Balgorkar Stone Circle View all content for Balgorkar (31 posts)

Has no-one been for 6 years? Recently harvested (the farmer was still baling) access was easy to the field, but less so to the circle which was head high in weeds in places. The noise of the tractor and the height of the weeds made it hard to get a handle on this circle, but the setting is stunning and the view to Mither Tap (minus the trees) would have been amazing. One to return to on a cold, frosty sunrise I think.....

Posted by Chris 8th October 2012ce

Comments (19)
Good to know about access. Always seems to have crops when I've tried to visit. Might give it a go next week.	Posted by thelonious 9th October 2012ce
I visited in June 2004 - time flies, or what? - and the field was under barley then.... however I asked at West Mains farm and the farmer was only too happy to let me have a look. Assuming it's the same guy, seems access isn't an issue - as long as you take the trouble to ask.	Posted by GLADMAN 9th October 2012ce
Go past it all the time, I wouldn't even bother asking, just go to the circle and observe the countryside rules.	Posted by drewbhoy 9th October 2012ce
Thats what I did, but it was fairly early in the mornin' and there was no one aboot	Posted by postman 10th October 2012ce
It's the farmers that have destroyed the sites, i can't bring myself to ever ask them, i once came down the drive at killin and thought i'd ask at the house, the posh English guy laughed at us and said people come in the back drive and don't normally ask, and the same at the stone row in a garden quite near kilmartin, he said that people don't ask and it was nice i did, and the Harestanes stone circle in peebleshire was a nice guy, that's about it! i'm gutted i didn't go to the druid's temple near inverness because i didn't want to ask a farmer, i think i may have cut off my nose to spite my face on that one.	Posted by bladup 10th October 2012ce
I disagree. At every site mentioned I asked for access and received nothing but friendly interest in what I was doing. And I'm apparently a cynical, miserable bastard. In fact the only places I've had trouble have been Yorkshire and Cumbria. To be expected, in my experience. The woman who answered the door at Druid Temple probably thought I was a bit weird - fair enough - but readily agreed when I said I was an 'amateur archeaologist'. Suggest a less confrontational attitude is better for those that come after. We need to work with the landowners, where possible. Of course sometimes it is not.	Posted by GLADMAN 11th October 2012ce
My problem is just that farmer's are the main destroyers of these great places [now and in the past], so it seems strange to ask people like that to visit a place where our ancesters may lay, it has to be our rights to be able to have free and open access to all these places, bar none!	Posted by bladup 11th October 2012ce
I think it partly depends on access rights. In Scotland it's much more about having a general right to be anywhere (except people's gardens, etc) then exercising common sense about livestock, crops, stalking, etc. At the end of the long Tordarroch - Gask - Tomfat walk, we finished at Druidtemple, rang the doorbell but got no answer. We walked around the farm buildings but couldn't find anyone to ask. So we didn't visit the circle, which was gutting, but I'm not keen on traipsing through were I'm pretty sure permission is always granted (when there's someone to grant it), as this runs the risk that it might cause permission to be granted less readily in future. But we didn't ask at any other sites on this trip - they were all in open farmland, no growing crops, so under the provisions of the outdoor access code we were just exercising our rights. England (and Wales) is an entirely different ballgame and one of the reasons I don't go to English sites much is the limited access rights (other than on the areas established as "access land" under the CROW Act). Having said that, the lady at Gunnerkeld was absolutely perfect when Postie and I knocked on the door (we look very respectable, I'm sure), she even apologised for letting the thistles grow on the circle.	Posted by thesweetcheat 11th October 2012ce
Druidtemple is one of the only sites around there i haven't visited, it's odd because under the same Scottish access code you speak off, we could go to it without asking but not though the farm [but around it], i knew this at the time [as did you], but something must have stopped us both, this is strange to me as it's up in scotland and we know nobody could say anything as long as we were respectful, and i never give a shit anyway [you have to have that attitude in England], it's the opposite really, as in "come on then i dare you to say something", they normally smile and wave in these moments as i pride myself on having a don't approach me vibe, it's ironic that the only trouble i've had in all my travelling was right near lincoln, were i come from!	Posted by bladup 11th October 2012ce
My problem is I get really angry about the access position in England but conversely I also don't like confrontation, so I end up feeling (a) angry about not being able to get to places without resorting to trespassing and (b) uncomfortable about getting "caught" and the situation that might escalate from that. As such, I often don't enjoy visits to places where I feel I'm not welcome, it spoils the feeling of the visit. If I'm with G/F, that's trebled because I don't want to drag her into an argument with some irate landowner. Which is one of the reasons I like upland sites (and Scotland), where there's rarely any issue about access.	Posted by thesweetcheat 11th October 2012ce
I come and go as I please, I wont ask permission unless its inescapable. To stop me they'll have to come and tell me to get off their land, 'till then it's my land. I expect many will disagree with my point of view, thats why i'll get to see the stones and you wont. Carefree, thats the ticket. PS; what does Chris mean "Has no-one been here for six years?"	Posted by postman 11th October 2012ce
