St Breock Wind Farm Barrow - 30.3.2003

In the absence of any name I know of I’ve given it this name. Marked on the OS map (Explorer 106) simply as ‘Tumulus’. I visited this because I thought it was the one mentioned in passing by Craig Weatherhill in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) as an “unusual barrow at SW974683. 1m high and 22m across, the mound is encircled by a ditch and outer bank, giving the monument an overall diameter of 34m”. However, the barrow I visited is clearly at SW976682 and doesn’t have any ditch or bank that I could see. Lots of cow shit all around it and a dip in its top, full of cairn-like stones, but no bank and ditch. In the area the OS map does also say ‘tumuli’ up towards the actual wind farm so maybe that’s what Craig Weatherhill means?

Technically I was trespassing but it is tantalising close to the road and a farm gate, and the field had no crops or livestock, so I took a quick look without asking.

Hensbarrow - 30.3.2003

I guess we should be ‘grateful’ that somehow this has been allowed to survive considering it has spoil heaps from old china clay working right next to it on the East side, and huge new works just across the Hensbarrow Downs to the West. Although the triangulation pillar on top, and the row of boundary marker stones (including one right on top!) detract from it a little, maybe they have also helped ensure its survival.

A side road just off the B3274 south of Roche leads up the western side of Hensbarrow Downs. As you approach the brow of the hill (opposite the entrance to the new works) there is a circular parking area, marked by two fading red and white poles (which show that it used to be used for clay working). From here Hensbarrow is just a 300 metre walk to the east, clearly visible straight in front of you. Yes, it really is that big! Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says it is 5.4 m high and 36 m in diameter, although it does add that it may have been unnaturally enlarged when it was used as a modern beacon. If you prefer more of a walk, there are lots of public footpaths around the Hensbarrow Downs that you could also use to get the barrow.

At 312 metres above sea level this is the highest natural point in the area and the views back across the valley (North) are stunning, with the St Breock Down wind farm clearly visible. However, if you ignore the nice bit of the view you could just as easily think you are sitting on the moon as the clay works surround you.

Heath Stone - 29.3.2003

I noticed this on the OS map, just outside the entrance to Fernworthy Forest. I know nothing more about it and I’m not sure if I found it! I thought it would be really easy, but there are a lot of stones around and what look like old stone boundaries. I took a photo of what I think I might be - that is the only standing stone in the area, even though it’s not of much size.

Tich Barrow - 1.4.2003

This massive barrow is right next to the A39, just over a kilometre south of Otterham Station. It stands on the brow of the hill (near a side road to Davidstow) a few metres away from a transmitter station. The barrow has possibly been probably been damaged a bit by the lay-by (now partly closed) on its South East side and also possibly by the main road on its North West side.

There are three other barrows in the area although none of sheer scale of Tich Barrow; one in the field across the road to the West (approx SX145881), and two in a sheep field across the road to the North (approx SX148884).

Headon Barrow - 30.3.2003

This caught my eye on the map because it was a barrow with a name and because it looked like it was very close to the road. From the A39 at Wainhouse Corner take the South East road (towards Headon Cross). Headon Barrow is situated 100m before Headon Cross (which is recognisable because 5 country lanes meet here and Eden Methodist Chapel sticks out like a sore thumb). Just opposite the barrow there is a small lay-by, by a farm gate. Judging from how the bank next to road is unusually large and steep and sticks right into the road I guess that the barrow has been sliced partly in two by the road. I couldn’t really explore the barrow at all - it is covered in trees and bushes, and is officially in a farm field. However there was a small gap in the hedge, just opposite the lay-by, which seemed to invite me in! I took a quick look and a photo, but that was all. Given all of the above it’s very difficult for me to put a size on it, but it strikes me that the barrow of quite considerable size.

Advent Triple Barrow - 1.4.2003

This rare triple barrow is handily placed right next to a lay-by / passing place on a minor road 150 metres from the entrance to Crowdy Reservoir, although there is no entrance into the field here. It’s quite a sight and is surrounded by a ditch that is now well trodden by the livestock.

Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says “Bronze Age triple round barrows are area outside Wiltshire. This example has three mounds about 1.2m high and 24 m in diameter, aligned roughly north-west to south-east, surrounded by a shallow oval ditch with diameters of 67m and 37m. There are no records of any finds, even though all three mounds have hollowed centres”.

There is another barrow further along this road, just past the water works, at SX127830. It was a pretty standard looking barrow, with sheep clambering all over it.

Crowdy Reservoir Barrow (s) - 1.4.2003

In the absence of any name I know of I’ve given it this name. This barrow has fortunately survived the Crowdy Reservoir, and is now sandwiched between the track to the Crowdy Reservoir car park, and another small track that leads down to the bottom of the dam. It’s about 15 metres across and has a large hollow on top. A single stone (about a metre tall) stands on the north edge of the barrow.

A small map in “Bodmin Moor’s Archaeological Heritage” by Peter Herring and Peter Rose (Cornwall County Council - 2001) suggests that there are two other barrows on the other side of the dam. I think there are traces of a possible barrow about 40m away from the Easterly side of the dam (parallel with the shoreline). There are three stones here, a very slight mound and a central depression.

Showery Tor Embanked Avenue - approx SX147813 - 1.4.2003

Peter Herring and Peter Rose, in ‘Bodmin Moor’s Archaeological Heritage’ (Cornwall County Council - 2001) have put forward the idea of two ‘embanked avenues’ on Bodmin Moor which may well have been used in processions. Each is formed by two banks of stones and may be the equivalent of a ‘cursus’. One leads from the West directly towards the tor cairn at Showery Tor (i.e it’s on the west side of Showery Tor). The other is even more impressive and forms part of a major alignment between the Craddock Moor Stone Circle and Stone Row

The Showery Tor Embanked Avenue is about 4 metres wide and about 60 metres long, and is relatively easy to see becuase there is a distinct avenue that does lead towards the Tor, but where exactly it starts and stops, and what it was actually used for is not so clear.

Showery Tor ring cairn and cheesewring - 1.4.2003

This is a pretty dramatic setting for a ring cairn. Ring cairns are often made around prominent sites. Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says “A natural formation of weathered granite, 5.0m high and reminiscent of the Cheesewring on Stowe’s Hill [near the Hurlers ], is surrounded by a massive ring cairn of piled stone 30m in diameter and up to 1.2m high. The natural formation was evidently intended as a focal point. No excavations have been recorded at this site, so it is not known how many, if any, burials were associated with this presumably Bronze Age site”

Showery Tor Downs Cairn - 1.4.2003

In the absence of any name I know of I’ve given it this name. There is a large cairn 450 metres North of Showery Tor. It is severely hollowed in the middle.

Roughtor Slopes Cairn - 1.4.2003

Again, in the absence of any name I know of I’ve given it this name. It's a small but interesting cairn not far from the Roughtor car park. Although it’s not that big, and has been seriously hollowed and eroded by livestock, it's interesting because it has a stone at its peak leaning close to the floor. The stone measures 175cm x 50 x 55. It has quite a strong groove in its top and near its head and looks very phallic to me!

Casehill Cairn - 1.4.2003

Again, in the absence of any name I know of I’ve given it this name. On the way to or from the more well known sites on King Arthur’s Downs you may wish to have a quick look at what seems to be a kerbed cairn. It is certainly a cairn, about 14 metres across and probably damaged by the field wall. It has nine stones around it (some large), including one in the field wall, which suggests it may have been a kerbed cairn (i.e. a cairn that was surrounded by small standing stones at its edge).

Willabury Cliff Castle (Boscastle) - 2.4.2003

Not to be confused with the other Willabury Cliff Castle, about 4 kilometres to the West, towards Tintagel.

