The River Swale

Rivers had special significance in ancient Britain, both for practical reasons such as transport, navigation and water supply, and for spiritual reasons. Water has always been closely linked to the spiritual realms and Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments were commonly built near rivers. Stonehenge, linked to the River Avon, and the monuments on the Thames and its tributaries are famous. The River Swale in northern Britain was once of similar sacred importance, now largely forgotten.

The Swale derives from sualuae, which means ‘deluge’. The river is one of the fastest flowing in Britain and can rise three metres in twenty minutes as rainwater pours off the dales into the valley. Even where the river crosses the gentler lowlands and joins with the Ure, it is still fierce when in spate.

The Swale as it joins the Ure

The importance of the Swale likely links to the Neolithic trade in stone axes. Greenstone axes were crafted in Langdale in the Lake District and transported all across Britain, and had a significance far beyond their practical use. Their route into southern Britain likely followed the River Eden through Cumbria, also the focus of many sacred monuments, and then the River Swale which leads towards the lowlands.

Maiden Castle

The unusual henge of Maiden Castle was built on high ground above the Swale near the village of Grinton in upper Swaledale. Further downstream at Catterick was another henge and timber enclosure, dated to around 2500BC and only recently discovered. The huge standing stones of the Devil’s Arrows are a short distance from the confluence of the Swale with the River Ure. Another interesting place is St Michael’s Church near Downholme, on a unusually shaped and very prominent hill called How Hill. This would have been a key landmark for people following the river millennia before the church was built, and perhaps had also sacred significance long before this point. It is certainly a peaceful and powerful feeling spot today.

St Michael’s Church and How Hill

The Devil’s Arrows

The Devil’s Arrows, also known as the Three Greyhounds or the Three Sisters, are a row of three colossal standing stones near Boroughbridge in Yorkshire. The stones, which reach seven metres in height with another three metres underground, are taller than the sarsens of Stonehenge. They were probably raised in the early Bronze Age, around 2000BC. 

Legend says the devil, sitting on How Hill near Ripon, a strangely prominent and eerie-feeling hill with a ruined church dedicated to St Michael, threw rocks at the town of Aldborough after it offended him. They fell short and formed the Arrows.

The row of Arrows, looking uphill

The three stones are the survivors of a larger row. One stone was pulled down in the 16^th century; a fifth one is reputed to have also been removed. Perhaps there were even more, forgotten even by legend. 

The stones, weighing 25 tonnes, are millstone grit, probably originating from a location near Knaresborough, nine miles away. It is possible they were carried by glacial action to a much nearer point, making their transport much easier. The stones were then raised and slid into their sockets, probably using levers and pulleys, and their holes packed with cobbles. It was a phenomenal undertaking. 

The stones were shaped and dressed to give them a smooth finish, something which was rarely done in British stone monuments. The sarsens of Stonehenge are the other best-known example of this, and may suggest this monument was a rival or equal power base to Stonehenge. This area of Yorkshire is believed to have once been equal in importance to the Stonehenge monuments.

The uppermost stone.

The stones are on a 320º alignment, which roughly faces the midwinter sunrise and midsummer sunset, but they are not quite in a straight line. They climb a shallow slope leading from the River Ure – this link to water is reminiscent of Stonehenge – and the final stone sits on the top of the hillside. Perhaps the destroyed stones continued towards the river and the monument formed an elaborate procession up the hillside towards the rising midwinter sun. 

Interestingly, two now vanished henges which stood on shallow hillsides near the village of Hutton to the north, are also on the same alignment as the Arrows. Perhaps it was part of a much greater monumental complex than is currently thought.

The River Ure at Boroughbridge

Old Sarum

Old Sarum is an Iron Age hillfort just north of Salisbury, later adapted into a Norman motte and bailey castle which contained Salisbury’s first cathedral. Salisbury, only a few miles from Stonehenge, has long been considered one of Britain’s most special spiritual places and this stretches back far into prehistory.

