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An eagle-eyed walker’s stroll in English countryside has turned up a piece of history going back at least 3000 years. Michael Lowsley was on one of his regular walks through the picturesque Crimple Valley when an object sticking from the soil suddenly stopped him in his tracks. “I thought straight away it looked interesting. But I had no idea how interesting until I picked it up and gave it closer examination,” said Mr Lowsley, countryside secretary of Harrogate Ramblers’ Association.
The find was eventually declared a Neolithic stone axe after being taken to officials at Harrogate Museums service who sought confirmation from an expert at Manchester University. The discovery has fuelled speculation of a Neolithic settlement in the valley and the possibility of a geological survey by experts.
Alistair Smith, assistant curator for Harrogate Museums and Arts, described the axe head as a very interesting find. It had been declared stone, not flint. The axe head is believed to be the first discovery of its kind in the valley, although development works in Harrogate have produced historical finds in the past.
Although it was found by a walker while on a public right of way the axe head was on privately owned land and belongs to the landowner. Mr Lowsley said following a “very positive” meeting the landowner had agreed to donate it to the museum with the intention of its being displayed in the near future.

Source: Harrogate News (9 January 2004)

Ramblers have held a mass trespass on one of Dartmoor’s most popular landmarks to protest over its closure. Vixen Tor at Merrivale (Cornwall, England) was shut to the public when a new landowner bought it earlier last year. Mary Alford closed the tor after the insurers said she could be liable if someone injured themselves in the area, which includes several ancient monuments.

Rambler Richard Doswell, who was one of about 20 ramblers at the tor, said: “We are not causing any damage, we are simply exerting our rights to walk on part of Dartmoor National Park.” Following the closure, a walker reported Mrs Alford to the Department for Rural Affairs (Defra), alleging that fertiliser had been spread on the moorland around the tor. Defra investigated and Mrs Alford has now been charged with carrying out land improvements without an environmental impact assessment. The assessments are required by law so that rare plants, wildlife and archaeology can be protected from potential damage caused by any working of land.

Source: BBC News (1 January 2004)

The Doctor Little Heritage Group is behind a bid to preserve the Panorama Stones, a group of rocks with ancient cup and ring markings, located in Ilkley (England). The group has got the green light to prepare a plan to move them from the overgrown and neglected St Margaret’s Park, Queen’s Road, to the Manor House Museum.

After a meeting with English Heritage, the group wanted to gauge local opinion. At a follow-up open meeting, no voices of dissent were raised against the plan to make replicas of the stones and move them. Parish councillor Brian Mann, the group’s treasurer, said that everyone involved with the project had been astounded to learn that the prehistoric carvings, which could be 5,000 years old, were viewed as one of the most significant European examples of rock art.

The cup and ring markings, made during the Neolithic or Bronze Age, are in serious danger of wearing away from natural erosion. In 1890, Dr Fletcher Little, medical officer at Ben Rhydding Hydro, bought the stones for £10 from the owner of the land at Panorama Rocks where they were situated, because the area was due for development. To preserve them for posterity, he arranged to have them moved to St Margaret’s Park, surrounded by iron railings. While being moved the largest stone, known as the Panorama Stone, broke and had to be repaired.

The plan is to make replicas of the stones to leave in St Margaret’s Park while the actual stones themselves will be transported to a protective enclosure at the Manor House Castle Yard. This would allow the carvings on the replica stones to be recreated in their original glory while preserving what little is left of the originals.
If a grant is awarded the money will go towards research and a feasibility study for the larger project of copying and moving the stones. Coun Mann is confident that the whole project can be completed with the help of the Countryside Agency after officials expressed support for the project in principle. But if the replica stones are not constructed the scheme to move the originals will not be followed through. A less ambitious plan will be substituted to leave the stones where they are with some sort of protective cover constructed to preserve them.

Source: The Ilkley Gazette (19 December 2003)

Revised proposals have been submitted to the Peak District National Park Authority for the reopening of the controversial quarries at Stanton Lees near Matlock (England). Stancliffe Stone Ltd is seeking to commence work at the quarries, which have been dormant for several decades.

The National Park Authority has previously stated that it does not want the quarries to be reopened due to their proximity to Stanton Lees and the scheduled ancient monuments on Stanton Moor. However, the Authority will now examine the company’s proposals and a consultation process will get underway.

