fitzcoraldo
Another Greame C site , this one explores the myths around Roseberry and it’s well
I came across a boundary stone at East Hare Crag NY959168. It was approx 2 Metres tall by 0.75 Metres wide
The face was marked with a date of 17** (obscured) and the left side was marked with a ‘G’ right side with a ‘C’.
Curious thing is that halfway down the front face are a number of cupmarks.
Also on the crag nearby are two abandoned millstones, I know they’re not really ancient but are a good example of recent megaliths. How the hell did they get these things from an isolated Pennine crag? and why abandon them? maybe the arse fell out of the millstone market?
I suppose they could have been used for crushing ore or limestone, there are limekilns about a mile away..who knows?
This is what Stan and Tim say about the beautiful ruins of West Loups.
“The West Loups farmhouse site has had occupation that extends from an early circular enclosure containing an early medieval longhouse and partly enclosing the still-visible remains of a farmhouse dating from the 16th century. In one sense the farm seems shut-in by the valley, with a northern outcrop of sandstone forming a distinct ridge, but the view east is of a wide , gently-sloping valley broken at the east end by the Ravock Ridge. The motifs mark the margins of this area, with three in a special context, two at springs and one in an old enclosure”.
Taken from;
Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale.
Stan Beckensall and Tim Laurie
County Durham Books
1998
I arrived at the Loups area via Goldborough. Stan Beckensall and Tim Laurie have documented 11 sites in this area, 8 of which are on MOD land are require permission from the range warden to visit.
Of the 3 sites that are accessable, I have dealt with one in the Goldborough posting, 1 is covered with vegetation so that leaves 1 out of 11 but don’t despair ‘cos it’s a doosie!
To get to this rock you need to follow the Pennine Way across Cotherstone Moor and the pass through the gate at Loups Hill. You’ll know your there by all the MOD signs.
The rock is about 40 Metres from the gate, as you walk down the path it’s on your right just before the boundary fence on your left.
The rock looks pretty unremarkable until....you peel and reveal 4 lovely cups and rings all in a row and pecked grooves.
Don’t forget to put the turf back over the rock, these boys have lasted a few millenia and should last a few more if we keep them covered.
Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale.
Stan Beckensall and Tim Laurie
County Durham Books
IDSBN 1-897585-45-4
Well worth a tenner of anyones money!
I parked-up at the Blackton reservoir and picked up the Pennine Way at East Friar house, this leads you to the moorland top road and a bridleway onto Goldsborough.
The sandstone crags of Goldsborough are beautiful but devoid of rock art, you need to be on the eastern rigg to find the treasure.
I was using Stan Beckensall and Tim Laurie’s book as a guide, they state that there are 4 rocks on the rigg that have carvings upon them. I only found one, but what a beauty it was.
The rock is zoned by pecking the natural faults, within each zone are cups. rings and grooves.
The stone measures about 1.2M across and 1.0M long. You need to peel back a bit of vegetation to see the whole thing and the more you look, the more you see, at least a dozen cups with rings and at least another dozen cups. A photo cannot do this rock justice you have to feel it and stare into it to see it’s beauty.
If you walk EES to the How Beck you’ll find a sandstone boulder with at least 30 cups carved upon it.
When I found it I was a little disapointed because the cups are very hard to see, this is one that you have to get to grips with, you have to feel the cups, they are there.
Brilliant site with lovely views across Baldersdale and on to the Tees valley.
Get yersel’ there!
I got to this site via Lartington Green Lane. There is a well made path that runs from the lane south across lartington Green. The path cuts through a small wood where you can see hares on the path and hear the lovely tinkling music of the Gill Beck.
After the wood you reach a cow field full of Jet Black Ninja cows and their offspring. These cows are not the big fat-uddered dairy type, they are, stare you out, give no ground, Yorkshire fighting cows. If you have a go at them they’ll stomp you into cattle cake. You can tell all this just by looking at them. Or at least, I could...oh no I’ve got the fear...!
back to the site.
At the end of the cow field you hit a entrance to a wood, this is where you’ll find the rock art. Don’t go through the entrance, stay in the field. About 40 metres to your right, just before the big dying tree, you’ll find an earthfast rock with about a dozen visible cup marks, gently peel back the turf to reveal at least another 30 with a couple of joined cups and long grooves. This is a lovely stone with nice fresh cups.
