Percy Cross Rigg

Without looking at the map, I would have said the track along Percy Cross Rigg, or to use its Medieval name, Ernaldsti, on its journey south across Great Ayton and Kildale Moors, and on to Westerdale follows a pretty straight route¹“The North York Moors Landscape Heritage”. Edited by D.A.Spratt and B.J.D.Harrison. David & Charles. 1989. ISBN 0 7153 93472..

But this telescopic photo shows just how sinuous it actually is.

The name is thought to have been derived from the 12th-century Ernald de Percy, Lord of Kildale, but the route is probably much, much older. To the right of the photo, on the left of the road, just after the slight rise is the site of an Iron Age village that was excavated in the 1960s by the local archaeologist Roland Close. It was found to contain five circular huts with paved floors and walls still standing to a height of three courses of stone. The site is dated to about 2,400 years ago, which would make it contemporary with the Iron age fort at Eston Hill. In all probability a track would have existed then, perhaps linking the two settlements.

In the 4th century BC, the local tribe that inhabited this village is conjectured to have been the Gabrantovices although they wouldn’t have known themselves by that name²Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Gabrantovices’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrantovices> [accessed 27 September 2022].

The monoculture of heather that is so familiar to us today would have been alien to these Gabrantovician villagers. Pollen analysis has shown that the vegetation would have been more semi open grassland, with ‘fields’ cleared for crops such as wheat along the drier ridge. The climate was improving after a mini cold age but still comparatively worse than today.

• 1
  “The North York Moors Landscape Heritage”. Edited by D.A.Spratt and B.J.D.Harrison. David & Charles. 1989. ISBN 0 7153 93472.
• 2
  Wikipedia Contributors. 2022. ‘Gabrantovices’, Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrantovices> [accessed 27 September 2022]