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.
Location: North Yorkshire
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.
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Head One – St Michaels Church, Kirklington
- Filed under Celtic Head, Celtic Head, Church, Gothic
This head is one of thirteen “Celtic”, or archaic heads that are located within the interior of the church. Twelve of those heads, including this one, are located in four rows of three, which run down either side of the churches arched columns. The thirteenth head is located in the bell tower.
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.
Oval Barrow east of Ulshaw Bridge
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Burial Mound, Landscape feature, Long Barrow
This unexcavated and undated barrow matches many of other Late Neolithic / Early Bronze-Age round barrows (c. 2400–1500 BC) dotted along the flanks of the Yorkshire Dales.
Cleave Dyke Defensive System
- Filed under Brigantia, Brigantia England, Britain, Defensive Structures, Dike, Iron Age, Landscape feature
The Cleave dyke system is several Dykes which combine to create a boundary of between 9 and 18 kilometres running north south to the west of Thirsk.
Black Dike – Coverdale
- Filed under Boundary Marker, Brigantia, Brigantia England, Dark Ages, Dark Ages Brigantia, Dike, Iron Age, Landscape feature, New Sites
Black Dike is the diminutive counterpart to the great Tor Dike, rising from its western arm and climbing to the watershed between Great and Little Whernside. Beginning at roughly SD 988 756—where Tor Dike cleaves the limestone scarp—the Black Dike pursues a steep, sinuous course uphill for nearly 0.6 km, finally spilling onto the ridge crest at about 675 m above sea level
Tor Dyke
Tor Dyke appears to have been attributed to Venutius which dates it of the period AD 52 – 70. The presence of a legionary size marching camp a few miles to the southwest at Malham certainly indicates an active role in the Roman advance of AD 70. However, given the lack of published research so far a clear picture has yet to emerge.
Jun 27
Prehistoric mounds, cairns and boundary earthworks in Coverdale
- Filed under Archaeology, Barrow, Boundary Marker, Brigantia, Brigantia England, Bronze Age, Burial Mound, Dark Ages, Dark Ages Brigantia, Early Christian, Early Medieval, Guide, Iron Age, Landscape Archaeology, Landscape feature, Motte and Bailey, Mound, New Sites, Roman, Terraces, Visible Remains
A gazetteer of probable prehistoric mounds, cairns and boundary earthworks in Coverdale. It is not complete and is still being researched.
Bishopdale
- Filed under Brigantia, Britain, Landscape Archaeology
Bishopdale lies within the northern limb of the Askrigg Block, its underlying bedrock dominated by Carboniferous limestones with intermittent shales and sandstones of the Yoredale Series. The Great Scar Limestone, a thick, massive unit formed around 330 million years ago in a shallow tropical sea, underpins the dale’s steeper scarps and cliff lines, while the thinner-bedded limestones and intervening mudstones of the Yoredale Group create the characteristic terraced flanks on which many of Bishopdale’s field systems are laid out
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Announcing: The Brigantian News!
- Roman Road to the West uncovered under Manchester Street 16 July 2025
- What might Stonehenge Mean? Dartmoor and Carnac add to the Picture 3 July 2025
- Megalithic Stone Monuments in France May Be Europe’s Oldest 1 July 2025
- Drumanagh Promontory Fort – First Ever Intact Roman Pot Found in Ireland 5 June 2025
Portable Antiquities News
An incomplete cast copper alloy probable single looped buckle or clap. Only the outer edge of the frame survives.The cragment is made of an oval sectioned rod cast into a broadly strecthced C-shape. At its [...]
An incomplete copper alloy medieval scabbard chape, dating to the period c. AD 1200-1500. It is missing the lower half of its terminal. The chape is made of a single sheet of copper alloy that has been rolled into a [...]
An incomplete cast copper alloy mount of probable late Medieval or Post Medieval date (AD 1400-1600). It is missing part of its rivet.The mount is sub-oval in plan and domed in cross section being convex on [...]