When you’ve finished, don’t forget to replace the turf properly and cover them up for the next pilgrim to discover.
Now go back to the entrance to the wood, on your left is another gate, go through this gate and you’ll find another earthfast rock that is split in two...peel to reveal... another set of lovely cups and grooves, not so many this time, but lovely all the same.
There is more art in the farmers field but with no right of way, the overlooking farmhouse and my current paranoia I decided to save them for another day.
All in all this is a lovely site with fantastic carvings, well worth a visit.
Situated on the Cotherstone to Bowes road.
The Butter Stone is an ugly little amorphous solitary stone situated on a bland sedge moor about 5 metres from a none descript moorland road. Opposite the stone is a yard with a couple of Nissin Huts and a few JCBs.
The thing that gives this stone some charm, and this will piss off the purists amongst you, is someone has glued a 1950’s Scottish shilling into a single cup mark on the top of the stone.
I normally disapprove of such behaviour but I will make an exception in the case of this sad little stone (with a lovely name).
Cool rock art site
There are many sites on Gales moor and the surrounding area.
They lie on military ranges and access is limited.
Watch out for the warning signs and the red flags.
Gayles moor is generally open to the public on Sunday afternoons and Mondays but this is not always the case.
Check with the range warden.
A prominent unexplored mound with a wall running over it, upon which are two large carved boulders.
The link with Arthur is probably early 14th century for that is the time the Cliffords became the owners of nearby Brougham Castle. They claimed descent from the Welsh kings and therefore Arthur. It is significant that after their arrival their castle of Mallerstang became known as Pendragon Castle”.
Archaeological sites of the Lake District
T. Clare
Moorland Publishing Co.
“The largest known hillfort in Cumbria, was formed by a stone wall enclosing the highest part of the ridge”.
“The site, now partially reconstructed, appears to have been a mound or cairn with a boulder Kerb sealing two earlier features with graves”.
An area of previous settlement was chosen and perhaps delineated by a ring bank, used for burial on at least three occasions. The funery area which included a hut like structure was then sealed by a mound”.
Archaeological Sites of the Lake District
T. Clare
Moorland Publishing Co.
Also known as Sunbrick Stone Circle
“The site consists of one possibly two stone rings, and seems more ritual than astronomical. Within Cumbria there are three certain and eight other possible sites with the same characteristics: a pavement below which are one or more pits associated with cremation and Early Bronze Age objects”.
Archaeological Sites of the Lake District
T. Clare
Moorland Publishing Co.
“The site was discovered by Prof J.K. St Joseph in 1949, and from his series of aerial photographs it was possible to trace the course of the cursus for approximately 2.1 kilometers. Evidence from soil stripping and exacavations has shown that the monument extends even further to the north-west, the north west terminal not as yet having been discovered. The south west terminal, which shows clearly on the aerial photographs, consists of a straight transverse ditch which joins the two main ditches at right angles. Clustering around it was a series of ring-ditch crop marks. The aerial photographs also show a series of bleach marks between the ditches at the southern end of the cursus, which may represent a series of contiguous mounds. This area of the cursus also features what appears to be smaller outer ditches, although they may be restricted to the southern end of the cursus as they were absent in the excavated area.
Another noteworthy feature brought out by aerial photography is the accuracy with which the ditches have been laid out, so they are remarkably straight considering the distance over which they extend”.
“from the evidence available at Rudston, it would appear that cursus monuments in Yorkshire developed during the late Neolithic, and flourished, as can be seen at Rudston in its magnificent complex of monuments, into the Early Bronze Age. It is within this local chronological framework that the cursus at Scorton must have developed, although not to as great an extent as the important centres of Rudston or Thornborough”.
Extracts from;
Excavation at the Cursus at Scoton North Yorkshire 1978
Peter Topping
Yorkshire Archaeological Journal
Volume 54
1982
Tyrebagger means “The land of acorns”
With reference to the “cup-marks”. The jury came back with a verdict of....natural weathering.
Graeme C’s crackin’ northern rock art site
Graeme C’s great northern rock art site. Nice photos and ting.
The tiny white blip in the background is the Fylingdales star wars death star thingy.
