Holed Megaliths of the British Isles 1: The Devil's Ring and Finger

Holed Megaliths are rare survivors in the UK, much more so than in Ireland, France or even Denmark. This little-known pair of megaliths are situated on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border some 18km ESE of Stoke-on-Trent.

The Devil’s Ring and Finger, originally called the Whirl Stones. Photographed by the author 29^th June 2021.

Research revealed that antiquaries of early last century, knew of the stones:

Devil’s Ring and Finger, Photograph by Williams (1912). Original caption reads: “The Devil’s Ring and Finger, North Staffordshire, looking towards the equinoctial sunset.”

Historic England (2021) states: “Despite being removed from their original positions, the two stones standing 200m east of Norton Forge Farm known as The Devil’s Ring and Finger represent an evocative reminder of Neolithic society and ritual. In particular, the holed stone represents a very rare survival with only a handful of similar stones currently known in England. Both stones were likely to have been upstanding as part of an arrangement of stones such as a stone alignment, circle, or chambered tomb within the nearby vicinity. Monuments containing holed stones are known from the Neolithic period but a Bronze Age date is also possible. The monument includes two stones to the south-east of Norton in Hales situated on a gentle slope running down to the River Tern. The stones stand adjacent to each other at the edge of a field boundary. The northern stone is grooved and measures 1.8m high and 1m by 0.6m wide. The southern stone is holed and measures 1.5m high and 1.9m by 0.5m wide. The aperture in the holed stone is 0.45m in diameter and large enough for a person to pass through.”

In Barns’ (1909) exposition on the site of the Roman camp Mediomanum, states “The element “man” in Mediomanum may be traced to the Celtic word “maen” stone, and possibly refers to some prominent menhir near this site. There are still remains of this character in the immediate neighbourhood. The Devil’s Ring and Finger is an interesting group close to the Arbour Farm. The Bradling stone at Norton-in-Hales has the appearance of a cromlech. Mucklestone almost certainly derives its name from some prominent stone; so also in all probability Bearstone. The holed stone of the Devil’s Ring did not probably stand alone.”

Barns then references Waring (1864). Whilst Waring does not specifically mention the Devil’s Ring and Finger he does offer an opinion as to the significance of holed stones to Neolithic people: “Thus where pairs (of Dolmen) occurred, one of each pair was perforated, and in any arrangement or collection of stones, this recognition of the supposed female creative principle is also to be found. The signification attached to this perforation was of the most sacred nature, and oaths and promises were made by hands being clasped through such; when found larger as at Madron and Crendi (see plate 1), the body of a person might be passed through, either for healing purposes or as a symbol of regeneration, and in a small objects (such as figure 16) the recognition was deferentially made to one nature of the creative power as a sign of respect and remembrance; and coins &c, having holes in them were held in later times to have some peculiar virtue about them. This may be the meaning of the hole in the Trevithy capstone. Mr Brash and Mr Blight, who have both paid special attention to this subject of perforated stones, are agreed that where single stones occur they are probably only the remnant of a destroyed grave; if so, we may reasonably suppose that, besides the meaning we have alluded to above, these orifices may have been made either to ascertain the state of the dead, for the introduction of food. Or for the exit and entrance of the departed spirit. The first would be natural for anxious relatives, the second is still in practice amongst the Esquimaux, as described by Mr Hall, who states that the relatives never pass the graves of the deceased without placing the best food and drink in or by the grave: and the third custom is common in Syria to this day, according to the Rev. S. Lyde (the Asiatic Mystery), who informs us that similar holes are made in the doors of all the houses for the free entrance and exit of unseen spirits.”

Thus we see the need of Victorian antiquaries to assign meaning to the erection of these holed stones by Neolithic peoples. It is however, somewhat surprising, that Waring does not discuss the obvious possibility that two stones, one holed and the other erect and slender represented to ancient people, the dual nature of the procreative process, namely the male phallus and the female vagina. Perhaps this obvious explanation was too crass for Victorian sensibilities to bare mentioning?

Another more plausible explanation by  Bottrell (1873), is this: “Some have thought that these stones, in common with the Men-an-Tol at Lanyon, the Tolmen in Constantine, and many others, might have served the same important purpose as the menheres — to fix the proper time for the celebration of the autumnal equinox, by the stones being so placed that the sacred index of the seasons on rising above the horizon would be seen through the perforation, at a right angle to the face of the stone, and that the triangular head of the stone formed such an angle that when the sun was on the meridian, (at certain periods of the year, which were required to be known,) its altitude would denote the time, by its place in the heavens being in a line with the slope of the primitive time-piece, which would then cast no shadow on the ground at mid-day If these monuments were intended for stone calendars, and any can be found in their original position, it might be possible, at least approximately, to fix the time of their erection, by their present variation from true east and west. If the deviation is in the direction demanded by the precession of the equinoxial points, the difference might be calculated at the allowed rate of fifty seconds a year.”

While giving no evidence for his supposition, Botrell’s comment chimes well with the caption attached to the Williams (1912) photograph, namely, “The Devil’s Ring and Finger, North Staffordshire, looking towards the equinoctial sunset.” While this snippet of information is interesting, it is not expanded upon in the volumes of the Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club referenced above. Although it is tempting to accept this prosaic ‘calendar’ explanation of the meaning and usage of holed stones to Neolithic peoples, I lean toward a deeper, more spiritual or religious significance in their creation and erection.

On this theme, I turn back to Waring (1864) and his comment “this perforation was of the most sacred nature, and oaths and promises were made by hands being clasped through such; when found larger as at Madron and Crendi , the body of a person might be passed through, either for healing purposes or as a symbol of regeneration”. While Waring does not reference him, this authoritative statement is almost certainly drawn from Borlase (1754), who records: “When I was last at this Monument, (Men an Tol) in the year 1749, a very intelligent farmer of the neighbourhood assured me that he had known many persons who had crept through this holed stone for pains in their back and limbs; and that fanciful parents, at certain times of the year, do customarily draw their young children through, in order to cure them of rickets. He showed me also two brass pins carefully laid across each other, on the top edge of the holed stone. This is the way of the Over-curious, even at this time; and by recurring to these pins, and observing their direction to be the same; or different from what they left them in, or by their being left or gone, they are informed of some material incident of Love or Fortune."

Bottrell (1873), also records a similar tradition attached to the holed, Tolven of Constantine, at the head of the Lizard peninsula: “I was told that some remarkable cures had been effected there only a few weeks since. The ceremony consists of passing the child nine times through the hole, alternately from one side to the other; and it is essential to success that the operation should finish on that side where there is a little grassy mound, recently made, on which the patient must sleep, with a six-pence under his head. A trough-like stone, called the 'cradle,' on the eastern side of the barrow, was formerly used for this purpose. This stone, unfortunately, has long been destroyed. That holed stones were not originally constructed for the observance of this peculiar custom is evident, for in some instances the holes are not more than five or six inches in diameter.”

There is one other, earlier reference to the healing powers of holed stones by Thomas Tonkin of St Agnes about the year 1700, but I have been unable to trace what he had to say on the subject.

Thus the beliefs of the local population in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, while almost certainly, founded on folk-memory of the usage of the holed stones for healing purposes, are strongly evocative of a possible Neolithic, ritual use. Whether this was in fact the case, is now, impossible to gauge.

