#chartularies

[blprompt]

Image taken from page 84 of 'History of the Manor and ancient Barony of Castle Combe, in the County of Wilts; chiefly compiled from original MSS. and Chartularies at Castle Combe. With memoirs of the families of Dunstanville, Badlesmere, Tiptoft, Scrope,

Image taken from: Title: "History of the Manor and ancient Barony of Castle Combe, in the County of Wilts; chiefly compiled from original MSS. and Chartularies at Castle Combe. With memoirs of the families of Dunstanville, Badlesmere, Tiptoft, Scrope, Fastolf, etc" Author: SCROPE, George Poulett. Shelfmark: "British Library HMNTS 10368.h.18." Page: 84 Place of Publishing: London] Date of Publishing: 1852 Publisher: Printed for private circulation Issuance: monographic Identifier: 003320755 Explore: Find this item in the British Library catalogue, 'Explore'. Download the PDF for this book (volume: 0) Image found on book scan 84 (NB not necessarily a page number) Download the OCR-derived text for this volume: (plain text) or (json) Click here to see all the illustrations in this book and click here to browse other illustrations published in books in the same year. Order a higher quality version from here. from BLPromptBot http://ift.tt/2heaTRm

[wadestone]

The Hambleton Street is a ridgeway that runs along the western edge of the North York Moors. A document in the Rievaulx Chartulary refers to the road as a ‘Regalis Via’ or ‘King’s Way’. According to KJ Bonser “it is the best preserved stretch of drove road in Yorkshire, – part of a track of great antiquity, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Romano- British, from the Channel to Scotland.”

The street passes along the western edge of Thimbleby Moor before climbing along the edge of Black Hambleton. The hill dominates the views to the east, to the west the moor looks out over the Vale of Mowbray towards the distant Pennines.

Until relatively recently a large section of the moor was covered with forestry. The trees have been harvested leaving this area of the moor covered in tree stumps and debris.

In the late 1970s Spratt and Brown  performed an aerial survey of the moor and reported  “an extensive system of small irregular fields with tumbled stone walls covering large parts of the northern slope of the recently burnt off heather moor.  The are also a few round cairns. To the south, on the crest of the moor, there are four standing stones and some fallen megaliths (The Nine Stones), perhaps the remains of a double alignment leading to the site.”

The Nine Stones site is bisected by a stone wall, open moorland on one side, the chaotic remains of modern forestry on the other. Old maps show the majority of the Nine Stones located on the forestry side of the wall. There are many large stones to be found in the forestry, none are upright, The weathering on a few of these stones indicates that they once stood upright.

There moor has a number of areas that are littered with stones. It is almost impossible not to see alignments in these stones, most are coincidental, others may be deliberate. The alignment below terminates at a small standing stone and appears to refer to the distant barrow topped peak on Cringle Moor. This is also a very rough alignment to the direction of the summer solstice sunrise.

A low embankment runs across the moor from a small standing stone towards Black Hambleton. This is probably one of Spratt & Browns field walls.

Another alignment of small upright stones points to where Hambleton Street traverses the shoulder of Black Hambleton and another vary rough alignment, this time to the winter solstice sunrise.

In common with a number of the moorland prehistoric sites, the exact nature of Nine Stones is unknown, a number of people have tried to interpret the site but without excavation we will never know its true nature. The alignments I have mentioned are all my own opinion and are extremely imprecise and unproven.

Sources

Old Roads and Pannierways in North East Yorkshire. Raymond H. Hayes. 1988

The Yorkshire Archaeological Register 1976. The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal. Volume 49. 1977

Map reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Nine Stones The Hambleton Street is a ridgeway that runs along the western edge of the North York Moors.

[mechanicalcurator]

Image from 'History of the Manor and ancient Barony of Castle Combe, in the County of Wilts; chiefly compiled from original MSS. and Chartularies at Castle Combe. With memoirs of the families of Dunstanville, Badlesmere, Tiptoft, Scrope, Fastolf, etc', 003320755

Author: SCROPE, George Poulett.

Page: 106

Year: 1852

Place: London]

Publisher: Printed for private circulation

View this image on Flickr

View all the images from this book

Following the link above will take you to the British Library's integrated catalogue. You will be able to download a PDF of the book this image is taken from, as well as view the pages up close with the 'itemViewer'. Click on the 'related items' to search for the electronic version of this work.

[gotojobin]

Thomas the Rhymer and the Queen of Elfland #theQueenofElfland #theRhymer #QueenofElfland #Rhymer #ThomastheRhymerandtheQueenofRhymerElfland Thomas the Rhymer or 'True Thomas', was a legendary character said to be the author of many verses that predicted the future.  The character is thought to be based on a real person -Thomas Rimor de Ercildoun or Thomas Learmonth. He was a 13th century Scottish laird and poet, born around 1220, near Ercildoune, now Earlston in Berwickshire.  Little is known for certain of his life but the traditions that have built up around him may be rooted in real events. He is mentioned in a charter dating from 1260-80 and also in the 1294 chartulary of the Trinity House of Solfra. This second charter mentions lands inherited by "Thomas de Ercildounson son and heir of Thome Rymour de Ercildoun".  Living during the time of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace, Thomas has also been associated with the nationalist cause. During Edward the First's ravaging of Scotland, he was thought to be an active traveller and seer. There are two theories about his death. The first is that he was murdered for political reasons and that he foresaw this death accurately. The second is that he lives on in the hollow Eildon hills and, like Merlin or Arthur, will one day return.  Thomas's fame was such that, until the late 1800's, many people continued to regard him with veneration, and continued to study his sayings. The magical hawthorn tree associated with the legend supposedly lived until 1814, when it was blown down in a gale. The local people apparently attempted to revive the roots with whisky. It did not work.  Thomas had prophesied that 'As long as the Thorn Tree stands, Ercledoune shall keep its lands.' In that same year, a chain of financial disasters struck the community, and all common land was sold in payment of debts. The site is now marked with a stone.

[blprompt]

Image taken from page 144 of 'History of the Manor and ancient Barony of Castle Combe, in the County of Wilts; chiefly compiled from original MSS. and Chartularies at Castle Combe. With memoirs of the families of Dunstanville, Badlesmere, Tiptoft, Scrope,

Image taken from: Title: "History of the Manor and ancient Barony of Castle Combe, in the County of Wilts; chiefly compiled from original MSS. and Chartularies at Castle Combe. With memoirs of the families of Dunstanville, Badlesmere, Tiptoft, Scrope, Fastolf, etc" Author: SCROPE, George Poulett. Shelfmark: "British Library HMNTS 10368.h.18." Page: 144 Place of Publishing: London] Date of Publishing: 1852 Publisher: Printed for private circulation Issuance: monographic Identifier: 003320755 Explore: Find this item in the British Library catalogue, 'Explore'. Download the PDF for this book (volume: 0) Image found on book scan 144 (NB not necessarily a page number) Download the OCR-derived text for this volume: (plain text) or (json) Click here to see all the illustrations in this book and click here to browse other illustrations published in books in the same year. Order a higher quality version from here. from BLPromptBot http://ift.tt/2emUpS7