hotaire

This is an interesting name. It seems specifically Danish, from a personal name, ‘Sile’. In N. Yorks., we find it as Sil Howe, near the High Bridestones.

The N. Yorks. name is problematical, in that Yorkshire experienced several distinct ‘Viking’ incursions. However, it seems most likely that a Cumbrian ‘Sile’ would have come with the Norse/Danish group that was expelled from Ireland in 902 a.d.

Vikings often intruded their burials into prehistoric mounds. Within fifteen miles of my flat, we have, for example, Shunner Howe (Old Norse ‘Sjonar’) Simon Howe (Old Norse ‘Sigemund’) Sil Howe (Old Danish ‘Sile’) etc. Norse artifacts were found in Lilla Howe when it was excavated in the 1970s, too, even though that name is Old English, rather than Scandinavian. All of these are prehistoric in origin.

It would be interesting to know if this Cumbrian site has been excavated, and if Scandinavian artifacts were found. From the name, it does seem entirely possible.

There are two of these, one on each side of the road. Whilst the tradition of young couples holding hands through the hole as they take their vows at Doagh (Co. Antrim) is interesting, it can hardly apply here – these giants are nine feet high! I have no idea what they are, or from which period they come.

There is a smaller version (about 2½ feet high) further south on this road, at the turn-off to Three Howes.

Un-named stone on Murk Mire Moor. Similar in type and proportions to Blue Man i’ the Moss and Margery Bradley

Settlement excavated by Scarborough Archaeological & Historical Soc. 1957-1978.

At least eight rectilinear enclosures were found, most lined along an earlier dyke. Not all enclosures were excavated internally, but some contained huts. The most likely dating for these enclosures seems to be 1st. century a.d.

One of the enclosures (enclosure D) seemed to be specifically for the purpose of iron working, and contained evidence of three furnaces.

The high iron content of the ores analysed, and especially its magnetic properties, suggest that ore was brought from the west side of Rosedale (8 miles to the west) rather than extracted on Levisham Moor itself. Rosedale is the only known source of magnetic ore in N.E. Yorkshire, and this occasioned a massive mining operation in c19th. a.d.

The Levisham Moor ‘furnace house’ is the oldest evidence of iron working known in N.E. Yorks. – by about a thousand years!

Scamridge long barrow measured 165 feet long, 54 feet wide and 9 feet high at its eastern end, and 46 feet wide and 7 feet high at its western end. It’s not in bad nick, though the eastern end has collapsed through excavation, and trees now grow on the disturbed earth there.

Canon Greenwell, excavated the barrow in 1864, and found the bones of fourteen or fifteen individuals jumbled in an area 40 x 3½ feet at the eastern end of the barrow. One or more of the skulls was cleft at the time of death. More remarkably, the bones were burnt. Indeed, they constitute the earliest known evidence of cremation in north-east Yorkshire.

Excavated by Greenwell pre-1877. Remains of 5 individuals found. No sign of cremation. Two flint flakes, but no other grave goods

Are you sure the offending structure is a grouse butt? Or is it a wind-break constructed by Lyke Wake walkers? I noticed that they’d desecrated Lilla Howe in the same way and for the same reasons about ten years ago.

Update 16th. August, 2006 : English Heritage field investigator points out there are no grouse butts in this vicinity, and agrees that the offending structure is a windbreak built by walkers. Decision on what – if anything – can be done is pending.