As a pertinent reminder of not crediting one’s own assessment of the (limited) facts with too much weight, I will now turn to Brash (1864). This treatment of holed stones is much more extensive than any of the others and describes known examples from Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, Yorkshire (discounted as it is based on an account of Brimham Rocks, by Hayman Rooke where no holed stones, other than natural, exist) and as far afield as Circassia (eastern end of the Black Sea, still part of the Russian state) and India.

Brash states: “I think a few inferences may be drawn from the facts already stated. First, that the superstition of the holed stone seems peculiar to the “Goadhal" or Irish Celts, as the examples existing are almost exclusively found in Ireland , Scotland ,and Cornwall , which two latter districts were largely colonized by the Goadhal . Secondly , that the virtues attributed to its use are found either traditionally or in actual existence in the countries whence I have drawn my examples, Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, India, and those are , the binding nature of contracts made through them, but more particularly the regenerative power supposed to be communicated by passing through the orifice, whether it be a diseased limb, or the weakly and rickety infant, or the linen about to be used in childbirth. In India it undoubtedly was a Phallic emblem, with a two-fold symbolism, representing in the one monument the reciprocal principles. I am equally certain, that among our Celtic progenitors it had a similar signification, of which the existing myths have a faint shadowing. In Ireland ample evidences are not wanting to shew that Phallic dogmas and rites were very extensively known and practised in ancient times. It is patent in the existing folk-lore of the country, in some everyday customs of the peasantry, and in the remains of midnight plays and ceremonies, practised still in remote districts at wakes and such-like occasions. Thirdly, Mr. Blight has before alluded to the triangular arrangement of the stones at Madron, and to the triangular stone at Tolven Cross , Constantine, and hints that the coincidence is worthy of consideration. To these I would add, the triangular arrangement at Applecross, Ross-shire, the triangular arrangement of the aperture on the cross at Eilean Rona, and the thrice-repeated aperture on the supporting slab of the cromlech on Gafr-Inis, Brittany. The coincidence of the holed cromlechs in Ireland, Yorkshire, Brittany, Circassia, and India, is certainly very remarkable, and cannot by any possibility be accidental, but was evidently the work of design resulting from some prevalent religious or social principle; what the nature of it was is now hidden, and will in all probability be for ever hidden from us.”

In Brash’s treatise on the meaning/usage of the holed stones by ancient peoples there are several incorrect assumptions, that today have been thoroughly discounted.

Chief amongst these is the assignment of their age as Celtic. The Celts migrated to the British Isles about 1000B.C., thus post-dating the Bronze Age. Most archaeologists now favour a late Neolithic or very early Bronze Age date of erection. Indeed, the central stone settings at Stonehenge, with their astronomical alignment date from ca. 2500B.C. Thus, Neolithic people are almost certainly the builders of monuments, not the Celts. While Brash’s assertion that holed stones are only found where Celtic tribes established themselves is coincidentally true, it seems just that: a coincidence.

In his excavation of the Men an Tol, Borlase found a worked flint which would certainly lend more weight to a Neolithic date of construction of this type of monument.

Incidentally, the Heritage Gateway website (2012) list the Devil’s Ring and Finger, definitively as Neolithic “4000 to 2351BC”.

Next we come to Brash’s fixation on triangular arrangements. While fanciful, and his list of instances clearly a confabulation of unrelated facts, it does actually hold a grain of truth. An early representation and modern research on the Men an Tol stones do seem to point to a different arrangement of the extant stones. Careful examination of the area surrounding them has shown that they were once part of a stone circle, with the stones in question originally lying on an arc of the circle. Thus they once stood in a broad-based triangular alignment.

The Devil’s Ring and Finger may once have stood elsewhere. Natural England (2021) again: “There is no evidence to confirm they are in their original position and their leaning nature against a field boundary wall indicates they have been moved. They are likely to be from a chambered tomb or stone setting. There are currently no known associated monuments of the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods within the vicinity, however, the site of a possible Bronze Age disc barrow lies 350m to the south-west.” Being the son of a farmer and well used to enclosing fields or removing objects in the way of cultivation, find the suggestion that a farmer moved the stones 350m laughable – the effort required, over that sort of distance would, have been enormous even given a cart team of oxen and large gang of farm labourers!

The supposition that they have been moved, seems to go back to Barns (1909) referencing Waring (1864). In fact the suggestion by Natural England that the Devil’s Ring and Finger may have formed part of a ‘stone setting’ i.e. a stone circle or chambered tomb is followed by their caveat that the nearest known ancient monument (an unlikely Bronze Age ring barrow) is 350m away.

An alternate suggestion comes from Morgan (2009). He found mound material found in the same wood at SJ70703776. Indeed, I myself, also found a mound directly behind the stones at a distance of 2-3m.

Lastly, the Heritage gateway website (2012), notes that: “It may be significant that stone quarrying has taken place in the adjacent field.” As the stones seem to be made of the same hard sandstone, found in road cuttings, throughout the district, and given the locally available sandstone (less than 100m distant), it seems likely that the stones may actually, stand in their original position. Moreover the uninvestigated mounds observed in the woodland behind the stones by Morgan (2009) and myself, may also indicate that the stones stand in the position that the Neolithic people erected them in.

From my fieldnotes written sitting against the stones: “The Finger stone is severely eroded, with numerous vertical runnels scored down it by centuries of weather. 6’+ high. The Ring stone is 5’ 6" high with a 20" hole, bevelled at the back as if to admit a body passing through. Sits on an old field boundary with tumbled blocks of sandstone of the local type and more recent barbed-wire. The large oak growing next to the stones seems younger than the wall. It measures two full arm spans, plus 14 inches. Sat resting my back against the inclined Ring stone – very comforting – until I noticed the gathering numbers of Red-Tailed bumblebees, getting irate due to me sitting on their nest hole!”

I had taken the time to roughly, measure the circumference of the oak tree to estimate its age. Using the graph from the WDVTA (2012) the oak is at maximum 180 years old. As it grows through the remains of the wall, it is younger than the oldest field boundary construction.

One then must ask, why would a field boundary be constructed at this date - ca. 1840 (or earlier) at all. On possible answer lies in the process of ‘enclosure’. This was the process by which local landowners applied to parliament to inclose land. This was the process of turning the strip-like field of medieval times into larger fields. The process was often carried out at the bequest of the manorial landowner. The peasantry that actually farmed the land thus lost any means of support for their families and were reduced to beggary. Although beginning in the 12^th century, by the time of queen Anne (1702-1714) this systematic theft of common or peasant occupied land accelerated vastly. By 1844 one third of the tillable land in England and Wales had been enclosed.

This timescale fits nicely with the hypothesised movement of the Devil’s Ring and Finger stones, so perhaps they were moved after all?

Close-up of the Devil’s Ring and Finger stones. Photograph, the author.

The stones from the rear showing the bevelling at the back of the Ring stone hole. Photograph the author.

The magnificent Hay Meadows adjacent to the footpath used to access the stones. Photograph the author.

References

Barns, T. (1909) Suggested Site of Mediomanum. Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club vol. XL1II, p133

Blight, J. T.  (1864) An Account of Barrow with Kist-Vaen in the Parish of Sancreed, Cornwall. Archaeologia Cambrensis, p243-245. Available online at: https://journals.library.wales/view/2919943/2920139/68#?xywh=-1833%2C-103%2C5603%2C3429 accessed 03.07.2021

Borlase, W. (1754). Observations on the Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall. Printed by W Jackson.

