Country and Coast: Excavating the stories and mysteries of the moorland stones

In fact, one of my old maps, produced from a survey between 1849 and 1853, includes yoak stones, grey stones, the Rokan Stone, Hart Leap Stones and dozens of others labelled simply stone or stones. Indeed, one reference is "pile of stones" but I guess most have since been stolen to build domestic rockeries and walls.

Some of the remaining examples show remarkable craftsmanship while others are little more than deserted bases or sites of former crosses. Tom Smith's Cross beside the A170 Thirsk-Helmsley road above the village of Wass was listed as a standing stone in 1642, and its base is said to remain somewhere beneath the ground. Tom Smith was reputedly a highwayman gibbeted there, but sadly, I have never found his cross.

Most of the other crosses, whether still standing or mere empty bases, do bear names such as Redman Cross, Jenny Bradley, Anna Ain Howe Cross, Percy Cross, Old Ralph Cross, Young Ralph Cross and lots more, including the Mauley Cross named after the de Mauley family of Mulgrave Castle, near Sandsend. It stands just inside Cropton Forest on the side of the forest track that emerges near Stape. There are three Job Crosses which were probably not crosses at all, but probably boundary markers and in 1971, the 51-mile Crosses Walk was inaugurated to take in about a dozen crosses and stones.

The ancient custom of naming stones and crosses is at times puzzling. For example, Fat Betty is a stone near Young Ralph's Cross on the moors above Rosedale and Castleton and the lady in question was said to be Sister Elizabeth, a nun of Rosedale Priory. To honour the colour of her habit, the stone is painted white but the reference to "fat" is no criticism of her – it relates to the size of the rock.

The Margery Stone is nearby and acts as a way-marker for the Lyke Wake Walk, and there is an old tale that if Old Ralph and Fat Betty meet, they will marry.

There are monuments, too, such as the Cook Monument on Easby Moor above Great Ayton. Erected in 1872, it commemorates Captain James Cook, the locally-born explorer, while the moors author, Frank Elgee, is remembered by the Elgee Stone overlooking Loose Howe on Rosedale Moor.

But perhaps the most puzzling is a few yards outside the National Park boundary at Nether Silton, near Thirsk. This is not the nearby Hanging Stone but an unnamed pillar some seven feet high.

In a field behind the church, it bears this inscription:

HTGOMHS

TBBWOTGWWG

TWOTEWAHH

ATCLABWHEY

AD1765

AWPSAYAA

The challenge is to work out its message. Any thoughts?

www.nicholasrhea.co.uk

CW 9/10/10