveland Way and whatever it’s origin, it’s a lovely, scary stone, well worth a visit.
This is a fairly non-descript round barrow with a trig point planted on top of it and is the highest point of the North York Moors. The trig pillar is 1489ft (454m) above sea level. The views alone are worth the walk. This part of the moors seems to have it’s own weather system. I witnessed the cloud level drop from a few thousand feet to ground level in a matter of a couple minutes.
Another nice feature to look out for is the lovely Hand Stone. There are a number of Hand Stones on the NYM but I think this is my favourite. The carved ‘waist’ gives it a sort of totem pole look.
You won’t find this lovely stone on the map or on the MAGIC website but it’s definitely there, sitting beside the Cleveland Way.
The easiest way to access this area is to follow the Cleveland Way from the B1257. There is a covenient car park at the top of Clay Bank
Do yourself a favour, if you ever come out with me, bring a map, bring a compass, bring a gps, bring directions.
I am THE BAD (bad meaning bad) Navigator!
I met up with the Mighty Stubob today to walk the Old Wife’s Way and check out the stones at the foot of Blakey Topping. Hey, it’s my country so I took the lead. I led him through fields, over fences, through bracken and guess what? all we had to do was, find the big hill & cross a field, simple eh?
I was ashamed.
That said.
This is a messed up, beautiful site. How it came to be interpreted as a circle beats me, but the stones are lovely and the setting is magnificent.
Groove on the ginger topping.
This lovely big stone lies beside the Traverse Moor Road and is difficult to miss.
This site is on a track running from Wheeldale Road to Wheeldale Beck. It is marked on the OS map as Cists.
I was only able to find one almost definite cist-like structure but there are a number of other possibles. The cist is beside the Roman road.
From the cist there are views across the Wheeldale Beck to Hunt House Crag, Simon Howe and the Two Howes.
I’ve been intrigued by this site for a while and have had no luck on trying to find details of these cists. My only reference is that they are marked on the OS 1:25000 map.
I intially presumed they are of Roman origin given their location bedside the Wheeldale Roman road. I’m now not so sure. The cists occur on the junction of an east-west track with the north south Roman road. For quite a while now I have been developing the idea that many Roman roads may overlie existing ancient routes.
The east west track seems to run from Danby High Moor to the coast taking in many monuments including Shunner Howe, Blue Man I’ The Moss (the largest monolith on the NYM), Hunt House (possible stone circle),Simon Howe, Lilla Howe, Brow Moor & the coast.
If your a lover of Hares, this is the spot to visit. I disturbed two of them today, I’m normally lucky to see one a week.
The barrow lies beside the bridleway across Newton Mulgrave Moor. What’s remarkable about it is that the top of the barrow is level and shows no sign of distubance, although the SMR states that it has been dug. There’s also the hint of a ditch, it’s a lovely spot and well worth a coat of looking at if your on your way to the Long Barrow.
The Old Wife’s Stones Road runs across the Rigg from Ainthorpe to Fryup Dale. The modern footpath follows the route but has been moved to avoid damaging some of the monuments on the rigg. The original sunken trackway can still be seen running alongside the ring cairn containing the large standing stone. The route of this trackway and another trackway,Church Way which runs from Danby Church to Fryup, is marked by tall standing stones that are thought to be no earlier in date than medieval.
This site is located within sight and slightly uphill of the Caperby circle. It’s is a strange one. Ring Cairn or Circle? I’m not sure which so I’ll steer on the side of caution and call it a ring cairn.
Dimensionally it is 18m N-S 16m E-W and is composed of lots of stones large and small in what once may have been a rubble bank. It’s very difficult to interpret the site from what remains. There appears to mave been a cairn in the south west quadrant as signified by a large stone and a number of smaller stones around it.
There could be an outlier 50m to the north east and a possible row running north east from this stone.
There is a low earthwork running from the south western edge of the cairn across the plain to the edge of Haw Bank.
All in all a very strange area, with plenty going on.
I walked up to this circle via Woodhall. You could try the direct approach from the carpark at Haw Bank but I wouldn’t recommend it.
The walk from Woodhall takes you up a metalled path and then round to the ford maked on the OS map. There is no easy way past here and the stream was a raging torrent when I was there.
