NEYEDC Volunteer Day - Thornborough Henges

On 10th October 2024 the NEYEDC team spent a (rare!) day out of the office, travelling to Ripon to partake in a volunteering day with the Lower Ure Conservation Trust.

Photo taken standing on the northern henge, looking back across part of the circular raised monument.

We were able to spend the day at a fantastic and interesting site, Thornborough Henges. The henges are now an English Heritage site, a unique and important cluster of 4,500 year-old neolithic monuments lying on a raised plateau above the river Ure – sometimes known as ‘Stonehenge of the North’! The three henges are surrounded by earthen banks and originally stood 4m high. It’s thought that they formed part of a ‘ritual landscape’ which would have been important for ceremonies and funerary purposes for thousands of years. The site comprises three henges, two on open grassland and one wooded. You can read more about the henges here: History of Thornborough Henges | English Heritage (english-heritage.org.uk).

Our team were lucky enough to be working on the northern henge, which is now open to the public but with the henge itself now fenced off for its protection whilst conservation work ensues. The grassland over the henges is limestone in character and includes some fantastic native limestone flora, though this has been degraded over time by a lack of management, public access to the henge, and extensive rabbit damage.

The NEYEDC team hard at work, weeding on the bare ground.

The Lower Ure Conservation Trust (LUCT) are now working alongside English Heritage to restore and conserve this habitat. LUCT is a charity dedicated to the restoration of once productive sand and gravel quarries to varied, wildlife-rich habitats. The charity run Nosterfield Nature Reserve, which is close to Thornborough Henges. Part of LUCT’s restoration work involves re-vegetating with local, native plants, many of which it propagates on-site at Nosterfield. As part of the restoration of Thornborough Henges, LUCT are aiming to plant 10,000 propagated limestone plants over the next two years and completing other work, such as mowing and raking, to further improve the habitat.

However, before planting could commence, the site required some preparation in the form of the removal of ‘weeds’ that had encroached on degraded patches of barer, gravel-y ground on the henge. These plants could inhibit the planted limestone species taking a foothold. In comes Team NEYEDC! Armed with an impressive set of weeding tools, we set about working our way across the two sections of the northern henge and removing a small subset of species, leaving the resulting ground ready for planting. Meanwhile, the LUCT team took to other areas of the henge to cut grass. We were gifted a beautiful and sunny, if a little chilly, day. Our day out also happened to fall in World Mental Health Day, which was a great moment to reflect on how time spent in accessible green spaces can be a great tool to foster good mental health.

Raking grass cuttings off the henge.

After finishing both areas of the henge (and producing multiple tonne-sized bags of weeds to show for it), we then spent the remainder of the day raking dry grass cuttings down off the henges with the LUCT team and removing them ready to be baled.

We’d like to extend a big thank you to the LUCT team for having us and allowing us to play a small part in the restoration and protection of this special site whilst enjoying a team day out. We look forward to following along with the next stages of work being undertaken at the site.

Some of the NEYEDC team. L - R: Rob, Lucy, Josie, Clare, Seebra.