Bottrell, W.  (1873) Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Vol. 2.

Brash, R. R. (1864). On Holed Stones, The Gentlemen’s Magazine Vol. 217 pp 686-700, available online at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.79255486&view=1up&seq=702 accessed 25/06/2021

Heritage Gate (2012). Staffordshire HER at: https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MST21&resourceID=1010 accessed 04/07/2021

Historic England. (2021). The Devil’s Ring and Finger, at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1003495 accessed 26.06.2021

Morgan, P. (2009). The Devil’s Ring and Finger from The Megalithic Portal at: https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=4985 accessed 04/07/2021

Rocker, R. (1938) Anarcho-Syndicalism. Seeker and Warburg, London p36. Available online at: https://libcom.org/files/Rocker%20-%20Anarcho-Syndicalism%20Theory%20and%20Practice.pdf accessed 04/07/2021.

Waring, J. B. (1864). Stone Monuments, Tumuli and Ornament of Remote Ages with remarks on the early Architecture of Ireland and Scotland. John B. Day, London

Williams, T. (1912). Picture of the Devil’s Ring and Finger. Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club vol. XLVI, Frontispiece (p2)

Derbyshire Bone Caves 8: Thor's Fissure Cave

Thor’s Fissure Cave lies below and right of Thor’s Cave west window in an almost inaccessible position. It was discovered by G. H. Wilson in 1927, and excavated by him between 1929 and 1935 with the help of the ‘Brotherhood of the pick and shovel’.

Thor’s Fissure Cave from within. Photograph: the author.

Thor’s Fissure cave seen to the right of Thor’s Cave (arrowed in green). Photographed by the author.

Wilson (1937) describes his discovery of the cave thus: “In the summer of 1927 two of us spent a day re-exploring the slopes and cliffs south of Thor’s with a cragsmen’s equipment and enjoyed some really interesting minor problems in rock work. Notes made at the time mention the cave now excavated as a site of promise, and following up this hint my son G. E. Wilson, joined me in test digging in the spring of 1927 which suggested further work.”

He goes on to describe the cave thus: “Along the whole length of 60 feet or so, from the mouth to the very furthest narrow limit the floor was strewn with large and small boulders.. It was very evident that the excavation of such a cave would be no light task..”

On excavation and recording of finds Wilson records: “During Easter week of 1929, while some preliminary work went forward, Lieutenant Todd R.N. and G. E. Wilson, B.Sc., prepared an exact chart of the passage to be excavated marking this out in sections of 5 feet which were sub-divided into A. B. and C. The width of the fissure at floor level varies from 2 ½ to 5 ½ feet.

The entrance to Thor’s Fissure Cave, almost hidden by a deluge of spring foliage. Photograph, the author.

The importance of recording the exact position in which an object is found is evident, and this was secured for all items of note by giving the depth at which a piece was found, with the figures and letter indicating the section.”

Wilson describes the initial and subsequent excavations, in some detail. For example: “In some parts of the floor the rocky debris was soon removed as it simple lay loose on the surface. This was the case in section 6 and 7 where we decided to commence work. Here the stratification was regular, and apart from a few easily removed blocks of smaller size, and a layer of particularly difficult clay, the work followed the normal course. A stalagmite crust varying from 2 to 5 inches in thickness appeared across the floor of section 6 at a depth of 40 inches. This hard cement demanded an electric drill but ultimately yielded to a chisel and 20 lb. hammer. From these two sections representing 10 feet in length of the passage, at 25 to 35 feet from the cave mouth, came the more significant of our finds.”

Beginning to make my way inwards. 

Wilson’s sections 6 and 7 – the most deeply excavated.

On the recording of the finds Wilson seems to have been quite meticulous for his time, compared to some excavators. He explains the procedure during the initial digging at Whit week 1929 quite clearly: “The material was sorted further back in the cave as we did not wish to attract attention at this stage by a dump outside. Two men worked in the trench filling buckets which were passed along to the sorters. Any item of interest was reported by the diggers or sorters and a note as to position in which it was found. By the end of these three days we had assembled a collection of very interesting items including human jaws, flints, celts and bone implements. The animal remains included jaws, limbs, and vertebrae of bear; antler and other parts of giant deer; wild dog and wolf, ox, polecat and much besides.”

The work was carried out by an invited group christened the ‘Brotherhood of the Pick and Shovel’. Whilst some trustworthy, local men were included, many were learned men and well-known names of the time. These included J. L. Waterhouse; Dr R. Williamson; Geoff and Frank Hall; G. E. Wilson (his son); H. J. Irwin; W. M. Rogers; R Brocklebank; J. Cringhall; Harry Wright; L. Ramsbottom; A. J. Brain; Rev. D. G. Matthews; J. R. Duncan and a young, Don Bramwell.

On the termination of the excavation Wilson says: “Work in the Fissure cave carried on at intervals through several years, ceased for the present at Whit week 1933, but sections 5 to 7 will be taken lower when opportunity offers. Here we have struck into a fine laminated clay. Further examination during the summer of 1934 will decide the matter.”

Back of the cave showing steep bank of remaining deposits.

Bramwell’s summary (1950) provides clarity:

“Thor’s Fissure Cave, as its name implies, proved a narrow and difficult cave to excavate the sections being complicated by a succession of huge slabs and boulders which were sometimes wedged across the cave. The cave would not appear to be a desirable living site, and yet it yielded a series of occupation levels from late Palaeolithic to Romano-British times. The excavation was carried out by the Peakland Archaeological Society during 1933 and 1934, under the direction of Rev. G. Wilson, who gives a typical section as follows:  the lowest deposit was at least 4 feet of barren laminated clay, this was covered by a limey deposit of loose breccia containing the bones of late Pleistocene animals viz. a giant form of red deer, bear, reindeer and horse. Also in this stratum was a group of four patinated flint blades which are described as being of developed Aurignacian affinity. Two of the blades are of the shouldered and gravette type points respectively and can be matched by specimens from the middle zone of Mother Grundy’s Parlour at Cresswell.”

Flint tools from the lowest level of occupation. These are those that Bramwell assigns as Aurignacian and shouldered and gravette types. Photo credit: Wonders of the Peak (2021a). The same website estimates them to be between 12,000 and 15,000 years old. However, the reindeer antler retrieved from the same strata, in 1950 has been radiocarbon dated to ca. 20,000 years old.

Bramwell goes on: “A bed of hard stalagmite then intervenes across the cave floor: it was in turn covered by stiff clay containing stream wash. This in turn gave way to red cave earth, laminated with hearths of Bronze Age date. ln this horizon occurred  beaker pottery, some amber beads, worked flints, and a small polished celt with flat sides.

This may be Neolithic but could, also be a survival of Neolithic culture into Bronze Age times. Also in this. horizon occurred those curious pieces of dolphin bone; sternum, scapula and r vertebra, thought to have been connected, with certain magical practices. Such bones are not unknown, from inland caves, but are rare. The next strata consisted of variations of the usual top-soil and contained an assemblage of early Iron Age and Romano-British artifacts, mainly in the form of pottery. There was, however a spindle whorl of bone, a bone awl and a bone toggle, all of which have been recorded from similar cave dwellings in other parts of the Peak District. Some hones or whetstones and some thin bronze sheeting also belong to the Iron Age and Romano-British deposits, Besides dolphin bones there were some interesting remains representative of.post-Pleistocene fauna, including wolf, polecat, dog, wildcat, bear, red deer, ox, pig, sheep and goat.”