The outer bank of the fort.

The fort is on a natural hill which has commanding views over the Avon valley and surrounding area, and draws the eye from miles around. It was an ideal spot for an Iron Age statement of command and power.

The Iron Age ditch and two banks, which enclose an area around 400m diameter, were cleared and redug in Norman times, the reason for their incredible preservation. A visit is recommended just to see how the vast ditches of places such as Avebury and many other hillforts would have looked before thousands of years of erosion and infilling. Standing on the bank and looking into the thirty-metre deep ditch is a vertigo-inducing experience to say the least. It was about more than simple defence. It was a statement of power.

Old Sarum’s ditch. The very small sheep gives an indication of scale. 

Ironically, little more is known of the early site. The Norman reconstruction which preserved the ditches removed everything else. The fort was first built around 400BC, and occupation continued into the Roman period, where it became known as Sorviodunum. Five Roman roads converge at Salisbury which illustrates the site’s importance. Some of these roads were in use long before the Romans arrived, and may even date back to the Neolithic period, which marks the earliest occupation of the site.

The view east from the bank. The Roman road leading towards London is visible.

Salisbury marks the confluence of five rivers, the Avon, Nadder, Bourne, Ebble and Wylye, which would make it a hugely important place in the time when rivers were the main mode of transport and also the most important landmarks when travelling across a land devoid of manmade features. This is likely a big factor in Sarum’s continuing practical and spiritual importance.

The confluence of the Avon and the Nadder.

Sarum was captured from the British by the Saxons and then abandoned until invading Vikings forced its reoccupation. Saxon mercenaries who guarded the junction of the Roman roads lived and were buried nearby, and other rich Saxon burials were found close to the foot of the fort, including that of a sixth-century woman who was buried with elaborate grave goods including a purse ring made of elephant ivory, blue glass beads and a copper brooch. This high-status woman, who had trade links stretching as far as Africa, illustrates the continuing importance of this district, two thousand years after Wessex had become the richest land in Britain.

It is from this period that the name derives. Sarum is an adaptation of Seresberie, a late Saxon-period burgh and Royal Mint. This later evolved into Salisbury. The prefix Sar or Sear is probably a pre-Saxon personal name.

The Medieval castle, cathedral and town.

The fortified town of Old Sarum and its cathedral were later moved south to New Sarum, or Salisbury town, and the ancient site was abandoned to the wilderness.

The view south towards Salisbury. The new cathedral is visible.

The Thornborough Henges

The southeast entrance of the central henge.

The Thornborough Henges, just north of Ripon in Yorkshire, are thought to be a part of a ritual landscape once as important as Stonehenge.

The three large henges, each 240m in diameter, were built as a single concept around 2800BC. They form a slightly offset line which has been suggested to represent the stars of Orion’s Belt. This feature has also been proposed for the three stone circles in Orkney and the three pyramids of Giza.

The three henges, showing their arrangement akin to Orion’s Belt. (Tony Newbould, Wikicommons).

The southern henge is now almost entirely destroyed. The central henge comprises an outer bank, surviving to three metres high in places, then a wide berm and an inner ditch with two causeways, now barely visible. The inner area, which has the feel of an inner sanctum and was perhaps screened with timber, comprises around half the area of the henge. The two entrances align with the midwinter sunrise and the midsummer sunset.

The ditch and causeway of the northern henge.

The northern henge, which is now covered with trees, is the best preserved. Like the other henges, it comprises an outer bank with an inner berm around 15 metres in diameter, then a ditch surviving to around four metres deep. This ditch is perfectly dry, even in the wettest periods, so presumably was never intended to contain water. Perhaps these ditches were a statement of partition, segregating the innermost area of the henge where only a select few were permitted, from the outer area where all people could congregate.

