Celtic Stone Heads in Bacup, Lancashire ???

Hi Ray!

I've tended to view the majority of these 'Celtic Heads' centred around our Yorks/Lancs arena as little more than post-Victorian etchings on the whole. I appreciate that there are the rare cases in our region of them associated with prehistoric sites, but the case seems somewhat overhyped to me. Kai might be able to recall (if his dad's told him!) about the case of one such Celtic head which was flaunted in the local Press in the 1980s or early 1990s, with ghost-tales to boot, which had no ancient provenance whatsoever, despite being called as such by those who took the tale to the papers.

Kai - are you there?

There are many instances of these carved stone heads in early editions of Bradford's Cartwright Hall Archaeology Group Bulletins from the 1960s, where the local curator, Sid Jackson, wrote many short articles on their discovery in West Yorkshire, espousing them as having ancient origins - but the majority are nothing of the sort. I'm also somewhat dubious of the allegation that some prechristian belief has been maintained in the execution of these carvings on buildings. The evidence is flimsy. I'd love to be proved wrong though...

I tend to agree with you Paul, someone back in Victorian times carved these heads but they certainly went to a lot of work in carving them - probably a stonemason who just fancied on the idea, or perhaps he was asked to carve then by the millowner as a way of protecting the mill chimney from being struck by lightning or something like that. The Victorians were in to carving all manner of things. I had a wander round Keighley yesterday (Wednesday) and spotted a stone cross-shaft next to a church; it has a more recent little concrete cross on top. Don't think its Saxon though. Odd sort of place is Keighley - you will know it well, I think ?