Little Wood, Threshfield

I came across the site of an ancient settlement at Little Wood near Netherside Hall in Threshfield in North Yorkshire. It is thought to date to the Iron Age and seems to be made up of a half-dozen hut circles and some other circular structures. The Iron Age spans approximately 1200BC to 500BC or (or 43AD, which is the coming of the Romans to our island), all depending on where you are in the world and which scholars you prefer to follow. We can agree, however, that the folk who occupied this little part of Wharfedale shared a time period with what we might call ‘the Old Testament’.

I doubt the denizens of Little Wood knew anything of the Hebrews, their prophets or their sacred writings. Their language was different, their culture dissimilar and their religious beliefs, pagan. Yet they may have retained some latent memories of the Creator God and of Adam and Noah, their ancestors. I also suspect that the promised Deliverer was also recorded in their collective bank of stories and hopes. Did they know that the Creator was preparing to keep His promises many miles away in the warm and fertile land then called Canaan, Israel and Judah? They might not have known, but they might have still hoped; they might not have understood, but they might still have sought.

God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem. Genesis 9:27a

A D