<< Our Photo Pages >> Wycoller Iron Age Bridge (Standing Stone) - Standing Stone (Menhir) in England in Lancashire
Submitted by Sunny100 on Sunday, 01 August 2010 Page Views: 15547
Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Wycoller Iron Age Bridge (Standing Stone) Alternative Name: The Clam Bridge, Wycoller Slab BridgeCountry: England County: Lancashire Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Nearest Town: Colne Nearest Village: Wycoller
Map Ref: SD93583889
Latitude: 53.846210N Longitude: 2.099062W
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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This one is a bit of an oddity, I know. But, according to local historians and others, this long slab-stone that spans Wycoller Beck is a former standing stone (menhir).
Apparently it dates from the Iron Age and used to stand somewhere on the moors to the NE of the little, secluded village. The warden of the Wycoller Country Park assures me that this is correct.
It was apparently brought down to the beck (or rolled along on logs) in a similar way, perhaps, to the great sarsons at Stonehenge. It was then placed across the beck to afford access. It is made of gritstone and roughly measures 12 foot long. In fact, it is one single length of stone, now flattened and worn by time. In the floods of 1989 and 1990 it was brought crashing down and broken in two places. However, the slab was restored again; you can see where the breaks occured due to the iron clasps on the underside. There was once a rail attached to the slab - now only its holes remain.
On the moors overlooking Wycoller there was a Bronze Age burial mound and also an Iron Age settlement. Over the years objects of antiquity have been found including arrow heads, flint scrapers, a large anvil-shaped stone and also a flint knapping stone.
Back down the footpath to Wycoller's ruined hall there is the Clapper Bridge - two long stone slabs supported by a central stone pier. It is deeply worn in the middle by two centuries of weavers' feet. This bridge is also called Druids Bridge - the thinking being than it led to a sort of amphitheatre where druidical sacrifices were carried out. However, this is just the stuff of myth and legend and without any real truth. The clapper bridge is probably medieval.
For more information see Pastscape Monument No. 46147 which does not give a date for the millstone grit bridge, but says it is of historical important, there are plans to rebuild it.
The Journal of Antiquities also features an entry for the The Three Ancient Bridges, Wycoller, Lancashire; scroll down their webpage for information about this bridge, along with photographs and a list of reference sources for more information. Whilst in the area, the JoA also includes information about two other bridges nearby: the Old Packhorse Bridge or Sally's Bridge at SD 932383 39247 and the Druid's Bridge (also known as Weaver's Bridge or Hall Bridge) which is near the ruins of Wycoller Hall (see The History of Wycoller for more details).
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