After the ford it’s all plain sailing. Between Haw Bank and the Ox Close Scar is a long broad plain. There has been extensive lead mining operations here and the lead mines themselves are outrageous. A huge rock face honeycombed with small tunnels.
The circle itself is on a rise just beyond these workings.
According to Burl “At Caperby near Ayresgarth in West Yorkshire are the weathered stones of an embanked oval 28 X 23.8m, its pillars of local gritstone up to 1.2m long. They lie on an overgrown bank. There is a low disturbed mound at the centre.”
I’ve not too much to add to Burl’s description. The central mound appears to have been a cairn and is 6m in diameter.
Just before you arrive at the circle you may notice a low earthwork running north to south across the terrace. The earthwork is quite a subtle feature and appears to be composed of earth & stones.There is another earthwork of a similar nature and also running north to south and terminating at the nearby ring cairn. These earthworks seem to be some form of boundary and there are a few low-lying possible cairns within this area. Possibly a prehistoric cemetary boundary?.
This rock is down near the valley floor of Osmonds Gill. The best way to approach it is to carefully scamble down the Gill from the south, you’ll see it amongst a bunch of boulders to your left.
This rock is No.68 in Beckensall & Lauries “Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale & Wensleydale”.
My GPS says NZ056407969 but if you looking for this circle you shouldn’t need a gps and it lays beside a well-worn footpath and at the head of Osmonds Gill (marked Osmiril Gill on the OS maps).
When you arrive at the circle, park your arse down and look north, then you’ll understand why it’s there. First thing you’ll see is the mysterious deep dry valley of Osmonds Gill and beyond that stretching across the northern horizon, County Durham. The view is breathtaking.
The circle is approximately 12m in diameter and is composed of 7 sandstone blocks all of which look like they’ve been toppled. The two largest stones are in the north & south. There is a possible outlying stone to the west. The area has suffered from a degree of subsidence leaving the circle on uneven ground. One of the stones has another stone alongside of it covering a deep hole, if you tap this stone it gives a satisfying ring like some deep megalithic bass drum. Some of the stones are cupmarked although there are also ‘erosion cups’. One of the stones has a faintly carved cross upon it. Christianise this place – fat chance.
This cupmarked cairn lies close to the footpath to on the higher ground at the head of Osmonds Gill and just south of the stone circle. The cairn is appox 8m in diameter and has a cupmarked rock on the south side.
I parked up at beside the cattle grid at NZ069066 and took the path that follows the field wall through the water meadow. In his book “The Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensledale” Stan Beckensall and Tim Laurie write that, ’ It is a grouse preserve and an import consevation area for ground-nesting birds during spring & early summer, when disturbance is not advised”.
I would like to add to this that in August all this preservation comes to an end when gangs of armed men roam the moors and blast the birds to buggery.
As I crossed the Frankinshaw Well I could see lines of flag waving beaters moving across the moor in front of me. Driving the grouse to their fate.
I didn’t really want to catch the beaters up so I lingered a while around the eroded beck sides and was rewarded with a couple of worked flints.
On the rise,and beside the footpath, just up from the beck is the cairn. It’s a low grassy knoll about 9m in diameter with a number of stones poking through the turf. At least two of these stones are cupmarked. One stone on the east of the cairn has a number of cups another stone on the north side has a large single cup and a ‘dumbell’ of two cups linked by a wide channel.
After a respectful mooch around Mayburgh and King Arthur’s Round Table we headed for the site of The Little Table. To aid in our quest we were armed with the SMR summary and a copy of the Magic map.
We turned off the A6 and passed the Lowther gatehouse to be confronted by a thigh-high carpet of thick foliage on the side of the road where the ditch was supposed to be. Tip – wear don’t wear short trousers as I did, this is nettle country.
Apparently the henge was destroyed by a combination of the construction of the Lowther gatehouse and road and the meanderings of the River Lowther. The SMR states “The monument is located on a comparatively flat alluvial terrace between an escarpment to the west and the steep slope of the River Lowther to the east”. The Magic Map placed it just past the gatehouse on the lazy right-hand bend in the road.
