SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY
10,000BC ~ 410AD
10,000BC - The last Ice Age was ending and the glaciers, estimated to have been some 800 feet deep over the Skelton area, began to retreat to their present Arctic level.

8,000BC - It is further theorised that Britain was connected to the rest of Europe until about this time and the emerging land was colonised by plants, animals and Man.

7000BC - Skeletons of wild ox and deer have been found in peat bogs just a few miles from Skelton and have been dated' to around this time.
It has been claimed that layers of charcoal are the result of human activity.

"Hammer-axe of Greenstone from a houe on
Skelton moors" 		4000BC - The many burial sites or "howes" on the hills around Skelton provide the first real evidence of humans in these parts.
Tools of stone and flint show that Man was in this area at a time when he probably still survived by hunting and making temporary camps.
It is surmised that about this time these neolithic people began farming and living in settled communities.
They clearly believed in an after life and buried their dead in long barrows - communal tombs covered with a mound of stones.
These graves are found on high ground and thought to be connected with sun and ancestor worship.
Cremation had often taken place and the remains buried with items of jewellery, weapons and articles of daily life.
Artefacts, including jet beads, found in Victorian times by local historian, the Rev J. C. Atkinson

Ironage fort at Eston Nab
 2300BC - Knowledge of using metals - first copper then bronze - spread to Britain. The Howe Hill Barrow at Brotton, a mile or so from Skelton, probably dates from this time. It contained a hollowed out oak tree, which held the remains of a man.

1800BC - The use of the wheel and the ox drawn plough brought more land into cultivation, with more sheep and cattle farming and an increase in population.

800BC - The use of iron for tools and weapons was introduced. Some historians say tribes of Celts, displaced their predecessors, about this time. There were perhaps intermittent movements of people across the North Sea, as this was to be the pattern for the future. The use of iron made it possible to farm the heavier soils of the lowlands. There is no evidence of settlements, which would have been of timber and thatch, but the iron age people built earthworks on high positions for defence and remains of these can still be seen

Roman camps near Malton
Roman helmet found at Guisborough
 43AD - Britain was invaded and conquered by the Romans.

70AD - This area was part of the realm of Brigantia, which stretched from the Peak district north to the Tyne and coast to coast.
At first the Brigantes accepted a client state position under the Romans, but later revolted.
The Roman legions were ordered North, made their headquarters at York and defeated the Brigantes at Stanwick, near Richmond.


Roman road N Yorks Moors
Forts were established at Malton, Catterick and Aldbrough [near Boroughbridge], and this area became part of the district of Maxima Caesariensis.
It was to remain under Roman rule for the next 350 years.

122 - Building of Hadrian's Wall between the Tyne and Solway.

196 - When some legions were withdrawn there was an uprising in Brigantia and some Roman forts sacked.
Order was restored by Septimus Severus, who carried the suppression right up into Scotland.

200 - The next century seems to have been peaceful.
There was a town at Catterick and Aldbrough, with streets laid out in a grid and public buildings etc, but nothing known closer to this area.
Wades Causeway, the Roman road, still seen on Wheeldale moor, seems to head from Pickering towards Whitby.


Excavation of Roman Signal Station on Huntcliff.
Foundations of villas with mosaic floors and heated bathhouses have been found at Malton.
A soldier's helmet and a few coins were found at Guisborough, but nothing in East Cleveland like the rich remains discovered not so many miles away.

296 - Britain was divided into four administrative zones by the Romans.
This area was part of Britannia Secunda which stretched from the Humber to the Tyne.

315 - Christianity replaced much of the nature worship of previous times and there was a Bishop at York.

380 - Attacks by Anglo Saxons on the east coast had caused the Romans to build beacon towers to warn of raids from the sea.
There was a signal station on Huntcliff [the land where it stood has now eroded away].
25 coins were found there, the earliest showing Constantius 337 - 361 and the latest dated to 395 - 408.
The fort-like station was square with thick stone walls and a 20ft ditch.
Excavations revealed a well, 14 feet deep and 6 feet wide, in which were 14 skeletons, leading to suppositions of a successful attack by the Anglo-Saxons.
Roman pottery, an iron axe, a bronze vessel and a jet finger ring were also found.

Next Page - 410AD TO 800
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