After 13 years as a languages teacher, Dr Emma Watson decided to study Archaeology at Durham University. Her BA focused on the circular ceremonial monuments of Cumbria, North Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland, whilst her MA and PhD looked at the neglect of the prehistory of northern England. From 2011, Emma was taking tour groups around … More Dr Emma Watson
Final reminder that we have our first public event this coming Saturday at West Tanfield Memorial Hall. Tickets are still available if you haven’t already booked (please see below). We’ve been asked if we are doing a live stream. Unfortunately this has proved impossible to organise, at least this time round. We will however, endeavour … More Festival of Archeology at Thornborough
Midsummer, the peak of the spiritual year, has passed, and the North Yorkshire landscape lies passive as the summer storms roll in. Dramatic, threatening and gaudy, the sunlight firing barrages of light down on the defenceless fields. And everywhere these arrows of light fall they create a poppy, each one a tiny scarlet wound, each … More Cana Barn Henge
Just a reminder of our event on 27th July. Please book your tickets now, if you haven’t already done so. You can attend either a morning or an afternoon session. We are greatly looking forward to seeing you all there. Thank you and best wishes. Jan Harding
The Thornbough Henges, Ripon, North Yorkshire, retain their mystery from Midwinter to Midsummer. I created this as just a little bit of fun: an image from the Midwinter solstice and the midsummer dawn together, the henges the only constant in an ever changing landscape for the last 5,000 years
For those of you who would have liked to be at the Thornborough Henges for the summer solstice sunrise but couldn’t make it, we were there for you. This is the site from the north west. As the sun rose a barn owl ghosted across the central henge, lit by the rising sun. A magical … More Summer solstice at Thornborough
The sun sets over an open field near Ripon, the mist rises, and the gentle undulations carpeted by the grass resolve themselves into a shape: a circle, huge, over 200m across. Great banks now lost to time and the plough. Once deep ditches now mere shadows in the ground. This is a 4,500 year old … More Sunset over Cana Barn Henge
Early autumn. As the nights begin to draw in, as the equinox passes and the light wanes earlier each day, this is the time when the long shadow of the coming winter is felt in early morning chills across the land. We mourn the dying of the summer with feasts and festivals, shamelessly stolen from … More Northern Lights over Thornborough Henge
This is Cana Barn Henge, lying 15km southeast of the Thornborough henges and has an outer diameter of approximately 184m. I took this drone photo in July 2023. There was a heatwave in June and cattle had been in this grass field just a few weeks before. As can be noted there are strange patterns … More Cana Barn Henge
Thornborough Archaeology Group 