Prehistoric Millom

Prehistory is the time before humans used a written language. In Britain this is generally accepted as before 43 AD when the Romans arrived and brought with them Latin; the earliest form of writing appeared in Mesopotamia (Iraq) from about 3,500 BC.

Human beings have inhabited Britain on and off for thousands of years depending on the climate, i.e. whether or not the climate was warm enough for life to survive or whether it was too cold, forcing most species south to warmer lands.

Like much of Northern Europe, Scotland, Ireland and most of Northern England were periodically covered by sheets of ice until about 11500 BC when the climate began to warm significantly and the ice began to retreat. As the landscape emerged from beneath the ice, humans and animals began to move northwards to pioneer their way into new areas of Britain.

Mesolithic (c.9,600-4,000) Hunter-gatherers

As the last Ice Age ended, water raged down from the hills collecting stones, rocks, and silt as it travelled eventually flowing in river channels and streams down to the sea. This resulted in a rapid rise in sea levels and the permanent submergence of large tracts of land. The Irish Sea gradually formed as part of this process.

As sea-levels rose so did the land towards the north of the newly formed Irish Sea. The combination of both sea-level rise and land movement led to a dynamic sea and a shifting seabed. At the margins between higher land and the sea, there were several periods of prolonged flooding before the coastline eventually stabilised.

The shifts in the seabed created (in about 6,800 BC) several large sand banks which stretched round the eastern edge of the Irish Sea (i.e. Cumbrian coastline). The accumulation of the sediments from the rivers flowing into the sea created extensive rich salt marshes with reedbeds growing at the tidal margins. These attracted animals and birds to graze as well as humans who hunted them for food and who lived for periods on the coast where the intertidal coastline and neighbouring wetlands would have been stocked with seafoods of different types.

These people were hunter/gatherers who lived in small nomadic groups. They were skilled in making tools from stones, bones and plants. They often used caves or rock hollows for shelter, and they had in depth knowledge of the habits of the animals that they hunted and with whom they shared their environment.

There is evidence of humans living in caves near Morecambe who moved around in search for food; they probably made their way along the fertile coast and, at times, would have followed rivers and streams inland. The lowlands would have consisted of areas of scrub, woodland and fen carr. The upland areas were forested so would have offered protection in the winter months.

In the warmer months of the year they may have preferred the coastal areas. They ate seafood, bird's eggs, wild plants, red deer, roe deer, wild boar, and sometimes aurochs (now extinct), plus from inland hazel nuts, seeds and seasonal berries. Sometimes they faced danger from wolves and aurochs. Here is a drawing of an aurochs. The last one died in Poland in 1627.

Skins of animals were used for clothing and moccasins. There is evidence humans lit small fires on the edges of reed beds where they would process the animals they had successfully hunted for food and hides, using various stone flint tools. Sometimes there would be contact with other groups and exchange of goods. Groups would often go back to the same places to forage for food.

Footprints

Human, animal and bird prints were formed when the weather was warm and the water low enough for the reed beds and mudflats to dry and harden, having caught the impressions of whatever had walked over them. The most common prints are: humans, aurochs, red deer, roe deer, crane, wild boar, dogs/wolves, and oystercatchers. The prints were made over a wide time span from around 7,000 BC throughout the prehistoric period.

The exposure of the footprints changes rapidly and each visit to see the footprints is different with either more or less prints to be found, depending on the tidal flow and the weather. For further information see The Prehistoric Footprints at Formby, Alison Burns, 2014 and National Trust which gives a link to a guide on how to identify footprints and a PDF which shows this map identifying the various locations in Britain where similar footprints have been found. However, the footprints at Formby are the only ones identified on this map that can be easily seen on the foreshore in the muddy beds that protrude.

1 Formby Point, Sefton Coast, Merseyside; 2 Low Hauxley, Northumberland; 3 Happisburgh, NorthNorfolk; 4 St Ouen's Bay, Jersey; 5 Magor Pill, Gwent and Uskmouth, Newport, S. Wales; 6 Goldcliff,Gwent, S. Wales; 7 Kenfig, Pembrokeshire, Wales; and 8 Splash Point, Rhyl, Denbighshire, Wales.

