Nine Standards Revisited

Description

About the book:

Most fell-walkers know that a single cairn on the skyline will guide them to a well-worn path, but the huge drystone structures up on Nine Standards Rigg have intrigued and puzzled generations of visitors to the Upper Eden Valley just east of Kirkby Stephen. Why were they built? Why nine? Why there?
An earlier book* traced historical references to them back at least to the early twelfth century and possibly to the sixth century, while noting that they have periodically collapsed and been rebuilt, hence they appear to be ancient cairns and also to some degree a modern folly. But that work
established the Nine Standards as a monument worth further research, which is now described in the present book. Funds were raised to pay for professional geophysical surveys; kind offers of otherwise unobtainable technical material were received; and archival and literature research summarised the geographical context, and unearthed details of a Bronze Age gold torc find close to the Nine Standards, while the frequent visits to the site and surrounding area over the years located numerous other man-made features.
The technical inputs, especially aerial photos and satellite imagery, gradually extended the research beyond the immediate site of the cairn ridge to include a record of what is actually there in relevant adjacent areas. The aim was to establish and document a wider context for the Nine Standards monument, in the hope that such a contribution might help to encourage further archaeological work including excavation to verify the main findings.

* Nine Standards

Reviews:
This book about the nine enigmatic stone cairns above the Eden Valley, is the result of evidence from new scientific and archaeological explorations of the site. It is the sequel to the author’s first book based on his methodical research of archives about these remarkable and mysterious monuments. Slowly the iconic cairns are revealing ever more details about their history.

About the Author:
Like his parents and grandparents, Dr Stephen Walker is from Kirkby Stephen, and lived at Riverside in full view of the Nine Standards. After Appleby and Kirkby Stephen Grammar Schools, he was educated at the Universities of London, Cranfield and Birmingham, and joined the Directorate of Overseas Surveys, working for over 30 years in Central America, Indonesia, Nepal, the Solomons, Cameroon and elsewhere, before coming home.
On retirement, his interest in Westmorland local history was rekindled, and the Nine Standards presented a special challenge. Schoolboy Latin and fluent French were useful in tackling the local and national archives; while decades interpreting aerial photographs and satellite imagery for agriculture, fisheries and forestry development gave him access to another research tool; but sadly a doctorate in the engineering hydrology of tropical rice fields was no help at all with the rigours of winter fieldwork on the high fells.