The Bath Springs

The Bath Springs in Somerset are perhaps the longest venerated site in Britain. The three hot springs, which are unique in Britain, were the site of votive offerings since the springs were formed over 10,000 years ago, and their importance continued throughout the Neolithic period and the Iron Age until the Romans constructed their famous temple and baths which form a world heritage site today.

The Roman-built spring pool

The springs are found in a natural bowl between the steep hillsides surrounding Bath, enclosed in a meander of the River Avon. In prehistory, the ground was marshy with several braids of the river flowing through it. The springwater is a constant 42ºC which would have shrouded the entire area with steam and fog, especially in winter, adding to the magic and liminality of the site. The bitter and sulphurous water has long been associated with healing, and indeed Bladud, the legendary founder of Bath, was said to have discovered the springs after seeing his pigs use the water to cure themselves of skin complaints and subsequently healing himself of leprosy.

Model of the Roman buildings

The King’s Bath Spring, around which the Romans built their temple, is the largest of the three hot springs, and 300,000 gallons of hot water surges from it daily. The Hot Spring and Cross Bath Spring are smaller but were both venerated from prehistory to the Roman period. The Hot Spring is a spa today.

Throughout the Mesolithic period, which dates from 10,000BC-4000BC, worked flint blades and scrapers from many parts of Britain, fossils, hazelnuts, pyrites and probably myriad other organic items which have not survived were deposited in the spring pipes. During the Iron Age, a causeway was built and coins became the favoured offering. Around 70AD, the Romans began three centuries of increasingly elaborate building work.

Some of the Roman votive offerings

The spring was now enclosed into a reservoir which fed into the famous Great Bath, one of the wonders of Britain and the Roman world, an elaborate feat of engineering with a 20-metre vaulted ceiling. A series of smaller baths were used for various health and spa therapies. Windows opened onto the spring pool so the visitors could make their votive offerings. These now included pieces of armour or weapons, bronze and pewter domestic items, horse harness, gems and jewellery, as well as curse tablets invoking divine retribution for thefts or slights.

The temple pediment, showing the male Sul.

A sacrificial altar was built directly north of the spring, in a vast precinct which faced the temple where few people but priests could enter. Bath was sacred to the Celtic deity Sulis or Sul, who was linked to the sun and was equated by the Romans to Minerva, whose bronze and flame-shrouded statue was constantly tended within the temple sanctum. The image of Sul, created by Celtic craftspeople, was displayed on the temple pediment and shows a distinctly masculine face, often erroneously described as a gorgon. The writhing hair and moustache probably represents the sun’s rays. It is unusual, but not impossible, that the Romans associated the site with a female deity of their own. Perhaps they saw water as a distinctly feminine entity which would emasculate their male gods. Interestingly, during rebuilding work two centuries later, new facades showing the Roman Luna and Sol, the sun and the moon, were added to the temple. 

 The bronze head of Minerva, whose statue was tended in the temple.

The Roman sacred site which attracted visitors and pilgrims from across Europe began to decline in the fourth century. The low-lying site was now subject to regular flooding which eventually choked the Roman hypocausts with mud and sand and the baths fell into disuse. Eventually the buildings collapsed or were deliberately destroyed by Christian marauders, and eventually the area reverted to marsh as it had once been, with the exception of pillars of Roman masonry jutting incongruously from the swamp. The springs continued to be venerated for healing purposes into modern history but it was over a thousand years before the true sanctity and history of the site was again discovered.

The altar which was toppled and smashed after the site was abandoned

The River Ure

The Ure near Thornborough

The River Ure in Yorkshire had, along with the Swale, a spiritual and ritual significance equivalent to the Thames and the Stonehenge Avon in southern Britain. Several henges are found on high ground along its valley, many now little more than unexcavated cropmarks. The Thornborough Henges are an exception. Three henges, which possibly represent Orion’s Belt, were dug from gleaming white gypsum and would have been a focal point for a vast distance all around. The Devil’s Arrows standing stones are a little further downstream near the confluence with the Swale.

The central Thornborough Henge

The Ure is sourced in the Yorkshire Dales and flows through the lowlands after it joins with the Swale, where it changes its name to the Ouse, and flows through York and eventually reaches the Humber Estuary, making it one of the most significant rivers of northern Britain. Ure and Ouse may have the same etymological origin.

The Humber Estuary

Rivers were considered sacred in Neolithic and Bronze Age times and this belief survived in various forms until modern times. The River Avon is believed to have formed part of a processional route to Stonehenge, linking the living with the dead or the physical world with the spiritual world. Ritual offerings and the bones and ashes of the dead were deposited in the water, which represented a liminal boundary between worlds. Rivers were the arteries of the land, much like the arteries of the body, and water was a life-giving essence which formed a key part of rituals. The Ure, which means ‘Holy River’ in ancient Celtic, was probably a central part of ritual life to the people of northern Britain, although four thousand years of time has largely eradicated all physical traces of this.

Ripon Cathedral

The spiritual traces however, remain. Several now-ruined abbeys were built along the river’s valley, and the cathedral at Ripon is situated on the banks of the Ure. Ripon has a particularly powerful sense of peace which I never normally feel in an urban environment, and I felt that same powerful essence at every place I visited along the river. I watched a barn owl flying along the banks at twilight and wondered if that was a sign that, just as the river flows on forever, the spiritual qualities it reflects also do the same.

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