Be that as it may, I expect there was'nt much treasure in the great tombs of the Boyne valley either. The ditches had some water in them and reeds testified to their marshyness, but of course in these drought months we are experiencing the ditches are drying out. We already know that the area has prehistoric heritage, so we’re very interested to discover what these findings could reveal about prehistoric society and, of course, what we can learn about our ancestors,” says Paula Ware, of MAP Archaeology Practice.

If an ancient monument is at immediate risk of damage or destruction, the Welsh Ministers will be able to authorise archaeological excavations without the owner’s consent. This new power, which will help to rescue valuable information about Welsh history, will only be used in exceptional cases. Numbers of Druidical stones (or, as some people say, in honour of Danish heroes) are scattered about Shap; they are different from the mother stone* (*Granite) of the neighbourhood, yet they seem too large to have been brought by art, and too careless on the surface to have formed there.The following letter from a person who signs himself 'DRUID' appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine 1844: Druidical Temple near Shap Amlaibh, Imhar and Auisle (Audgisl) three chieftains of the gaill; and Lorcan, son of Cathal, King of Meath, plundered the land of Flann (North Brega). Cornwall's Arch Druid Ed Prynn believes it's possible to be both a Christian and a Druid. He told BBC Cornwall what his faith means to him. They were not onely strrets but halydoms:In his 1845 notes to the manuscript, the Rev Thomas Corser wrote: Dr Holme informs me that at Shap in Westmoreland there are, or were, two rows of large upright stones placed at regular distances, running parallel with the turnpike road for nearly three quarters of a mile, called there Shap Race, and in a work he cannot at present recollect, Shap Giants. The remains of the Ancient Britons at Stonehenge are also called the Stnehenge Giants. It is possible that Shap Race might obtain its name from being supposed (locally) to have been a British Cursus.Source: Iter Lancastrense; A Poem, Written AD 1636 by the Rev Richard James B.D.

The once monumental final resting place of a probable prehistoric chieftain and, potentially, his shaman has been discovered in southwest England. Some of the 75 square barrows – burial chambers – contained personal possessions such as jewellery and weapons. Archaeologists have also discovered a skeleton with a shield. These four Barrows can be found to the right of the drive leading to Baltic Farm. You can pull in at the entrance to the farm although the Barrows are also easy to spot from the busy A361. Geographical facts and numbers of stones in the three stone circles, collected whilst following Daniel Gumb's history...The pagan Saxon cremation cemetery had the usual range of intricately worked Saxon brooches also metalwork, including a funny rounded hat and of course beads, twelve strings were found, and it is though that the beads hung between pairs of the brooches; the brooches of course clasping the dress at the shoulder. There were some 225 certain or possible burials,of which 103 were certain inhumation burials but the cremation pots had been buried very close to the surface, and the surface was to a degree ploughed out. The east side was surveyed by RCAHM (Wales) for part one of the Caernarfonshire Inventory published in the 1950s but further evidence of prehistoric land use has become more apparent recently, and a new survey as part of a more long-term and comprehensive survey of the hill was commissioned. Augustine's mission in 601 AD seemed to have renamed him as Cerno El, the pagan saxons renaming him as Heil. But apparently during the saxon period he shared his valley with another god whose neophytes purified the waters that had long been sacred. They believe the stones could have been dismantled and rebuilt 150 miles (240 km) away on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

On the north side of the hill is a field, in which there is entry to a cavern which is said to run under the hill. It is called "Hobbe's Hole," after a personage of whom singular tales are told. Hobbe was evidently a poltergeist. It was his regular custom every week to visit a neighbouring tavern and do the churning for the inmates. All the necessary utensils were placed in readiness before the landlord retired to rest. Unhappily, one night the maid left a linen apron instead of the proper linsey-wolsey one. The nocturnal visitor took offence and never again favoured the inn with his services.Offended by linen instead of linen-wool mix aprons? I can't imagine what a modern hobgoblin would think of modern fibres. Told in the Leicester Daily Mercury, 4th May 1929.

NOTWITHSTANDING the alleged increase of good taste at the present day, I find the intention of the projectors of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway to carry their line through and destroy, a most interesting remnant of antiquity, the remains of a Druidical Temple situated in a field the property of the Earl of Lonsdale, on the road from Kendal to Shap, and about 2 miles from the latter place. I am surprised the noble Earl should permit such barbarity, with such influence as he possess over the company. Third, the Gop itself and six tumuli form a ring which very closely mimics the ring of stars in the Pleiades, but in mirror form (as they would be if the stars were to "fall to Earth"). The Pleiades cluster actually contains 13 stars, nine of which are represented on the ground. The missing four would have been close the present day roads and may have been destroyed. There are a lot of other tumuli in the area, of course, but these make a remarkably accurate fit.

The stones may have originally measured up to 4.5m (14ft) in height and had been pushed over the edge of Durrington Walls. It is said that many of them were broken up to build Shap Abbey in 1158, which is, in its turn, dismantled to build paltry houses. Part of the steeple, with trees upon it that have withered with age, and cells under the once body of the abbey, are the only remains of this ruin: it has been shamefully dismantled. A fine stream runs near it, and the ground produces sweet grass, and hay that is all fragrance!New archaeological research is revealing that south-west Britain was the scene of a prehistoric gold rush. Interesting in itself but not part of this blog. Now whether this earlier monument had anything to do with the settlement at Springfield Lyons is a matter of conjecture. So the monks sought advice from a holy man. The natural assumption, for we are all prone to think evil, was that the Prince of Darkness was at work. The holy man, however, knew better. He explained that what they saw was a miracle. The monks were clearly enjoined to look heavenwards, not below in the valley! An Angel of the Lord had intervened in their affairs and it behoved them to regard the heavenly command. The monks took the hint, and so the edifice was built on the summit of Breedon. http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art522244-skeletons-and-jewellery-in-square-barrows-come-from-iron-age-east-yorkshire-tribe-say-archaeologists