Now! Then! John Richard Walbran begins an antiquarian excavation of the Neolithic henge on Hutton Moor, Dishforth (Ripon)

10 June 1846: John Richard Walbran begins an antiquarian excavation of the Neolithic henge on Hutton Moor, Dishforth (Ripon)

John Richard Walbran. 1851. A Guide to Ripon, Harrogate, Fountains Abbey, Bolton Priory, 5th Ed. Ripon: William Harrison. Get it:

Excerpt

The henge is a remarkable earthwork on the high land near Blows Hall, commanding extensive prospects up and down the Vale of Ure, as well as of the distant ranges of hills which form the side screens of the great Yorkshire plain. Like Avebury and Stonehenge, which it rivals in antiquity, its outline is that of a circle, of which the diameter is not less than 680 ft; but no stones remain, nor indeed does that material seem to have been used in its formation. Though recent agricultural operations have partially effaced the regularity and proportion of its plan, it is sufficiently evident that it was enclosed by a lofty mound and corresponding trench – the latter being inside, and a platform or space about 30 ft wide intervening. At two opposite points, bearing nearly north and south, the mound and trench, for about the space of 25 ft, have been discontinued, in order to form an approach to the area of the temple. Outside the mound, also, are some slight vestiges of a further avenue, but too indefinite to be traced. But, however obscure the denotation of its several parts may have become, the antiquity and purpose of the place, as a temple for the performance of druidical rites, is satisfactorily ascertained by the existence of at least eight large Celtic barrows in its immediate vicinity; one of which, being on the very ridge of the vale, and planted with fir trees, forms a conspicuous and useful object to guide a stranger to the site. Two of these barrows were opened five years ago, but I found nothing but a few calcined human bones, the ashes of the oaken funeral pile, and some fragments of flint arrowheads, such as are still used by the North-American Indians.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:

ER: East Riding
GM: Greater Manchester
NR: North Riding
NY: North Yorkshire
SY: South Yorkshire
WR: West Riding
WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

The date is given by Thomas Stubbs, Master of the Ripon House of Correction, whose Wunderkammer included “charcoal; burnt earth and human bones, from an ancient tumulus, at Hutton Moor, opened June 10th, 1846, supposed to be two thousand years old” (Stubbs 1867).

Henry Schroeder gives more details of the dig:

Ancient Tumulus.

One of these depositories of the dead was recently opened by an enterprising young antiquary [John Richard Walbran] in the neighbourhood of Ripon. The gentleman had for some time his attention attracted by the singularity of a certain mound of earth on Hutton Moor, a few miles north-east of Ripon. From the general appearance of the bill, he had long fancied that it bore the characteristic marks of one of the “monster” graves of our druidical or British ancestors of the olden time; and determined, if ever allowed to do so, to explore its interior. Having a short time ago obtained the permission of the worthy owner of the soil for the purpose, he forthwith essayed to dig down the centre of the circular mass, and made an aperture of very considerable dimensions, to the depth of five or six feet, when he came upon what he had anticipated, namely, a heap of stones huddled together, many of them bearing strong marks of the action of fire, a quantity of charcoal, and the remains of some human bones; in short, the appearances unequivocally indicated the site of the performance of one of those rites, the exact nature of which must now for ever remain shrouded in mystery. Whether the object of sepulture was the victim of druidical superstition, immolated on the barbarous altar; whether he was intended to be immortalized by his votaries in the solemnization of mystic obsequies; whether the ceremony was intended to indicate respect, affection, or veneration for the deceased; or whether the funeral flames were to doom his memory to “fester in the infancy of years,” is, at the present time, after the lapse of so many ages of darkness and superstition, a mere matter of surmise, even with the wisest of our antiquarian philosophers. This hill is a circular one, of no great elevation, and about twenty yards in diameter; its height has, no doubt, at its first formation, been much greater; but time, the great leveller of all things, has, in the ordinary course of events, considerably reduced its altitude, which now presents to the casual observer only an ordinary hillock. As there are in the immediate neighbourhood of this mound other tumuli of the same character, similar explorations, it is to be hoped will, at some future period, help to develop further discoveries for the ingenuity of the antiquarian imagination to unravel; and, if possible, to elucidate or explain. Immediately above the spot where the bones were found, was placed a small circular flag, but what its form and position intended to denote, we leave to our antiquarian readers to conjecture, for neither inscription nor hieroglyphic were ensculptured on the antique and uncouth tablet (Schroeder 1851).

Paul Bennett (read the bio) identifies the location, and has an excellent aerial photo as well as some speculation regarding ley lines (Bennett 2009).

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Original

As early, indeed, as shelter for himself and pasturage for his cattle were among the most pressing necessities of uncivilised man, it is evident that the advantageous position of [the vicinity of Ripon] would often induce its temporary occupation, and several conical pits on the “High Common” have been considered the site of these dwellings. Yet — even in this migratory and unsettled period — we have far more direct and conclusive evidence, that the immediate vicinity of Ripon was regarded with peculiar interest and veneration; since one of the tribes of the Brigantian Celts had chosen it as their station for the dispensation of justice and the celebration of religious rites; in fact, had made it the seat of their government. This position — novel as it may be — is, I believe, sufficiently proved by a remarkable earth-work on the high land near “Blows Hall,” commanding extensive prospects up and down the Vale of Ure, as well as of the distant ranges of hills which form the side screens of the great Yorkshire plain. Like Abury [Avebury] and Stonehenge, which it rivals in antiquity, its outline is that of a circle, of which the diameter is not less than 680 feet; but no stones remain, nor indeed does that material seem to have been used in its formation. Though recent agricultural operations have partially effaced the regularity and proportion of its plan, it is sufficiently evident that it was enclosed by a lofty mound and corresponding trench — the latter being inside, and a platform or space about thirty feet wide intervening… At two opposite points, bearing nearly north and south, the mound and trench, for about the space of twenty-five feet, have been discontinued, in order to form an approach to the area of the temple. Outside the mound, also, are some slight vestiges of a further avenue, but too indefinite to be traced. But, however obscure the denotation of its several parts may have become, the antiquity and purpose of the place, as a temple for the performance of Druidical rites, is satisfactorily ascertained by the existence of at least eight large Celtic barrows in its immediate vicinity; one of which, being on the very ridge of the vale, and planted with fir trees, forms a conspicuous and useful object to guide a stranger to the site. Two of these barrows were opened five years ago, but I found nothing but a few calcined human bones, the ashes of the oaken funeral pile, and some fragments of flint arrow-heads, such as are still used by the North-American Indians. Several bronze spear-heads and celts have, however, been found in the neighbourhood, within recollection.

There is, unfortunately, no access to the earth-work by a public path; but its situation is rendered visible, from the high road leading from Ripon to Rainton, by the presence of two small pyramids or obelisks, built on the mound of the temple, about fifty years ago, in the place, it is said, of two similar erections, apparently of high antiquity.

It may not be unreasonable to believe, that a spring which rises in a piece of enclosed ground, called “Halikeld Field,” about midway between this earth-work and the village of Melmerby, was the “fons sacer” necessary for the due performance of Druidical rites; and, in the absence of all direct evidence, may, by its consequent pre-eminent sanctity, be supposed to have given a name, in Saxon times, to the Wapentake of Halikeld, in which both it and the earthwork are situated. “Hailekelde landes,” in Melmerby, are mentioned in charters of the thirteenth century.

600 words.