Walshaw Dean Reservoir |
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| District: Yorkshire
(West) Ordnance Survey map reference: SD 967342. Landranger map number: 103. Latitude: degrees. Longitude: degrees. Architecture: Plain ring.. Length of the major axis: 11 metres. Length of the minor axis: 11 metres. Height of the highest stone: metres. Shape: Circle. Number of stones in the circle originally: . Number of stones in the circle now: . Impression of the site (10 amazing, 1 limp): 0 Burl rating of the circle: 4 (Destroyed, unrecognisable ). Thom reference for the circle: -. Astronomical alignments from this circle: -. Excavations undertaken at this circle: -. Details of any finds at this circle: - This circle is not in state care. Access to the circle: This circle once lay on the moors to the NNW of Hebden Bridge. It was situated about 1.5km down a long dirt road that is unsuitable for vehicles and the only access is by walking. Description:The circle is no longer in existence, it was last photographed in 1902 and has since been submerged below the Walshaw Dean Reservoir. I have not personally visited the site but have included it here as it was on my itinerary of visits to stone circles whilst I was in the Hebden Bridge region. Unfortunately on the day of my visit the weather turned to heavy rain, sleet and gales and as I sat in my car at the end of the dirt track leading to the site, I had second thoughts about trudging the 1.5km to the site down a muddy road in such atrocious conditions; probably to find no trace of it. As it happens my hunch was correct, the circle is now submerged below Walshaw Dean Reservoir and remains hidden until severe drought when it is sometimes possible to see it. The information below was sent to me by Paul Bennett and is an extract from his book 'The Olde Stones of Elmet', it is reproduced here with his kind permission. Also included below is the only known photo of the site, again sent to me by Paul Bennett and reproduced with his permission. Site 167: Walshaw Dean Stone Circle, Wadsworth Moor, SD 967 342As with the lost Weecher Circle on Bingley Moor, this old circle also succumbed to the water authority’s wisdom of drowning it with a reservoir: Walshaw Dean Middle Reservoir to be precise. The site was officially discovered by one of the water engineers, Mr W. Patterson, in July 1902, who described it as “a circle consisting of ten upright stones of irregular shape varying in size.” The stones that made up the site were of local millstone grit. It measured only thirty-six feet across, but an interesting extra to the place was the existence of a stone wall inside the circle, measuring twelve feet across and in the shape of a horse-shoe. When Patterson found this he reported it to have “been partly pulled down and reset immediately before examination.” He believed this structure had something to do with burials. A few years later when H. Ling Roth (1906) visited the Walshaw Dean circle no part of this inner horseshoe structure remained. The Halifax archaeologist Geoffrey Watson (1952) believed the circle to be at a meeting point of an old British trackway, although there is little evidence to support this. In this poor quality photograph of the place taken in 1902, we can see how the circle comprised of relatively small upright and fallen stones, with almost typical drystone walling creating the curious semi-circular structure at its centre. Although it is no longer visible, the writer Andy Roberts reported that in great drought of 1995 the water level in the reservoir was so low that you could see the circle. Its position in the landscape is very strange indeed: at the bottom of a valley with only a clear view of extensive land a short distance to the south. If this site was an authentic megalithic ring (I have my doubts), all aspects of its magickal and geomantic principles presently elude me." |
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| This picture of Walshaw
Dean stone circle was taken in 1902 and is the only known photograph of
the site. It was sent to me by Paul Bennett and is reproduced here with his permission. |
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| A plan of the stones and horse shoe shaped wall at the circle. Courtesy Paul Bennett. | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Contact me with any queries or information regarding any of the sites in this data base. | ||||||||||||||||||
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