Blakey Topping standing stones
Also known asBlakey Topping stone circle · Stone alignment 350m east of Newgate Foot
DatedEst. 3600–1800 BCE
Photo T Eyre · CC BY-SA 2.0Photo taken at this location (Wikimedia Commons)Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
Blakey Topping standing stones is a small group of standing stones near the Hole of Horcum in the North York Moors. It sits at the foot of Blakey Topping hill.
There are at least four standing stones currently surviving in this group, although some of them are of uncertain status. The tallest stone is 1.9 metres high and is much-weathered and leaning. A second stone is 1.0 metres high and appears to have had its top broken off. A third stone is 1.3 metres high but has been roughly squared off and is currently being used as a gate post. A fourth stone, 1.4 metres high, is found in an old field bank and is much-weathered and leaning. A fifth standing stone may exist, and two or three hollows in the ground may indicate the former position of other stones.
The stones may be the remains of a stone circle of about 17 metres in diameter. Alternatively, the stones may have formed part of a curving alignment or possibly two parallel rows.
Read on Wikipedia3 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
The full article
Blakey Topping standing stones: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
Sources for this section
Blakey Topping standing stones are a small group of standing stones near the Hole of Horcum in the North York Moors, at the foot of Blakey Topping hill. They are also known as the Blakey Topping stone circle and as Stone alignment 350m east of Newgate Foot.
At least four standing stones survive, although the status of some is uncertain. The tallest is 1.9 metres high, much-weathered and leaning. Another stands 1.0 metres high and appears to have had its top broken off. A third, 1.3 metres high, has been roughly squared off and is used as a gate post. The fourth is 1.4 metres high, much-weathered and leaning, and lies in an old field bank.
The stones may be the remains of a stone circle about 17 metres in diameter. Alternatively, they may have formed part of a curving alignment or possibly two parallel rows. A fifth standing stone may exist, while two or three hollows in the ground may mark the former positions of other stones. The surviving remains have been altered by weathering, breakage and later use.
The site is dated from 3600 BCE to 1800 BCE by typological estimate. Monuments of this kind in Britain are commonly called henges. A henge is a Neolithic earthwork with a roughly circular or oval bank and an internal ditch around a central flat area more than 20 metres across. Such monuments may contain ritual structures such as stone circles or timber settings, but the function of the Blakey Topping stones remains uncertain.
How this page was madeSources for this section
Sources for this section
The summary at the top of this page was written by MiniMax-M3 (2026-11-08) from the cited Wikipedia article “Blakey Topping standing stones”. The numbers in it were checked automatically against the source text. The rest of the page is the article itself, the structured records and computed distances.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Henges with stone settings
A henge is a Neolithic earthwork, typically a roughly circular or oval bank with an internal ditch around a central flat area more than 20 metres across. The ditch lies inside the bank, so henges cannot have been built for defence. There is typically little evidence of occupation inside a henge, though they may contain ritual structures such as stone circles or timber settings. The word is taken from Stonehenge, which is not a true henge, because its ditch lies outside its bank.
Many British henges have stone settings. Avebury in Wiltshire is a henge containing three stone circles, built over several hundred years in the third millennium BCE. In Orkney the Standing Stones of Stenness, sited on a promontory between two lochs, may be the oldest henge site in the British Isles, and the Ring of Brodgar, a henge and stone circle, stands on a narrow isthmus between the same lochs; both are part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. In Derbyshire, Arbor Low is a henge with an egg-shaped circle of about 50 limestone blocks, one partly upright and the rest lying flat. In Cumbria, Mayburgh Henge is a large bank on a knoll close to a second henge, King Arthur's Round Table. In Yorkshire the Thornborough Henges are three aligned henges on a plateau above the River Ure, dated between 3500 and 2500 BCE and called the Stonehenge of the North. At Durrington Walls, 3.2 kilometres north-east of Stonehenge, a large Neolithic settlement preceded the henge.
Stone settings inside a henge can be earlier or later than the bank, so a henge and its stones are dated separately.
When visiting, walk the bank to get the sense of the circle, and see how the entrance gaps line up with the landscape.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Henge, Wikipedia: Stonehenge, Wikipedia: Avebury, Wikipedia: Thornborough Henges, Wikipedia: Standing Stones of Stenness, Wikipedia: Ring of Brodgar · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
2 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
T Eyre · CC BY-SA 2.0Photo taken at this location (Wikimedia Commons)
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3600–1800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypological estimate, not a date for this site: a henge with stones in the British Isles is normally dated between 3600 BCE and 1800 BCE (Atlas typological table).Source for this date
Measured facts
- Location
- Near the Hole of Horcum in the North York MoorsSource: Location
- Surviving stones
- At least four, with some of uncertain statusSource: Surviving stones
- Tallest stone
- 1.9 metres high, much weathered and leaningSource: Tallest stone
- Gate-post stone
- 1.3 metres high and roughly squared offSource: Gate-post stone
- Possible stone circle
- About 17 metres in diameterSource: Possible stone circle
- Alternative forms
- A curving alignment or two parallel rowsSource: Alternative forms
- Heritage designation
- scheduled monumentSource: Heritage designation
Where it stands
United Kingdom
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 54°19′43″ N, 0°39′38″ WFor a GPS or map app: 54.32850, -0.66066
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Four round barrows 320m east of High Pastures4000–800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Cairnfield and field systems on Saltergate Moor, immediately north of Nab Farm4000–800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Cross ridge dyke known as Gallows Dike and three round barrows 330m south west of Glebe Farm4000–800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Round barrow 400m north east of Low Pasture Farm4000–800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Round barrow 660m south west of Glebe Farm4000–800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Round barrow 460m north west of the Adder Stone4000–800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Round barrow 395m north west of the Adder Stone4000–800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Round barrow 200m north west of the Adder Stone4000–800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q14949368wikidata.org
- 02Wikipedia (en)en.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Four round barrows 320m east of High Pastures2.2 km S
- Cairnfield and field systems on Saltergate Moor, immediately north of Nab Farm2.4 km N
- Cross ridge dyke known as Gallows Dike and three round barrows 330m south west of Glebe Farm2.4 km W
- Round barrow 400m north east of Low Pasture Farm2.7 km S
- Round barrow 660m south west of Glebe Farm2.8 km W
- Round barrow 460m north west of the Adder Stone3.1 km S
- Round barrow 395m north west of the Adder Stone3.1 km S
- Round barrow 200m north west of the Adder Stone3.1 km S
- Two round barrows 60m south east of the Adder Stone3.4 km S
- Low Woof Howe round barrow3.4 km NE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Blakey Topping standing stones" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors