The Path to the Rath

Apologies in advance for the extremely low quality of some of this week's graphics. We've had this article hanging around on our hard drive for some considerable time now. It's one of those postings that we never quite got around to putting up for one reason or another (possibly because we didn't want to drive our one remaining reader away through boredom) and, somewhere down the line, the original photographs have all been lost. However, we've tried our best under the circumstances (which doesn't amount to much, I must admit).
Anyhow...onwards...

Some time ago we mentioned (or at least I think I did…it’s hard to tell these days…it might just have been one of those senior moments, which I'm experiencing a lot more frequently nowadays) that one of the most interesting field names around Stanah and Little Thornton was that of Kelbreck.
The name implies (as with most ‘Kelbreck’, ‘Kilbreck’, Kilcrash’ and ‘Kiltree’ fieldnames) that an ancient keeill once stood on the brow of the hill. Keeills, as we’ve mentioned before but feel we ought to recap about, were small but significant early (fifth to eleventh century) churches/village-wise-man-hovels, half Pagan/half Christian, run by either the first missionaries from abroad or by the last of the semi-converted druids, known as culdees. Merlin, from the Arthurian legends, was probably one such culdee, half practical, half mystical charmer and half spiritual. (Yes, we know, that makes 150% but we said they were mysterious, didn’t we?)
Keeills themselves were often built of wood, sometimes being simply the remains of the upturned boat in which the missionary had travelled…hence the name keeill (or keel), although other sources suggest that the name derives from Cela de, meaning ‘Glory of God’. At other times they were constructed of stone. Either way, they were generally situated between ancient villages (for maximum commercial potential) close to Roman roads or Celtic Old Ways, their presence denoted by pre-Norse style keeill crosses such as those at Cabus and Forton.
All of which is fascinating, we’re sure you agree, but we’ve already covered this subject before so no doubt you’re asking yourselves: “What else is new?”
Well, the aerial photograph below, that’s what, available (as you can probably surmise from the Lancashire County Council logo plastered over it) at Mario Maps.

It was taken by the Ministry of Defence (or at least, we assume it was) in the 1940s and, like other black-and-white aerial photographs of this period, shows some interesting features that don’t appear on other images.
In this instance we refer the reader to the white line running northeast from Raikes Road to the brow of Kelbreck Field. A buried, cobbled track perhaps?Well…yes, very probably actually. Does anyone remember a similar line visible on our 1940s aerial photograph of Bourne Hill? Let’s just remind you then.

The photograph above demonstrates what we’re talking about. In Bourne Hill’s case, a quick trench or two revealed that the road lay just below the surface, was about eight feet wide, constructed from beach stones and edged with bright orange clay. It also followed the route you’d expect an Iron Age cobbled track to follow…through both sides of the triangular entrance in the defensive embankments and along the south slope of the settlement, which just goes to show, if nothing else, that features invisible in reality can often be recorded on 1940s aerial photographs.
Back to Stanah then where, nowadays, the track to the brow of Kelbreck is nowhere to be seen. In fact, as illustrated by the photograph below, there’s no sign of the building or possible rath that once surrounded it either.

However, a cursory glance at old field maps (and, indeed, the aerial photograph itself) shows us that the hedge line (most likely Mediaeval) in the south-west corner of the field was forced to detour around the track, giving us some indication of how old this feature might actually be. Incidentally, Ordnance Survey maps dating back to the 40s (the same decade that our aerial photograph was taken) don’t record the track either, which, if it had been visible at the time, they would have done.
It’s natural to assume, therefore, that this is the original track to the keeill. A probe in the ground should easily locate it (providing it hasn’t been ploughed out over the intervening years, of course) and should lead the archaeologist straight to the location of the building itself. And the 1940s aerial photograph might be able to tell us a little more yet about the site. The second ‘cobbled track’ leading away from the keeill towards Bulker Ford, for example, suggests that residents at Skippool’s prehistoric settlement, or possibly even from the early villages across the Wyre, once frequented our Culdee. This section of track runs through a field called ‘Knipper Bone’ which, considering that keeills were often built on Pagan burial grounds, might give us some indication as to how the field came by its epithet.
To the north (if you look again at the aerial photograph) you might just be able to determine a possible third track leading through the hedge towards Boggart Field at Stanah. As we mentioned in a much earlier article here at the Fylde and Wyre Antiquarian, entitled ‘When the Hampson Dobby met the Brunsa Hobby’ Boggarts, Dobbies, Culdees and Druids are all, basically, one and the same which, again, might explain the name of this field. Not only that but we can even hazard a guess at our culdee’s appearance: Tall and thin, wearing a shaggy woollen long-coat and dragging a hare (possibly albino) around behind him on a length of string…true to the form of dobbies, hobbies and boggarts everywhere.
Right…that’s about enough of that for now. It’s time for a large coffee before I nod off completely.