Thornborough Henges
The Thornborough Henges are an ancient monument complex that includes the three aligned henges that give the site its name. They are located on a raised plateau above the River Ure near the village of Thornborough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The site includes many large ancient structures including a cursus, henges, burial grounds and settlements.
They are said to have been part of a Neolithic and Bronze Age 'ritual landscape' comparable to Salisbury Plain and date from between 3500 and 2500 BC. The monument complex has been called 'The Stonehenge of the North'. Historic England considers its landscape comparable in ceremonial importance to better known sites such as Stonehenge, Avebury, and Orkney.
Concern over the impact on the ritual landscape of quarrying by Tarmac in the 21st century, led to negotiations between Tarmac and Historic England. Following an agreement originally reached in 2016, the two henges owned by Tarmac, as well as surrounding land owned by local company Lightwater Holdings, passed into the control of Historic England in 2023. The site is now managed by English Heritage and is publicly accessible. The third, most northerly, henge remained in private ownership at the time of the original agreement but in February 2024 English Heritage announced that it had acquired it.
Location
- Location map: 54°12’36"N, 1°33’50"W
The Thornborough Henges are located on a plateau above the River Ure near the village of Thornborough in Yorkshire.[1]
Cursus
The cursus is the oldest and largest ancient monument at Thornborough.[2] It is almost a mile in extent and runs from Thornborough village, under the (later) central henge and terminates close to the River Ure in a broadly east/west alignment, five miles north-west of Ripon.[3]
Cursuses are perhaps the most enigmatic of ancient monuments. They typically comprise two parallel ditches, the larger of which can be a mile or more in extent, cut to create a "cigar-shaped" enclosure. Typically, burial mounds and mortuary enclosures are found alongside cursus monuments, indicating that they probably had a ceremonial function.[4] Its age and status, alongside other ancient monuments of its kind, has led to the site being labelled as "the Stonehenge of the North".[5]
Henges
The monument complex has been called 'The Stonehenge of the North'.[6] The three henges are almost identical in size and composition, each having a diameter of approximately 790 feet and two large entrances situated directly opposite each other.[7] The henges are located around 600 yards apart on an approximate north-west to south-east alignment, although there is a curious 'dogleg' in the layout. Altogether, the monument extends for more than a mile.
Archaeological excavation of the central henge has taken place. It has been suggested that its banks were covered with locally mined gypsum, with the resulting white sheen being striking and visible for miles around.[4] A double alignment of pits, possibly evidence of a timber processional avenue, extends from the southern henge.
The Northern henge is currently overgrown with trees but is one of the best preserved henges in Britain. The Central and Southern henges are in poorer condition although the banks of the henges are still quite prominent, especially in the case of the Central henge. To gain a full appreciation of the scale of the monument it is best viewed from the air. Thornborough Henges is a scheduled monument.[8]
Quarrying and current status
Extensive quarrying has impacted much of the monument's setting to the north and west of the henges. The site lies within the wider Nosterfield quarry area being exploited for gravel by Tarmac Northern Ltd. In the early 21st century Tarmac planned to extend its quarrying operations to a 111.2-acre (45.0-ha) site less than a mile east of the henges known as 'Ladybridge Farm'.[9] Preliminary investigations of this area of land to discern its archaeological significance suggested that it may have been a location of ritual Neolithic encampments, possibly used by those people who built or visited the henges. Opponents of the plan claimed that if permission was granted for this area to be quarried, much of the remaining contextual information about the henges would be lost. A campaign led by local people and concerned archaeologists attempted to persuade Tarmac and the local council to guarantee the protection of the area. Planning and archaeology guidelines prefer preservation in situ of archaeological remains. In cases where this is not possible, such as quarrying, preservation by record is an option, involving archaeological excavation. Campaigners argued that further excavation and subsequent quarrying will destroy the ritual landscape completely.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Thornborough Henges) |
- Thornborough Henges: History and research
- Historic England: Thornborough Henges Air Photo Mapping Project
- TimeWatch Thornborough Campaign
- Thornborough Henges and the Ure-Swale Monuments, Assessing Evidence of Geospatial Intelligence in the Neolithic.
- Tarmac Northern Ltd.
- Recent excavations near the monuments
- Heritage Action
- BBC News: Monument quarry plans thrown out 21 February 2006
- Archaeology Data Service:
- Thornborough: Neolithic and Bronze-Age monument complex, fieldwork by Newcastle University
- Thornborough Henges: Air Photo Mapping Project, by English Heritage and Archaeological Services WYAS
- Thornborough Moor and Landscape Conservation Plan For Thornborough Henges Consultation and Working Group, 2005
References
- ↑ Thornborough Henges: History and research
- ↑ Cummings, Vicki (December 2014). "Great monuments of the north and south – Jan Harding (ed.). Cult, religion and pilgrFile: archaeological investigations at the Neolithic and Bronze Age monument complex of Thornborough, North Yorkshire, CBA Research Report 174". Antiquity 88 (342): 1323–1325. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00115510.
- ↑ Thomas 1955, p. 425.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Thomas 1955, p. 429.
- ↑ Stephens, Max (3 February 2023). "Stonehenge of the North open to the public for the first time". The Daily Telegraph (London, UK) (52, 168): p. 8. SSN 0307-1235.
- ↑ "Yorkshire's Stonehenge of the North gifted to the nation". 3 February 2023. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-64499428.
- ↑ Thomas 1955, p. 432.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1004912: Earth circles, cursus, pit alignments and burial sites near Nosterfield and Thornborough, including Centre Hill round barrow (Scheduled ancient monument entry)
- ↑ Hammond, Norman (24 August 2004). "Battle to preserve Thornborough henges". The Times. https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/battle-to-preserve-thornborough-henges-93s3062lkhc.
- Thomas, Nicholas (1955). "The Thornborough Circles, near Ripon, North Riding". Yorkshire Archaeological Journal (Leeds, UK: Yorkshire Archaeological Society) 38. SSN 0084-4276.