Dolphin bones from Thor’s Fissure Cave. Top: scapula and sternum. Bottom: vertebra. Why these bones were transported so far from the coast is a mystery, but it seems certain that the bones had some ritual significance for the people of the late Neolithic or Bronze Age. All from Wonders of the Peak (2021b).

Next Bramwell summarises the human bones found and the manner of their burial: “The human remains were all recovered from rough, shallow inhumations which showed little regard for the dead, several skeletons being placed in the same hole or group. One group had a rough protection of limestone slabs. The expert examination of the bones at the Institute of Anatomy, Univ. Coll. of London revealed that these cave dwellers did not exceed 5ft, 6in. in height or 30 years in age. They had sound but heavily worn teeth and suffered in the case of one individual from a series of setbacks (shown in their limb bone development) due to disease or lack of nourishment.”

Radiogram from one of the deceased. The tibia shows lines due to arrested growth. This woeful individual seems to have experienced periodic bouts of starvation. Photo credit: Wilson (1937).

Lastly Bramwell looks at the cave’s stratigraphy and palaeoclimate: “With regard to the interpretation of the strata which composed the floor of' the cave, we find no easy parallel in either Thor’s or Old Hannah’s. These latter caves had red clay above and sandy material underneath, whereas in this cave we have several types of cave earth covering a deep bed of clay. The useful series of animal bones recovered by the excavators do, however, give a clear picture of the climatic succession. The lowest laminated clay vas undoubtedly laid down in still pools witch, represents a long wet period in the cave’s history. Then followed a drier period indicated by the breccia and the Tundra and Steppe forms such as giant red deer, horse, reindeer and bears. Above was the bed of stalagmite which could indicate damp conditions again with abundant drip but might equally be due to some slight alteration in the drainage of the cave. We then have a suggestion of stream conditions, followed by a typical Bronze Age assemblage with wolf, red deer, and bear, this being replaced by the characteristic pastoral fauna of the Iron Ago with goat, sheep and ox. The dog, occurring in the Bronze Age horizon bears out similar discoveries in other local Bronze Age deposits. The later history of the cave thus seems to indicate a prolonged drier condition making possible an almost uninterrupted occupation till the beginning of the Dark Ages.”

Giant deer antler mentioned in the text. Is this in fact part of a Megaloceros giganteus antler? Photo credit: Wonders of the Peak (2021c)

The age of the deposits containing the reindeer was confirmed by Burleigh et. al. (1983), they give a date and some notes "20,100 ± 1900 BM-1807 on the calcaneum of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) from Buxton Museum collection, labelled as from Thor's Fissure, Manifold Valley, Staffordshire, England (53° 5' N, 1° 55' W, Natl Grid Ref SK 090540). Collected in 1950 by D Bramwell, Peakland Archaeological Society and submitted in 1980 by him, and R Jacobi, Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Lancaster. Jacobi commented “result suggests presence of reindeer in south Peak District at time of max spread of Devensian ice-sheet.”

The date of collection fits with the time Bramwell was preparing his paper, Cave Dwellers and Dens of Late Pleistocene Animals in the Manifold Valley. Bramwell, presumably must have visited Thor’s Fissure Cave as well as the other caves examined in that paper. He collected the reindeer antler above submitted to the British Museum for radiocarbon dating at that time.

This brings us to a further inconsistency in the history of collections from the cave. The Heritage Gateway website (2012) gives a list of fauna excavated from the cave, explicitly referencing Wilson (1937) as their source. Their list is as follows: “human, dolphin, bear, reindeer, dog, wolf, small ox, ox, sheep, goats, polecat, brown bear, birds, water vole, bank vole, field vole, field mouse, fox, pig, frog, hare, and cat.”

Whereas Wilson (1937) clearly states: “At least 15 species were collected..” and goes on to give an account: Bear either brown bear or cave bear; red deer, reindeer, ox, some of small size possibly from Bos longifrons; goat; sheep; pig; fox; wolf or dog; horse possibly the ancient species Equus caballus; polecat and dolphin. 

He does not mention birds or rodents nor hare or cat. There are two possibilities here, either a later re-examination of his collection found these species, or they were excavated by Bramwell in 1950. The first seems unlikely as Wilson 1937 states of his bone collection “As no other record of this cave will be published we hope to include sufficient exact detail to make it of some scientific value..”

Therefore I can only conclude that Bramwell excavated the additional species in 1950.

Of Wilson’s (1937) comment that “Work in the Fissure cave carried on at intervals through several years, ceased for the present at Whit week 1933, but sections 5 to 7 will be taken lower when opportunity offers. Here we have struck into a fine laminated clay. Further examination during the summer of 1934 will decide the matter.”, I can find no record. We know he excavated in 1934 and 1935, but what the results were of the further excavation in the fine laminated clay he left no record. It is possible that the additional species were unearthed then. We will never know for certain.

A last thought: it is almost certain that neither Wilson nor Bramwell excavated the cave to bedrock throughout its length. My own visit in 2020 confirmed this, there being abundant deep, deposits remaining. It is thus a tantalizing prospect to imagine what lies beneath the rest of the finely laminated clay, as it was in just such a situation in the adjacent Thor’s Cave that a horn possibly 25,000 years old, and worked by human hands was found (see here).

A word of warning. The approach is extremely steep. Only sure-footed and experienced ‘cragsmen’ as Wilson would put it, should attempt the path down from Seven Ways Cave. Personally, I chose to zig-zag down the steep slopes about 15m left of the path when looking down. This has the double advantage of lush vegetation to hang onto and exquisite, sights of the rare plants Nottingham Catchfly and Jacob’s Ladder.

Flowers of the Manifold. Top: Jacob’s Ladder. Bottom: Nottingham Catchfly seen on the descent to Thor’s Fissure Cave. Both photos, the author. 

References:

Bramwell D. (1950). Cave Dwellers and Dens of Late Pleistocene Animals in the Manifold Valley, Staffordshire. Transactions of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain, 1950, Vol 1, Issue 4, p. 43-52

Burleigh, R., Ambers, J. & Matthews, K. (1983) British Museum natural radiocarbon measurements XVI. Radiocarbon 25 (1): 39-58. 

Wilson, G. H. (1937) Cave Hunting Holidays in Peakland, Chesterfield.

Wonders of the Peak (2021a) at: https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/objectrecord/?id=10151 accessed 07.06.2021

Wonders of the Peak (2021b) at: https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/objects/1-81/ accessed 07.06.2021

Wonders of the Peak (2021c) at: https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/objectrecord/?id=10192 accessed 07.06.2021

Derbyshire Bone Caves 7: Old Hannah's Hole

 

Old Hannah’s Hole is a large fissure cave with a narrow, high entrance, and is also known as Redhurst Cave. It sits at the foot of a ridge of limestone projecting into the Manifold Valley from Wetton Hill. The entrance is imposing, if not on the scale of the nearby Thor’s Cave. It is narrow at about 1.3m wide, but lofty, at about 8m. The cave penetrates the limestone for about 8m before narrowing considerably. A crabwise shuffle and short crawl for some 5m brings one to a circular chamber.

