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Ox Close small stone circle, Nab End

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1008771
Date first listed:: 17-Dec-1929

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1008771
Date first listed:: 17-Dec-1929
Date of most recent amendment:: 22-Nov-1994

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: North Yorkshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Carperby-cum-Thoresby
National Park:: YORKSHIRE DALES
National Grid Reference:: SD 99002 90131

Reasons for Designation

Stone circles are prehistoric monuments comprising one or more circles of upright or recumbent stones. The circle of stones may be surrounded by earthwork features such as enclosing banks and ditches. Single upright stones may be found within the circle or outside it and avenues of stones radiating out from the circle occur at some sites. Burial cairns may also be found close to and on occasion within the circle. Stone circles are found throughout England although they are concentrated in western areas, with particular clusters in upland areas such as Bodmin and Dartmoor in the south-west and the Lake District and the rest of Cumbria in the north-west. This distribution may be more a reflection of present survival rather than an original pattern. Where excavated they have been found to date from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (c.2400-1000 BC). It is clear that they were carefully designed and laid out, frequently exhibiting very regularly spaced stones, the heights of which also appear to have been of some importance. We do not fully understand the uses for which these monuments were originally constructed but it is clear that they had considerable ritual importance for the societies that used them. In many instances excavation has indicated that they provided a focus for burials and the rituals that accompanied interment of the dead. Some circles appear to have had a calendrical function, helping mark the passage of time and seasons, this being indicated by the careful alignment of stones to mark important solar or lunar events such as sunrise or sunset at midsummer or midwinter. At other sites the spacing of individual circles throughout the landscape has led to a suggestion that each one provided some form of tribal gathering point for a specific social group. A small stone circle comprises a regular or irregular ring of between 7 and 16 stones with a diameter of between 4 and 20 metres. They are widespread throughout England although clusters are found on Dartmoor, the North Yorkshire Moors, in the Peak District and in the uplands of Cumbria and Northumberland. Of the 250 or so stone circles identified in England, over 100 are examples of small stone circles. As a rare monument type which provides an important insight into prehistoric ritual activity, all surviving examples are worthy of preservation.

Although the site was partially excavated at the beginning of this century, the distinctive bank and (now recumbent) stones remain in good condition.

Details

The monument includes a small stone circle which lies on the broad limestone plateau of Haw Bank and is overlooked by Oxclose Nab. The circle has an outer, grass-covered bank, approximately 2m wide and 0.25m high. The monument is not a true circle, being approximately 23.4m north-south and 32m east-west overall. The bank is composed of earth and a large quantity of small stones up to 30cm in diameter. Standing stones, the majority of which are flat irregular gritstones, have been erected on the crest of the bank although most have fallen inwards. About 14 of these stones remain spaced around the circle and there appears to be space for two or three others. Between these are several groups of smaller stones, set at intermediate positions. Approximately centrally placed is a disturbed mound, about 20cm above the surrounding surface. It is slightly hollowed with variously sized stones filling much of this depression.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 24466
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Raistrick, A , 'Yorkshire Archaeological Journal' in The Bronze Age in West Yorkshire, (1929), 354-355
Raistrick, A , 'Yorkshire Archaeological Journal' in The Bronze Age in West Yorkshire, (1929)
Other
Hall, D, (1985)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.