The entrances of this henge again align with the midwinter sunrise and the midsummer sunset, and the central henge lies in their direct view. The northern entrance opens out onto the gentle slope of the hillside which soon disappears from view. This seems to emphasise that this is the end of the monument.

The bank and inner berm of the northern henge.

Thornborough was important long before the henges were built. Two cursuses, a little-understood type of monument of which the most famous is at Stonehenge, lie nearby and predate the henges by perhaps a thousand years. One passes by the north henge, and the second passes beneath the central henge and continues towards the river. It is suggested they are a commemoration of an ancient processional way.

The central henge, looking towards the northern henge in the distant trees.

The henges are on a fairly flat hilltop where they would have been prominent from a wide area. They are a few hundred metres from the River Ure, one of two important rivers in Yorkshire which were a focus for ritual monuments, on slightly higher ground so as to be safe from flood risk. On the horizon to the east is the scarp of the North Yorkshire Moors, and the henges, once coated in brilliant white gypsum, would have been clearly visible from this high ground. And it is from this point that their arrangement, reflecting Orion’s Belt, would have been noticeable.

The River Ure near Thornborough

Thornborough is on one of the major ancient routeways from the Midlands to the North, and also to the East to the Vale of Pickering. This is the point where the land changes from the vast flat plain of York to the hills of the Yorkshire Dales. Another reason for choosing this site is the band of underlying gypsum in the area, especially prone to forming huge sinkholes without warning which can on occasion swallow houses. This dangerous and unpredictable phenomenon, perhaps associated with openings to the chthonic otherworld, is likely a reason for the henges’ location.

A sinkhole in a limestone area. (Peter Dean, Wikicommons).

Amesbury

Amesbury is the nearest town to Stonehenge, and was itself once a key part of the Stonehenge landscape. The River Avon, which formed part of the processional way between Durrington Walls and Stonehenge, flows through the town and was a focus for many of the elaborate Bronze Age burials in the area, as high-status people claimed a place in this most revered landscape.

Many of these graves are now lost forever under housing estates and gardens. Those which have been excavated give an inkling of the once richness of this area.

Merlin and Vortigern.

Pseudo-historian Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that Stonehenge was built by Merlin, wizard, sorcerer or shaman. In another legend, Merlin advised the British leader Vortigern, who was building a castle on the site, that its continual collapse was due to two dragons who were buried beneath the site.

This legend, often thought to be invented by Geoffrey, may have an older origin. Amesbury derives from ‘Emrys’s burgh’ or settlement, and Emrys was a title commonly applied to Merlin. Amesbury, therefore, was known from Saxon times as ‘Merlin’s settlement’. Perhaps the ancient legend has a grain of truth.

The river at Ratfyn

The Avon runs through a steep gorge near Ratfyn, the northern part of Amesbury, and a series of square structures, comprising four wooden posts around five metres high, have been discovered. They may have been huge wooden platforms used for the exposure of bodies to be devoured by kites and crows before they were cremated. Pits nearby contain the bones of cattle, pig and dogs, perhaps the remains of funeral feasts.

The cliff top, hidden by the trees of the gorge.

The Amesbury Archer is the town’s most famous discovery. The adult man, who died between 2500-2280BC, had lived in the Stonehenge area but had spent his childhood in the Alps or Bavaria. He had then made the arduous journey of over a thousand miles to Britain. Genetic analysis shows his son was also buried nearby.

The man was buried with twelve arrows, two archer’s wrist-guards, five beakers, three copper daggers, a metalworking anvil and a pair of gold earrings or hair ornaments, making it one of the richest burials found in the area. His importance was immense. Perhaps he was one of the first people who travelled to Britain, bringing the new skills of metal-working which would eventually overturn Britain’s infrastructure in every way. Thousand-year-old monuments were sealed up, new ones were built, and a new spiritual way of life redefined people’s lives even as their practical lives changed forever. Perhaps this man was the instigator of it all.

