Mystery Solved!

Remember my Kwik Blip? A quick trip to the local Library helped me to find out what these stones represent.

I saw the first stone in Starbeck purely be chance. Apparently there are 4 of these landmarks remaining in the area.

Initially Starbeck was a very small village surrounded by countryside, about two to three miles equidistant between the two more important towns of Harrogate and Knaresborough. As with many villages at this time there were strips of land around Starbeck belonging to the townships of Knaresborough and Scriven.

The passing of the Enclosure Act of 1770 ensured that all waste or common land could be 'enclosed' into smaller areas of privately owned land so that the maintenance and use could be controlled by the owner. So in this instance, the Act confirmed and/or awarded these 'enclosures' to either Knaresborough or Scriven, and stones were placed to denote the borders of these enclosures.

Hence, on one side was the letter 'K' referring to Knaresborough, the other side 'S.w.T' denoting Scriven with Tentergate, villages near to Knaresborough.

Starbeck grew rapidly with the introduction of the railways in the early 1850s linking Harrogate and Knaresborough to York and beyond. Today Starbeck is more like a small town with lots of houses surrounding the centre, so it's surprising that these stones are still left as I suspect many were uprooted and destroyed as building took place.

I presume there may be similar stones around other villages and towns so keep your eyes open next time you are walking about.