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Heritage Journal
news and views from Heritage Action
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Fire at the stones
December 30, 2005, 11:19 am
Last week we read a story about fires being lit at an Aberdeenshire stone circle last night to mark the winter solstice.
People assembled on 21 December at the Breemie stones to watch the sun set on the shortest day of the year. They brought wood with them to feed four fires and musical instruments to help them party. It must have been great!
The Breemie stones were erected last year by Jason Schroeder who built his circle of 11 granite stones on land owned by Alan Brownie near Lyne of Skene.
Using fire to celebrate occasions and rituals is a universal human characteristic, practiced for millennia. But fire has also been used for millennia to destroy stones. Prehistoric peoples used fire to break up large boulders into useable, manageable chunks for building and for tool making.
So while holding ceremonies, parties and lighting fires at modern circles with the owner's permission is great fun, the same cannot be said of activities at scheduled ancient monuments. In June we reported this. Fires should not be lit within or near to ancient scheduled sites as it can damage fragile archaeology above and below ground level.
Enjoy the ancient stones, but please don't light fires at them.
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Ilkley Moor: It's time for action
December 16, 2005, 8:31 am
To halt this decline and disappearance of the prehistory of around Ilkley, which we have reported all this week, the local authorities and national organisations, such as English Heritage must wake up to their responsibilities in caring for these important prehistoric sites. They must fully investigate solutions to the problems and take action. Management plans, like the one published by Bradford Metropolitan District Council for Ilkley Moor are a good starting place but MUST result in ACTION. Worthy intentions will not preserve these nationally important sites. Short-term, low-cost answers, like masonry paint, can cause more problems than they attempt to cure.
Money for the moor is, or has been, available: in late 2003 a European Union grant of £850,000 was awarded to The Standing Conference of Southern Pennine Authorities (SCOSPA), a consortium set up to maintain the moor and educate its users. But this money has made little impact on the archaeology of Ilkley Moor.
Heritage Action is right now devising a campaign to raise local and national awareness of the sorry state of affairs in this area. We will call on all interested parties to come together to preserve, protect and promote these ancient places. We plan to launch the campaign in the new year.
Look out for our forthcoming Heritage Action Pack which will make it easy for you to write letters and emails to the authorities calling for action.
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Ilkley Moor: The Swastika Stone and others
December 15, 2005, 8:25 am
To the west of Ilkley, overlooking the Wharfe Valley, vandals have used white paint to circle the late Bronze Age design of the Swastika Stone, perhaps the best known prehistoric site in the area. Spiked railings are not enough to protect it, it seems.
The Swastika Stone with spiked railings. Photo: Andy Hemingway
The pattern of abuse and neglect continues on rock art all over Ilkley Moor. Action must be taken now before these fragile sites are lost forever, like Bradup stone circle that lay just three kilometers southwest of the Twelve Apostles but is now completely gone. Or Weecher stone circle roughly the same distance to the southeast, which was removed at the turn of the 20th century.
We can't stop the march of natural erosion and weathering, but the authorities' neglect of these places is a national scandal. How much more of our unique heritage are we prepared to lose forever?
Coming up tomorrow - what we intend to do about it!
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Ilkley Moor: Nixon's Station Cairn
December 14, 2005, 8:32 am
At the highest point of Ilkley Moor, 402 metres above sea level, stands the remnant of Nixon's Station Cairn, an ancient burial site. In 1885, the cairn was recorded as 175 yards in circumference, but only 15 years later, it was recorded as 150 yards. Now, more than a century later, it is almost completely gone, its stones taken to provide walling and foundations for pathways on this part of the moor.
It may only be a pile of stones that are left, but can't we save them? This is our heritage!
Nixon's Station Cairn: a shadow of its former self. Photo: Richard Stroud
Coming up tomorrow - the plight of The Swastika Stone.
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Ilkley Moor: Willy Hall's Wood Stone
December 13, 2005, 5:05 pm
Between Ilkley town and the Twelve Apostles stone circle lies a large boulder called Willy Hall's Wood Stone which is covered in prehistoric carvings known as rock art. Today it is still scarred with ugly red acrylic paint which was daubed over it more than two years ago.
Damage to Willy Hall's Wood Stone. Photo: Andy Hemingway
According to Heritage Action member Andy Hemingway, the proximity of the stone to the town of Ilkley means that it is any easy target for vandals, but he places the plight of this stone in the wider context of general neglect and apathy towards Ilkley Moor's prehistory. He agrees with Heritage Action's Brian Kerr who says:"Graffiti is a growing problem on Ilkley Moor and a very real threat to the delicate rock art on these moors. Many of the designs are unique to the area and are of international importance."
His words are borne out by evidence of another attack in 2004, on a decorated stone between the Cow and Calf stones and the White Wells, in which white paint was used. The attack included the defacing an 18th century carving of a deer on one rock. At the time, Richard Perhim, a spokesman for Bradford Council's countryside department said the reports of graffiti would be investigated. On the subject of vandalism, he said: "It comes round every now and again but it is usually not too bad up there."
"Not too bad"
But we believe things ARE getting worse for Ilkley Moor's prehistoric sites. And what measurement does Bradford Council use to determine what is "not too bad"?
Bradford Council had intended to use masonry paint to cover the offending marks, justifying this method with: "The rock is quite coarse so it is easier to paint over it." This is scandalous! No one should be painting anything on any ancient stone. The detailed investigation of the processes involved in cleaning-up of the Rollright stones in Oxfordshire after a similar paint attack in 2004 show that exceptional care is vital to preserve Scheduled Ancient Monuments. Covering them up with more paint is NO solution.
Coming up tomorrow - the plight of Nixon's Station Cairn.
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Ilkley Moor's fragile prehistory
December 12, 2005, 9:49 pm
High up on Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire sits the fragile and beautiful Twelve Apostles stone circle. The stones have suffered appalling damage for centuries but now, with its remaining stones damaged and cracked, some supported by pebbles, and with the remains of a campfire at it's heart, the circle is
in a scandalous condition. Read more.
To bring an end to the decline in one of the area's unique prehistoric sites, Heritage Action is pressing the overseers of the moor and the monuments on it such as English Heritage, Ilkley Urban District Council and other authorities to come together and work collaboratively on its behalf.
The entire circle in September 2003. Photo: Moth Clark
Heritage Action is calling for a full archaeological survey of the Twelve Apostles, to include investigations of any original stone settings remaining, and the re-erection of the stones, perhaps in a concrete setting. This procedure has worked successfully at Devil's Quoits stone circle and henge, near Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire.. Putting information boards near the stone circle would go some way to reducing the contemptuous and needless damage that this monument has had to bear. Protecting the stone circle with a fence or natural barrier, such as gorse, and the possible re-routing of a footpath that runs close to the stone circle must be considered if the decline of this Scheduled Ancient Monument is to be halted.
The Twelve Apostles is not the only prehistoric site to suffer neglect; several others bear the scars of vandalism and indifference. Heritage Action member Brian Kerr, who inspected prehistoric sites on Ilkley Moor last mont, said:
"...most of all, I'm shocked at the amount of graffiti on stones across the moor. Some of it has been carved in the past 100 years, but there is a lot of spray paint graffiti, too."
We reported the plight of the Panorama Stone (pictured below) in Ilkley town only last month.
The Panorama stone, now broken, tatty and neglected. Photo: Andy Hemingway
Coming up tomorrow - the plight of Willy Hall's Wood Stone.
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