High Bridestones
Bronze Age Stone Circles
East of Grosmont, North Yorkshire  OS Map Ref NZ850046
OS Maps - Landranger 94 (Whitby & Esk Dale), Explorer OL27 (North York Moors - Eastern Area)


The High Bridestones looking northwest
To the east of the village of Grosmont and just below the crest of Sleight's Moor is this confusing collection of standing and fallen stones that are known collectively as the High Bridestones.

They are considered by some people to represent the remains of two stone circles of a particular form referred to as a 'four-poster' which as the name implies is a setting of four stones that occurs most commonly in Scotland but there are several known or suspected monuments of this type in England (see the Goatstones in Northumberland for a good example).

The eastern stones of the High Bridestones consist of a single 2 metre upright which is sandy coloured, smoothish and fractured with three other fallen stones sprawled out close by, these seem to be a slightly darker colour and are heavily pitted. Perhaps their eroded surface is evidence that they fell a very long time ago though rather than being toppled recently. A smaller stone stands just to the east of the group. The photograph above shows the view looking northwest over this eastern setting of stones with the upright to the right and the fallen stones on the left of the image. These stones stand on part of a rough limestone pavement and the remaining upright stone has suffered over the years with people jamming coins into cracks in the rock which are adding to the erosion of the stone.

To the northwest in the heather are the stones of the second setting, here three uprights form what could also have been a four-poster with one stone missing and there is also a possible outlier further to the northwest. These stones are smaller than those of the first setting although the general condition of this circle is better. In the picture above, these are the three stones in the centre middle-distance, the outlier is just beyond the brow of the hill.

A short distance over the moor to the northwest are the stones of the Low Bridestones.

Probable Date: Bronze Age
The eastern setting of the High Bridestones with three fallen stones in front of the remaining upright
The eastern setting of the High Bridestones with three fallen stones in front of the remaining upright.
     
Three night-time views of the High Bridestones - click to enlarge.
360 Degree Panorama
360 Degree Panorama

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