Boltby is a very important ancient site IMO. A gold “hair braid”, was found there, linking it to the Amesbury Archer, buried with two similar hair braids. This also provides a link to the founding of Stonehenge, which helps set a potential scene for a possible “zeitgeist”, of the day.
Category: Britain
Nov 23
The Story of Boltby Scar
- Filed under Brigantes, Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Bronze Age, Celtic Tribes, Defensive Dike, Defensive Walls, Dike, Europe, Fort, Hair Braid - Ring, Hill Fort, Iron Age, Landscape Archaeology, Linear Earthworks, Mining Landscape, Promontory fort, Stories of Brigantia
Swaledale
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Cairn, Europe, Flint Scatters, Geology, Geomorphology, Hill Fort, Iron-Age, Megalithic, New Sites, Promontory fort, Ring Cairn, Rock Art, Univallet Hillfort
Swaledale occupies the long, sinuous valley carved by the River Swale on its 45-kilometre descent from Nine Standards Rigg (662 m) on the Pennine watershed to Richmond in lower Teesdale. The dale narrows between rough gritstone scarps near Keld, broadens to a patchwork of hay-meadows around Muker and Gunnerside, then opens into a tree-fringed flood-plain west of Reeth before the river cuts through the Carboniferous escarpment to meet the Vale of Mowbray.
- Arkengarthdale, Bainbridge, Barns, Benedictine, Blakethwaite Smelt Mine, Brigante, Brigantes, Brigantia, Bunton, Buttertubs, cairn, Cateractonium, Catterick, Cistercian, Corpse-way, Crackpot, Craclpot, Cup-mark, Deer Park Wood, Downholme, Dyke, Dykes, East Gill Force, Ellerton Abbey, Enclosure Acts, field-barns, Fort, Fountains Abbey, Franciscan, Fremington Edge, Fremmington, Friary, Gangs Flats, Gill, Great Pinseat, Great Scar, Great Scar Limestone, Great Shunner, Greyfriars, Grinton, Grinton Moor, Gunnerside, Gunnerside Gill, Harkerside Moor, Hay-meadow, hay-meadows, Healaugh, Herkersdie Moor, Hill Fort, Hind Rake, How Hill, Humber-Flanders export route, Hunter Gatherer, Hush, Hushes, Iron Age, Ivelet Bridge, Keld, Keldside, Kisdon Force, Kisdon Hill, Lead Mining, Lead-veins, Lower Teasdale, Lower Teesdale, Maiden Castle, market, Marrick Priory, Marske, Marske Deer Park, Marske Hall, Meadow, Mine, Mining, monk, Monks, Muker, Norse, North Yorkshire, nun, Nuns, Old Gang, Packhorse Bridge, Parliamentary Walls, Penine Watershed, Pennine watershed, Reeth, Richmond, Rievaulx Abbey, Ring Cairn, River Swale, Rock, rock-art, Roman, Sheep, Shunner Fell, Skeb Skeugh, Smelt, smelting, St Martin's Priory, Stainmore, Standards Rigg, stone, Swale, Swaledale, Tan Hill, Tan Hill Pub, terraces, Thwaite, Trajanic Lead Pig, vale of Mowbray, Walburn, White Rigg, Wool, Yorkshire Dales
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Aug 04
Guide: Parliamentary-walls and the Northern Enclosures
- Filed under Britain, Enclosure Acts, Europe, Landscape Archaeology, Landscape Legislation
Between the mid-18th and late-19th centuries the British Parliament passed almost 5,000 local “Inclosure Acts.” Each Act authorised a team of appointed commissioners to survey one specific township or parish, divide its open-field strips, common pastures, and “wastes” into new, privately owned parcels, and lay out straight roads and boundary walls or hedges. The commissioners issued a legal award map and schedule that became the new title deeds.
County Durham
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Europe
County Durham’s landscape is often described as a “three-belt county.” To the west rise the high, windswept Pennines; in the middle lies a sheltered coal-bearing vale that funnels every main road and railway; and to the east stands the pale Magnesian-Limestone escarpment ending in low cliffs above the North Sea.