A Medieval silver penny of Edward I (AD 1272-1307), Berwick Withers Class 5b, Blunt Type 4, dating to circa AD 1296-1307. Mint of Berwick upon Tweed. Ref: Withers and Withers 2006: 30. North (1991: 39) No.1079 [...]
A worn Medieval silver penny of Edward I (AD 1272 - 1307) or Edward II (AD 1307 - 1327) dating to AD 1307 - 1309. Class 10cf3. London mint. North (1991: 32) No. 1042/2. [...]
A complete doublestruck Medieval silver penny of Henry III (AD 1216-1272) dating between 1248-1250. Voided long cross class 3c. Minted by Nicole at London. North (1994, 226) No.988 [...]
A copper-alloy Roman nummus of Crispus under Constantine I (AD 306-337) dating to the period AD 323-324 (Reece period 16). BEATA TRA-NQLITAS reverse type depicting globe on altar inscribed VOT/IS/XX; above, three stars. Mint of London. RIC Vol VII (p.114) [...]
A Roman copper alloy nummus of Constantine I (AD 306 - 337), dating to the period AD 310 (Reece period 15). SOLI INVIC-TO COMITI reverse type depicting Sol standing left, raising right hand and holding globe. Mint of London. RIC Vol. [...]
A worn Medieval to Post Medieval cast, lead alloy medium sized, bifaced token of Powell type 1 (Symbolic petalled flower) and 2 (Initials)The token is circular in plan and sub-rectangular in cross section. One side has raised [...]
A complete Medieval copper alloy single oval looped composite buckle with integral forked spacer onto which has been soldered to a folded plate dating to the period c.AD 1350 -1450.The loop is oval shaped being 20.0mm [...]
An edge-chipped copper-alloy Nuremberg rose/orb jetton of Hans Schultes III dating to c.1608-12.Obverse: *GLVC[K KVMPT] VON GOT [IST] WAR - alternating crowns and lis around central rose. Reverse: *H[ANS S]CHVLTES•N•WEER - orb surmounted by cross within three [...]
A near complete Post Medieval copper-alloy scabbard chape, dating c. AD 1450-1600. Whilst the front plate is complete, only half the back plate survives.The chape is made of a composite construction consisting of a front plate and [...]
A Post Medieval base-silver shilling of Edward VI (AD 1547-1553), dating to AD 1549 on the coin. Second coinage, unclear initial mark. unclear mint. North (1991:122) No.1918 [...]
A worn and pierced silver penny of Charles I (AD 1625-1649) probably dating to 1625. The penny has roses on either face, one side with a wire inner lines, the other made up of pellets. [...]
A partially worn silver voided long cross penny of Henry III (AD 1216-1272) dating to AD 1248-1250. Struck by the moneyer Adam in Newcastle. Class 3bc (with neck lines). North 987/1 [...]
A silver post Medieval threepence of Elizabeth I, dated 1580 on the coin. Unclear initial mark, but probably a long cross. London Tower mint. As North 1998. [...]
A very worn copper-alloy Roman nummus (AE3) of an uncertain ruler, dating to the fourth century AD. The obverse has a bust facing right, and the reverse has an unclear standing figure. [...]
A worn and corroding copper-alloy Roman radiate of an uncertain emperor, dating to the period AD 260-275. Reece Period 13. Reverse may have a figure standing, but it is hard to discern. [...]
A near-complete cast copper alloy Williams (1997) Class A Type 10a stirrup mount of Early Medieval date (c.AD 1000-1100). The mount is sub-triangular or teardrop-shaped in plan with a loop at the apex, convex on [...]
Copper alloy button. Cast discoid button front with a small central spread-eagle motif stamped into the concave front, which is surrounded by a milled tyre-like rim. The back bears a series of tiny stamps in [...]
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- The Story of Boltby Scar
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- Head One – St Michaels Church, Kirklington
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