John Bull, Chair of the Authority’s Planning Control Committee, said: “This is a very sensitive site and the proposal to reopen the quarries will be controversial. After several years of uncertainty we hope to move ahead and bring the matter to a conclusion by next April. However, people need to be aware that it is not within our power to refuse permission for the quarries to re-open – the site already has permission. The Authority’s role will be to approve a set of modified conditions for working the site in an appropriate way.”

Interested parties will have around two months to lodge their comments, which should be made in writing to the Planning Service, Peak District National Park Authority, Aldern House, Baslow Road, Bakewell DE45 1AE.

Source: The Megalithic Portal (21 December 2003)

The site of archaeological remains which are thought to date back thousands of years has been saved from development. An area occupied by a Scheduled Ancient Monument was at risk of being turned into a small housing estate on the edge of Highbridge and West Huntspill in Somerset.

Land owners Alexander Holderness and Joan Dowling applied to Sedgemoor District Council for planning permission to build about 30 homes on land between Alstone Road and Alstone Lane. But members of the authority’s development control committee decided to preserve the site.

About 80 residents wrote to the authority saying they were against the proposal.

West Huntspill Parish Council also registered an objection as did Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society.

Among the objectors was Alistair Murray. He said: “I live on the boundary of the site and have been doing archaeological digs in my back garden for years.

“The area has been found to have been in occupation from the late Neolithic, through the bronze and iron ages, medieval times up to the present day. It’s an important site, there’s no doubt about it.

“There are other problems, like difficulties with the road access and the land is prone to flooding.”

But Mr Holderness told the Mercury: “We plan to appeal against the decision. We have been working with English Heritage and the Environment Agency and paid for a geophysical survey.

“We have also had specifications drawn up for archaeological digs which we would have paid for had we been given outline planning permission. It would have cost us up to £20,000.

“We have touched nothing so far and done everything by the book. But people in the village are jumping to conclusions and formed an action committee.

“Eventually we will get permission to build houses on at least part of the land.”

Source: megalithic.co.uk > Weston & Somerset Mercury 15/12/2003

Experts believe important prehistoric remains could lie under a proposed international sheepdog centre near Bala, in North Wales. Gwynedd Archaeological Planning Service stepped in after realising there is a prehistoric and Roman site close by.

“Our concern is that there might be similar remains at this site at Ysgubor Isaf,” said archaeologist Emily La Trobe-Bateman. “There is a very important prehistoric and Roman site in a nearby field, as well as similar sites further away, which did come to light in 1997,” she explained.

The scientists plan to use trace changes in the soil which would indicate remains, although there are no plans for a dig. “There may be nothing there, but bearing in mind the closeness to a known prehistoric site then we feel that a survey is necessary,” she added “We are in effect playing safe and the development will depend on what is found below ground.”

Source: icNorthWales (11 December 2003)

The Isle of Man has been continually let down by the British Government in its pursuit of world heritage status for Tynwald Hill, a member of the Tynwald House of Keys (MHK) has claimed. Martyn Quayle made the statement in Tynwald as he called for action to be taken to gain international recognition for the St John’s site, the hill which has been a focus for activities for nearly 4,000 years.

Mr Quayle said the site was first put forward as a site deserving world heritage status in 1984 when other sites, including the Laxey Wheel, were also considered. But it was not included in a list of sites favoured by the UK Government.

The motion on initiate action in gaining recognition for the site was passed unanimously. How it will be achieved has not been determined although members agreed the importance of the site to the people of the Island and its preservation is of more significance than the recognition of third parties.

Source: Isle of Man Online (12 December 2003)

The farmer who closed Dartmoor’s (England) Vixen Tor to the public has been charged with carrying out land improvements without an environmental impact assessment. Mary Alford, who owns the site at Merrivale, near Tavistock, Devon, will appear before Plymouth Magistrates in the New Year.

Vixen Tor, nicknamed the Sphinx of Dartmoor, is a well known landmark and a popular destination for walkers and rock climbers. Although lying on private land, the previous owner had allowed public access to the weathered outcrop for more than 30 years. But earlier this year Mrs. Alford stopped access to the site. Following the closure a walker reported Mrs. Alford to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, alleging that fertiliser had been spread on the surrounding moorland. Mrs Alford was charged following a Defra investigation.