The oversized boundary stone. This could be a relic from the mining days of the moor. It is about 10X bigger than the usual NYM boundary stone. My back pack gives a bit of scale to this modern megalith
Nice modern labyrinth carved onto a large standing stone. Too nice to be called graffiti
Cairn circle showing close proximity to Carlton Chop Gate road and Cleveland Way
“Castlerigg in Cumbria was until quite recently without any recorded rock art. The author (Stan Beckensall) recorded one cup marked stone built into a modern wall nearby, and then two students from Newcastle University, Nick best and Neil Stevenson, photographed a spiral on one stone in late afternoon sunlight in 1995. later they found incised lozenge motifs on two other stones, and I found a cup and ring at the top of another.”
Stan Beckensall
British Prehistoric Rock Art
Tempus
1999
The son of King Osmund of Northumbria was prince Oswy.
The kings wise men told him that Oswy would drown before his third birthday.
After Oswy’s second birthday, Osmund instructed his queen to take Oswy to the highest part of the land, the summit of Odinsberg (Roseberry).
He told her to make use of the hermitage.
To cut a long story short, the boy drowned in the spring that flows from the top of the hill.
The boy was buried in Tevotdale, the queen was so distraught that she died soon after. King Osmund buried his queen beside his son. Tivotdale was given a new name. it was called Oswy-by-his-mother-lay and is known today as Osmotherley.
“On the top of the hill, there used to be a hermitage called Wilfreds Needle. This was hewn out of solid rock, but quarrying work and mining for iron ore have led to it’s disappearance”.
The OS calls this a Hut Circle, I’m going to stick my neck out and call it a stone circle possibly a cairn circle (oh no I’m introducing seeds of doubt!).
No! stone circle it is. Its a neat little circle 18m X 18m with six irregulary place stones, the largest being 1.5m tall. The largest stone has some lovely fossils on its surface. The stones are the local stone.
It has an embankment and no obvious entrance. It resembles many of the other dales circles. It is neat, small and intimate.
A fairly unremarkable low round barrow bisected by a dry stone wall and topped with a OS trig point.
I can’t describe the setting because visibilty was down to 15m. All I know is the moor is very boggy and the rain is very wet.
Amended 11/06/02
The above report is of the How Tallon mound only.
There is a stone circle at How Tallon It is just south of Osmonds Gill. When I visited it was so foggy that I nearly fell over the gill and abandoned the whole thing. There is also a major rock art site centred on this area.
I approached Maiden Castle from Harkerside Moor, the weather was filthy with fog and rain. I was also hassled by screeching peewits who are currently in the middle of their breeding season, the only other sound to be heard was an intermittant cuckoo.
The site is on the north facing slope of Swaledale and quite difficult to spot.
So what is it? I don’t know but it isn’t half impressive and must have took some building.
Firstly you’ve got an tumbled down dry stone avenue 4m wide and 110m long. The avenue runs from the east and appears to narrow to about 3m at the entrance to the enclosure. At the beginning of the avenue is a large mound, which may be a spoil heap but I don’t think it is especially being so close to the entrance. There is a structure built into the avenue but I think this may be a recent grouse butt.
The enclosure it self is a massive wonky pear shape 140m (E-W) X 120m (N-S). It is surrounded by a rubble wall and deep ditch 4m deep with steep sides and 10m wide. The floor is fairly flat with 1 possibly two stone structures built into the southern side of the entrance.
The site is overlooked by the hillside on the southern edge so could not be a defensive structure, the enemy could fire down into the enclosure.
The site does not dominate the hillside but fits neatly into it and cannot be seen from the road which is only 200m away.
The structure seems too elaborate and too large to be an animal enclosure, why bother building a huge ditch and wall when a gorse hedge would suffice. There are a lot of man hours in this structure.
To get a good idea of the site, check out the aerial photo on multimap at 1:10000.
It has the feel of Mayburgh Henge but hmmm.. the wall is inside the ditch....... I just don’t know
If you want to visit, the easiest way is to take the Grinton, Crackpot (really!) road and walk the 200m up the hillside, it’s well worth it.
The Sleeping Knights of Freeborough
One legend suggests there is a deep pit shaft running directly from the summit into the depths of the earth, and that this was used to bury hundreds of dead soldiers and horses after bygone battles.
