<< Our Photo Pages >> Cleatop Park - Stone Circle in England in Yorkshire (North)
Submitted by Nick_Harling on Monday, 26 February 2007 Page Views: 11291
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Cleatop Park Alternative Name: Druid's Hill (Cleatop); Druid's Circle (Cleatop) Cleatop (Settle)Country: England
NOTE: This site is 1.273 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Settle Nearest Village: Cleatop
Map Ref: SD82056145 Landranger Map Number: 98
Latitude: 54.048697N Longitude: 2.275643W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Bladup has visited here
He told: "A little above Cleatop Farm (near Rathmell)...is Cleatop Wood. Cleatop derives its name from the A.S. cleof, a rocky aclivity; Latin clivus, a bank or slope. Near the northeast side of the wood there was once a very noticeable Druid's Circle, about 60 feet in diameter; indeed, Mr Thomas Brayshaw of Settle, informs me that within the memory of persons still living, it was so regular and well-defined that one or two gaps caused by the removal of stones could be easily distinguished. The eminence at the rear of the site has, from tiem immemorial, been known as Druid's Hill."
Reference: Speight, Harry, The Craven and Northwest Yorkshire Highlands, Elliott Stock: London 1892.
Contributed by Brigantia
Apparently, the circle was destroyed by the farmer of the land in the
1870s. I recently visited the site, but there is little to see apart
from a few shapeless hollows.
The original documentary reference to the Cleatop Park circle
is to be found in Thomas Brayshaw's History of the Ancient Parish of
Giggleswick (p.8; 1932), and I have included the full reference below
for your files:
"The Ordnance Map marks, on the steep slope to the north of Cleatop
Wood, 'site of Stone Circle'. It needs a very keen eye to identify the
few stumps that remain today, and it is deplorable that this most
interesting monument, after enduring for so many centuries, has been
destroyed during the last eighty years. In 1847 a description of the
circle, as it then was, was sent to Capt.Yolland of the Ordnance Survey.
"I suppose", said the writer, "the circle of stones in Cleatop High Park
to be aboriginal British or Druidical remains from the following
appearances :- the circle is complete and the large stones are set on
end, some of them several tons weight. The stones are twelve in number
now standing, beside several others that seem to be rolled a short
distance, as it is placed on the ascent of a steep hill and commands a
beautiful and extensive prospect (more so than any given point of the
same altitude in the vicinity). The circle is 36 feet in diameter."
A few stones were still standing in 1883. The hill above long bore the
name Druids Hill. The Enclosure Acts passed towards the end of the 18th
century greatly increased the number of drystone walls in the parish,
and it is probable that many old stone monuments were destroyed in
making them and in their subsequent repair".
In another reference that I can't lay my hands on at the minute, it
mentions that the circle was originally so complete and regular in shape
that it could be made out on the hillside from quite a distance, and
that it was glaringly obvious when a stone was removed. Anyway, it's
gone now, but the views from the site are still impressive.
Contributed by Nick Harding
Update June 2017: This site is featured on The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) - see their page for Cleatop, Settle, North Yorkshire, and Pastscape Monument No. 45771. TNA gives a brief archaeology and history and shows the position of the circle on the 1895 OS map. Pastscape says: "The site of this circle is still identifiable by a superficial earthen bank, 11.0 m in diameter, surrounding a shallow depression. All stones have been removed."
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