The Amesbury Archer

The Bulford Stone

The Bulford Stone is another former standing stone which formed part of the vast Stonehenge ritual landscape. Like the Cuckoo Stone, it is a glacial erratic which was raised in its natural location, and like the Cuckoo Stone it has survived through chance. It has long fallen and was until recently believed to be a natural erratic, until excavation revealed its true importance.

The Bulford Stone is around two miles from Woodhenge and the Cuckoo Stone, which are visible to the west, and intriguingly is on the same alignment as these sites and the Stonehenge Cursus discussed last week. It seems this alignment of natural features stretches far further than was once thought.

The Bulford Stone, looking towards Woodhenge

Around the standing stone, which was raised at an unclear date, was once a Bronze Age round barrow which was positioned to incorporate the stone. The barrow contained three burials dating to 1900BC-1750BC.

They included an intriguing array of grave goods, including flint knives, arrows and antler tools for flaking flint; a piece of Cotswold limestone shaped very much like one of the Stonehenge sarsens, perhaps representing a microcosm of the stones’ spiritual power; a boar’s tusk pendant; and a piece of rock crystal which may have come from the Alps. These unique finds suggest high-status burials, perhaps of shamans. Rock crystal is commonly used for divination, healing and other spiritual purposes. Other high-status burials nearby, such as the Amesbury Archer, had come from the Alps region, an arduous journey 4000 years ago and one which conveyed considerable prestige.

The Bulford Stone, looking east towards Beacon Hill

While the Cuckoo Stone stands in rough grassland, the Bulford Stone is in the middle of an agricultural field, and for hundreds of years farmers and machinery have had to dodge around it. Most large boulders which were in the way were simply removed, the reason for the huge loss of standing stones over the past few centuries. Why did the Bulford Stone, until recently believed to be a natural erratic with no significance, not suffer the same fate? Perhaps the spirits of the shamans who were buried at its foot continue to guard their ancient ward.

The Cuckoo Stone

The Cuckoo Stone is a fairly modest standing stone around a mile from Stonehenge. The sarsen is one of many which once littered the landscape, left here long ago by glacial action, and the stone was simply raised in its original, natural location. It has long since fallen again. 

A pit near the stone contained cattle bone, flint, pottery and an antler pick, perhaps the tools used to raise the stone and the subsequent feast to consecrate it. The pick dates to 2900BC, the earliest phase of Stonehenge which at this point comprised a circle of bluestones but none of the huge sarsens.

Bronze Age burial urn from the Stonehenge area.

The Cuckoo Stone remained a revered site for the next three thousand years. Several Bronze Age cremation urns were interred around the stone, with dates ranging from 2000BC to 1260BC. Much later still, a Roman-era village with large farms and a wide spread of fields grew up around the stone, and burials from this period were inserted into a Bronze Age barrow a short distance away near Woodhenge. Almost certainly this village was the home of people whose ancestry stretched back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age inhabitants of the area, despite their adaptation of Roman ways in the early centuries CE, and they were successors to the ancient traditions of the still-sacred Stonehenge landscape.

The Cuckoo Stone looking towards Woodhenge

Why was the Cuckoo Stone so important? It lies on gently sloping grassland on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain, with wide views in all directions but the west, where Stonehenge itself is hidden by the slope. The stone is on the same alignment as the Stonehenge Cursus, an enigmatic ditched enclosure 3km long and 100m wide, which seems to commemorate an ancient routeway. This route, and perhaps the cursus if it had been continued, would have incorporated the Cuckoo Stone, at the time recumbent but eventually raised, and continued to Woodhenge a few hundred metres to the east.

We will probably never know the reason for the importance of this alignment of natural features, but they remained respected in people’s memories as the Neolithic was succeeded by the Bronze Age, as Celts and then Romans swept across Britain and the country’s way of life changed beyond recognition, again and again. Eventually the Cuckoo Stone succumbed and became a mere rock in a field, but thanks to recent archaeology, its importance has been rediscovered.