Of course, we need to add Millom to this map as well as Walney where Alison has been conducting research with Claire Bradshaw of Morecambe Bay Partnership; here is a link to a talk Alison gave for the Morecambe Bay Partnership last year Morecambe Bay Sunset Series: Forests, Footprints and Fauna. It is hoped they will be able to extend their research to include the prints that have been found on Duddon Foreshore in Millom.

WARNING: There are significant threats to the prints when cars are driven on the sands and people walk their dogs over the prints; the prints are also at risk from rubbish from the sea. Having said that, the prints do not last very long anyway once they are uncovered, so there is a need to monitor them daily.

Duddon Foreshore: Prehistoric Footprints

Here are a series of photographs from the Duddon foreshore in Millom which have been taken by local historian Duane Farren who has been monitoring the site for five years. It is thought the prints date to c.5,000 BC.

Duane regularly takes groups down to the foreshore to see the prints.

Haverigg Ancient Forest

In 2019 members of the Duddon Valley Local History Group took photographs and acquired samples of trees from a submerged forest off Haverigg Point which were carbon dated to c.8,500 years ago. The report and photos are available here.

Cumbria Historic Environment Record

To find out what evidence exists in Prehistoric Cumbria visit the on-line search facility at Cumbria Historic Environment Record. You can choose the area of Cumbria you are interested in and the period. Of course, this only shows evidence and finds that people have submitted. Some finds have not been added and many metal detectorists have made finds which they choose not to report to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Here is a link to the National Council for Metal Detecting's Code of Conduct.

The following map shows the results of a search for Prehistoric periods in Millom. To make it easier to follow the finds have been numbered and circled with blue.

Cumbria County Council Historic Environment Record Prehistoric Millom

Neolithic Age (4,500 - 2,000 BC) First Farmers

There is more evidence from the Neolithic period in the form of monuments (stone circles, cairns, standing stones, and rock art): it is said there are more preserved field monuments in Cumbria than the rest of England; as well as axes. The so-called Langdale Axe Factory also belongs to this period as suggested by the numerous finds of mainly reject axes, rough outs and blades knapped from the fine grained greenstone/hornstone (leaving flint scatters). This best suited the making of polished stone axes which have been found all over Britain. The site is thought to have had a special significance to the makers of the axes due to the difficulty of carving the stone from the almost inaccessible hillside.

1.Hodbarrow: Neolithic Stone Axe Head:

A polished stone axe head was found at Hodbarrow Iron Ore Mine, one mile southeast of Millom, in the topsoil removed when mining began in 1870. Length 245mm; width ofcutting edge 75mm; thickness 43mm. Now in Liverpool Museum.

2.Kirksanton Haws: Neolithic Flint Scatter:

A small quantity of flints with Mesolithic affinities were picked up on the coastal strip between Silecroft and Haverigg (exact locations unknown). No microliths were found. For more information see Transactions

3.Lowscales: Neolithic Polished Stone Axe. Here is a link to an extract from Transactions describing the find.

Transactions Vol 39 (1939) p283-285

4. Waterblean: Neolithic Stone Axe: There is a reference to this Langdale stone axe in The Great Langdale stone-axe factory, by Clare Fell Transactions Vol 50, 1950, p8. It merely says the axe was found at Waterblean, near Millom, and probably found its way there down the Duddon Valley. The axe was owned by the Hon. M. Cross.

Swinside Stone Circle

Swinside Stone Circle (also known as Sunken Kirk and Swineshead) is thought to be Neolithic. It is nearly six miles to the north of Millom within the Parish of Thwaites; it is north of Broadgate and next to Grey Stones Fell. Some say it is one of the best-preserved stone circles in Europe but it is seldom visited by the public - probably because it is not easy to get to!

Fifty-five stones make up the circle, the largest being ten foot tall. According to Adam Morgan Ibbotson, Cumbria's Prehistoric Monuments, 2021, it is rare to find a circle in such isolation - the nearest cairn-field, Lath Rigg, is 1.6 km north. There are several hut circles and over 100 clearance cairns on this moor. A cairn is a stack of stones sometimes used as a burial monument or for defence or hunting or ceremonies or astronomy or as trail markers. In this instance Ibbotson believes they are simply clearance cairns, i.e. farmers moved them to allow for more effective ploughing; cairns are usually considered to be Bronze Age.

