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Pre-Historic Pendle  4

The Neolithic peoples left reminders other than track ways, flints and stone tools - chief amongst these are their burial sites, territorial markers, stone structures, terraced agricultural areas and causewayed enclosures.

Quality stone tools were replacing flint but even these, and the later bronze tools, were not efficient enough to cultivate the heavy clay soils in our valleys. This meant that settlements were largely confined to the slopes and high ground where the soil was thinner. Although these more acidic soils were less fertile they tended to yield larger crops of  the early types of wheat and barley. Many examples of the terracing methods, used on hill slopes in this period for crop growing, can still be seen. They have always been known locally as "Roman Ploughing" although they were ancient even in that era.

Standing stones, or monoliths, are a firm reminder of our ancient forebears. These are often difficult to date as stones of all shapes and sizes were employed for different purposes right up to the Middle Ages. The exact purpose of the large monoliths, and stone circles, left to us by the Neolithic culture is unclear. It has been postulated that some sites had an astrological use whilst others were for  religious or fertility rites. The large amount of different design structures, and their varying types of site, strongly suggests that the wealth of stone sites had different purposes. Whatever these purposes might have been it is quite obvious that the ancients took a great deal of time and trouble to site and construct them, more of this in Chapter 6.


Although we do not have ancient structures to compare with the hugely impressive stone giants of the Devil’s Arrows at Boroughbridge (by the A1 near Harrogate) we do (or did) have a particularly fine example of a true monolith now known as Walton Spire (or Walton's Monument). A landmark that few can have failed to see the Spire stands about eighteen feet in height on a hill at Shelfield, between Nelson and Trawden. Originally this monolith (SD 894 373) stood higher and broader than it does now. The Reverend Richard Thomas Wroe-Walton (b1773 – d 1845) of nearby Marsden Hall, carried out an act of vandalism in the 19th century whereby he had stone masons trim down the impressive structure and place a dressed-stone cross on the top. This act was reminiscent of the early 1st millennium AD where pagan sites were ‘Christianised’, even wayside stones and boundary stones were carved with Christian symbols.


The hill upon which the Spire stands, overlooking the iron Age fort of Castercliffe, is of great interest in itself. Viewed from the opposite side of the valley to the north, the hill appears to be part of the natural sweeping contour of the ridge. Over a three-mile length the hill sits perfectly within its environment, a gentle brow forms the platform from which the stone projects. However, seen from Shelfield on the Boulsworth side of the hill, only the tip of the spire can be seen, another large mound is placed by the spire hill. Another angle, viewed from the heights of Halifax Road, between Nelson and Haggate, shows that this latter mound is flat-topped and has all the hallmarks of a pre-historic settlement. A close inspection, from all angles, shows that the hill upon which Walton Spire stands could very well have been artificially formed - a common feature within the landscapes of the Neolithic culture.

In some quarters it is thought that the stone base of the spire at Shelfield is actually a “Battle Stone” erected to commemorate the burial of a great number of dead from some Saxon battle. In the Worsthorne and Extwistle areas, to the north of the site, there is a legend that a massive battle took place somewhere in the region and that “five Kings lay dead”. This has lead to a number of people postulating that the 9th century Battle of Brunaburgh took place in the Thursden Valley and that slain warriors are buried beneath the ‘Spire’. Personally I think that this massive feature of a stone-surmounted hill blends too well with the landscape, this suggests a Bronze/Iron Age feature. Also, on the Shelfield slopes of the hill are many mounds, artefacts of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages have been uncovered and a field there is still called Ringstone Hill.

The country areas around us have their share of standing stones although care must be taken in ascribing these to a particular culture as many of these stones were used for other purposes through to the Middle Ages at least. These were used for marking tribal, family, parish and county boundaries, many are now incorporated into the stone walls. Likewise marker stones, in the form of boulders both large and small, delineate footpaths (especially where two or more paths cross), track ways and boundaries. Some of these markers were very large, examples can be seen at Narrowgates Mill, Prospect at Barnoldswick, Rye Bank in Barrowford, Slipper Hill near Colne Edge, Admergill Water and Sabden Heights to name but a few (see Chapter 6).. It can prove difficult to show that a large stone, or multi-ton boulder, has ever been used for a specific purpose in antiquity. Many stone circles, standing stones and mark stones have either been totally destroyed or moved in the later agricultural process. Extant stones at field edges and in ditches could have been moved from their nearby locations so as to ease the growing of crops. One thing is sure, these large stones will never have moved very far from their original location.


