Fallen ancient monument standing proud once more

The North York Moors National Park Authority has joined forces with English Heritage to protect hundreds of scheduled ancient monuments in the area, including burial mounds and standing stones dating back to 3,000BC.

Work has now been completed to re-erect Wade’s Stone, which had toppled over after centuries of cultivation around the scheduled monument had reduced the level of the surrounding ground.

The national park authority commissioned Tees Archaeology to record and then reinstate the fallen stone. The archaeologists carefully excavated what little was left of the original socket hole and then extended its depth to provide an adequate trench into which to set the re-erected stone, which is more than 6ft tall.

The national park authority’s senior archaeological conservation officer, Graham Lee, said: “The sheer size of some of these stones adds to the mystery of how they got here and what they were for – it’s therefore not surprising that local legends have sprung up around many of them.”

Wade’s Stone was named after the giant who, according to local legend, lived in the area. The proximity of another standing stone also known as Wade’s Stone has led many to believe that the two mark the grave of the giant.

Standing stones are prehistoric ritual or ceremonial monuments dating from the late Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age. They may have been markers relating to land ownership, for route-ways, graves or meeting points.

Wade’s Stone is in the parish of Barnby, an area which includes many prehistoric burial monuments as well as a number of other standing stones.

While there is no public access to Wade’s Stone, it can be easily viewed from the A174 near East Barnby Outdoor Education Centre.

The Monument Management Scheme was launched to help remove scheduled monuments from an “at risk” register. Nearly a third of all the scheduled monuments in the region are in the North York Moors National Park.

The existing scheme began in 2009 and has now been extended until 2015.

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