Great Ayton Moor HC1 Ancient Village or Settlement : The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map:

<< Our Photo Pages >> Great Ayton Moor HC1 - Ancient Village or Settlement in England in Yorkshire (North)

Submitted by johndhunter on Friday, 21 August 2020 Page Views: 1378

Multi-periodSite Name: Great Ayton Moor HC1
Country: England County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Great Ayton
Map Ref: NZ5987711340
Latitude: 54.493867N Longitude: 1.077087W
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

2 Ambience:

5	Superb
4	Good
3	Ordinary
2	Not Good
1	Awful
0	No data.

3 Access:

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.

3 Accuracy:

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

5

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**Great Ayton Moor HC1** submitted by johndhunter : Hut Circle (HC1) at NZ 59877 11340 - Viewed looking south westerly, May 2019. The obelisk on the skyline mid left of centre is Captain Cooks Monument on Easby Moor. (Vote or comment on this photo)

An iron age enclosure within which is an oval hut circle sited on the plateau of the south eastern part of Great Ayton Moor. Overlooking Lonsdale it was built around 100 – 300 B.C. or earlier, its original and probably main function throughout its use was pastoral though pollen analysis indicates that the fields subsequentially built around the enclosure were for arable use providing evidence for mixed farming in its later years

It is almost square in plan, 58m east-west and 60m north-south. The bank is made of stone and earth, 0.6m high and 3.5m wide with an entrance roughly midway along its eastern side, with a faint trackway leading from it. Within the bank there is a ditch 0.5m below ground level and 3m wide, interrupted only by the entrance. Its purpose is not fully understood, maybe for drainage or quite simply just to help keep the stock with the enclosure. Also within the main bank and ditch there are in places smaller banks, along the south side and north east and north west corners of the enclosure, 0.3m high and 3m wide again there purpose were probably just to help with stock retention.

The hut circle, oval in shape, 11m x 8m is just off centre at NZ 59877 11340 in the south east quadrant of the enclosure.
With stone walls it was originally stone paved and the floor levelled, it also had a much used central hearth. Post holes indicate that it was fitted with an entrance porch on its eastern side, however there is no surrounding drainage ditch usually associated with this type of abode. However a drainage channel to the north within the enclosure may have served this purpose.

During excavation of the hut in the 1970’s a cup and ring stone was found being used as part of the flooring located between the hearth and the entrance. It has a single large ring and small cup, the ring being 15cm external diameter and the cup 3cm diameter. Also found was a flat sandstone slab. marked with linear grooves. The location of these stones according to Brown and Chappel* is unknown though an unprovenanced stone in the Dorman Museum (Middlesbrough) matches the description.

*Prehistoric Rock Art in the North York Moors (2012, page 146)

My main source for the above information is from a paper by Tinkler and Spratt entitled “An Iron Age Enclosure on Great Ayton Moor, North Yorkshire” published in the 1978 Yorkshire Archaeological Journal volume 50 pages 49 – 56. At the end of the paper they also state that all their finds from the excavation were deposited in the Dorman Museum so it is highly likely that the unprovenanced stone is indeed the one from the hut circle.

Note 1: Because of its relatively large size it is difficult to get an overall view of the enclosure with a camera and virtually impossible in the summer when its covered in bracken (spring is the best time to visit). However it stands out quite clearly in aerial view (e.g. Google Earth) which can be accessed directly from this site page by clicking the appropriate external link above this description.

Note 2: The map reference given in the site page description is for the hut circle within the enclosure.
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