GNR East
Starting in the South, there was much speculation about a Stone Circle or Henge at Cadeby near the ford over the River Don - this would be a logical place for a monument. Conisburgh Castle is on the opposite side of the river. Unfortunately the area has been heavily compromised by industry, urbanisation and farming, and nothing has been found so far. Similar reasons may explain why nothing can be established further South as we enter the Lowland Zone. The geographic landscape changes at this point, allowing for a variety of possible routes.
Placed at a reasonable distance to the South West of Cadeby, there is a Henge at Whirlow Hall (SK 3123 8318). If we proceed further SW from Whirlow Hall, we enter an area of Ring Cairns in the southern end of the Pennines which makes it difficult to establish which direction any potential continuation might take.
Ferrybridge Henge SE 475 242
Going North from Cadeby, we come to Ferrybridge Class 2 Henge just South of the River Aire. We may have 2 for the price of one. The outer structure is of a similar size to the Thornborough henges, while the inner structure may tally better with some smaller Class 2 Henges. Image courtesy of the Tony Hunt on the website Yorkshire Archaeological Aerial Mapping
Continuing North we come to Newton Kyme Class 2 Henge just South of the River Wharfe. The Lidar image is typical for this type of Henge. The Romans built 2 successive forts at this important ford.
Newton Kyme Henge SE 459 460
Langthorpe Earthwork SE 385 675
Langthorpe Earthwork is just North of the River Ure. If ancient, it appears to be unique in its Octagonal plan. The angles look reasonably good, but the length of the sides increase towards the river. Given its uniqueness, we may be looking at something more modern.
Cana Barn Class 2 Henge is similarly difficult to interpret on Lidar. I can confirm that there are 2 entrances, one in the North and one in the South. Once you know they are there, they are more noticeable.
Cana Barn SE 361 719
Hutton Moor SE 353 735
Hutton Moor Class 2 Henge as can only be seen using Yorkshire Archaeological Aerial Mapping's special sensors courtesy of Tony Hunt. Amazing. This is probably what the other Class 2 Henges look like.
Nunwick Class 2 Henge. The only notable feature is the raised bank approaching from the SW.
Nunwick SE 323 748
Thornborough SE 285 794
The Thornbrough Henges are unique. They are surrounded by and linked by an enclosing corridor. They also give us a good time-lapse impression of how monuments disappear into the ground.
Sinderby Henge is trying very hard to disappear.
Catterick Henge (SE 230 985) next to the River Swale, on the other hand has been destroyed.
There is an ancient ford at Piercebridge on the River Tees dating to pre-Roman times, but I have not been able to identify a Henge there - it may have been built over. Here the southern part of the trail goes cold.
Sinderby SE 361 719
Pike House NZ 079 997
The northern part of the Bronze Age trail possibly picks up at Pike House. There is only a partial circle with only hints of the full circle elsewhere. It has clearly been modified in a different style on at least one occasion.
Shawdon Hill NU 082 140
Shawdon Hill lies close to the Roman Devil's Causeway. I suspect it is a Henge, despite the partial results. I think there is some subtle detail still present in the East.
Fox Covert NU 029 329
Fox Covert Class 1 Henge lies half way to Tweedmouth from Shawdon Hill on the Devil's Causeway. The entrance is in the WSW and the circles are flattened in the SSW.
Further North we come to the Milfield Complex which consists of many smallish Clamshell Henges mainly visible as cropmarks. Among them, Coupland Henge is an exception. Its last incarnation was as a Clamshell Henge, but it is bigger than the others and shows clear signs of being a Class 2 Henge pre-dating the Clamshell Henges. In addition, it is what might be called the usual distance (21km to 31km) from the previous Henge at Shawdon Hill. While the Devil's Causeway ended up at Tweedmouth, I suspect that the Droveway at Coupland is headed North for a ford on the River Tweed.
Coupland Henge and Droveway NT 941 331
Material from the western side of the Droveway ditch dates to approx. 3800BC making it much older than the Henges. The projection of the western side of the Droveway across the site in green neatly joins the unmodified North and South sides of the route as if the Henges did not exist. As does the corresponding eastern projection in orange.
A Class 2 Henge at Coupland (in red) followed which was centred on the Droveway and whose entrances were aligned with the Droveway. Note only the western Clamshell side of the southern entrance is not on the circular alignment of this original Henge. The 3 remaining bits are on the circle. The Class 2 Henge is probably a similar age and size to the Class 2 Henges to the South.