Old Hannah’s Hole photographed by the author, June 3^rd 2021.

Whilst the cave is only ca. 150m from the road it proved hard to find. This was principally because there are no less than 6 grid references/gps coordinates given for it on the internet. All are wrong! The correct grid reference is SK 09987 55694 as shown on the map below:

The initial excavation was carried by Wardle (1899). His account is quite interesting, but takes close reading to determine the stratigraphic position of the finds and therefore correct ages. I reproduce it in full here as it appears nowhere on the internet: 

“THE DIGGINGS IN OLD HANNAH’S CAVE.

I will now briefly describe the Redhurst Cave or Old Hannah’s Cave. The first part of the cave is about eight yards in length, and one and a-half yards wide. Then there  occurs a very narrow opening, and after crawling about two yards, the cave opens out a little, giving just room enough to walk sideways for about four yards; it then terminates in an almost round space, perhaps 15 feet high, with room for three or four people to stand upright in it. This was before the excavation began.

The cave appears to be a large crack or fissure in the rock, with possibly a subsidence on one side. A section from the top of the floor of the cave gives the following deposits:—

1. Two inches of a rubbly floor.

2. Top layer, at entrance, of blackish earthy soil.

3. Stiff red soil, at entrance, containing a few large bones.

4. 12 to 18 inches of red clay, with small limestone fragments.

5. Limy concrete or Stalagmitic accretions, but commencing well inside the cave and thickening inwards from one to seven or eight feet.

6. Red clay..

7. Whitish sandy loam, at entrance, and clay.

8. Red sand, probably derived from glacial beds.

9. Sand and clay.

10. Rough red sand, with small limestone fragments two feet thick.

11. Red sand, two feet thick.

The thickness of the whole series may be estimated at about from 10 to 12 feet.

A few large bones were found in stiff red soil at the entrance, and about four yards up the cave, before the limy concrete commenced, we found broken portions of a funeral urn. Some breakage occurred in getting the urn out, but it appeared to have been broken before. This was found at a depth of 18 inches in a small angular limestone gravel. No bones were found in this gravel, which is of irregular thickness, varying from one foot to between two and three feet, thinning out as one proceeded up the cave.

Then occurred a mass of white limy concrete, in which were found several more bones at a distance of four to seven yards from the entrance of the cave, and a t a depth of 12 to 18 inches. Three human teeth and about 40 small bones were found at the far end of the cave, amongst wet dirt about a foot deep. The limy bed appeared to be a deposit of lime almost in the form of concrete, in which were embedded many bones. This was the upper bed inside the cave, just below some rubbly stone and a little soil as a surface. This bed of limy concrete, or stalagmitic matter, with bones, was at first only 12 inches thick, but further in the cave the thickness gradually increased to seven or eight feet, but the bones were all nearer the surface of the concrete, not being deeper anywhere than about 18 inches.

In six inches of soil in the lime occurred a skull, and also part of a lower jaw, but of another individual, with the teeth in an excellent state of preservation. This skull and the teeth were found eight yards up the cave, where the lime is thickest, close to the side and in the concrete, but loose and not cemented in the concrete like many of the bones which were very firmly bedded and have the appearance of having been placed in lime and then water added to them, as you will see by the specimens on the table.

At a depth of about a foot in the part which had to be crawled along and also in the open space in the interior, a number of small bones were found, with charcoal, some of them being charred. There appeared to have been a fire, with sticks partly burnt. The prevalence of the charcoal throughout the cave is no doubt due to persons inhabiting the cave, perhaps, before the burials took place. There was also charcoal amongst the concrete.

There was brick clay at the entrance, just inside. The clay was irregularly bedded and alternated with sand. None of the bones are of extinct forms, and the smaller ones are much more modern: some may, however, be older than the burial. The bones do not point to the Pleistocene period, or the time of extinct mammals, yet they are very interesting as proving the cave to have been a place of burial.

Now with reference to the cave deposits, you will have observed that I referred to that which contained by far the largest portion of the bones as lime, limy-deposit, and concrete.

There is one interesting question for investigation on this, on which I should like to have the opinion of the members of the Club —“ Is the deposit one of lime, or is it stalagmitic?” There is abundant evidence of stalactitic as well as of stalagmitic deposition in this case. The water percolating through the limestone is charged with carbonate of lime, and this becomes deposited in favourable places, sometimes to a great thickness. The sides of the cave are in some places covered with it high above where the bones were found, as the large specimens on the table will show, some of them in vertical stratification, showing successive layers corresponding with the varying quantities of carbonate of lime dissolved by percolating and highly-charged water in its passage down the cave sides and re-deposited as the water evaporated. But it is difficult to admit that the lime was not used in sepulture, especially as many fragments of charcoal are found imbedded in the floor masses. Mr. Newton, to whom

I am about to refer, however, thinks that these are of stalagmitic origin and that there is no reason for thinking that lime has been put with the bones; but I say if so, how were the people buried?

There is no trace of soil or sand where they were found, except a very little partially round one of the skulls, only a limy bed of concrete. I am inclined to think both causes operated, but it is an interesting question on which I will not speak dogmatically.

I have tested both the stalactitic and stalagmitic matter from the cave sides and floor and the concrete containing the bones, and find they are perfectly neutral, at any rate not alkaline, which rather points to Mr. Newton’s theory being correct, because if so much lime had been brought in to cover the bones, some of it would I think be alkaline.

I sent all the bones and deposits now exhibited to Mr. Newton, of the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London, the best authority on recent and extinct bones. He has sent the following report:—

“ The human skull from the cemented concrete is that of an old man, probably Celtic, of Romano-British age or possibly somewhat older, the front teeth and bicuspids having been lost and the alveoli obliterated, while the molar teeth are nearly worn away. This skull is well developed, evidently has a full capacity, the forehead and occiput are bold, the low ridges are somewhat prominent, and the nasal bones have been broken during life; it comes within the dolichocephalic group, its cephalic index being 72.

“ A lower jaw and piece of skull of another individual has the teeth beautifully preserved. The last molar, or wisdom tooth, has been fully developed as shown by the alveolus which is now empty, and the enamel of the two molars, which are present, is

worn through in places. It is evident therefore that these remains belonged to a person well advanced in years.”

Numerous other human bones from the cemented layer indicate at least four adults and one child. All the adult bones are large, and some especially so, considerably larger than those of an average man of the present day, the vertebrae and hip-bones

being those of an individual above the average height. The femora have large heads, strongly developed muscular attachments, very prominent line aspera, and the condyles oblique.

Tibiae are somewhat flattened, or platyenemic. With these human bones were some belonging to an ox, sheep, and fox. The bones from the inner part of the cave beyond the narrow passage, were mixed with charcoal, and are chiefly of sheep of several sizes, perhaps indicating different breeds. With the sheep bones were a few belonging to badger, fox, hare, rabbit, and one of a bird. There were also a few human bones evidently from the lower strata.

