Echoes of Old Elmet

Stones or rocks, along with trees, birds, clouds, stars and water, are part of the natural universe which ancient cultures imparted spirit upon. This cosmological perception, called “animism”, existed in all early cultures throughout the world. Without doubt the Ancient Britons of the Calder Valley looked upon Bridestones in a very different light than we do today. Among countless stones in the landscape, one is raised to the rank of “precious” due to its symbolic shape or its origin, because it has fallen from the sky or emerged from the depths of the sea. Other stones become sacred because they are the dwelling places of the souls of ancestors, or because a sacrifice or an oath has consecrated them.

At the central complex of stones on Bridestones Moor is one stone that stands out amongst all others. Brigit the “Bride” herself, a great contorted piece of stone over 4 metres tall and 3 metres wide at the top, yet less than 60 centimetres wide at its base, resembling an upturned bottle and seemingly defying natural law. Next to the Bride stood another large stone called the Groom, long since thrown down by country people, probably under order of the Church. Folklore of the period said that weddings performed here in ages past stuck to an age-old tradition. During the ceremony the groom stood by one of these pillars, and the bride by the other, the priests having their stations by the adjoining stones, the largest being appropriated by the arch-druid.

The Brigantes were Ancient Britons who in the pre-Roman Iron Age controlled the largest section of Northern England. Their territory, often referred to as Brigantia, was centred in what later became known as Yorkshire, with the Pennines at its heart. The powerful Queen of Brigantia, Cartimandua, negotiated a dubious arrangement with the Romans, so the Brigantes were able to live alongside the conquerors relatively peacefully. The godess of the Brigantian people at the time was “Brigit”, the “Bride” or “high one”, the Celtic Great Earth Mother herself, whose divine qualities were those of healing, smithcraft, poetry and motherhood. It was said that her cows could fill a lake with their milk three times a day. At this time the surrounding landscape would have been wild with fauna that was hunted, including Eurasian brown bear, wild boar, wolves, deer and eagles .