The Class 2 Henge was subsequently remodelled as a Clamshell Henge, leaving most of the Henge in its original Class 2 form. The other Henges in the Milfield complex are probably new build Clamshell Henges, but are tellingly built on a smaller scale and each half not particularly on a circular plan. Neither did they sit on the Droveway, but some were built next to it. I would imagine that Coupland Phase 2 Henge was remodelled to fit in with these surrounding Clamshell Henges. The Droveway was narrowed to fit in with the new Clamshell design.
Further circular Henges are found in ths area, which suggests that we may be seeing a cluster, as with Clamshell Henges. This does call into question whether we are looking at a road network or are we merely joining the dots. We don't have the practical reassurance of major Yorkshire fords here. Hepburn Wood Henge is difficult to interpret on Lidar, but looks similar to the Yorkshire Henges.
Hepburn Wood NU 067 235
Chillingham Henges
The NE Chillingham Henge looks like a Class 2 Henge with entrances to the SE and NW. The true circular nature of the SW Henge is more evident in the inserted green Lidar image. The Iron Age Multivallate Fort in the South is a distraction.
An Excursion into the Cheviots
Ingram Hill NU 011 158
Excavations at Ingram Hill suggested Iron Age, but Lidar now reveals that the site is a perfect circle, bar subsequent depredations in the North East quarter, i.e. a probable Henge. There is a lot of Iron Age in the Breamish Valley, but for context the nearby Turf Knowe cairns date back to at least the Bronze Age. Turf Knowe North is an undisturbed Bronze Age Cairn. Turfe Knowe South is a much-used Tri-Partite Cairn with material dating from the Neolithic until the Dark Ages.
Prendwick Chesters NT 985 149
Prendwick Chesters, above right, is a major farming complex with fields to the East and South. It is probably Iron Age like a lot of sites in the Cheviots. To the West and South, there are some modern straight walled enclosures which overlay older fields and complicate matters. The track running WSW from the main site connects with a second site just across Cobden Burn. A second track runs South to the associated field system. There is a reasonable shadow of an ellipse to the SW, which may be of greater antiquity. Are we in danger of missing a lot of older sites in the plethora of Iron Age Cheviot sites?
Cobden Sike NT 976 142
A closer examination of the 2 probably modern Sheepfold circles at Cobden Sike, led to the discovery of a more complex 35m circle, which gives the impression of being Concentric and thus potentially Bronze Age. An even closer examination of the eastern Sheepfold seems to show a faint impression of an Enclosure abutting its eastern side. This would not have been noticed ordinarily and may be difficult to see on the ground.
Brands Hill NT 981 234
Brands Hill has 4 circles in close proximity. One looks more egg-shaped and one fairly faint. Difficult to be sure what they are - not marked as Sheepfolds on the OS map.
Shank Burn NT 960 145
These 4 Unenclosed Circles at Shank Burn (around 15m in diameter) might have passed unnoticed if it wasn't for the remarkable organic field system next to them. Many Sheepfolds are marked on the OS map, including 2 close by nearer to Ray Cleugh. Modern round Sheepfolds do exist in this area. These circles classically for ancient hut circles, all have entrances facing East to catch the morning sun. I think these structures may well be Bronze Age. Check out my work on Unenclosed Platforms under Field / Kentmere / Platform. This raises the question, are we overlooking other Cheviot unenclosed hut circles? Many circles show up on Lidar.
Below, the principal site at High Knowes in the West has a remarkably well defined boundary, which is a good circle 55.5m in diameter on the outside of the bank. The circle is flattened in the SW and may have an entrance in the East. It contains 2 hut circles. The second enclosure on the right is plastered with hut circles, obscuring half the enclosure's boundary. Ignoring this, it is possible that the underlying structure is a good ellipse oriented NE / SW. We have to consider that the sites may predate the Iron Age.
High Knowes NT 971 124
Castle Hill, Alnham NT 980 109
Castle Hill is a typical Early Iron Age Multivallate Fort. However there is the shadow of an elliptical structure inside it. The ellipse may have been originally truncated in the SW or this may have been modified when the ditch for the Fort was constructed. The ellipse looks similarly truncated in the NE, but there is room for the ellipse to have been fully extended in the NE, so perhaps that was an Iron Age modification. The possible ellipse measures 87.8m by 60.9m in the ditch. There is a more recent settlement attached to the hill fort. It is said to be Romano British, but my first thought was Medieval. This might suggest a later date for the elliptical structure. Interesting either way.
