Another view of the stone, taken on the 24th March 2008. There seems to be a depression surrounding the hole that the stone sat in.
The southern Wade's stone, showing the shallow 'socket' that the megalith sat in.
The local historian Arthur Hopwood told me about this stone.
It's his opinion that this is one of the many stones erected around the beckside by Edward Oates, who bought this land in 1834.
Mr. Oates put up the large stones around the pond just north of this, and also installed the 'clapper' bridges found there. It seems he had a thing about having 'ye olde looking stones' on his estate.
Edward Oates was a member of the Mill Hill Chapel, in Leeds City Centre, and apparently brought some of the stone from there, including the two rough stone 'pillars' that are to be found near the pond, a little further up the beck from here.
The state of the cross in November 2007. The cross has recently been vandalised and the horizontal 'arms' of the cross appear to have been stolen.
The banks and ditch become slightly easier to follow once they leave the moorland and enter the adjoining pastures.
Imbolc 2007. Following the well dressing nearby a few folks meet up for a picnic in the central henge. It's hard to show the scale of this place, or any earthworks, in photographs... This place is immense...
Visiting this carved stone near the Backstone Enclosure today, Dave Shepherd discovered that it closely aligns with the Haystack rock (visible on the horizon) to mark the Midsummer sunrise.
Another pic showing the current state of the vandalised stone (24/10/06).
Fantastic views over Morecambe Bay from this lovely little circle!
The current state of the vandalised stone – 24/10/06. The red paint appears to be fading.
The Burial Chamber at Great Urswick (with a person for scale!).
This certainly is one of the weirdest stones I've come across – contorted, waist high, parts of it look polished. Like a crooked finger pointing you to the mound at the top of the hill...
On the way up to the circle, I noticed this stone a short way from the track. It's hard to recall it's height now, but I'd guess it was perhaps four feet tall. Cattle rubbing post? Or something more interesting?
The banks of the earthworks. With person, cows and a walking pole for scale.
Stones that belong to one of the burial sites on Hameldon Pastures.
Following Chris Collyer's metaphor... Summer's breezes blow the barrow across a sea of barley... (I should be a poet, eh? :-D)
Approaching the barrow, I wondered if I'd found the right place. Surely there wouldn't be buildings on it...?
Very odd site! I wondered at first if I'd found the right place, as the barrow seems to have been built on/into...
Further research showed that there was a Royal Observer Corps monitoring post inserted into the barrow in 1959, which was de-commissioned in 1976.
(Many thanks to Chris Collyer for the info!).
There are two mounds here on the O.S. map.
Unfortunately both seem to be obliterated. The one east of the farm track is barely discernable; a very, very slight 'hump' in the field. The one to the west of the track appears to have had an underground reservoir complex built on it.
Coins. They seem to be colonising the stone. (June 2006).
Listed in Boughey and Vickerman's 'Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding', no. 204. The cut and dressed stone is prism-shaped, possibly a milestone.
On its upper surface are three distinct depressions, called 'cups' in the PRAWR book, and it is listed on the Leeds UDP website under 'Class 1 Scheduled Ancient Monuments'. The Leeds City Council website lists the stone as being 440m south east of the roundabout at Horsforth on the A65. The book sites it 320m from the roundabout at Horsforth, outside house number 142. I found it to be outside this house, on a very narrow pavement. It must be a pain in the ass for folks with pushchairs!
There is a O.S. stud and benchmark present, and Boughey & Vickerman suggest the marks may actually be to support a surveying instrument.
Close-up of the upper surface showing the possible cup marks, the O.S. stud and benchmark.
The curious (mile?)stone showing its position in the pavement.
The faded but fabulous carvings on the Barmishaw stone. May 2006.
This is a lovely little carved rock between the Badger stone and the Barmishaw stone. Hope the walking pole in the pic helps for judging scale.
The carved stone two-and-a-half years since it was vandalised. Thankfully, the red paint appears to be weathering off. The word 'RED' looked like a fairly recent addition, scratched onto the surface.
The present day cross. (Yes I know it's not ancient, I'm posting it so you can see what's there now :-) )
What is it? On a recent visit we noticed that the top had signs of excavation in the past. Looking for the silver, perhaps? The hill is on private land, and it's best to give the folks at Silver Hill Farm a courteous knock on the door before you wander through their garden!
Hey look, there's a 5000 year-old unique part of our history. Let's put a landfill site next to it.
This fantastic rock art seems precariously close to a well-worn footpath. Almost every day boots and mountain bikes must erode it's surface.
RockRich tries to see the very faint carvings. The one visible at the base of the rock was hidden under the turf and made a nice hemisphere of roots and peat as we peeled it away. We put it back after pic taking, of course.
A conspicuous upright stone on the moorland adjacent to the former site of the Bradup circle. If you take the public footpath that runs west from Bradup, leave the pasture and get onto the heather. The stone is on your right, down the slope to Bradup beck. It looked like it had two possible cup-marks. I couldn't seem to find it in the PRAWR book. (Apologies for not having a useful grid ref.).
Odd thing this. It appears to be a large rock that's been shot at! On closer inspection, there are also some more weathered markings that *may* be cups. It's about half-way between the former site of Bradup circle and the plantation at Rivock. Check it out and see what you think...
The large boulder on the eastern boundary of the conifer plantation. Looking south(ish), showing detail of the carvings with a walking pole for a sense of scale. Grid ref: SE 08142 44875.
The edge of the henge bank. I'm not sure what this (the row of pebbles) is, or how old it is. Is it contemporary with the henge, or later? In the field, it appears to be the edge of a 'platform' that joins the circular henge. It sort of goes off at an angle.
I was quite impressed by this, but then anything like this impresses me!
The ditch and remains of two raised banks either side of it were clearly evident. There also appeared to be an 'entrance' to the enclosure in the middle of the ring.
The track probabley cut the circle in two, if it was a circle, which seems likely to me. The field opposite must've been worked enough in the past to leave little trace of it discernable to my untrained eye.
Shame the light was too grim to take many pics!
Paul Bennett illustrates the forgotten use of the 'Hokey Cokey' to discover lost megaliths.
The Swastika Stone. The less-distinct image, top-right, is the original.