Some say it contains the bodies of those who died during the black death: indeed a grave was found on the side of the hill during the last century. This was made of whinstone blocks, which had been carried three or four miles to this site, thus indicating a grave of some importance.
The is the legend of Edward Trotter who lived in a small holding in Dimmington.
When chasing a lost lamb he found a large hole the size of a badger sett. On crawling inside the hole he found a tunnel running deep into the hill. The tunnel grew larger as he passed through it. He then came across a huge chamber with a heavy oak door studded with iron with a large iron handle.
On entering the door, Edward encountered a man in chain mail with a long spear in one hand and a sword in the other.
The man awoke and stopped Edward from running away.
The man commanded Edward to be quiet. Edward notice that there were more men in similar dress all asleep and seated at a round table.
The guard informed Edward that “we are King Arthur and his Knights of the round table, we are sleeping until our services are again required.
He then swore Edward to secrecy and told him to leave.
“Some say his (Wade) grave is at Goldsborough where there is a standing stone called Wade’s Stone: others say it is at East Barnby where there is another Wade’s stone. The original two stones which were twelve feet apart have disappeared, and perhaps one of the remaining Wade’s stone was, at one time for his huge grave?
The two remaining Wade’s stones are a mile apart, but it would be a tremendous giant who was that tall... but if Wade really did build that causeway, if he did dig a handful of earth out of the Hole of Horcum and toss his hammer between Pickering and Mulgrave, then he could have been a mile high! Those two remaining stones might well be the extent of his grave”
Folk Tales From The North York Moors
Peter N. Walker
The roman road known as Wades Causeway was supposed to have been built by the local giant Wade. He built the road so that his wife, Bell, could cross the swampy moors to milk her giant cow.
Bell carried the cobbles and shingles used for the road in her giant apron. Occasionally Bell’s apron would slip, dropping piles of stones around the moors (the barrows and standing stones of the moors).
The devil is supposed to be responsible for the near by Hole of Horcum or the Devils Punchbowl as it’s known locally. Blakey Topping, Freeborough Hill and Roseberry Topping are supposed to be the result of the handfuls of earth thrown across the moors.
If you look at the sides of the hole you can still see his fingermarks.
Another folk tales attributes the Hole to the local giant Wade. He scooped the earth out of the ground to create Wades Causeway.
This is a strange one. 6 standing stones along a four mile stretch of moorland road.
If you approach from the south, the first stone is on the brow of a hill just after the ford over the Wheeldale Gill. The stones all vary in shape and character. Three of the stones have a single rectangular hole cut into them.
Unfortunately I could only spend a few minutes at each stone but I shall definitely return here soon and make a more thorough investigation of this strange site.
A little further south on the same road you can see an exposed section of roman road, known locally as Wades causeway.
Another type of Bronze Age burial was burial in an oak coffin, consisting of a hollowed out tree trunk. The most recent example was found in the barrow at Willie Howe, 2 miles from Sledmere (NGR SE 955 658). the coffin burial was in fact the third burial on the site. The primary grave was in a deep rock cut pit, just off centre, which had been robbed prior to 1863. This was surrounded by a ditch 70ft in diameter.
In phase 2 another grave was dug outside the ditch, containing an adolescent lying on a bier of chalk blocks and accompanied by a bronze awl and a long necked beaker. The oak coffin belonged to the final phase, and was set in a deep rock cut grave and was surounded by a ditch 110ft in diameter. Only a few charcoal fragments of the coffin itself survived, but it had been surrounded by compressed chalky rainwash which left its shape quite clear. It had been covered by a wooden lid, part of which had caved in. The coffin contained an adult male lying on the right side, with two rough flint blades as grave goods. a radiocarbon date of 1600 +/- 70 bc was obtained from one of his bones”.
From “Five Yorkshire Barrows”
Peter Armstrong
Current Archaeology
No.94
Vol. VIII No. 11
Published October 1984
Gogmagog, The Buried Gods.
By TC Lethbridge
First published in 1957
It doesn’t appear to have an ISBN, my copy was published in 1975 by Book Club Associates.
This is a fascinating book about this site and Lethbridge’s discoveries there. He looks at other hill figures and explores the mythologies and beliefs surrounding them.