When a three-ton boulder is seen in a field on the moorland slopes it is possible that it would have been a glacial deposit, left by the final glaciers when they crept across our land. The glaciers covering the higher hills of our area retreated some 20,000 to 16,000 years ago when Pennine Drift material was deposited above  200 to 300 feet. It strikes me, however, that none of these boulders remained untouched by our forebears, they were all placed in a position within the landscape but only where they were obviously placed to act as boundary markers is their purpose clear.


In the pre-Roman Welsh culture it is recorded that the act of interfering (destroying or moving) with any marker stone was punishable by death. As late as the 16th century the Clitheroe Court Rolls show local people being amerced (fined) for moving ‘merestanes’.


The moors around Pendle have many hidden stones that only the solitary walker, and the sheep farmer, know exist. In an article written in 1992 a local field archaeologist, John H Hope, made some interesting observations regarding Neolithic stones. Mr. Hope studied the area around his native Newchurch-in-Pendle (SD 823 394) and found a number of standing stones. In the field behind the Witches Galore shop are a couple of large standing stones, one taking the form of a stellae, (an upright stone bearing ancient inscriptions or figures). If this is a genuine example then it is a very rare find within this area.

Also the author relates a story of the shop owner attempting to drive fence posts into the ground behind the shop. When driven the posts disappeared into a void beneath the ground, this occurred over a wide enough area for him to postulate the presence of a chambered Neolithic tomb beneath the field. Given the hillside site, the large amount of extant Neolithic remains in the immediate vicinity and the fact that the local millstone grit does not tend to form large chambers, this theory must hold some water. If this were to be a tomb then it would be a rarity within our area. Around 2700 BC Britain was ‘invaded’ by a people of similar culture to the Windmill Hill people of Wiltshire, they brought with them the continental practise of erecting large megalithic structures. They also constructed chambered tombs. It is pure conjecture, however, to assume that the Newchurch feature could be a consequence of the cultural spread of these people.


The remains of a double-ring stone circle still exist near to St. Mary’s church, this can best be seen from the vantage point of nearby Green Hill on Saddlers Height. Mr. Hope also identified probable examples of the burial practises of Neolithic culture. Seven earthen long barrows appear to be located at Black Bank, behind the woods above the former Lamb Inn. At the time of writing the author had not excavated these mounds but their remaining parallel ditches, and patches of burnt material brought to the surface by moles from within the earth, strongly suggest barrow burials. Burial mounds of this culture, and the later pre-Roman cultures, litter our landscape and I would say that it is no exaggeration to state that well over 99% of these features remain undiscovered.


The Neolithic people settled into their pastoral - nomadic way of life and began to create more permanent settlements and enclosures. An excellent example of this is Windmill Hill in Wiltshire. This takes the form of a causewayed camp of three ditches, roughly concentric, enclosing around 23 acres. The construction was by means of a ditch around 10 feet in depth, the soil from this was thrown up to form a bank. It would appear that this enclosure was used as safe shelter for housing both the cattle herds and the people’s dwellings. This enclosure dates from around 2,500 BC, having been formed on the site of an earlier feature.

The history books do not afford much scope for ancient civilisation within East Lancashire (the numerous tumuli of Briercliffe and Worsthorn apart), never mind our particular corner of the county. There is always a mention for Portfield and Castercliffe 'Iron Age' forts and the bronze implements found here and there, otherwise we appear to be considered as having been a wasteland. Local historians, of course, know better than this, one of the main problems we have here is the lack of funding for the official archaeological departments, therefore (officially) no digs means no sites means no interest.

Many of our local ancient sites have yet to be discovered, the easy access to aerial photography now afforded to us, amateur and professional alike, is addressing this situation. A site that requires investigation is in the Water Meetings valley (SD 858 410), where, as I have mentioned above, the trade route passed from the Uderstone ridge to Blacko Hillside. This site appears to my eye to be a definite ditched enclosure; situated between two rivers, and raised above the water level, there appears to be an outer banked ditch with an inner, smaller banked enclosure covering in all perhaps 2 acres. Across the river there appears to be a rectangular enclosure of roughly 1 acre. I hope that the future will see an investigation of this area to either prove, or disprove, my theory - either way it is certain that this area holds many hidden delights for the local historian.

John A Clayton
Barrowford  © 2005