A EUROPEAN MP has called for more study into scheduled ancient monuments which have become the focus of a controversial quarrying plan near Bedale.

He is being asked to seek European funding to look at issues surrounding their conservation and tourism potential.

Edward McMillan-Scott spent a day last Friday being briefed on the history of the Thornborough henges, three earthwork features said to be older than Stonehenge and an important ritual meeting place in ancient times.

Attention has been drawn to the henges since the end of 2001 by a planning application by Tarmac Northern to secure the future of nearby Nosterfield quarry, which employs 15 full-time workers extracting sand and gravel.

Later this year, North Yorkshire County Council planning committee is due to consider an application by Tarmac to extend its operations to Ladybridge Farm, half-a-mile from the nearest henge, but local campaigners fear that the quarrying could have a devastating effect on valuable archaeological remains.

Tarmac has confirmed that it will defer any attempt to move on to Thornborough Moor, which contains the henges, until the results of an environmental and management appraisal are known. The henges enjoy legal protection, but their surroundings do not.

The significance of the henges was largely unknown until an extensive ten-year study was undertaken by Dr Jan Harding, of the archaeological department at Newcastle University.

Mr McMillan-Scott inspected them, accompanied by representatives of the campaign group Friends of Thornborough, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and county councillor Peter Sowray, who is chairing a local liaison group of all interested parties in the run-up to consideration of the Ladybridge planning application.

It was revealed that the 55-year-old MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, whose interests include history, is being asked to investigate ways of securing European funding for a tourist trail taking in the site of the henges.

Mr McMillan-Scott said: ''I was invited to look at the site, where there is widespread interest in these mysterious Neolithic monuments which probably have some religious significance.

"There is local concern about quarrying, and the extent of it, and it is something I feel very sympathetic with. The aim was to see the site for myself.

"I am seeking European support for a feasibility study into the conservation and possible development of the site as a future amenity. It is very impressive and needs much more study.''

Jon Lowry, chairman of the Friends of Thornborough, said: "For a long time we have wanted communication with Europe because most of the funding would come from there for what a local working group has in mind, and we approached Mr McMillan-Scott to find out more about it.

"The working group has a strategic plan for the whole area from Bedale to Boroughbridge as an alternative to quarrying, to bring money into the area by using tourist attractions like the henges and linking them all up.

"There would be an educational and research link and a landscape survey and we think we have made Mr McMillan-Scott fully aware of what is going on here.''

The henges are said to have a historic link with the Devil's Arrows at Boroughbridge, which were also visited by Mr McMillan-Scott