Aug 02
The hero archetype and Lugh
- Filed under Breogans, Britain, Bronze Age, Castro Hillfort, Celtic Gods, Celtic Life, Celtic Tribes, Dark Ages, Dragons, Early Christian, Early Medieval, France, Giants, Ireland, Iron Age, Lugh, Medieval, Mercury, Mesolithic, Myth and Legend, Neolithic, Palaeolithic, Portugal, Roman, Roman Culture, Roman Gods, Spain, The Devil, Viking, Wales
At its core the “hero” is the figure who steps out of ordinary society, confronts chaos or a monster, and returns (or dies) having secured order for the group. In Jungian and comparative-myth terms it sits in the “warrior-champion” slot of the collective story-board; evolutionists would say it crystallises the survival value of decisive coalition leadership in small bands.
- !Kung, Ache, Achiles, Arjuna, Arthur, Balor's Eye, Bee, Bees, Bhagavad Gita, britain, Buffalo, Castro, Catalhoyuk, Cattle, Cúchulainn, Deity, Divinity, Egypt, Embodiment, France, Galicia, gaul, Geryon, Gilgamesh, Giraffe, Gobeki Tepe, god, Greogans, Haasi, Hadza, Hector, Heel, Heracles, Hercules, Hero, Hero Archetype, Hoan, Hunter Gatherer, Hydra, Integration, Inuit, ireland, Iron Age, Ivory, Kalahari Desert, Kudu, la tene, Lagash, Legend, Lion-Man, Lugh, mammoth, Mercury, MeriamTurtle, Mesopotamia, Monotheistic, myth, Narmer, Naro, Nuliajuk, pagan, Paraguay, Pharoh, Poigs, Proto-Hero, Raven, religion, Roman, Salish, Salmon, San Culture, Seal, Sedna, Serpent, Snake, Sockeye, Sorcerer, Spain, spear, St Michael, Sumer, Synchronicity, T-Pillars, Ulster, Zebra
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Cana Barn Henge
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Class IIa, Europe, Henge, Liminal Spaces, Neolithic, New Sites
The stats for this Neolithic monument are astounding: 200m across, once a great circle of earthen banks and deep ditches. Today, almost lost: 5,000 years of plough and neglect have flattened the banks and filled the ditches, and Cana Henge is now nothing but a smoothly undulating grassy field on the moor overlooking Ripon.
Millbarrow long barrow (Winterbourne Monkton)
- Filed under Animal Remains, Antler Pick, Barrow, Britain, Early Neolithic, Europe, Flint Scatters, Grooved ware, Human Remains, Landscape feature, Long Barrow, Mortlake ware, Neolithic, Peterborough ware
Millbarrow once stood on a low chalk spur 2 km north‑west of Avebury, just above the spring‑line where the Kennet valley opens onto the Marlborough Downs (NGR SU 0943 7221). From its east–west‑aligned crest the ground falls gently south to Windmill Hill and east into the Kennet valley, giving the mound clear sight of the Avebury monument complex, and easy access to water and pasture.
Horslip (Windmill Hill) Long Barrow, Avebury
- Filed under Barrow, Britain, Early Neolithic, Europe, Flint Scatters, Long Barrow, Neolithic
Sitting on the south‑east shoulder of Windmill Hill (grid ref. SU 086 070), 140 ft (43 m) above the Kennet valley, the Horslip long barrow commands the same chalk ridge that carries the famous Early‑Neolithic causewayed enclosure 400 m upslope.
Roman Road to the West uncovered under Manchester Street
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Europe, News, Pottery, Roman, Roman army, Roman Culture, Roman pottery, Roman Roads, Samian ware, Samian ware
A stretch of Roman road just 38-40 cm (15 in) below Liverpool Road in Castlefield. The trench shows the classic Roman construction sequence – a cambered rubble core surfaced with tightly packed cobbles – and runs on a north-east/south-west alignment that leaves Mamucium’s north gate and heads towards modern Salford.
- Agger, Bremetennacum, butchered animal bone, Chester, coarse utilitarian jars, Coccium, Condate, decorated glass, Deva, Deva Victrix, Eboracum, England, Lancashire, Liverpool Road, Liverpool Street, Mamucium, Manchester, Metalled Road, Northwich, Ribchester, Roman Britain, Roman Road, Samian ware, Street, Wigan, York
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Doncaster Roman Fort (Danum)
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Defensive Structures, Europe, Fort, New Sites, Roman, Roman army
← South Yorkshire Roman Rig Defensive Works The Roman Rig is a defensive dyke built to defend against attack from the south. It runs from Sheffield, past Read more Templeborough Roman Fort – Rotherham Templeborough Roman Fort occupies a commanding position on the north bank of the River Don at Rotherham (OS grid SK Read …
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Announcing: The Brigantian News!
