<< Our Photo Pages >> Snowden Crags Cairn Circle - Cairn in England in Yorkshire (North)
Submitted by Runemage on Saturday, 07 August 2010 Page Views: 6544
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Snowden Crags Cairn CircleCountry: England County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Cairn
Nearest Town: Otley Nearest Village: Askwith
Map Ref: SE17705136
Latitude: 53.958030N Longitude: 1.731742W
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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External Links:
Ring cairn in North Yorkshire
On Thurs 20 May 2010, Paul Bennett and a group of friends re-discovered this site on Askwith Moor and made several visits to determine exactly what lies there. It's not just a circle of stones, there are a couple of things that make it an intriguing find, not only its comparatively large size but also a possible ancient excavation.
Directions - "From the Askwith Moor Road parking spot, walk up the road for about 500 yards and head to your right (east) onto the moor. Walk past the upper side of the disused quarry and through the heather for about 200 yards until the moorland slopes down and you’re on another flat moorland ridge. There’s a large patch of bracken near the top of Snowden Crags. "
Apart from this small mention "A large circle of heavy material, some thirty feet in diameter, is isolated on the shelf above Snowden Crags to the west." in Eric T Cowling's Rombald’s Way: A Prehistory of mid-Wharfedale, ( William Walker: Otley 1946) no-one has seen this site in several decades.
Paul writes: "So what we have so far is this: a large flattened circle consisting of at least a dozen upright stones that define the edges. Between these uprights are hundreds, perhaps thousands of smaller stones, making a rubble bank of a near unbroken circle, apart from where there seems a small entrance on its southern side. Inside the circle is a scattered mass of many small stones, typical of cairn material, filling the entirety of the monument; but the central region has been dug into at some time in the past, by persons unknown. It sits on a flat plain of moorland amidst the Snowden Crags Necropolis with around 30 other small cairns. But this particular site is several times larger than all the others, probably indicating that whoever was buried/cremated here was of some considerable importance in the tribal group: a local king, queen, tribal elder or shaman. Whoever it was that this monument was made for, the landscape reaching northwards from here looks across to the giant morphic temples of Brimham Rocks and the heavenly landscape beyond and above them. It is very likely that the Lands of the Ancestors this way beckoned…"
For the full story, see the Northern Antiquarian. Also see the generic scheduling information for this area on Historic England List ID 1014304, which covers "Cairnfield, enclosures, boulder walling, hollow way and carved rocks towards edge of Snowden Carr centred at 370m south east of Crag House."
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60m S 180° Snowden Moor* Ancient Village or Settlement (SE177513)
92m SE 135° Snowden Carr (570) Rock Art (SE1776651295)
101m SE 132° Snowden Carr (571) Rock Art (SE1777651293)
107m WNW 292° Snowden Crags Necropolis Barrow Cemetery (SE176514)
149m SE 136° Snowdon Half Moon Stone* Rock Art (SE1780551254)
157m SE 143° Death's Head Carving (Askwith Moor)* Rock Art (SE1779551235)
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223m ESE 115° Snowden Carr (594)* Rock Art (SE1790351266)
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340m SE 126° Tree of Life Stone* Rock Art (SE1797851163)
348m SE 125° Snowden Carr (600) Rock Art (SE1798751162)
359m S 174° Askwith Moor (567) Rock Art (SE1773851003)
363m SSE 164° Snowden Carr (582) Rock Art (SE1780351012)
366m SSE 165° Snowden Carr (579) & (580) Rock Art (SE1779851007)
368m SSE 165° Snowden Carr (581) Rock Art (SE1779951005)
381m ESE 107° Snowden Carr (605) Rock Art (SE1806651251)
383m SE 131° Snowden Carr (603) Rock Art (SE1799351112)
448m ESE 111° Snowden Carr (612) Rock Art (SE1812051201)
460m ESE 105° Snowden Carr (613) Rock Art (SE1814651242)
492m SW 226° Askwith Moor (528) Rock Art (SE1734551018)
497m SW 227° Askwith Moor (527) Rock Art (SE1733651020)
518m SW 233° Askwith Moor (526)* Rock Art (SE1728551048)
529m SW 233° Askwith Moor (525)* Rock Art (SE1727851040)
659m SSW 205° Askwith Moor (533)* Rock Art (SE1742150762)
660m SSW 206° Askwith Moor (U/R 3)* Rock Art (SE1741650763)
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