The entrance to the circle, four large stones to the south east which mark sunrise on winter solstice, can only be found elsewhere at Long Meg and Her Daughters near Penrith, a site which is also dated to Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, when many stone circles were constructed. It is thought people would gather here to celebrate solstice, as they did at Stonehenge.

Not much is known about Swinside; when it was built and why: the few findings from the only excavation are discussed in, An Exploration of "Sunken Kirk," Swinside, Cumberland, with Incidental Researches in its Neighbourhood, C. W. Dymond, can be found in Transactions, 1902, Vol 2.

Other articles discuss Swinside and other Cumbrian stone monuments in the context of Gaelic festivals, Midsummer and Midwinter, Samhain and Imbolc: these include, Further Investigation of the astronomical alignments at Cumbrian prehistoric sites, Steven Hood and Douglas Wilson, Transactions, 2003, Vol 3;

Cumbrian stone circles, the calendar and the issue of the Druids, Steven Hood, Transactions, 2004, Vol 4; and

The Great Cumbrian Stone Circles, their Environs and the Moon, Steven Hood, Transactions, 2012, Vol 12. Hood concludes "there is potential at these circles for both solar and lunar alignments."

Here is a short video made by Adam Morgan Ibbotson: Mysteries of the Stone Age.

Bronze Age c.2,500 to c.700 BC

The transition between the ages is gradual. So too was the transition to the Bronze Age which continued much of the same practices as in Neolithic times. There is, however, evidence of increased woodland clearing as well as cereal growing in northern Cumbria and coastal areas. Collared urns have been found as well as the continued building of large stone monuments.

With regard to burials, both burials of non-cremated bodies (inhumations) and cremated bodies took place in Cumbria. These were mostly linked to cairns but also round barrows, flat cemeteries, stone circles and other standing stones.

5.Hodbarrow Point: Bronze Age Human Remains Inhumation:

The following comes from Cumbria Historic Environment Record: Bones found at Hodbarrow Point by a fossil hunter in February 2009 were dated to between 3200 and 3700 years old by the University of Glasgow.

In February 2009 archaeologists were asked to examine and retrieve possible human bone found protruding from a sand dune. A disarticulated and incomplete skeleton was found, with the remaining bones presumed eroded away. No grave cut was seen, and the remains were interpreted as having either been redeposited from somewhere else, or left exposed to scavengers for some time before being naturally covered. The bones have been carbon 14 dated: 2210-2010 BC and 1620-1440 BC.

It seems probable that these bones were recovered during mining operations at Hodbarrow, and reburied in a shallow hole away from the area of operations. Hence the bones are not complete individuals, and span a number of centuries.

6.Millom Town Centre: Bronze Age Burial Site: This is probably the same as the one found below at Beck Farm.

7.Beck Farm: Bronze Age Urn

Transactions, 002, 1939 Vol 39, Photo Miss Fair

Here is a link to an extract from Transactions describing the find.

8.Kirksanton: Prehistoric (probably Bronze Age) Standing Stone; Barrow; Bronze Age Cup & Ring Marked Stone

Giant's Grave, Kirksanton

There are several stone monuments in our area, some still standing, others mentioned in old documents but since destroyed. Megalithic Portal is an excellent site to find information and photographs about all of these sites. The main three sites that are still standing in our area are Giant's Grave, Lacra Bank and Swinside.

A recent publication which covers all of these is Cumbria's Prehistoric Monuments, Adam Morgan Ibbotson, 2021. The History Press. Irene Helen Evans conducted a Ph.D on The Prehistoric Landscapes in Cumbria in 2005 at the University of Sheffield. This can be accessed in two volumes at Volume 1 Volume 2.

It is believed early monuments were meeting places to exchange goods or to signify routes to sources of food or ritual gathering places. Giant's Grave, for example was, it is said, used to mark a safe passage through the hill.