There are three main ways to reach this. 1) Via the cliff side path from the West (from Tintagel way), 2) Via the cliff side path from the East side, which can be joined on the South side of Boscastle Harbour (and which unlike the suggestion on the OS map does not involve walking along the main road, which doesn’t have a footpath), and 3) via Forrabury Common. All are great but I would highly recommend a trip over the common, which can be reached via a footpath (approx SX098909) that begins from a small offshoot of the main road as it nears the top of the very steep hill south from Boscastle Harbour area. The common has one of the few remaining ‘stitch’ systems of agriculture in the country, and a pretty active one at that it seems. As I walked across a tractor was roughing up one of the ‘stitches’ (a long thin strip of land, separated from the next strip by a low bank); something which the seagulls loved! It also gives you a great view of the cliff castle.

The castle only had one line of defence which barely survives today. The ramparts are 110m long and are up to a height of 1.8m, fronted by a ditch of up to 0.8m deep. Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says that the position of the original entrance is uncertain and that it is probably where the footpath cuts through the bank today. Presumably they mean the more southerly path which seems to be the main path today (there is also a more northerly path - i.e. on the Boscastle Harbour side). As expected the views are stunning, and the strange white building on its summit (built in the early 19th Century as a summerhouse) will soon be re-opened as a Coast Guard Watch. The rampart is strongest at its northern edge - but don’t fall into the sea exploring it! Its easier to see from the cliff path back to Boscastle Harbour.

Willabury Cliff Castle (Tintagel) - 2.4.2003

Not to be confused with the other Willabury Cliff Castle, about 4 kilometres to the East, at Boscastle. However they do share a lot - the coastline, having only one line of defence, and amazing scenery. This is a huge cliff castle, but doesn’t look easy to defend, especially when compared to the other local examples at Tintagel and Boscastle.

I arrived via the cliff path from Tintagel, which was quite steep in places, and parts of which were being used by cattle (honest! the local farm, approx SX057888, seemed like a bit of a mess when I walked through it on the way back). The field boundaries are also interesting because twice I saw walls go right down to the cliff edge! One was a normal thick stone wall, and one (just west of Willapark) was just a wall of upright slate slabs.

Willapark is very visible as you walk the path but it never seems to get closer! Eventually you reach a gate with a National Trust ‘Willapark’ sign, and after more walking you come to a wall and suddenly the whole of the coastline up to Firebeacon Hill opens out in front of you, plus the white building of Boscastle Cliff castle is just visible in the background as well - stunning.

The castle is surprisingly flat and very large. A moulding modern wall stands on top of the mutilated rampart , the entrance through which is now unidentifiable. A lot of the thick gorse was being cleared - until it’s clear it’s giving great yellow blooms which almost makes up for it ferocious thorns. I walked right over to the north edge, overlooking its little sister Lye Rock which harbours lots of seagulls. My view of seagulls changed today. I spent quite a while taking in the view and then ten minutes flat on my back just watching the seagulls hover and swoop on the brash wind - it was sublime and reminded me of the scene in American Beauty when they watch a video of a plastic bag ‘dancing’ in the wind.

Leskernick complex - Leskernick Hill Stone Row – 3.4.2003

Time was running out and I’d had half a day of looking for minute stone rows so I didn’t try to map this, just to recognise it, which wasn’t that easy. After a while this lunar landscape starts to all look the same. A decent starting point is the large cairn close to the western end of the stone row. If you have a GPS system the row is situated between SX18707986 and 19017991.

Leskernick complex - Northern Stone Circle - 3.4.2003

Don’t ask me to explain how I found this because I’m not sure it was very logical. And later, from the slopes of Leskernick Hill I thought I’d spotted it again, but then promptly ‘lost’ it again. It isn’t very obvious. I'll do a drawing of it soon.....

Leskernick complex - Southern Stone Circle - 3.4.2003

I found this relatively easy to spot from the top of Leskernick Hill, whereas I couldn’t see it earlier from the ground. Once you get there it is clearly a decent circle that would have been pretty impressive when upright. I'll do a drawing of it soon. As I was getting ready to leave a line of cows were making their way over from the East of Leskernick Hill (I hadn’t seen any cows up to that point - just lots of ponies and some sheep, all on Leskernick Hill) making lots of load mooos. As I walked off to go up Beacon Hill they were still coming, in a long line. Later, when I looked back from the hill I realised they had stopped in the circle, almost as though they were reclaiming it from the human who had just been looking at it.

Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says it was only ‘discovered’ in 1973. 22 stones have been traced, some buried, some fallen. There are no upright stones except for a stump on the east side. A true circle with a diameter of 30.6m indicated.

Men Gurta Menhir - 30.3.2003

Marked on the OS map (Explorer 106) as ‘Longstone’. Just a few metres from ‘The Saint’s Way’. The stone seems to be known by various names - the info plaque called it the St Breock Downs Longstone and translates it as “Menhyr Gun Sen Brioc”.

This is a true stunner. After having seen many of the usual slim, or diamond shaped Cornish menhirs, this is a quartz streaked monstrous slab of rock! I won’t try to describe how to get here as you’ll probably need a map to get it anyway, or you can head for the St Breock wind farm and try to pick up the dead end road that leads up towards it. Lovely views all around, and to the sea. Slight shame that a large rubbishy tip / soon to be bonfire looking thing was close by (complete with small abandoned cement mixer).

The small info plaque says “This is a prehistoric standing stone, perhaps of middle to late Bronze Age (2000-600 BC). The stone originally stood in a setting of quartz pebbles associated with a cairn, which was not used for burials. It was originally 4.9 metres high, but was damaged and its height reduced. Weighing an estimated 16.5 tons it is still the heaviest in Cornwall. The monument figures in local folklore as a medieval and later meeting place, and it was later adopted as a St Breock Parish boundary marker”.

St Breock Downs Menhir - 30.3.2003

Marked on the OS map (Explorer 106) as ‘Standing Stone’. Clearly visible in the field on the way up the Men Gurta Menhir. I didn’t actually go up to the stone fro several reasons - it is officially on someone’s land with no public footpaths close by, and there is no easy way into the field which has recently had a new fence. At a quick look the only way I could see was via the field to the East (where the St Breock Wind Farm Barrow is)

‘Roche / Menevagar Longstone’ - 30.3.2003

Known as the ‘Roche Longstone’ by Craig Weatherhill who says in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000), “This fine Bronze Age menhir was moved to its present position a few years ago as its original site on Longstone Downs (at SW984561) was to be swallowed by the extension of china clay working. Excavations found that this broad, pointed slab, 3.2 high, had replaced an earlier stone, which in turn, had taken the place of a wooden post”.

Cornovia says it stands at ‘Holmleigh Crescent’ and shows a picture of it. I was so busy looking for Holmleigh Crescent and / or a big bare stone, that it took me a while to actually see it. It’s actually in ‘Harmony Close’ - maybe they’ve changed the name of the road because it doesn’t look like it’s been moved again. And it now is almost surrounded in shrubs and flowers (all very nice but a bit unnecessary, and obscuring the plaque that tells us that it was moved in August 1970). It’s on the road towards St. Dennis, very close to the main road (the B3274) - literally 40 metres from the main road, just past the launderette.

As I had driven from St.Breock Downs towards Roche on the B3274 I the china clay works on the hill opposite dominated the skyline. I don’t think I‘d seen anything quite like it before. Note the names on the OS map around the area where the stone came from - ‘Great Longstone China Clay Works’, ‘Longstone China Clay Works’, and ‘Longstone Downs’.

There must be something about the name Roche – have a look at what Four Winds says about the standing stone at Rochestown

Warbstow Bury - 30.3.2003

This is quite stunning. The views are fantastic, and the whole site is very impressive. It was also the first hill slope fort I had visited, and the size and relative complexity of the ditches and ramparts helped make this place special for me.

Access is great not only because there is a small car park and are several well maintained public footpaths in the area but also because the circular field of Warbstow Bury and the field to the north west (hay meadow) has been in the ownership of North Cornwall District Council since 1987, and a ‘Countryside Stewardship’ arrangement was made in 1997 - the latter usually means that a local farmer will look after the area whilst they also farm it.

