Way marking stones on the moor; these two holed stones are about nine feet in height and stand on either side of two lanes that meet directly into a point, as the car bumps over the cattle grid, this is the first sight that greets you, speculate as much as you want as to why there are holes in these stones, but there is no answer as yet, the article mentioned in the Leyhunter will give you some clues, but then I don't believe in leylines The other stones follow the path of the straight narrow Roman road, marching past the Three Howes Bronze Age burial mounds, down to the little gill in the valley.
LS has written about them here, he wants the mystery resolved but these moors have many histories long forgotten and not written about. Beautifully built grouse butts march in a line along the hilltop, I do not like the killing of animals for pure sport, but often as you walk through the heather you will start up a black grouse lying low.
Looking at this particular file of photos from March 2012, and I suddenly realise how much I try to capture with my camera, an old well house by the side of the road, Robin Hoods Bay, Yorkshire farmhouses set high on the moors, bleak and grey with their ancillary farm buildings. Sheep get little attention as there are so many of them, they blend in with the stones in the dark brown of the heather. Even now as I write I suddenly feel the squelch underfoot of hidden water as you negotiate the tough heather. The moors are a beautiful waste land, probably created by Bronze Age people as they stripped the land of the trees, stop the car and take in the silence, and then the bubbling sound of a bird melting away in the distance. The wind may catch your breath, I remember the little harebells protected by the heather but swaying in a strong breeze, never get caught on foot on these moors in the snow....
The Wheeldale Roman Road as it looks today, and this (not very good) photo, probably taken in the 1960s when it was more cared for.
There's nothing like the sound of moorland. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. When it's silent up here, other than the natural sounds, you can almost breath it in.
ReplyDeleteYou are very lucky to live where you do Em, your photos paint a lovely picture of Dartmoor.
DeleteLoved this - north York moors speaks to me.
ReplyDeleteHi, thank you, the moors do have a special magic, but scary in bad weather....
DeleteReally enjoyed your Blog today, so fascinated by the stones, we have visited many of the sites, but probably never get to see them all.
ReplyDeleteHello, thanks for that, as you say there are far too many sites to see in Britain.
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