THE battle over a 5,000-year-old monument labelled the Stonehenge of the North took a new turn last night after construction company Tarmac said it would contest a ruling preventing it extending a quarry.

Campaigners were delighted when North Yorkshire county councillors threw out a proposed extension to Nosterfield Quarry, near Masham.

The extension would have been about 700 metres from the Neolithic man-made circles known as Thornborough Henges.

The company claims the monument would not be damaged.

The campaigners say the development would destroy important elements of the earthworks and hailed yesterday's decision as common sense.

But Tarmac said last night it would launch an immediate appeal. Earlier this week, it warned that jobs could be at risk if the extension did not go ahead. The site has only two years life left.

Members of North Yorkshire County Council's planning committee threw out Tarmac's application after English Heritage declared that the fields at Ladybridge Farm were of national importance.

About 100 people - including quarry workers and campaigners against the extension - attended a public meeting at Masham Town Hall yesterday.

Dr Jan Harding, senior lecturer in archaeology at Newcastle University, spoke out against the application.

He said the site contained evidence of more than 200 encampments left by Neolithic man, which were probably used while visiting the henges to worship.

After the meeting, Dr Harding said: "I'm delighted and relieved. This was the right decision for archaeology, for the local community and for the local economy.

"I would applaud the planning inquiry for being so thorough and coming to the decision it did."

Elizabeth Barclay, from the Yorkshire and Humber branch of the Green Party, said: "I'm delighted with the decision. It was a victory for common sense."

George Chaplin, chairman of campaign group Timewatch, which collected more than 10,000 signatures for a petition against the scheme, said: "I'm very pleased. I'm not overly excited because I'm aware that Tarmac intend to appeal, and a significant proportion of planning applications go through on appeal.

"But it's very good news, and a positive step forward as far as we are concerned.

"Ideally, we think that Tarmac should not quarry this area at all, but they seem to be extremely determined."

Tarmac estates officer Bob Nicholson said: "We are deeply disappointed at this decision, which threatens the livelihoods of more than 50 people and has serious implications in respect of the supply of sand and gravel to the construction industry.

"We will appeal against the decision because we believe that the advice given by English Heritage is based on speculation and supposition about the status of archaeology at Ladybridge, and their assertion of national importance is not supported by fact."

Mr Nicholson said the extension posed no threat to the henges and accused campaigners of releasing misleading statements.

Quarry bosses say a recent survey of the extension site had found nothing more than a bucketful of broken pottery and flint.

At the meeting, archaeologist Mike Griffiths, who conducted the study, argued that much of the archaeology had already been damaged or destroyed through centuries of ploughing.

He said the site was of local and regional importance - but not of national.

But county council officers, who supported the view of English Heritage, said the application was contrary to the North Yorkshire Minerals Local Plan.

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