The Devil’s Arrows

Boroughbridge: 26^th December 2014.

Just before we left Darlington, we heard there had been a bad accident on the A1(M) which was going to block the road for some time. So, instead, we took the A167 to Northallerton, intending to join the A1(M) at Leeming. We used to live at Leeming, so (we thought!) we knew the area well.

However, although it seems like only yesterday, we moved away from the area 25 years ago … and, in those 25 years, Northallerton, and Leeming have changed a lot.

Nevertheless, we managed to navigate our way back to the Great North Road (which sounds much better than A1(M), doesn’t it?) and stopped at Boroughbridge, because I wanted to photograph the ‘Devil’s Arrows’.

Now, Boroughbridge is somewhere else I should be familiar with, because, in 1960, I was stationed at RAF Dishforth, only a couple of miles up the road. Nevertheless, I hadn’t heard of the Devils Arrows till I passed them while walking the Yoredale Way, in 1982.

Not far away are the Dishforth Henges; a series prehistoric circular ditches running parallel to the Great North Road and the main runway at Dishforth airfield … although, of course, the henges long predate these. And, not far away is another set of henges, the Thornborrow Henges, which more or less parallel the River Ure.

The curious thing is, if you draw lines joining these henges, and project them along, they intersect at, near as dammit, the standing stones of the Devil’s Arrows.

Before anyone mentions ‘ley lines’, let me say I keep an open mind on that subject, tending towards scepticism … someone once showed me ‘ley lines’ joining ‘Little Chef’ restaurants and branches of Barclays Bank. But I see similarities to Chinese ‘dragon paths’ and Australian aboriginal ‘songlines’ So, who knows?