9.Lacra Bank: Bronze Age Cairn, Stone Circle, Great Knott Stone Circle, Cremation, Stone Avenue, Stone Allignment, Cist

As can be seen from the above description, Lacra Bank has a wealth of stone monuments possibly dating from Later Neolithic/Bronze Age. This is discussed in Some Bronze Age burial circles at Lacra, near Kirksanton. J. A. Dixon, with an excavation report by Clare I. Fell in Transactions, 1948, Vol 48, p1-28. Ibbotson also discusses the complex in his Cumbria's Prehistoric Monuments, p93-102.

Lacra Bank is situated near the old Lacra Farm house above Kirksanton village and below Great Knott, with splendid views of the sea towards the south west. It is too complicated to describe here but as well as Ibbotson's book here is a link to Megalithic Portal which not only provides a comprehensive description but also several photographs. It is obvious that the coast and villages around Millom hold masses of Prehistoric history.

10.Po House: Bronze Age Cup and Ring Marked Standing Stone:

Cumbria Historic Environment Record: There is a standing stone at this grid reference. The fabric of the stone is similar to the Giant's Grave at Kirksanton in that it has the same crystalline quartz banding, although it only stands 1.5m high, It appears false crested to the hillside and some distance behind it is a natural spring. There is also a flat cup marked slab in the ground at SD 14668 81975 which marks the position of the spring.

Mineral springs played an important role in ancient times, as R.H. Gambles explains in The Spa Resorts and Mineral Springs of Cumbria, Transactions:

MANKIND'S oldest and most enduring faith is his belief in the magic powers of those mysterious waters which flow unbidden and unceasing from the bosom of the earth. The Christian missionaries to Anglo-Saxon Britain found a country dotted with hundreds of "magic" springs and wells, many dedicated to local gods, goddesses and water spirits, the focus of rituals and beliefs inherited from a thousand years of pagan water-cults whose origins had long been forgotten. Four centuries of Roman occupation had reinforced this Celtic tradition and at the time of Britain's conversion to Christianity, the Church, while deploring these heathen practices, acknowledged that it could not ignore, still less eradicate, such ancient and deep-rooted faith in the natural springs or the ceremonies attached to them. And so medieval Christian Britain acquired all those "holy wells", rededicated to Christian Saints, which were to figure so largely in the religious life of the country for the next five hundred years and in its social life for three hundred more. Repeated exhortation and condemnation discouraged the offering of sacrifices and belief in the supernatural powers of these waters. The emphasis moved to their healing powers, both medicinal and spiritual, achieved by bathing in or drinking from the water and through the strength of one's Christian faith and the intercession of the appropriate saint. If there had to be an element of magic still, it was at least magic over which the church had some control.

Iron Age (800 BC - 43 AD)

The Iron Age saw the introduction of Celtic culture with certain art forms and increased use of iron. People were possibly divided into tribes. It is speculated the Carvetii tribe covered most of Cumbria whilst around the south of the county there may have been a tribe called the Setantii; both may have been subsumed by the Brigantes tribe. They probably spoke Cumbric, an offshoot of Brythonic which preceded modern Welsh.

Celtic Religion

In his epic poem De Bello Civili, Roman poet Lucan tells us the Celts worshipped three main gods: Tuetates, god of tribes; Esus, god of the underworld; and Teranis, the Thunder-Sky god. All three gods were important in North West England and all included sacrificial offerings which involved different kinds of death: to appease Esus the sacrificial person was hanged and then stabbed; death by fire was used for Teranis and drowning for Teutates. It has been noted there may be little difference between ritual and judicial deaths. In other words, the people sacrificed may have been guilty of a wrong-doing.

Druids

It is thought the Druids acted as intermediaries between humans and the gods. Our main source about the Druids comes from Julius Caesar who tells us the Druid religion originated in Britain and spread to Europe. We have to remember, however, that ancient writers tended to give negative descriptions of the Druids.

The Druids were supposed to be responsibe for administering and guiding religious life, overlooking ceremonies and sacrifices, divining the future from omens of how the sacrificed person died as well as keeping the practice of law and theory through the oral teaching tradition.

Festivals

The Celts had a sophisticated understanding of the passage of time; to know when to sew seeds, move animals to upland pastures, and harvest crops; certain times of the year were important and these were marked by festivals:

Samhain: meetings and sacrifices took place (origins of Halloween) on 1st November when, it is believed, there is a transitional time between the two years and the spirits of the dead roam free.

