In a book published in 1833 with the longwinded title of 'The Worship of the Serpent Traced Throughout the World, and its Traditions referred to the Events in Paradise' John Bathurst Deane described the Shap Avenues as "The longest dracontium in Britain, and the only one that in extent could compete with Carnac". He then goes on to give the following description of the avenues.The temple of Shap begins at about half a mile south of the village"..."crossing the road near Shap in two rows. The greatest width of the avenue ...measures eighty-eight feet. At this extremity it is bounded by a curved line of six stones placed at irregular intervals: but they appear never to have been erected. Near Shap the two rows converge to a width of fifty-nine feet, and again separating, but not so much as to destroy the appearance of parallelism, proceed in a northerly direction, in which course they may be traced at intervals for a mile and a half…tradition states it once extended to Moor Dovey (? Divock), a distance of seven miles from Shap!…About a mile to the N.E. of Shap is a circle composed of large stones, in tolerable preservation. Source: The Worship of the Serpent Traced Throughout the World, and its Traditions referred to the Events in Paradise,John Bathurst Deane, 1833.
On-line copy available at Google Books.
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In Iter Lancastrense: A Poem written in 1636 by the Rev Richard James the following lines appear:Whilst theirs through all ye world were no lesse free
Of passadge then ye race of Wallisee,
Ore broken moores, deepe mosses, lake and fenne,
Now worcks of Giants deemd, not arte of men.
On theis their stages stood their forts and tombs;
They were not onely strrets but halydoms: In his 1845 notes to the manuscript, the Rev Thomas Corser wrote:Dr Holme informs me that at Shap in Westmoreland there are, or were, two rows of large upright stones placed at regular distances, running parallel with the turnpike road for nearly three quarters of a mile, called there Shap Race, and in a work he cannot at present recollect, Shap Giants. The remains of the Ancient Britons at Stonehenge are also called the Stnehenge Giants. It is possible that Shap Race might obtain its name from being supposed (locally) to have been a British Cursus. Source: Iter Lancastrense; A Poem, Written AD 1636 by the Rev Richard James B.D.
Edited with notes and an introductory memoir by the Rev Thomas Corser M.A.
Printed for the Chetam Society, 1845
Online version available at Google Books.
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"The embanked stone circle (Raistrick 1929b SC2) is sited within the field system on Oxclose. A second circular enclosure is located immediately east of SC2, in the next prehistoric field, but in this instance the field bank is tangential to the western perimeter of the enclosure."
From
Researching the Prehistory of Wensleydale, Swaledale and Teesdale
T.C. Laurie
In
The Archaeology of Yorkshire - An assessment at the beginning of the 21st century
YAS Occasional Paper No.3
2003
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"A lonely stone
Afloat in the stone heavings of emptiness
Keeps telling her tale. Foxes killed her.
You take the coins out of the hollow in the top of it.
Put your own in. Foxes killed her here.
Why just here? Why not five yards that way?
A squared column, planted by careful labour.
Sun cannot ease it, though the moors grow warm.
Foxes killed her, and her milk spilled.
Or they did not. And it did not. Maybe
Farmers brought their milk this far, and cottegers
From the top of Luddenden valley left cash
In the stones crown, probably in vinegar,
And the farmers left their change. Relic of The Plague.
Churn-milk jamb. And Joan did not come trudging
Through the long swoon of moorland
With her sodden feet, nipped face.
Neither snow nor foxes made her lie down
While they did whatever they wanted.
The negative of the skylines is blank.
Only a word wrenched. Then the pain came,
And her mouth opened.
And now all of us,
Even this stone, have to be memorials
Of her futile stumblings and screams
And awful death".
Churn-Milk Joan
Ted Hughes
From
Remains of Elmet
1979
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From the forum May 2005
the Old Wifes well is lovely and is one of those wells that has a very strong case for having prehistoric origins. The name alone qualifies it as all of the other sites on the NYM that have the Old Wifes name tagged on them have prehistoric associations. Couple this to the fact that the well sits on the edge of a large Mesolithic occupation site which also showed evidence of continued occupation throughout the Neolithic and early Bronze Age where this would have been the only nearby source of water. Add to that the fact that the well is situated beside the route of Wades Causeway the 'Roman road' (aka The Old Wifes Way) which has recently be a source of some speculation as to whether parts of the causeway pre date the roman road, one eminent archaeo has gone so far as to suggest that the section of the causeway that runs across Wheeldale may in fact be a Neolithic linear monument.
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This site was excavated by George Eogan
"The structure consisted of an alignment 235 yards long and having originally at least ninety-one uprights and a circle 16 feet in diameter that originally had eight orthostats."
The circle and the alignment failed to produce any finds. Eogan suggested an early Bronze Age date for the site.
from
The Excavation of a Stone Alignment and Circle at Cholwichtown, Lee Moor, Devonshire, England.