- Roman Road to the West uncovered under Manchester Street 16 July 2025
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Portable Antiquities News
A possible medieval to post medieval copper alloy belt fitting or buckle plate dating from AD 1500-1700. The mount is rectangular in shape and flat. At one end there is a central circular perforation. The [...]
Lead object of uncertain date and function, possibly a crude ingot, or circular palm guard. The object is sub-circular in plan, and lentoid in section. Its surfaces are rough and grey, with slightly white powdery [...]
A complete silver Sixpence of William III (AD 1694-1702). Second bust. Cruciform shield reverse. Bristol mint. AD 1695-1699.Diameter: 20.75mm, Thickness: 0.91mm, Weight: 2.61gSpink P 370-1, No 3532/3539 [...]
An incomplete silver Half Groat of Charles I (AD 1625-1649). Group D. Ovate garnished shield reverse. Minted London. Diameter: 15.33mm, Thickness: 0.78mm, Weight: 1.00gThe coin is missing minor portions of its outer flan. [...]
The front part of a small Roman bow brooch. The brooch is in poor condition, is 15mm long, 13mm wide, 6mm thick and weighs 2.00g. [...]
A corroded copper alloy radiate or nummus of an uncertain ruler. The coin is in poor, incomplete condition, is 17mm in diameter and weighs 1.37g. [...]
A virtually complete Roman copper-alloy bracelet or armlet dating to circa AD 43–100. The object is complete except for wear to one terminal, and has been slightly bent out of shape post-deposition. It is rectangular [...]
Incomplete copper alloy pommel or integral cast sword guard of possible Iron Age Date (c. 100BC-100AD).The artefact is irregular in plan and profile; it is formed from a central sub-circular vertical element from which two [...]
A medieval silver hammered long-cross penny of an uncertain ruler, very worn and clipped but with the obverse and reverse elements visible. Pellets either side of the neck and (possibly) on the breast suggest a [...]
A Medieval silver voided short cross cut halfpenny of Henry II (AD 1154-1189), Class 1b dating to circa AD 1180-1189 (N 963). Moneyer: Raulf; Mint: London/Winchester. Ref: North 1980: 178. [...]
A Roman copper-alloy barbarous radiate copying a coin of Divus Claudius II (AD 270-271) dating to circa AD 275-285 (Reece Period 14). Copying CONSECRATIO reverse type depicting altar with flame. Mint of Rome prototype. As Normanby [...]
An incomplete Penny of Edward I (AD 1272-1307). Probably class 6a. Long cross reverse with three pellets in each quadrant. London mint. AD 1291-1294.Diameter: 17.93mm, Thickness: 0.69mm, Weight: 0.90gThe coin is missing portions of its [...]
A Roman copper-alloy dupondius or as of an uncertain probable Nerva-Antonine ruler dating to circa AD 138-192. Unclear reverse type. Unclear mint. [...]
A Roman copper-alloy barbarous radiate of an uncertain ruler dating to circa AD 275-285 (Reece Period 14). Copying uncertain reverse type. Unclear mint. [...]
An incomplete copper alloy Sestertius or Dupondius of Unclear Emperor (AD 43-250). Unclear reverse type depicting a standing figure left with arm outstretched. Probably mint of Rome.Diameter: 30.65mm, Weight: 11.50g [...]
An incomplete copper alloy Buckle of Post-Medieval date (AD 1600-1720). The object is a fragment from a double loop oval frame with moulded decoration on the loops. The retained portion has a trefoil knop on the [...]
A Roman copper-alloy nummus of Constantius II (AD 323-361) dating to AD 337-340 (Reece Period 17). GLORIA EXERCITVS reverse type depicting two soldiers holding one standard. Mint of Arles. AS RIC VIII, pg 205, no [...]
A complete lead or lead alloy Shot of Post-Medieval date (AD 1640-1750). The object is spherical with a shallow circumferential casting seam and spru. The shot has a slightly pitted surface.Diameter: 18.57mm, Weight: 35.38gThe metal is [...]
A complete copper alloy Pot Leg of Medieval to Post-Medieval date (AD 1200-1700). The object has a sub-triangular cross section and D shaped in plan. The lower end of the object is tapered and rounded. The [...]
An incomplete copper alloy Crotal bell of a single cast form of Post-Medieval date (AD 1550-1750). The object comprises two hemispheres divided by a raised horizontal circumferential rib. There are two sound holes one on either [...]
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- The Story of Boltby Scar
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- The hero archetype and Lugh
- Head One – St Michaels Church, Kirklington
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