Imbolc: 1st February, was dedicated to the goddess of fertility, Brigit, who later became a saint in Christianity. It is possible this signified the time when ewes began to lactate and sheep were moved to upland pastures.

Beltane, 1st May, dedicated to the fire god Belnus, marking the beginning of summer when the cattle were driven out to summer pastures.

Lugnasad, 1st August, was dedicated to the god Lugh, in the hope of a good harvest. It is thought Lugh was important in Cumbria because Carlisle was called Luguvallum. The god Esus may have been closely associated with Lugh.

These Celtic festivals are clearly tied up to farming and specific times of the year like the Neolithic solstices and equinoxes.

St George's Church: Iron Age Stone Head (next to 6. on map)

Stone Head from Millom, Photograph by C. Richardson

The above photograph is from Transactions which describes the head.

Here is another, recent, photograph taken by Beacon Museum which is where the head is held.

Photograph copyright Beacon Museum

The head was found by Mr. E. James at St George's Church, Millom, it seems it had been used as a doorstop for two years.

It is possible this is a Celtic head: the human head may have played an important part in Celtic religion. Diodorus Siculus, a 1st Century BC Greek historian is recorded as saying Celtic warriors "cut off the heads of enemies slain in battle and attached them to the necks of their horses." There appears to be archaeological evidence to suggest the Celts beheaded humans and displayed their heads. One archaeologist suggest that to own the head of a distinguished person meant the owner kept control over the power of the dead person. Others dispute this.

Terret Ring

Terret rings were used on chariots and other wheeled vehicles to steer the reins of the horses. This one was found in Millom by Josh Carr in 2020.

Prehistoric Unknown Period

11.Millom Park: Prehistoric Hut Circle/Farmstead (cropmark):

Cumbria Historic Environment Record: Ghyll Scaur Quarry. Described as a possible farmstead and hut circles appearing on aerial photographs. This location was checked in the field and a possible rectangular building was identified at SD 1646 8250 (location from hand-held GPS), at the centre of a hollow some 40m wide surrounded by rocky outcrops. The possible building is 14 m x 6 m wide, with a hollow interior defined by grassed-over stony banks up to 1.5m wide and 0.3m high on the south-east and south-west sides, with a gap probably corresponding to a doorway to the south east. The banks are absent on the northwest and northeast sides. To the northeast the ground rises in what appears to be a natural mound.

12. Underwood, Millom Park, Millom Without: Flint Flake

A flint flake was found in 1917, in Millom Vicarage [now named Underwood] garden and was retained by the Vicar.

13. Millom Castle (next to Archer's Field): Prehistoric Hengeform Monument (cropmark):

Crop marks can only be seen from the air and are usually more visible during very dry periods. They are the result of human activity such as ditches, burials, deposited materials, buildings, road markings and so on. These practices affect the condition of the soil, which in turn affects how crops grow which in turn can show up in aerial photographs in different colours, as seen in the above aerial shot from Google Earth.

English Heritage's North West Coast Rapid Coastal Assessment Survey, Cinzia Bacilieri, David Knight and Shona Williams, Archaeological Research Services Ltd., 2009 states:

Iron Age / Roman

The majority of the Iron Age/Roman features were located along the Cumbrian coastline, heading towards the lowland slopes of the more upland environment of the lakelands. All were visible as cropmarks, and although other features defined as 'uncertain' in date may be from this period, the only sites we categorised as Iron Age /Roman were the more morphologically distinct field systems and enclosures, which potentially relate to settlement. The two southernmost enclosures lay either side of the Duddon Estuary. The western feature (1491102), located at Millom, was a curvilinear enclosure with an incomplete circuit measuring approximately 62m in diameter and had associated field boundaries running on a north-west to south-east alignment.

There is further mention on the North West Regional Research Framework website:

On the West Cumbrian Plain, a mapping project found a cluster of unusual enclosures revealed as crop marks in aerial photographs. Each of these large curvilinear enclosures, up to 65 metres in diameter, has a distinctive internal circuit of evenly, but widely, spaced pits. Three are closely grouped south of Bootle and a fourth is nearby at Gutterby . A fifth has been discovered just outside the mapping project boundary at Millom. It is not known whether the pits held timber posts or if they were dug to receive items or burials, but they appear to be an unusual regional type.

