Jun 19
Prehistoric Yorkshire is a landscape rich with history, revealed through various archaeological finds that offer a glimpse into the ancient past. The oldest evidence of human activity in this region dates back to around 125,000 years ago, but it is the later periods, particularly the Iron Age, that have yielded significant discoveries related to ploughing and farming.
There is an earwork, approximately 300m east of the entrance to swinton castle. It is a small elongated hill, with three terraces on either side of it. It sit along in the landscape as such a feature, and the terraces seem impractactacle and redundant for crops in what is otherwise a flat landscape. It looks like a garden feature, a work of art, but it is outside of the castle grounds, and I have seen similarly carved hills elsewhere, far from stately grounds.
The massive earthworks at Barwick and the continuation of the same profile alongside the River Cock to Aberford and beyond point to it being a place of importance as a large hillfort of some 15 acres. There were several hillforts in northern Britain when it was inhabited by a Celtic tribe called the Brigantes.
Jun 13
Yorkshire’s history during the Dark Ages is a tapestry of cultural shifts and invasions, beginning with the departure of the Romans in the early 5th century. This period saw the region become a melting pot of Celtic Britons, and later, the Angles and Vikings, each leaving a distinct imprint on the cultural landscape.
Jun 13
Possibly, the earliest documented battle on Brigantian soil, is described in Y Gododdin, which is a medieval Welsh poem, revered as one of the earliest surviving examples of Welsh/Brythonic poetry, and is attributed to the bard Aneirin.
Mayburgh Henge is a remarkable prehistoric monument located near Eamont Bridge in Cumbria, England. It consists of a massive circular bank of river cobbles, enclosing a flat area with a single standing stone near the centre.
Newton Kyme hosts the site for what was once a 200m henge of the Thornborough variety.
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Those of you who are fans of Bernard Cornwell will know Whitley castle from his latest book: those of you who know their Roman stuff will know it as Epiacum Fort: and those who really know their stuff will know it’s the most complex set of defenses in the Roman world
Hardknott Roman Fort, laying strewn like a discarded child’s toy on the high mountain side, impossibly canted to the east and perched precariously on a rugged cliff edge. Known to its builders as Mediobogdum, the fortress is square, as opposed to the usual rectangular shape. It is 115m to a side, and we have the traditional four gates. These are even today over head height.
