CAMPAIGNERS say allowing people access to a set of ancient monuments in North Yorkshire whose importance is said to rival Stonehenge is crucial to safeguarding their future.

Thornborough Heritage Trust has been set up to protect and raise awareness of the six “henges” and other Neolithic and Bronze Age sites on fields between Bedale and Ripon, with one of its first objectives being to open them up to visitors.

The Thornborough Henges sites are on private farmland and managed grassland and Dr Jan Harding, one of the trust’s founders and a senior archaeology lecturer at Newcastle University, said: “Despite being of unique cultural value and being described by English Heritage as the most important prehistoric site between Stonehenge and the Orkneys, it is closed to visitors, lacks educational information and sits in an extensively quarried landscape.

“At the moment, there isn’t even a display board. Getting some kind of formal access for the public is vital.”