There are nice info boards at the two entrances (i.e. from the car park at 203907, and from the hay meadow / North west entrance at 200908). The info board describes it as the second largest, and best preserved, Iron Age hill fort in Cornwall. It also gives a drawing / picture of a Bronze Age bowl that was found nearby and is said to be a fine example of metal working of the age. It also says that the internal mound (see ‘folklore’ posts below) is a puzzle and may be a pillow mound, a managed rabbit warren from the medieval period. Whatever it is, it’s not really impressive, especially when dwarfed by the forts massive ditches and ramparts.

The map shows one large field to the north west, but it’s now been subdivided into three; the footpath is still fine though. There was a young lone bull in Hay Meadow who was a bit inquisitive / randy / territorial / frightened, and some sheep in the next fields, complete with a new barn being used as a lambing shed. If, like me, you come in lambing season it might be a good idea to leave any dogs behind.

King Arthur’s Hall - 1.4.2003

It’s strange how you form expectations isn’t it? I guess it was because of its unusual form that I expected something massive, and something tucked away unobtrusively that suddenly comes into view and blows you away. In reality it can be seen from quite some distance and is pretty small and compact. That’s not to say it’s not impressive (because it is) it’s just that my pre-conceptions could never be lived up to. It also seemed far too easy to get to, probably because I had just come from two hours of hard graft, up and down the Roughtor area. I reached it via the dead end track to Candra and Casehill, and then a 1 kilometre walk over the moor. There isn’t really anywhere to definitely park outside Casehill, however you can discreetly pull off the road and as long as you are careful not to block the 4x4 track that seems to still be used to get into the moor I guess no-one is going to mind.

King Arthur’s Downs Stone Circles - 1.4.2003

Just 500 metres on from King Arthur’s Hall and clearly visible, so unless the visibility is particularly low you shouldn’t need to map read. I agreed with Craig Weatherhill’s drawing in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) but I also found a few extra stones not reported. I’ll try to do a drawing soon.

Helsbury Castle - 1.4.2003

Slightly strange this. After coming off of the B3266 the lane is so narrow and the field walls relatively high that you don’t really have any idea that this hill fort exists. It doesn’t rise up and slap you in the face. There is no official access to the site and the only two entrances I could find are a farm gate into the lower part of the field, at the bend in the road at SX085797, and a passing place that has strange stone steps that lead up over the field wall at SX083796 and take you just into the edge of the field to the West of the Castle. The later was particularly strange, almost as if it was there to help people get into the fields. There are four steps on the road side, and two on the field side, plus a sort of wooden stile and a warning notice that there is a low electric fence there - all very user friendly! At first I wasn’t at all impressed - the ditch and ramparts are small and you don’t get any feeling at all of being high up. But that sense was partly psychological because the fort isn’t some huge thing you see in the distance like Castle-an-Dinas. When I actually looked around I realise that I was quite high up compared to surrounding land and the views are fantastic.

Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says “A fine oval Iron Age fort with diameters of 170m and 160m, although some damage has been inflicted by agriculture and quarrying. It has a single rampart and ditch with a mutilated sub-rectangular annexe on the east side. The fort and annexe entrance faces east and is approached by a sunken track which may be of the same date. The main rampart of the fort reaches a height of 4.0m; its ditch survives on the south-west side. A square enclosure in the centre of the fort contains the foundations of St.Syth’s Chapel. Numerous chunks of masonry, presumably from the chapel, lie scattered around.”

Rocky Valley Rock Carvings - 2.4.2003

In the tourist season it will be pretty difficult to park in the area; there isn’t anything on the road, only one space at the Rocky valley Gallery (and they presumably want that for customers) and the Trevillett Mill Restaurant (just down the hill by the start of the footpath down to the carvings, and with a huge black pig in the garden) say that the car park is for customers only. Anyway, enough of the boring bit, the carvings are just a few hundred metres down the footpath, and just as Phil said lots of cloth on the trees. Plus a hamburger box and come curry sauce - yum! Most worrying for me was 1) coins shoved into gaps in the rock, many rusted away. The worst are two that are very, very close to the right hand carving - one rusting coin is within 2 cms - surely that could case serious damage!? Elsewhere, someone had even gone to the trouble of bending a coin in two to make it fit into a circular hole. 2) Graffiti on the surrounding rock. This place is obviously becoming a well-known place to hang out and fuck about.

