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Founded: 100 BC - 100 ADCategory: Cemeteries, mausoleums and burial places in United Kingdom
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Jon Emrys (6 years ago)
Mine Howe is a prehistoric subterranean man-made chamber dug 20 feet deep inside a large mound. The origin of the howe (from Old Norse word haugr meaning barrow) is not perfectly understood. Experts believe that it was built roughly 2000 years ago during the Iron Age. There is some similarity to the well inside the Iron Age Broch of Gurness.
Its walls are lined with stones fitted to form an arch over the cavity and 29 steps lead to a rock floor. The entrance is at the top of the small hill and there are indications of other Iron Age and earlier activity around the site. A flight of stone steps descend to a half-landing where they turn back on themselves and a further steps descend to a chamber. This chamber is only about 1.3 metres in diameter but is over four metres high with a corbelled roof. The bottom step into this chamber is 0.9 metres high and gives it a cistern-like appearance. At the half-landing two subsidiary chambers/passages open out, one above the other. Most of the structure is lined with beautifully built dry-stone walling.
Mine Howe was first explored in 1946 and misidentified as an Iron Age broch. After the 1940s' excavations were finished, Mine Howe was covered over and left untouched and nearly forgotten for almost 50 years. Douglas Paterson, a farmer who owned the land at the time, rediscovered the site in 1999. He removed material that had filled in during the intervening years and built a small wooden entrance over the opening. He built stairs leading down into the chamber and allowed visitors inside.
References:Ogrodzieniec Castle is a ruined medieval castle originally built in the 14th–15th century by the W³odkowie Sulimczycy family. Established in the early 12th century, during the reign of Boles³aw III Wrymouth, the first stronghold was razed by the Tatars in 1241. In the mid-14th century a new gothic castle was built here to accommodate the Sulimczycy family. Surrounded by three high rocks, the castle was well integrated into the area. The defensive walls were built to close the circuit formed by the rocks, and a narrow opening between two of the rocks served as an entrance.
In 1470 the castle and lands were bought by the wealthy Cracovian townsmen, Ibram and Piotr Salomon. Then, Ogrodzieniec became the property of Jan Feliks Rzeszowski, the rector of Przemy¶l and the canon of Cracow. The owners of the castle about that time were also Jan and Andrzej Rzeszowskis, and later Pilecki and Che³miñski families. In 1523 the castle was bought by Jan Boner.