 Looking eastwards over the Ramsdale stones. The sea is hidden by mist on the left hand side while the higher land towards the centre and right is Stoupe Brow. |
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The three
stones that make up the Ramsdale circle stand just over three kilometres
(two miles) from Robin Hood's Bay and on a clear day the fine views
eastward towards the sea provide a fairly persuasive reason as to why
this site was chosen to erect not just theses stones but the round barrows
located a short distance to the west as well.
It is not recorded if there were ever more than three stones here but it seems likely that at least one other stood to form a square setting known as a four-poster or perhaps several others to make a true stone circle, alternatively the stones may have been part of a kerb or revetment around a vanished burial cairn. What remains today is an isosceles triangle of three rough boulders, the largest stone to the north leans out from the circle and would have stood 2 metres tall while the other two each stand 5.5 metres away to the west and east. These are slightly smaller, standing just under a metre and a half in height with the western stone appearing narrower than the more squat flat topped stone towards the east, all three show evidence of weathering. The stones stand on a gentle southeast slope of land to which they give their name - Standing Stones Rigg - but just over 100 metres away the land falls away more rapidly to the valley formed by Ramsdale Beck as it flows eastwards on its journey to the sea at Robin Hood's Bay. Futher to the southeast the raised plateau of Stoupe Brow is clearly visible, even in the misty photograph above and just beyond this is one of the richest concentrations of prehistoric carved rocks in North Yorkshire on Brow Moor and Howdale Moor. Probable Date: Bronze Age |
 Looking west over the stones. |
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