Blakey Howe — Cockpit Hill

Blakey Howe occupies a natural rise on Blakey Ridge near the Lion Inn. A Guisborough Priory charter referred to it as Blakenhow in 1200, showing that the mound was already an established landmark during the medieval period. Its prehistoric earth-and-stone mound measures just over twenty metres across and about two metres high. Antiquarian excavation left a substantial hollow in the summit, which Historic England suggests may later have been used for cockfighting, explaining the alternative name Cockpit Hill. An eighteenth-century boundary stone stands on the hollow’s southern rim. Its initials are interpreted as referring to Thomas Duncombe, a former estate owner. The stone may itself have been fashioned from an earlier standing stone, although that remains uncertain. Nearby coal workings added spoil heaps to the ridge, making it important to distinguish this burial mound from later industrial earthworks. Period: Prehistoric barrow; medieval reference and eighteenth-century boundary stone Grid reference: SE 67863 99785 Protection: Scheduled monument Source: Historic England, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1018983 (Open Government Licence). © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.