We found the ditch sure enough but we weren’t sure whether it was a regular roadside ditch or part of the henge, so to be sure we clambered all around the wood, up the track to the higher ground, along the road, basically we looked everywhere to make sure that we had the right feature. We then returned to the ditch. Stu drew the short straw and clambered through the nettle beds whilst I took the easier route along the margins of the road. We soon sussed-out that the ditch was a short arc that began and finished at the road, we had found our ditch. I paced the length of the ditch and it came out at about 33 paces. For further confirmation, this portion of the road is the only part of the road that is fenced. The fence begins and ends where the ditch lays, we presumed this was part of the protection of what’s left of the monument.
So if you’re visiting the site, look for the fence on the right hand side of the road, a few yards past the gatehouse. There is a track halfway along the fence, this track bisects the ditch and reveals what’s left of the profile as can be seen in Stubob’s photo themodernantiquarian.com/post/29777. Don’t expect to see too much but be happy in the knowledge that at least something remains of the third henge.
This place will stay in my memory for a long time, it is the place where my trusty SLR, which over the past 22 years has travelled with me from the arctic to the tropics, finally gave up the ghost.
The cairn is a splendid ruin, even in the horizontal rain. Just before we reached the circle Stu said “I wish the sun would come out”. His wish was promptly granted, but then just as we arrived at the cairn, the heavens opened, goddamn Loki.
It took us an age to suss out the cup and ring. Stan must have taken hundreds of photos or been extremely lucky, to capture it for his Cumbrian rock art book.
There’s a curious narrow, linear rubble feature just a few metres to the south of the cairn that’s worth looking out for.
I dragged Stu up here to get his opinion of what might have been going on. I’d also found a couple of references to a stone row to the north east of the monument.
We searched all over the moor for the possible remains of a row but found nowt.
Our best guess is, that there is an outcrop of limestone pavement running north east on the low ground about 40 meters from Penhurrock. This pavement is quite narrow and given a lot of squinting and gurning and an inexperienced eye, could possibly mistaken for a row.
This lovely granite stone sits beside the B2588 heading west out of Penrith. It’s a good sized stone. There are other possible fallen or cleared stones on the other side of the field wall.
In his ‘Carnac to Callanish’ book Burl mentions “vestigial lines of standing stones” at Newton Reigny. The village is only about 1km to the north west making this stone a possible survivor of one of those rows.
I agree with Jane, don’t be put off by the fact that this circle is within spitting distance of the M6 or that the circle is on private land.
The farmer is a nice fella
Farmer with a big smile “Here for the circle?”
Us “Yep”
Farmer “Follow the path, through the gate, you can’t miss it”
Us “Cheers mate”
This is a beautiful concentric circle sitting on a slight rise in a valley bottom with becks running down both sides. The two huge portals in the north are perfectly balanced by the even larger stone at the southern end.
Stu and I sat watching the cars whizzing by, the drivers oblivious to what was beside them or casting a curious glance at the two freaks in the field, all but one – white van man who gave us a toot on his horn.
This circle has been described as ‘one for the enthusiast’.
We got there by parking up at the foot of the lane that leads to Scarside farm and then walked up the lane to the moor. Check out the lovely collection of stone troughs out side the farm.
At the top of the lane go through the gate and take the path to your left. This will lead you to a field wall with forestry on the other side. Follow this wall and it will lead you onto Knipe Scar common. The limestone pavements up here are beautiful and the circle is nestled within the pavements. As Stu says, the only way to spot the circle is to look for the wooden post.
The circle itself is a wild tumbled down affair composed of gnarly weather eaten limestone rocks with the odd granite stone thrown in for good measure. The use of limestone seems intentional as there are a few good-sized granite erratics laying around that could have been used.
It’s worth a walk to the scar edge to check out the view. To the south you can see the smoky plumes of the Corus plant at Shap to the south west is the river Lowther and beyond that the fells of Bampton Common including Four Stones Hill. To the west you can clearly see Moor Divock tucked in between Barton Fell and Heughscar Hill. To the north you can see way past Penrith into North Cumbria.
An alternate route to the circle would be to follow the footpath that leads from the A6 and passes the Shapbeck Plantation circle, which is just over a mile to the east.
All in all a strange, ruined circle. The use of limestone and a gnarly central stone give it a Derbyshire vibe with the odd granite stone to add some Cumbrian flavour. Well worth checking out
Stu and I came across this stone whilst hunting down the lost stones of the Shap Avenues.
Stu’s GPS puts it at NY 55821529
The cup mark is of a similar dimension to the carvings on the nearby Asper’s Field stone and the Goggleby Stone – 12 X 12 cm with possible peck marks visible.