Defra regards uncultivated land as a very precious resource: “If anybody wants to agriculturally intensify land, to basically change its use, they need to complete an environmental impact assessment. That would highlight any of the adverse effects. If (the change) is deemed unsustainable for whatever reason … it is possible that it would not be allowed to go ahead. When someone cultivates the land without completing an assessment they could be prosecuted. We are talking about the heritage of the countryside.” Defra has powers to insist that illegally improved land must be returned to its original condition.

The Dartmoor National Park Authority has said that the case was between Mrs. Alford and Defra, and had nothing to do with the Authority. But: “The National Park Authority’s viewpoint is that we have been deeply disappointed by the withdrawal of public access to the Tor. We are looking forward to 2005 when public access will be resumed under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act.”

Sources: BBC News, Western Daily Press (7/9 December 2003)

A GROUP set up to protect and improve areas such as Ilkley Moor in the South Pennines has won a grant of nearly £1 million from the European Union.

The Standing Conference of Southern Pennine Authorities (SCOSPA) has picked up a grant of £850,000 after joining forces with partners from four other European countries.

But major improvements to Ilkley Moor will have to wait until the next round of grant awards, according to the town’s countryside boss.

SCOSPA is made up of nine local authorities in Yorkshire and Lancashire which have areas of South Pennine moorland within their boundary.

The group, which is chaired by Bradford environmental boss and Ilkley district and parish councillor Anne Hawkesworth, bid for the cash with 15 other groups from Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

One of the main projects will be to launch SCOSPA as a rural regeneration company next year so that it can attract a wider membership, which should make it easier to bid for extra funding.

If the expected new funding comes on-stream, a wide range of improvements on Ilkley Moor could result, according to Danny Jackson, Bradford Council’s countryside officer for Ilkley.

Mr Jackson said: “In the future, the fact that this company has been set up will allow it to get money for the Ilkley Moor management plan.”

That could mean more stone slabs being laid to prevent footpath erosion on the path across the moor to Bingley, the cutting back of bracken and surveys of wildlife to make sure that the moor was being managed efficiently. Bradford Council manages Ilkley Moor as a traditional grouse shooting area but without issuing licences.

There could also be more education work done to make sure locals and visitors appreciated the significance of archaeological sites on the moor such as the Twelve Apostles stone circle or the Swastika stone.

Countryside officers would like to see more interpretation boards in areas such as the Cow and Calf rocks car park.

Mr Jackson said: “We have a management plan to cover the next ten years but we can only do a certain amount with existing resources.”

The bid for European funding was made by the Netherlands for the whole of the group and the grant was formally accepted earlier this month.

As well as conservation work, the grant will also help a project to enhance economic activity in Southern Pennine areas by promoting markets for local produce.

Councillor Hawkesworth said: “I am thrilled that we have managed to secure this money to help protect some of the most wonderful open spaces in the country and I am also honoured to be representing SCOSPA.

“This is a very good example of what people with shared interests can achieve when they work closely together, pool their resources and share their experiences and expertise.”

SCOSPA was set up in 1974 as a Southern Pennine conservation body and as well as Bradford, its members include Calderdale, Kirklees, Rochdale, Oldham, Rossendale, Burnley, Pendle, Lancashire County Council, United Utilities, the Southern Pennine Association and Pennine Heritage.

Source: thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/ilkley/news/ILKL_NEWS4.html

Posted Thursday 20 November 2003

A new book by an archaeologist from north-east England is set to reveal the sexually-symbolic landscape of Britain. Cathy Tuck, who has worked on the Time Team TV programme, chronicles 5,000 years of sexually significant sites in her book “Landscapes and Desire”.

Describing standing stones as phallic, and burial chambers as womb-like, the project started when she found a sexually-explicit grotto in a park in Buckinghamshire, England, while working for English Heritage as a landscape archaeologist.

Written over two years – during which time she covered 30,000 miles around Britain – the book includes a gazetteer of sexually-symbolic sites, which readers are encouraged to investigate – “If people open their eyes and take a look around them, it’s amazing what they will see.”

Source: The Journal (3 November 2003)