The urn was submitted to Mr. P. W. Rudler, the curator of Jermyn Street Museum, and President of the Anthropological Society, who states :— “ Its coarse make and mixture of quartz grains with the clay, indicate considerable antiquity ; but it has evidently been “ thrown ” on a wheel, which would point to a comparatively late origin. On the whole he is inclined to think it is the work of some ancient Briton, influenced to some extent by Roman ideas; that is, it would seem to be what is usually known as Romano-British. The skeletons would agree with this age, but they might be somewhat more ancient-”

Some dark coloured bones were found in stiff red soil below the limy concrete, about six yards up the cave, and some of them in the same mixture, but before the limy deposit commenced. They have lost their gelatine, and would, from this circumstance,

lead one to think they were those of extinct animals of the Pleistocene period, but Mr. Newton says, the absence of gelatine is not a sure proof of age, because bones, being in a wet place, would in time have the gelatine dissolved out. These bones are probably older than the bones of the limy concrete, and consist of one piece of a red deer’s bone, metatarsal; the foot bone of a horse, and two fragments undeterminable, broken longitudinally, it may be inferred, for extraction of the marrow.

THE DEPOSITS .

Mr. Clement Reid, of the Geological Survey, has kindly examined the specimens of cave earth, etc., some of them by washing through a sieve, but with only negative results. He says:-

No. 2.—Top layer a t entrance, blackish earthy soil full of roots, etc. No implements, flakes, or bones found in washing.

No. 4.—From below No. 1 (12 to 18 inches thick). Red clay, with small limestone fragments.

No. 6.— Next below No. 2, below the lime bed, further inside. Red clay.

No. 7.—Clay below No. 3 at entrance ; bedded whitish sandy loam, full of root fibres. Yielded one small fossil when washed.

No. 8.— Sand below No. 4 at entrance. Red sand (? Derived from glacial beds). The washed residue contains a few small fragments of shells, quite undeterminable, a reed of grass, fragment of leaf and of moss are evidently recent, not fossil.

A portion of jaw of shrew and part of a small limb bone have also a very modern look.

No. 9.—From below the sand (No. 5) is like the last (No. 8), but more clayey, contains no fossils.

No. 10.—Rough sand with small fragments of limestone.

No. 11.— Red sand two feet thick.

Mr. Clement Reid thinks it is in the earth below the deposit which contains the human bones that we should expect to find remains of extinct forms, and it may be, extinct mice and moles. 

For the purposes of comparison and analogy, it will now be interesting to say a few words about other pre-historic and visible records of this neighbourhood. No doubt you will remember that the late Mr. Bateman, of Youlgrave, and Mr. Carrington, of Wetton, were occupied for a good many years in examining the barrows and other burial places of North Staffordshire. Their results are recorded in Mr. Bateman’s book published in 1861, entitled “ Ten years’ diggings in Celtic and Saxon grave-hills.”

As far back as 1845 Mr. Carrington opened a small barrow in a field in his occupation at Wetton called Borough Hole. In this barrow he found a skeleton extended at full length, accompanied by a spear-head and knife of iron. He also found a small brass coin of the Emperor Gallienus (A.D. 253 to 268) with an antelope on the reverse; and a curious article made of two semi-circular bars of lead, perforated at both ends as if intended for a collar, meant to be tied together when round the neck. Later on he found a very beautiful bronze fibula heart-shaped.

In 1852 he examined this field to a greater extent, and found it was evidently the site of an ancient British village or settlement.

The name of Borough Hole remains to this day, and Mr. Carrington states that the term comes from the word burh, being a Saxon word for town or village. The sites of many dwellings were discovered, and the precise site of each house was indicated by pavement. Ashes, charcoal, broken pottery (Celtic and Romano-British), teeth, bones, and horns of ox, hare, deer, hog, cow (animals which had been used for food), and burnt stones were found, but there was no evidence of this station having been occupied prior to the Roman conquest, neither were there any traces of the Saxon periods further than that of the name of the fields. The people were pagans, and disposed of their dead by burning, either to introduce their shades, with becoming honours, into the presence of their deity, or to propitiate his wrath.

A Romano-British knife of iron, and prongs of a fork were found at a depth of about one foot from the surface. There were some broken querns, and a mortar hollowed out at the top for the reception of grain, also part of a vessel of green glass of Roman

manufacture. The skull of a stag was found, and a coin of Constantine with the words “Gloria Exercitvs” and two soldiers holding standards; also pieces of Roman tile, a drinking cup made from the leg-bone of a large animal. It seems clear from this, that there is sufficient evidence to assume that there was a joint Romano-British occupation, or, a t any rate, trading. These Wetton Borough Fields are distant from Redhurst Gorge not more than one and a-quarter miles.

Barrows were also opened at Throwley, Warslow, Ecton Hill, Longbow, and Three Lows near Wetton, and Elkstone, in which similar remains were discovered; in one, were found vessels of stone and bronze.

Thor’s Cave in its turn came in for examination. In it some bones of extinct animals were found, with other remains. I have here a lump of Breccia, which formed part of the floor of Thor’s Cave, in which may be observed a small Roman tessera.

From all this, it will appear, that this beautiful limestone country was a dwelling-place of our ancient forefathers from very early times. There does not seem to be any trace of these ancient people being employed in mining operations for lead, copper, or other metallic ores, but everything points to their leading a quite pastoral life.

LIST OF BONES, &C. FOUND IN REDHURST CAVE, JANUARY, 1899.

1.— Human skull of a very old man, with fairly developed forehead, probably Celtic.

2.— Human skull, probably Celtic.

3.— Fragments of human skulls.

4.—Three teeth and portion of jaw.

5.—Two       „                „

6.— Human tooth.

7.— Human femur.

8.— Human scapula and clavicle.

9.— Human finger and toe bones.

10.— Four human bones, from the stalagmitic concrete.

11.—Twelve human bones, ,,                 ,,               „

12.— Bones of child,            ,,                 „                „

13.— Four human bones,    ,,                 „                ,,

14.— Human vertebrae,       „                 ,,                „

15.— Human tibiae,              „                 „                 „

16.— Human bones,             „                 „                 „

17.— Human fibulae,            „                 „                 „

18.— Human arm bones,      „                 „                 „

19.— Human foot bones,      „                  „                „

20.— Fragments of bone, from back of narrow passage.

21.— Sheep bones,             „           „                 „

22.— Bones of hare and rabbit,       ,,                „

23.— Fox bones.

24.— Bones of ox, found with the human bones.

25.— Bones of sheep, ,,     ,,                   ,,

26.— Wild boar’s tusk.

27.— Bones of rabbits.

28.— Metatarsal bone of red deer, and six other fragments.

29.— Bone of horse’s foot.

30.— Bones of sheep.

31.— Fragments of bone of a large ox which seem to have been intentionally    broken, perhaps by persons living in the cave.

32.— Bones of horse.

33.— Bones of badger.

34.— Various ribs.

35.— Vertebrae, probably sheep.

36.— Bird, from back of narrow passage.

37.— Urn, Romano-British.

38.— Fragment of pottery, from cave entrance.

39.— Clay from cave entrance, probably glacial.

40.—    „       „       „    made into bricks.

41.—Masses of stalagmitic deposition from cave floor.

42.—      „                 ,,                 ,,        from sides of cave.

43.— Portion of jaw of shrew.

44.— Flint flake, not of chert. Neolithic or later.

45.— Parts of arm-bone (humerus of fox).

46.— Dark-coloured bones devoid of gelatine, from below the lime bed at far end of cave.

Rather than offer my thoughts on the stratigraphy, and the finds and the dates of the deposits, these imply, I will move on to the thoughts of other archaeologists. 