From the looks of the staining on this stone it appears that the carving has previously been buried in the soil/vegetation and has therefore been overlooked.
It begs the question, how many other marked stones are there laying around in the fields surrounding Shap?
Following Moth’s instructions Stu and I gave this place a coat of lookin’ at. It’s a strange one, just when we figured we had the circle sussed, we’d find more stones that would throw the circumference out. I guess the whole place has been badly knocked about.
This was obviously a significant area back in it’s day. There are three other known circles well within a two mile radius of this one Knipe, Gunnerkeld and Wilson Scar plus the northern section of the Shap Avenues
My previous failure to find this stone was down to one thing – piss poor map reading.
Stu and I dropped into the council depot to ask for permission to search their yard for the stone. The lady in reception looked at me a bit strangely then went off with my map to talk to the boss. When she returned she told me I was in the wrong place, I thought she was just trying to get rid of me until the penny dropped...doh! She was right of course.
So guess where this lovely stone is? Lilliput Lane, the home of those little pottery houses that adorn many a twee shop.
To get there from the east, head west over the roundabout that sits over the M6, the turn off is the first on the left after the roundabout and is marked Lilliput Lane. Me and Stu were a bit worried that someone might see us driving into the place and mistake us for a pair of punters looking for a 3” high cotswold cottage to complete our collection. Park up in the visitors car park and walk round the side of the workshop and there it is a 6-7 foot tall beast of a stone with it’s own little garden, right beside the fire escape. I think the workers playing footy round the back must have thought we were someone official because they soon scarpered.
Well worth checking out.
This stone was a revalation to Stu and I. The Sewborrans and Skirsgill stones were big buggers but this one is huge.
The easiest way to access it is via the field beside Kitchenhill Bridge. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for it if your travelling on the west coast line out of or into Penrith.
Stu had a reference from Pastscape for a stone in a field about a mile north of this one. We had a good search around but found nothing.
I do not have the words to describe the deep overwhelming joy of this place – Step in Shiki
“Roses:
The flowers are easy to paint,
the leaves diffcult.
I was up here recently with the rockartuk fellas on their RAM04. I’ve been here before but could never find the ‘deer carvings’. Nay problems this time, Jan and Gus took us straight to them. Well, what actually happened was, Jan went to the farmhouse took ask permission to scramble on the crag and Gus went off in search of an owl’s nest. But we got there in the end.
It’s well worth the climb to see these lovely carvings, they are quite worn and there is some debate about their antiquity but bearing in mind that when this rock overhang was excavated it yeilded flints and burials, plus the fact that the top of the overhand is decorated with carvings and that the whole site looks down over the Routing Linn complex of carved rock, enclosure, cave and waterfall, I would say that the circumstantial evidence for these carvings being ancient is pretty strong.
After checking out the carvings we moved up onto the moor. There are some nice carvings up here including the ‘horseshoe carvings on the top of the overhang. We also came across a couple of carvings made by the fellas trying to extract millstones.
If you are visiting Routing Linn I would recommend that you take an extra hour or so to check out this area. There is lots to find and the views are crackin’. It will also give you an idea of the intervisibility theories between the various sites along the Millfield Plain and Till Valley.
We came up to Chatton with Pebbles acting as our guide.
It’s a lovely drive up to the moor. We parked up at the large, no longer black, shed and tried to ignore what we thought may have been a corpse in the car next to us – don’t get involved!
After mooching up the hill past some industrial sized clearence cairns we hit the panels...JEEZUS!!
To be honest, I had viewed Chatton as ‘somewhere on the way to Ketley’. Just shows how wrong you can be.
The rock is a ghostly whiteish grey shot through with iron staining. The carvings combined with the colour & texture of the rock give the panel a strange meglithic ‘shroud of turin’ vibe, wierd I know but that’s what I felt.
This was a special place, the circles the dominos, the bizarre Television set carving...too much.
We finally dragged ourselves away and set off towards Ketley but Chatton hadn’t quite finished with us yet. The next panel we came to was Stubobs pecked rock with its lovely pecked grooves and cups followed by the enclosure and Stans ‘occulus’ with it’s strange ziggy-zaggy groove.
Chatton is a beautiful place. The landscape has been knocked about a bit over the centuries but it still manages to retain it’s power.