by pushing it from its high spot so that it broke on the ground. The balancing stone had taken 320 million years to form by erosion. Site history Hayman Rooke found barrows and stone circles in this area before 1786: Katie Croft, in the National Trust guidebook, Brimham Rocks (2009), says that these barrows have not been found. The name, Birnebeam, or Birnebaha, meaning "tree in clearing," refers to Brimham in the Domesday Book of 1086. Fountains Abbey owned it as pasture by 1252, and had a fishpool, then at the Reformation it reverted to The Crown from the 1530s. It was granted to Richard Gresham, then in 1780 Lord Grantley bought it. Brimham Moor was fox-hunting country by the 18th century, used by Colonel Thornton's Hunt. Later, around 1827, the Earl of Harewood's foxhounds would meet at the crossroads on Brimham Moor, making it possible to hunt across the Rocks since there could be no standing crops there. In April 1842 several newspapers voiced disappointment that "the appearance of that beautiful spot called Brimham Rocks ... has been greatly injured by the burning off of all the moss &c. with which they were formerly covered." The identity of the offenders was unknown. In early May of the same year, vandals set the moorland around Brimham Rocks on fire several times, taking advantage of a severe drought. A newspaper report of 1846 gives a glimpse of local life and an odd reference to Brimham Rocks. At an August Ripon Race meeting, a nameless five-year-old brown mare, who was both a hunter and also a daughter of Sheet Anchor, was disqualified after some drama. Crime In August 2014 the body of Gemma Simpson was found at Brimham Rocks. That December Martin Bell, who had schizophrenia, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and was sentenced to a minimum of twelve years' imprisonment. In May 2000 he had smoked cannabis with her, "bludgeoned and stabbed" her to death, left her in a bath for some days, dismembered her, then buried her body at a secret location at Brimham Rocks for fourteen years. In July 2014 he confessed to the murder and disclosed the location of the body, at Scarborough police station. Tourism History of Rocks House This is a Grade II listed building, built in 1792 for Lord Grantley, who used it as a hunting lodge and "for the accommodation of visitors," who came to