1. Of Silhouettes and Sunsets
OF SILHOUETTES AND SUNSETS
oil on canvas | 12" x 9½" | 2005 | £NFS
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THORNBOROUGH HENGES, N.YORKSHIRE
A fantastic landscape of henges and barrows now sadly threatened by the expansion of gravel quarrying [see LINKS for further info]. There are 3 gravel-banked henges in the Thornborough complex, aligned from North East to South West and roughly three quarters of a mile apart. To the east of the northern henge are the Three Hills round barrows, excavated by Lukis in the C19th, who uncovered several cremations. The northern henge is arguably the best preserved and is tree-covered, whilst the middle henge is the most accessible. This is an oval structure with a bank rising 15' and with a width of around 50'. Excavations in the 1950s determined that the bank was coated in gypsum crystals from the nearby River Ure, whitening it in a likeness to the exposed chalk banks found in the south of England. A ditch lays to the outside of the bank and another within, 60' wide and separated from the bank by a 36' wide berm. There are 2 entrances to this henge, at the North West and South East, the latter also 36' wide. Pre-dating this henge and derelict before its construction over it was a 1 mile long cursus running North East to South West, with an inner bank and ditches 135' apart. The southern henge is pretty much destroyed but once had an entrance to the South East. To its north west is the Centre Hill barrow, 85' across and 3' high. During a C19th excavation a flint knife and scraper were among objects found here alongside a skeleton in a coffin made from a tree trunk. To the South East is a second, larger, barrow, 7' high and 90' across.
OS: SE.285.795 Around the area of Tanfield and Thornborough, north of Ripon on the A6108. The northern henge is near the road from Nosterfield; the middle henge is in a field north from the minor road heading west from Thornborough and the southern henge is to the south of the same road.