Excursions into the Dales
Castle Dykes, Wensleydale SD 982 873
Castle Dykes is a Class 1 Henge whose entrance points East like Mayburgh. It is badly positioned on a ridge, which meant that the southern part of the henge had to be flattened due to a drop. The site could have been positioned further North. We learn more from mistakes. The site cannot have been laid out before starting. Perhaps it went like this. The centre of site was chosen and the entrance planned to the East. They then moved anti-clockwise around the circle. Only discovering their mistake when they reached the South. Later drainage ditches cut the bank in the South and North East, allowing water to escape downhill.
The Henge is located south of the River Ure which forms a natural East / West route through the Pennines. It is also located about the usual distance from both Catterick and Thornborough Henges.
The Romans were also active in Wensleydale…
Bainbridge Roman Fort SD 937 901
Bainbridge Roman Fort occupies a defensible position above the River Ure. It was occupied almost all the time that the Romans were in that part of Britain. It was important, but was not on a major Roman Road. The fort may have played a role in monitoring local Lead Mining. The fort was extended to the East in later Roman years.
The fort is linked to Roman civilisation to the East, as it is only about 11 miles from Wensley Roman Fort (SE 081 893) and Wensley Roman Fort is about 12 miles from the bright lights of the Roman township of Catterick (Cataractonium).
Looking 4 miles West of Bainbridge, there seemed to be a possible Roman Fortlet / Signal Station South of Hawes, but it may not be intervisible. The Fortlet has been largely destroyed by a new road. From an inauspicious start, things mushroomed.
Hawes Roman Fortlet SD 876 894
Hawes Fortlet is marked with an "F" in the upper part ot the image. There may also be a small Roman Fort marked with an "F" in the lower right hand side (SD 878 890). Looking at the line of the southern rampart to the East, I thought that the Fortlet might be bigger, but that proved to be the northern edge of an attached compound.
The same wall line also extended out to the West where it abutted a NNW wall line. Slowly it emerged that the Fortlet might be sitting in the middle of very large diamond-shaped compound whose known edges are delineated by "*"s. The line of the northern part of this compound is ill-defined. There are a lot of lumps and bumps on Lidar, but it is difficult to know what most of them are.
These findings need to be checked on the ground, possibly starting with the attached compound. The most likely reason for this remote occupation, is that the Romans were mining Lead.
Gaudy Roman Fort SD 858 887
There is a Roman road, Cam High Road, running from the A65 near Ingleton to Bainbridge Fort. It is long (about 30km as the crow flies) and high (1926 feet). Near the highest point on the route, there is an offshoot which runs directly down to Hawes, West Cam Road. As the road nears Hawes, it is renamed as Gaudy Lane. Gaudy? Latin? On Gaudy Lane there is a house called Gaudy House. Under Gaudy House there appears to be a small Roman Fort ("*"s at the corners). No doubt Roman soldiers were pleased to arrive at Gaudy after a long and difficult walk. I only spotted this because they forgot to change the Latin name.
North Gate Roman Fort SD 851 839
Just over a kilometre further on from West Cam Road junction, there seems to be a small Roman Fort straddling Cam High Road near North Gate. This fort is on flat ground near the high point of the road at around 1907 feet ASL. At this point, there is still over 10km to go to get to Bainbridge Roman Fort. The western side of enclosure is absent on Lidar, but the dimensions are similar to other forts in the area. The exact nature of all these Roman remains needs to be examined on the ground to check for alternative explanations.
West of Skipton
Black Hill, Airedale SE 009 475
Black Hill has a long history and at least 3 probable layers starting at the top with the robbed out Neolithic Long Cairn orientated NW / SE. A Bronze Age Cairn was built on top of the southern end of the Long Cairn. Next to it there is a substantial 30m Ring Cairn, which may or may not have had internal structures at the time it was built. A second Bronze Age Cairn was untidily built on top. Lastly we have an example of the ubiquitous small Pennine Ring Cairn. There is a second such at the bottom right of the image.
Low Bradley, SD 997 505
Just to the North at Low Bradley, there is a 80m Flattened Circle (flattened in the NE).
Horse Close Hill, SD 997 505
At nearby Horse Close Hill, there is a 60m Circle. The true boundary lies beyond the modern wall in the NW.
Posforth Gill, SE 078 560
On the Bolton Abbey Estate, at Posforth Gill, there are numerous layers to untangle. In the bottom right of the image marked C, there appears to be a Concentric Circle. At the top of the image, 2 typical Ring Cairns marked R. In the bottom left, an oval Iron Age Site marked I. After that things get more difficult. There are Field Systems on both sides of the Gill and within the Field Systems, there is the scatter of numerous dimples which are Scooped Platforms. So how do the Fields and Platforms relate to the other known features in the landscape (and each other)? Are all these layers independent?