Crayaldstane

A dreary damp day with hardly no visibility so a fall back to that ubiquitous feature of the moors: standing stones.

Man has erected stones upright for many reasons: to delineate a boundary, as a waymarker, a religious symbol or a monument.

At Oakdale Head, on the parochial boundary between Hawnby and Nether Silton, you get two standing stones for the price of one. One, and I assume it is the tallest, is listed on the North York Moors Historic Environment Record¹North York Moors Historic Environment Record (HER) Nos: 8585/8591.. Bill Cowley records that it bears the inscription “Osmotherley Road South”²Cowley, Bill. “Snilesworth”. Plate 70. Page 85. Turker Books 1993., but, zooming in on the photo, I think it think it says “… North”. Perhaps I am looking at the wrong side.

It’s interesting that the smaller stone is not listed at all on the North York Moors Historic Environment Record.

The name Crayaldstane is first encountered in a grant of land to Byland Abbey in 1150[/mfn]³Cowley, Bill. “Snilesworth”. Page 83/7. Turker Books 1993.⁴‘Parishes: Hawnby, Paragraph 35 | British History Online’. 2022. British-History.ac.uk <https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp31-37#p35> [accessed 30 November 2022]:

“All the territory of Erdene⁵Arden and Snyleswath⁶Snilesworth with the site of Erdene, from Steppingcrosse⁷Steeple Cross to Wyststayndale⁸White Gill Head and thence to Hameldon⁹Hambleton – and from Potter Keld¹⁰SE 47956 95080 to Crayaldstane¹¹Grey Hall Stone, and thence to Milehowe¹²Miley Pike and to Nelehowe¹³Nelson Stone and thence to Rieheved¹⁴Rye Head most likely SE 5103 9861 and so to Snyleswath¹⁵Snilesworth and to Halmeby¹⁶Hawnby Church. “

The ‘Cra‘ element of Crayaldstane is Old Norse for a nook or corner and is where the Arden boundary turns sharply[/mfn]¹⁷Cowley, Bill. “Snilesworth”. Page 83. Turker Books 1993.. This suggest that the territorial boundary has persisted from the Anglo-Saxon. Crayaldstane was recorded as “Grey Hall Stone” on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey Map. No doubt a misinterpreting of the North Yorkshire dialect by the early surveyors — did they even visit?

This stone is inscribed “GRAY HALL STONE” in the same style as other boundary stones of the Snilesworth Estate, see the Nelson Stone¹⁸North York Moors Historic Environment Record (HER) No: 5562.

In recent years this stone has been recorded as lying prone and is supposed to have been re-erected in the wrong place¹⁹‘Cray Hall Stone’. 2021. The Megalithic Portal <https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=55924> [accessed 30 November 2022].

Nether Silton is a township in the parish of Leake. I presume the inscribed ‘D’ signifies the owner of this estate.

• 1
  North York Moors Historic Environment Record (HER) Nos: 8585/8591.
• 2
  Cowley, Bill. “Snilesworth”. Plate 70. Page 85. Turker Books 1993.
• 3
  Cowley, Bill. “Snilesworth”. Page 83/7. Turker Books 1993.
• 4
  ‘Parishes: Hawnby, Paragraph 35 | British History Online’. 2022. British-History.ac.uk <https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp31-37#p35> [accessed 30 November 2022]
• 5
  Arden
• 6
  Snilesworth
• 7
  Steeple Cross
• 8
  White Gill Head
• 9
  Hambleton
• 10
  SE 47956 95080
• 11
  Grey Hall Stone
• 12
  Miley Pike
• 13
  Nelson Stone
• 14
  Rye Head most likely SE 5103 9861
• 15
  Snilesworth
• 16
  Hawnby
• 17
  Cowley, Bill. “Snilesworth”. Page 83. Turker Books 1993.
• 18
  North York Moors Historic Environment Record (HER) No: 5562.
• 19
  ‘Cray Hall Stone’. 2021. The Megalithic Portal <https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=55924> [accessed 30 November 2022]