George Eogan
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
1964
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The Great Clare find of 1854 - Mooghaun
"The find, the largest known in western Europe of associated gold ornaments of the Bronze Age, was made in 1854 during the construction of the Limerick to Ennis railway. Apparently objects were in a structure, such as a small chamber or cist, but it is not possible to ascertain the total content as a number were dispersed after discovery and most of these we melted down"
The Later Bronze Age in Ireland in the light of new research
G. Eogan
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
1964
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This cairn was originally investigated by Erskine Beveridge in the early 20th century.
The cairn was re-excavated in 1996-7 due to the threat of tidal scouring.
"The excavation revealed evidence of disturbed Neolithic and Beaker funery deposits within the two compartments of the chamber".
The excavators confirmed that "the architecture of the burial chamber of the cairn is of the distinctive 'Clyde' type defined by Henshall".
Information from
Excavations at Geirisclett chambered cairn, North Uist, Western Isles
Dunwell et al
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Volume 133 (2003)
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"This fine stone from Dean was outside the church when I first saw it, it has since been moved into the church porch. It is a substantial sandstone boulder with freshly picked motifs on one surface. Central is a cup and two complete concentric rings, and a third that remains gapped."
Prehistoric Rock Art in Cumbria
Stan Beckensall
Tempus 2002
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"The village of Adel is termed Adhill in the Liber Regis, which probably gives the true etymology, The Hill of Ada, the first Saxon colonist of the place.
On the slope of the hill, a little north of the village, are the remains of a Roman camp, where a number of ancient monuments, three altars (one inscribed "To the Goddess Brigantia"), several urns, statues, coins &c have been found."
The Annals of Yorkshire
John Mayhall
1874
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In his book Early Man in North East Yorkshire Frank Elgee reported a triangle of fallen stones.
"The stones form a right-angled triangle, one side of which is about 30 yards long, the other two about 24 yards. The stones are from 5-7 feet long with broad bases."
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Bridestones
Scorched-looking, unhewn - a hill-top chapel.
Actually a crown of outcrop rock -
Earth's heart bone laid bare.
Crowding, congregation of skies.
Tense congregation of hills.
You do nothing casual here.
The wedding stones
Are electrified with wispers.
And marriage is nailed down
By this slender necked, heavy headed
Black exclamaition mark
of rock.
And you go
With the wreath of weather
The wreath of horizons
The wreath of constellations
Over your shoulders.
And from now on
The sun
Can always touch you
With the shadow of this finger.
From now on
The moon can always lift your skull
On to this perch, to clean it.
Ted Hughes
Remains of Elmet
1979
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Although Tombo has posted part of this quote from Hutchinson I think it is worth posting the whole quote as it also mentions a second monument.
"A mile to the north of the village of Eggleston, above a little brook, stands an ancient monument, called Standing Stones, represented in the cut. It has consisted of an uniform circle of rough stones, with an inward trench, and in the centre a cairn;much of the materials have been taken away to repair the roads. At a small distance, and close by the brook, is a large tumulus, crossed from the east to the west by a row of stones. The adjacent ground, forming an inclining plain, was probably the field of battle, and the monuments mark the place of interment of some distinguished chieftains. There is no circumstance in history, which we can, with any certainty, fix here. The monuments are of distant antiquity."
The History & Antiquities of the County Palantine of Durham
Volume 3
Hutchinson
1785
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"At Rudston, a village upon the Wolds, about five miles west of Bridlington, stands a obelisk worthy the attention of the antiquary. It is a single natural stone, of the same quality and shape, but of superior magnitude to the celebrated pillars near Boroughbridge. The entire height is not known but the elevation above ground is twenty nine feet, and it has been traced to a depth of twelve below without reaching foundation.
It stands in the church yard, on the north side of the church, and has some fissures on the top, which Mr Boswell of Thorpe Hall ordered to be covered with lead to prevent further injuries from the weather. The cause of its erection can not be ascertained, though it is generally agreed to have given its name to the town."
The History & Antiquities of Scarborough
Thomas Hinderwell
1811
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"Whitaker says, could Brimham be transported to Salisbury Plain, Stonehenge itself would be reduced to a poor and pygmy minature".
Yorkshire
Miscellaneous Remarks
The Gentleman's Magazine Library Compendium 1731 - 1868
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Swart, adj. Black Looking.
Swarth, Swa'th, n. The outer skin, rind ; The quality and quantity of grass upon the land.
Source
Yorkshire Wit, Character, Folklore & Customs.
R. Blakeborough
1911
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"East and west of the OS pillar are the two standing stones that Anderson believed to be the survivors of a row between the two barrows. Both are blocks of Jurassic sandstone, 1m high, their upper edges weathered and fissured by deep irregular pits. These must also be the pair of 'Druid Stones' marked by Robert Knox west of Swarth Howe (Knox 1821; 1855)."
A 19th century antiquary:the excavations and collection of Samuel Anderson
by Terry Manby
in
Moorland Monuments
CBA Research Report 101
1995
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