Stone cross find could point way to Viking burial ground in the Dales

History books offered no clues as to the origin of the name of the site known locally as Chapel Hill in the hamlet of Hartlington, near Burnsall in the Yorkshire Dales.

But the discovery of part of a Viking stone cross dating back to the tenth century has shed new light on the area's history.

Unearthed on private land by heating engineers, the find was eventually passed on to John Townend, who offered to care for it. "They saw it had carvings on so got quite excited. The shaft is probably still underground," said the retired teacher, who has an interest in local history.

Mr Townend immediately recognised the stone and called upon Dr Elizabeth Coatsworth, an expert who had recently written an important study of Anglo Saxon stone sculpture in West Yorkshire.

"That book is a great tome and it was the latest book to describe every single piece of stone sculpture that is in West Yorkshire.

"West Yorkshire does not mean the same as the county. It covers the old West Riding which is now part of North Yorkshire. Just about the time that was published this new find was made.

"It is interesting because it did not get into the book."

The stone is believed to be a burial cross.

"It had the influence of the Hiberno-Norse, that is to say,

the Vikings who came to England from Ireland," said Mr Townend.

"In a second wave a large number left Dublin and crossed the Irish Sea to places like the Isle of Man, Cumbria and Lancashire and across the Pennines into the Yorkshire Dales."

The discovery has cast new light on the origin of Chapel Hill.

"No one knew why it was named that because there is no sign of a chapel and there are no history books that describe a chapel being there," said Mr Townend.

"It may have been a chapel belonging to the manor house. Often in Anglo Saxon times the lords of the manor had a priest and therefore they needed a chapel for him to celebrate services in. It was only later that

we got churches like we have now."

The site may well be home to an ancient burial ground and could offer further insights into the area's past.

Mr Townend said: "To my knowledge people were always buried at a special place, whether Christian or pagan. I think it is a burial cross.

"It could be a Viking burial ground. By that time the Vikings had assimilated with the Saxons. They had settled down.

"When the Vikings left Scandinavia they were pagans but clearly by the time they got to Hartlington they were Christians, hence the use of the cross as a symbol. They made these huge crosses which were six or seven feet."

The relic will be transported to the other side of the River Wharfe to a new home in St Wilfrid's Church, Burnsall, as part of the village's third Viking Festival from September 3 to 5.

Mr Townend said: "The landowner has kindly donated it to St Wilfrid's Church in Burnsall because that is where there is already a collection of 13 Viking fragments of this era."

Stones that echo down the ages

The relic, which was found in 2008, is the latest in a string of significant discoveries in the area.

Most of the stones were discovered in the 1850s and 1860s but the last century also produced a find in 1985 by a pupil from South Craven School.

"One pupil spotted this round stone with a carving on it in the river bank," said Mr Townend. "That turned out to be a cross head of a similar era. I am sure there are more."

St Wilfrid's collection of stone sculptures consists of Viking tombstones and fragments of Anglo-Scandinavian crosses dating from the ninth to the eleventh centuries.

Many were discovered under the floor of the historic church in the nineteenth century.