Adam Paul Ibbotson, Cumbria's Prehistoric Monuments, 2021, dates the cropmark to the Neolithic period. Ibbotson calls these crop marks The Millom Lines and suggests there are six between Millom and Bootle. The one above is at Millom, the photograph below shows two more at Kirksanton, either side of the Giant's Grave standing stones.

Google Aerial:Giant's Grave, Kirksanton (Image: copyright Google, 2021)

They are roughly 64m in diameter and contain circular marks inside - possibly post holes. Ibbotson suggests the circles were created using wood and are known as timber circles; he further suggests they predate megalithic monuments and may be early prototype henge monuments. Ibbotson further suggests the Millom Lines are what is left of large Neolithic religious enclosures where, during Winter Solstice, folk would gather to celebrate and watch the sun rise.

Other Finds Not in Cumbria Historic Environment Record

An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Cumberland, W. G. Collingwood,Transactions, 1923, Vol 23, p206-276,includes some finds not included in the CCC Historical Environment Record, these include: Flint, Millom vicarage, 1917 (Rev. R. D. Ellwood). Querns, Poo' House. Flint arrow, Scots Croft. Part of stone hammer, near Monks Holme, Kirksanton (Rev. W. S. Sykes).

Two Stone Axe-hammers

Transactions Vol 39 (1939) p283-285

Two stone axe hammers were found in Millom Rural in 1860 they appear not to be on the Heritage Environment Record but are discussed in 1939 Transactions. They were found in the fields at Fenwick Farm which is now a National Trust property.

Duane Farren Finds

Here are some pre-historic objects Duane has found on his walks:

This is the upper part of a quern stone; quern stones, used in pairs, were used to grind grains.

EVENT: MILLOM IN PREHISTORIC TIMES, 3rd September 2022

Just under 60 people attended our event held at Holy Trinity church and feedback was excellent.

The afternoon kicked off with Peter Barton, Military Historian, author and film maker explaining that he was making a series of films about this part of Cumbria, including Millom and its incredible history - he was filming the speakers.

We then watched a thirteen minute video, Cumbria's Prehistoric Monuments by Carvetii Films, Adam Morgan Ibbotson, to set the afternoon into context.

Jan Bridget gave an overview of a booklet she is about to publish, Millom and District: Prehistoric Past.

Duane Farren followed Jan talking about the footprints and other artefacts Prehistoric Findings in Millom.

Dr Alison Burns from the University of Manchester followed Duane; Alison shared her research Prehistoric Coastal Footprints - Formby and other Sites.

Our final main speaker was Claire Bradshaw of Morecambe Bay Partnership. Claire looked at Neolithic and Bronze Age Millom.

To finish off the presentations, Peter Barton shared the interim findings from a survey he commissioned: Geophysical Survey: Millom Castle crop mark field.Further analysis is needed as well as a further survey; it is possible the straight line at the bottom of the field is a metalled road and possibly Roman! We wish.

We concluded with a brief question and answer session.

MILLOM AND DISTRICT: PREHISTORIC PAST

Millom and District Local History Society published Millom and District: Prehistoric Past in January 2023. Copies are available price ten pounds at Greetings and Millom Heritage and Arts Centre in Millom; Greenlane Archaeology, Ulverston. Nearly 300 copies have been sold with proceeds going to the History Society. See Millom and District: Prehistoric Past.

SIX BRONZE AGE/IRON AGE BRONZE AXE HEADS

At the end of January early February 2023 Josh Carr found SIX bronze socketed axe heads:

Here is a link to the piece from Fiona Marley Paterson, the reporter: Border TV News.

Digging for Britain came to film our dig (June/July 2024) and interviewed Josh. The story of him finding the axes will appear on the next series (12) of Digging for Britain.

As this article has shown, the evidence of pre-historic habitation in and around Millom is incredible. We hope that in future we will be able to access funding and, with appropriate permission from landowners, conduct archaeological digs.

Useful Links

Natural History Musem: Neanderthals
Prehistory in Cumbria; CWAAS Learning Resource