Bramwell (1950) considered the deposits that Wardle (1899) reported:

“In 1899 a Staffordshire, geologist, Sir Thomas Wardle investigated the floor of Old Hannah’s Cave and in his notes, he left a fairly complete account of the strata he dug through but the information on animal and human remains leaves us in doubt about several, important details. From his account, we learn that this fissure type cave was 8 yards long and 1 ½ yards wide before narrowing to terminate in a lofty round chamber.

Wardle enumerates eleven deposits of which the main are: black soil at the top, then stiff reddish soil, red clay with small limestone fragments, limey stalagmitic concretions then various deposits containing a high proportion of red sand. The whole series may be estimated to be 10 or 12 feet in depth.

Wardle’s eleven layers were not superimposed, some occurring in one place and not in another; for instance, the earthy deposits at the front of the cave were replaced by limey deposits towards the back of the cave. This is not an unusual feature in a fissure cave where the limey solution from both walls often spreads over the floor permeating the total width of the deposits. This was so in Thor's Fissure Cave, but in the much wider section of Elder Bush Cave the cementing process is found to extend only a foot or so from the walls. In the narrower back portion of E.B. Cave however, the rule still holds good.

The most interesting deposit in Old Hannah’s was the red sand. The red is no doubt due to the oxides of iron, but the sand was probably derived from the shale grit beds lying to the north and east of Wetton village, as at Sheen and Gateham. The lowest deposit in Thor’s was also sand, but complete gritstone pebbles also occurred in an overlying breccia. Recent work at Elder Bush Cave has revealed a breccia containing gritstone pebbles, whilst fine grey sand had been noted for some time from below the main bed of "bone earth”.

The conclusion drawn is that fairly late in the Pleistocene, beds of gritstone, or moraine containing gritstone, were being eroded in the district, some of the material being swept by water into the fissures and caves. The early excavators of Thor’s Cave seriously discussed a "glacial sea" which left sandy beaches and tide marks in the cave.

The upper deposits of Old Hannah's seems to have been divided off from the lower by 12 to 18 inches of red clay with limestone fragments. In Elder Bush Cave limestone fragments assume great importance as the lowest level in this "gravel" marks the last appearance of reindeer. Here also were a few patinated, long flint flakes, also a hearth and other evidence of a wandering hunter of late Palaeolithic date. The fossil form of the arctic lemming also occurred here for the last time. No small rodents seem to have been collected from Old Hannah’s there is merely one modern-looking jaw of a shrew an insectivore.

Two human skulls, human bones, and a wheel-made urn appear to be of Romano-British date, but a flint flake is vaguely described as Neolithic or later. In addition to the usual modern fauna from the upper levels, there were several bones of deer and horse from lower strata, which could possibly belong to the late Pleistocene.” 

Next we come to Bramwell’s (1974) comment on Old Hannah’s Cave: “Excavated many years ago by Sir Thomas Wardle of Swainsley Hall but the finds cannot be traced. The account speaks of Roman pottery but some flints of the blade type may have been of Mesolithic or upper Palaeolithic age.”

Branigan and Dearne (1991) commented on the pottery and sole surviving skull. Unfortunately, I have been unable to obtain a copy of this book. However some scant details of their assessment of the cave appear on the Heritage Gateway website (2012): “Branigan and Dearne suggest a Neolithic/Bronze Age date is more likely for the pottery, and state that an inspection of the sole surviving skull casts doubt on a Romano-British date for it (though they do not explain why).” 

The cave was also, visited by RCHME and Trent and Peak Archaeological Trust in 1989 as part of the Manifold Valley Caves Project. Significant deposits appear to have been left undisturbed by the early excavations. My visit confirmed that considerable deposits of compacted red earth still line the cave, but some recent digging has taken place at the entrance.

Old Hannah’s Hole entrance showing distinct lip of recent excavation. Photo: the author June 3^rd 2021.

View of cave interior, looking towards the entrance, with signs of recent digging clearly visible as a vertical lip. Photographed by the author June 3^rd 2021.

View of cave at the narrowing, 8m in. Remaining deposits are visible just below centre. Photograph: the author 3^rd June 2021.

Cave spider attacking and consuming a smaller invertebrate (woodlouse?), 10m into the cave. Photograph: the author 3^rd June 2021.

Cave spiders abound in the manifold valley and other caves of the region, such as Ravencliffe Cave in Cressbrook Dale and further afield at Anston Wood Cave.

The most common species is Meta menardi, however the specimen observed differed in size from that species, being smaller, at only 0.75cm in body length with an estimated leg span of ca. 3.5cm. The dark colouring, especially on the abdomen with its faint spots suggest Meta bourneti.

Milner (2007) lists Meta menardi, Meta merianae and an unknown cave spider from Elder Bush Cave. Whilst he mentions Meta bourneti this seems to be the first record from the Manifold Valley. 

Conclusions

1. Commentary by Bramwell (1950) and Clement Reid (via Wardle 1899) suggest that Pleistocene layers exist below those so far excavated.

2. The scatters of charcoal found through the depth of the stratigraphy indicate a long occupation, probably going back to the Pleistocene.

3. The small quantity of narrow flint blades excavated by Wardle (1899) have been characterised by Bramwell (1950 and 1974) as late Palaeolithic, that is prior to the last ice age and thus may range in age from 45-25,000BP.

4. Whilst Bramwell (1950) asserts that the finds have been lost Branigan and Dearne (1991) apparently examined one skull and some pottery. Not all finds seem to be lost therefore. The finds were originally sent to the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn St, London, the collections from which were subsumed into the Natural History Museum in 1935. Some parts of the collection may thus, still be extant.

5. The current, consensus opinion seems to be that the cave was a burial cave from the Neolithic and may well have been used as a hunting refuge from the late Palaeolithic and furthermore contain deposits of Pleistocene age. An exciting prospect indeed.

References

Bramwell, D. (1950) Cave dwellers and dens of late Pleistocene animals. Transactions of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain 1 (4): 47-52.

Bramwell, D. (1974) Archaeology in the Peak District: A Guide to the Region's Prehistory. Moorland Publishing Ashbourne. 

Branigan, K. & Dearne, M.J. (1991) A Gazetteer of Romano-British Cave Sites and their Finds. Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield.

Heritage Gateway (2012). Historic England Research Records. Redhurst Cave at: https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=305570&sort=4&search=all&criteria=trent&rational=q&recordsperpage=10&p=81&move=n&nor=817&recfc=0&resourceID=19191 accessed 03.05.2021

Milner, M. (2007) A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold and Hamps Valley Area. Derbyshire Caving Association. 

Wardle, T. (1899). Notes on the Explosions and Reports in Redhurst Gorge and the Recent Exploration of Redhurst Cave. The North Staffordshire Field Club transactions Vol 33, Ps 97-116 

Further reading

Tommony. M. G. (1994). A Study of Neolithic and Bronze Age Cave Use in the Manifold Valley, Staffordshire - A Dissertation (if you can find it – I couldn’t!)

Treasures of the Peak District: The White Low Cross

This small but beautiful, presumably Anglo-Saxon pure gold cross, with a central garnet, was found just over a kilometre west south west of the village of Winster in the Peak District.

The White Low cross from Museums Sheffield (2012a). Original caption reads: Cross pendant, around 650 AD, previously owned by Thomas Bateman. Gold and garnet or glass, dimensions: Length 3.4cm, width 2.6cm.

