Twelve Apostles, West Yorkshire
{{Short description|Stone circle in West Yorkshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox ancient site
|name = Twelve Apostles
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|image = The Twelve Apostles of Ilkley Moor Stone Circle - geograph.org.uk - 12971.jpg
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|map_type = West Yorkshire
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|location = West Yorkshire
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|coordinates = {{coord|53.9016|-1.809494|display=inline,title}}
|type = Stone circle
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|epochs = Bronze Age
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The Twelve Apostles ({{gbmapping|SE12614506}}) is a stone circle near Ilkley and Burley in Wharfedale in West Yorkshire, England.
Location
Located on Rombalds Moor which is found between Ilkley Moor{{cite book|last=Burl|first=Aubrey|title=A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany|page=91|year=2005|isbn=0300114060}} and Burley Moor,{{cite book|last1=Pevsner|first1=Nikolaus|last2=Leach|first2=Peter|title=The Buildings of England. Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North|year=2009|page=218|publisher=Yale University Press}} the Twelve Apostles are in the parish of Burley in Wharfedale.{{cite PastScape |mnumber=49847 |mname=Twelve Apostles|accessdate=7 November 2013}} The stone circle is slightly below and to the northeast of an east-west ridge at about {{convert|381|m}} above sea level. The circle is just over {{convert|800|m}} north-west of the nearby Grubstones circle.James Dyer, (2001), Discovering Prehistoric England, page 230. Osprey Publishing. {{ISBN|0747805075}}
Description
The Twelve Apostles consists of the remains of a stone circle with a diameter of about 15 metres.Rodney Castleden, (1992), Neolithic Britain: New Stone Age Sites of England, Scotland, and Wales, page 259, Routledge. {{ISBN|0415058457}} The circle originally had between 16 and 20 stones, but it is now reduced to 12 stones. The stones are made from the local millstone grit. All of the stones were fallen by the mid-20th-century and were lying loose upon the ground.
The circle was inside a bank {{convert|1.2|m}} wide and {{convert|0.6|m}} high. The bank was still traceable in the 1920s but has apparently eroded since then due to visitors walking over the ground. At the centre of the circle was a small mound, which may have been the disturbed remains of a burial cairn.
In 1971 a group of amateurs made an unauthorised attempt to re-erect the fallen stones, but the stones soon fell again. The stones have since been re-erected.[http://www.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk/documents/archaeology/IlkleyMoor/TwelveApostles.pdf Twelve Apostles - West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service], retrieved 7 November 2013 It is not clear who re-erected them, nor when. The site suffers severe visitor erosion, as it was formerly hidden beneath heather, but is now in an area of bare trampled soil. It is regarded as one of the most damaged prehistoric sites in West Yorkshire.
History and purpose
As a poorly preserved Neolithic site, its precise purpose is unknown{{cite news |last1=Spalding |first1=Caroline |title=Twelve Apostles - Burley Moor (Ilkley) |url=https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Twelve-Apostles---Burley-Moor-Ilkley |access-date=16 September 2023 |work=yorkshiretimes.co.uk |date=10 May 2020}} though in all likelihood was ritualistic.{{Cite journal |last=Flint |first=Abbi |last2=Jennings |first2=Benjamin |date=2020-07-02 |title=Saturated with meaning: peatlands, heritage and folklore |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1751696X.2020.1815293 |journal=Time and Mind |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=283–305 |doi=10.1080/1751696X.2020.1815293 |issn=1751-696X|doi-access=free |hdl=10454/18209 |hdl-access=free }} The site was surveyed in 1929 by Arthur Raistrick who stated that "its position suggests very strongly a burial with a peristalith of standing stones".{{Cite web |title=Yorkshire Archaeological Journal (1929) Volume XXIX - Huddersfield Exposed: Exploring the History of the Huddersfield Area |url=https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Yorkshire_Archaeological_Journal_(1929)_Volume_XXIX |access-date=2023-09-16 |website=huddersfield.exposed |language=en-GB}} Others have speculated that, rather than a fully fledged stone circle, it may have been a type of ring cairn.
Dating from the Neolithic period when hunter-gatherer societies had begun to develop farming techniques, the construction of the site will have coincided with initial land clearance and deforestation for livestock grazing and therefore predates the main development of peatland.
Notes
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External links
{{Commons category|Twelve Apostles (Ilkley Moor)}}
- {{NHLE|num=1011763|desc=Twelve Apostles stone circle, Burley Moor}}