David Raven

David Raven

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Witch’s Stone

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.

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Image of Backstone Beck Enclosure (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) by David Raven

Backstone Beck Enclosure

Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork

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.

Image credit: David Raven
Image of Middle Barrow (Standing Stone / Menhir) by David Raven

Middle Barrow

Standing Stone / Menhir

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...

Image credit: David Raven
Image of Sunkenkirk (Stone Circle) by David Raven

Sunkenkirk

Stone Circle

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?

Image credit: David Raven

Burgh Top 3

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!).

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Miscellaneous

Horsforth Milestone
Cup Marked Stone

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.

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Image of Silver Hill (Round Barrow(s)) by David Raven

Silver Hill

Round Barrow(s)

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!

Image credit: David Raven
Image of Rivock Edge by David Raven

Rivock Edge

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.

Image credit: David Raven
Image of Bradup (Stone Circle) by David Raven

Bradup

Stone Circle

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.).

Image credit: David Raven
Image of Rivock Edge by David Raven

Rivock Edge

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...

Image credit: David Raven
Image of Rivock Edge by David Raven

Rivock Edge

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.

Image credit: David Raven
Image of Thornborough Henge South by David Raven

Thornborough Henge South

Henge

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.

Image credit: David Raven

Castlestead Ring

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!

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