SIR, I was interested to see the piece (Gazette, April 25, Bones are a Mystery') about the whale's jaw bone arch at Burneside. I have spent 30 years researching this subject, and the results of my efforts Whalebones of the British Isles is due to appear later this year.

This is one of about 90 such jaw bone arches still standing in the British Isles. Once there were hundreds, but most have vanished through decay and neglect. Erecting these arches has been a custom since at least the 1600s, reaching its peak as the Arctic whaling trade flourished 1750-1830, when it became fashionable to set up the heavy bones over gateways. Many jawbones were sawn in half to make gateposts. Other bones have come from stranded whales.

The majority of jaw bone arches are to be found on the east side of the country near the main whaling ports such as Dundee, Whitby and Hull. The only other arches I know of in Cumbria were at Ulverston where the young John Barrow erected one in the 1780s near his family's home; there was also one at Gamblesby. Both have now gone. Near Bowness-on-Solway Whale's Jaw Field indicates there were once bones there. If anyone knows of other bones in the county I would be pleased to hear about them.

It was not just the jaws of the whales that were used. Skulls, ribs, vertebrae and shoulder blades can be found in many places. There used to be a skull in a garden at Newby Bridge, and there was a weathered old vertebra on a rockery in Ulverston. These too have now gone.

Probably the best known and most photographed jaw bone arch in the country was the one standing until recently on the West Cliff at Whitby.

These bones were brought from the Antarctic in 1963 and erected the following year, almost entirely thanks to the efforts and hard work of Graham Leach, now a well-known resident of Windermere.

In April this year Graham's jaw bones were replaced by some more bones from Alaska, after the local council thought they needed replacing. If they had come to Burneside they could have seen just how long whales' jaw bones can last.

So take care of your surviving arch. As Bill Angus's excellent research shows these bones are at least 100-years-old. In a national context they are now quite a rarity. As a local feature the arch certainly is. You would have to go quite a long way to see another one. I think the nearest is at Gainford, between Barnard Castle and Darlington.

Nicholas Redman

Teddington, Middlesex

n SIR, In answer to your request for information about the whale jaw bones (Gazette, April 25), I can supply a little recent history.

I lived at Tolson Hall from 1932 to 1968 and am delighted to see the photograph of the whale's jaw bones as I remember them. At the time of the new road being widened and straightened the jaw bones were taken down. We made inquiries as to their whereabouts and eventually they were returned to the bottom of Tolson Hall drive. They were broken and in a poor state. They were then returned over a small gate leading on to the Gateside Farm land where they are not very visible and where they remain now.

Philippa M.G. Cropper

Burneside

May 2, 2003 13:00