After visiting the Newtondale Spring, Graeme and I took a walk over to Saltergate Moor to have a look at the cairnfield and find a Bronze Age stone row. We took the footpath through the fields beneath Saltergate Brow to the moor edge.
The margins of the moor are extremely wet and we had make our way across a small bog to reach the moor. Once on the moor we started to encounter a number of cairns and upright stones, many of which were propped up by smaller stones.
This beautiful tree is growing out the middle of a cairn. The RAF Fylindales ‘pyramid’ is visible in the distance.
The summit of Blakey Topping and Whinny Nab from the moor
We eventually found an alignment of stones that matched the Historic England description of the stone row.
There is another alignment of three stones running at 90 degrees from the southern most stone
We walked back along the path from the moor passing a large pond that contained more frogs than I have ever seen in my life. There we so many that we were able to hear them croaking even though we were a few yards away from the pond.
As we left the moor we noticed a large Larsen trap beside the pond, there were no birds in the trap but it set me to thinking. The moor has no sheep on it but whilst we were there we found one freshly dead sheep and a couple more piled up beside a ruined stone hut on the edge of the moor. These dead animals must have been moved onto the moor for some reason. Earlier that day we saw a beautiful buzzard soaring over Newtondale, I just hope that the dead animals and the Larsen Trap had nothing to do with this magnificent bird.
A description of the Cairnfield and Stone Row can be found on the Historic England website here
The Smell of Water 
Great post Gavin. A pond full of frogs sounds like a recording opportunity to me.
Cheers Chris, I’d get there soon while they’re still mating. It’s only a ten minute walk from the Saltergate Inn.