Devil's Arrows
The Devil's Arrows are three aligned standing stones found outside Boroughbridge in the West Riding of Yorkshire, by the south bank of the River Ure (which marks the boundary of the North Riding), close to where the A168 road (the old Great North Road) crosses the river.
This stone alignment consists of some of the tallest standing stones in the United Kingdom. The southernmost of the three remaining stones is the second tallest in the United Kingdom. The monument is unusual in that it is located in a lowland setting.[1]
The stones
Erected during the Stone Age and distinctively grooved by millennia of rainfall, the tallest stone is 22 feet in height, making this the tallest stone in the United Kingdom after the 25-foot Rudston Monolith in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The other two stones are 22 feet and 18 feet tall.
It is thought that the alignment originally included up to five stones. The antiquarian William Camden mentioned four stones in his Britannia, noting that "one was lately pulled down by some that hoped, though in vain, to find treasure".[2] One of the stones, displaced during an unsuccessful search for treasure during the 18th century, was used as the base for a nearby bridge over a river.
Camden wrote:
Just by the bridge in three little fields to the Westward, I saw four huge Stones of a pyramidal form very rough and unpolished, and placed as it were in a straight line one from another. The two middle Stones (one of which was lately displaced in hopes of finding Money) almost touch one another, the outer ones standing at some small and equal distance from them As for the design or meaning of them I have nothing to say but that my Opinion is agreeable with some others in this point, That it was a Roman Trophy raised by the high-way, which runs along here. As for the silly stories of there being those bolts which the Devil shot at some Cities hereabouts and so destroyed them; I think it not worth while to mention them.
The stones are composed of millstone grit, the most likely source of which is Plumpton Rocks, two miles to the south of Knaresborough, and about nine miles from where the stones stand today.
The construction pits for the erection of the stones remain buried beneath the ground.[1]
The outer stones are 360 feet and 200 feet away from the central stone and form an almost straight, running NNW–SSE.
The stones are a scheduled ancient monument.[1]
Setting
The stones are part of a prehistoric complex concentrated around the River Ure. They form part of a ritual landscape which includes henge monuments and tumuli extending to the north of the site.[1] They are part of a wider Neolithic complex on the Ure-Swale plateau which incorporates the Thornborough Henges.
It is thought that they may have been arranged to align with the southernmost summer moonrise.
Name
The name is mentioned by the antiquary John Aubrey, who visited and drew the stones in 1687.[3] There is a legend, which goes back to 1721, that says the Devil threw the stones, aiming at the next town of Aldborough. He stood on Howe Hill and shouted, "Borobrigg keep out o' way, for Aldborough town I will ding down!". However, the stones fell short and landed near Boroughbridge instead.
Location
- Location map: 54°5’36"N, 1°24’13"W
- Streetmap: SE39106654
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Devil's Arrows) |
- Megalithic Portal: Devil's Arrows - Stone Row
- The Devil's Arrows from The Modern Antiquarian
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 National Heritage List 1014705: Stone alignment west of Boroughbridge known as the Devil's Arrows, including three standing stones and the setting for a fourth (Scheduled ancient monument entry)
- ↑ "Brigantes". A Vision of Britain Through time. University of Portsmouth and others. http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Camden&c_id=25&p_id=11621#pn_87.
- ↑ John Aubrey, Bodleian MS Top. Gen. C24 fol. 70r
- Burl, Aubrey (1991). Butler, R.M.. ed. "The Devil's Arrows, Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire: The Archaeology of a Stone Row". Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 63. SSN 0084-4276. https://archive.org/details/YAJ0631991/page/n5/mode/2up.
- Camden, William (1722). Britannia, or, A Chorographical Description of Great Britain and Ireland, Together with the Adjacent Islands. 2 (2nd ed.). London: Mary Matthews. p. 873/874. https://archive.org/details/gri_britanniaora02camd/page/n117/mode/1up?q=pyramides&view=theater.