That is the reason things need to change quickly, you shouldn't feel like that visiting your heritage, and backing off just lets the fuckers win, because that's what they want you to think, like i said before we honestly laughed in their faces [they were in tweed for fucks sake] when they pointed there guns at us and said we couldn't go to see the hoarstone quite near you, we went anyway [we wasn't shot and they just started arguing amongst themselves, before my missus tried running one over], so i think you may have the worst landowners in the country around that way [David cameron!!!! says it all]].	Posted by bladup 11th October 2012ce
It looks like chris only looked at the notes not the photo's, and we think alike when it comes to visiting postie.	Posted by bladup 11th October 2012ce
Definitely. I went to Bourton on the Water a few months ago and every single gateway was plastered with "private" "no right of way" or "keep out" signs, like anyone is interested in their back garden. It isn't going to get better while the Eton tossers are in charge, that's for sure. They want to keep the proles indoors watching X Factor, not outside noticing that they've sold off all the forests to their mates. Luckily most of the sites I want to visit are remote and there's no access issues. Or at least no one to notice.	Posted by thesweetcheat 11th October 2012ce
That's better, a bit of fighting talk!	Posted by bladup 11th October 2012ce
Strange. I understood Mr Cope gleaned a lot of local knowledge about sites by actually talking to landowners. Talking.... I know I have. As I said , my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive - not exclusively so, granted, but more often than not people answering the door have been surprised I actually bother to do what I do.What we do. Therefore where there is nearby habitation I always go have a word. Often no-one is in, so I leave a note. I find it benefits me.... not least by putting me in the right frame of mind to try and comprehend what the ancients wanted visitors to think. Of more importance, perhaps, I try to spread the word that people like us are not out to rob and destroy, but to preserve our ancient culture, to learn. Nothing will ever change by declaring war on landowners. Hey, work with those who are receptive. Prove to those who are not that it would be a good idea if they were. Class war is bollocks. It's all about how we relate to other individuals, one on one. Orwell found that out fighting in the Spanish Civil War, not braving the 'wrath' of some west country farmer. Communism had one of the the longest trial periods in history to prove it is bollocks. Fascism far less. Recently 10 years of that lunatic Blair, promising a new brand, left us with an economy teetering on the brink of the abyss....not to mention an illegal war.... whilst he rakes in the millions from who knows where? Cameron is the sucker who volunteered to put his neck in the noose, tagged to that Clegg like a ball and chain. More fool him.	Posted by GLADMAN 11th October 2012ce
I don't disagree with the first part of this, although most places I choose to visit are either on access land, on or near public rights of way, or are on remote farmland where the nearest building is half a mile or more away, so confrontation about access rarely comes up as I try to go to places where it won't, where possible. And if I'm honest I'm happier not having to interact with landowners unless I have to. I don't have a problem with landowners in general terms, but I do resent (there's no other word) being prevented from free access to heritage by some of them, for reasons other than the preservation of the site itself. I'm afraid I see them as temporary custodians, ownership means little in the context of a 5,000 year old burial chamber. Obviously we may have to disagree about the second bit of your comment, as I'm a socialist (not a communist though, by any means) and believe the Tory approach to governing is wrong, as it makes the rich richer and the poor worse off, while eroding workers' rights and selling off assets that in my view they have no right or mandate to sell. It's not about class, Thatcher was working class and she was about as far from socialism as you can get. New Labour were ultimately (and disappointingly) little different from the Tory party, and it's true to say that the gap between rich and poor got worse while they were in power, which again is almost the exact opposite of what socialism is all about. But the current crop of Eton boys are only interested in themselves and their mates - they don't want a populace that can think for itself as we might ask all sorts of awkward questions. Anyway, probably a bit late in the evening now for a debate about political ideologies!	Posted by thesweetcheat 12th October 2012ce
I've been to Balgorkar (and most of the other sites) loads of times surely we don't need to take pics every time. It's nice just to appreciate the circle, and all other sites, take in the scenery and try to picture what it once looked like. Plus I'd like to think I was trying to look after the place.	Posted by drewbhoy 12th October 2012ce
You've got your hands full trying to look after all those sites around you, drewbhoy, good on you for trying though, you've got to keep those farmers on there toes where you are because there's so much stuff around you, the farmers can take "their" stones for granted and the next thing stones can be gone, look at down here in cornwall the Chapel Carn Brea standing stone was big, well known and still pulled down, it's mainly farmers destroying things just for a little bit more crop/money.	Posted by bladup 12th October 2012ce
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