It’s history and discovery seemed well-known as an account of its discovery was published by Thomas Bateman (1848). I include his whole account as it is instructive about how Bateman omitted inconvenient facts:

“About a mile west of the village of Winster, on the right hand side of the road leading from that place to Pike Hall, once stood a barrow, generally known by the name of White Lowe, which was destroyed in the year 1765 or 1766, by the farmer to whose share it fell, upon the inclosure of the common on which it was situate. On this occasion one of the most interesting and valuable discoveries ever made in the county was casually brought to light; and it is much to be regretted that no systematic account of it was written at the time, and correct draughts of the objects taken, which is now impossible, as one article alone exists of all the valuable deposit (now in the possession of Mr. John Mander, of Bakewell). Such is the dearth of information upon this subject, that little more than a list of the articles can be furnished; premising, however, that they were found in the centre of the barrow, and upon the level of the natural soil, whether in company with a skeleton or not there is no evidence. The list is as follows : two large globular urns, seventeen inches in height and about thirteen in circumference (quere diameter); two glass vessels, about nine inches in height, with wide circular mouths, and a slight bulge in the middle: they were made of yellow glass, extremely thin and light, and when discovered contained about a pint of clear green water; several variegated beads, square and round, both of glass and earthenware; a large bracelet of silver, about an inch broad, joining at the ends in dovetail fashion, and studded with human heads; figures of animals, &c., which were affixed by rivets; also a large circular fibula of gold, set with garnets, or red glass, which was strengthened by being riveted upon a plate of silver, which was assigned to the close of the fifth century by that distinguished antiquary the Rev. James Douglas. In the barrow the glass vessels were placed on each side of the urns, and the other ornaments were lying near them; around them were remains of decayed wood, and pieces of brass in the form of clasps and hinges, which would indicate that the more precious articles had been deposited in a box.

It is highly probable that a small cross of pure gold in the author’s museum was discovered in the preceding barrow; the style of workmanship is almost identical with that of the circular fibula just mentioned. It is engraved as a vignette on page 67 of Douglas's ‘Nenia Britannica’ and by that learned antiquary is considered, notwithstanding its crucial form, to be of an era anterior to the introduction of Christianity into Britain. The only circumstances connected with its discovery that are now to be depended upon are these: it was found in the process of demolishing a tumulus on Winster Common, about the year 1767, and was bought from the labourer who was so fortunate as to find it by the Rev. John Mason, then curate of Winster, who had a taste for antiquities.”

Bateman illustrates the gold cross along with a gold (cloisonné) fibula (a brooch used to fasten garments such as a cloak, usually using the safety-pin principle) found in same area of the barrow:

The cross and cloisonné brooch from White Low from Bateman (1848).

 

At first sight the above text strongly suggests the cross was found in the same barrow as the brooch.

 

However, there are several clues in his text that indicate that the story is more complex than that stated and furthermore, that Bateman knew these facts.

Bateman cites Douglas (1793) on the fibula (brooch) mentioning that it is illustrated with a vignette and giving the page number. It seems he was thus aware of the information in Nenia Brittanica. He should therefore have more accurately stated the circumstances of the find as Douglas had done. Douglas reproduced an oral report of the find which stated that ‘About twenty years ago, a woman picked up in a field near Winstor … a small brass cross of fillagree-work; in the middle is a socket, which probably contained a stone’.

This brings to light two facts:

Firstly, Bateman knew the circumstance of the finding of the cross, but choose not to mention it in his account, that it was NOT found in the barrow.

Secondly the verbal account states clearly that the cross had an empty socket, thus he knew that the stone had gone missing in antiquity, or was removed by the finder, before they sold it on. Lucy (2016) concludes that “the stone therefore seems to have been inserted between 1793 and 1835, when it came into the possession of Thomas Bateman”.

Furthermore, Lester (1976) states: “This description, which reproduces almost word-for-word the entry in Bateman's own catalogue of 1855,20 is probably the source of the continuing belief that the faceted central garnet is an integral part of the original jewel. For instance, Audrey Ozanne has written: "The cross is made up of a solid gold plate with a central setting containing a single faceted garnet ...", and more recently R. F. Jessup has remarked with similar lack of qualification: "The small equal-armed pendant gold cross has a central faceted garnet boss secured by a beaded mount ...". R. L. S. Bruce-Mitford has reproduced a drawing of the cross together with a separate diagram of the garnet which emphasizes the cruciform pattern of the facets." In each of these descriptions there is no comment to dispel the obvious implication of the stone's originality.”

Lester goes on to cite Douglas and the fact that there was no stone, garnet or otherwise in central setting, and repeats Douglas’ source of the verbal account of the finding of the brooch as “Mr. H. Rooke, of Woodhouse Place, near Mansfield”. He also adds: “The original stone would not have been anything like the present one. Anglo Saxon garnets were never enhanced with multiple facets, although a single facet is sometimes found on stones set en cabochon. Baldwin Brown describes and illustrates: "round, square, oval, or triangular garnets cut and polished with rounded faces, so as to make them what would be called in popular language carbuncles." Consideration of the analogous Winster Moor brooch shows that this is the type of stone which the central setting is most likely to have contained.

The cross came into Bateman’s possession 1835, upon the death of his father, William, with the first description by Bateman, published in his Vestiges (1848). Is it, therefore possible that Bateman himself had the garnet placed in the setting in the interim? I can’t really decide, but it is a distinct possibility, considering his bending of the truth surrounding the discovery of the cross.

Lastly, it may be instructive to look closely at the brooch, which was most certainly found in the barrow known as white low:

Gold, silver and garnet brooch from White Low. Original image from Sheffield Museums (2012b) Original caption reads: Date Made/Found: Around 650 AD. Previously owned by Thomas Bateman, Gold, garnet and silver. Dimensions: Diameter 5cm. Accession Number: J93.708.

Note the similarity in the decorative scrollwork, but most particularly, the cut of the garnets: unfaceted of the cabochon cut. This is what the original stone most probably looked like. 

I only wish the missing piece of jewelry, the “large bracelet of silver, about an inch broad, joining at the ends in dovetail fashion, and studded with human heads; figures of animals, &c” which were affixed by rivets” could be found. It sounds exquisite. Now that I would like to see!

References

Bateman, T., 1848. Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire, and the Sepulchral usages of its Inhabitants: from the most Remote Ages to the Reformation. John Russell Smith.

Douglas, J. 1793. Nenia Brittanic. pp 67-68 

G. Lester, (1976). ‘The Anglo-Saxon pendant cross from Winster Moor, Derbyshire’, MA 20 pp136–7. 

Lucy, S., 2016. The Trumpington Cross in context. Online at: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/264178/Lucy-2017-AngloSaxon_England-AM.pdf?sequence=1 accessed 10.04.2021

Museums Sheffield (2012a). Cross pendant. At http://collections.museums-sheffield.org.uk/view/objects/asitem/342/271/title-asc?t:state:flow=4b0a49d1-2330-495f-9908-bb3b10e8a644 accessed 15.04.21

Museums Sheffield (2012b). Gold Brooch. At: http://collections.museums-sheffield.org.uk/view/objects/asitem/search@/0?t:state:flow=87ecc460-9a25-43ca-9ccf-a6b7df5d935c accessed 15.04.2021