Thornborough Moor Trackway (Thornborough Mire, North Yorkshire)
Thornborough Causeway · Thornborough Moor Timber Scatter
Early Bronze Age (Beaker–Early Bronze, 2200 BCE)·British Early Bronze (Beaker–Thornborough henge communities)·🇬🇧 England, North Yorkshire, Thornborough Moor, Nidderdale fringe, near Thornborough Henges, United Kingdom
About
About Thornborough Moor Trackway (Thornborough Mire, North Yorkshire)
Mire-dipping double-plank trackway fragment 30 m traced under Thornborough Moor raised mire, 1 km from the Thornborough Henges triple earthwork. North Yorkshire County Archaeology 1999–2003 sondage found two parallel oak planks 0.9 m apart on birch tranches, dendro 2210±40 BCE (Early Bronze), possibly bridging to the henge cursus avenue. Thornborough Moor is the mire analog to Hatfield but 400 years later, demonstrating Bronze Age henge-processional use of wetlands. Desiccation since 1970 quarrying has cracked the timbers; Yorkshire Water now refloods the mire as part of Henges landscape management.
Why it mattersOnly known mire trackway directly associated with a triple-henge cursus landscape.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Henges vs mire sequence
Theories
- 01Henge wetland procession
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.2210 BCE (±40)
- Period
- Early Bronze Age (Beaker–Early Bronze, 2200 BCE)
- Culture
- British Early Bronze (Beaker–Thornborough henge communities)
- Builders
- Henge-processional Bronze Age communities of Vale of York
- Purpose
- Mire bridging for henge cursus approach and votive approach
- Abandoned
- c.1800 BCE (mire tree growth)
- Rediscovered
- 1999 Yorkshire Dales survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
-2210
Oak planks felled (dendro)
2003
NYCC sondage traces 30 m
On the ground
Structures & features
54.2100° N · 1.5900° W · 35 m · 2 mapped features
Twin Oak Planks (30 m) over Mire
trackway30-m double oak planks 0.9 m apart over Thornborough mire
54.2110° N · 1.5910° WBirch Tranche Foundation
platformBirch tranche support framework beneath north end planks
54.2090° N · 1.5890° W