I feel uncomfortable about the authenticity of this place. Maybe I’m just being pessimistic but I wonder how they could have survived being 2 metres away from a mill if they were there before the mill was built. Plus the apparent evidence of them being made with an edged metal tool, that they seem so well preserved for a Bronze Age carving, and that no other similar carvings are found in Cornwall (although Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” [Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000] says they are similar to the Galician style designs attributed to the Bronze Age, and are fairly widespread throughout Britain and the Atlantic seaboard of Europe). Cheryl Straffon’s ‘Earth Mysteries Guide to Bodmin Moor and North Cornwall, including Tintagel’ (Meyn Mamvro Publications - 1993, amended 1995 & 2000) believes they are more likely to date from Celtic/Arthurian times but gives no explanation why she believes that nor a more defined date!

Tintagel Cliff Castle - 2.4.2003

Easily reached as it’s a major tourist centre, but to go on the castle you’ll have to pay a few quid to English Heritage. It is a very impressive defensive structure and is very visible all along the coast. Although there is no actual evidence of it being an Iron Age cliff castle it is assumed that it was, given its location so close to other cliff castles and its natural defensive properties. Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says....”The land bridge connecting the ‘island’ to the mainland would almost certainly have carried the defences of an Iron Age cliff castle before its erosion and eventual collapse c1300 AD”

PS - Vortigen's birthday (see below) is just one day away from mine.....I'm younger though....form an orderly queue...

Ugworthy Barrow(s) - 2.4.2003

This is actually in Devon but still feels like Cornwall. If coming from Cornwall, on the A3072, the road to Ugworthy Barrow and Ugworthy Moor is the third left after the Red Post junction. I can’t remember what it was signposted as but it did also have a brown tourist signpost (something to do with a Ceramics place a short distance up the road). Ugworthy Barrow is almost 3 kilometres up this road, in it’s own small enclosure on the bend on the road, just after a staggered crossroads.

Being in it’s own small enclosure has advantages and disadvantages. It should help it survive, but it also meant that I couldn’t find a way in and could only peer at it through the hedge and take a photo from a wall on the south side (the area being used as a bit of rubbish dump).

Woolley Long Barrow - 2.4.2003

Very visible from the A39 (especially from the South) 3� miles North of Kilkhampton. It is situated by a staggered crossroads. If heading North you will see a turning to the West for Woolley and a turning to the East for Bradworthy. The long barrow is in a field right next to the Bradworthy turn-off, where there is space to park. I didn’t go in because it was lambing time and there was what looked like a tiny lambing shed on the East edge of the barrow. One of my photos (yet to be posted) shows some of the damage on the West side being done by tractors driving between the barrow and the field wall.

Craig Weatherhill, in “Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly” (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) says that “Neolithic long barrows are rare in Cornwall; this is the finest of the few. It is 62m long, 21m wide and 2.5m high, with mutilations on the north-west and south-west sides. No evidence has yet been found of the internal structures, but one may well exist. A small excavation did locate a single side trench on the Northern side of the barrow. This was 72m long and 1.6m deep”.

Leskernick complex - Cairn - 3.4.2003

A large simple cairn lies in the central flatish area close to the western end of the stone row at approx SX187798.

Leskernick complex - Cairns on The Beacon - 3.4.2003

The OS map shows two cairns at the top of The Beacon, just off the Downs (in a very rough farm field). I didn’t think they were particularly impressive and didn’t photograph them. Peter Herring and Peter Rose, in ‘Bodmin Moor’s Archaeological Heritage’ (Cornwall County Council - 2001) describe the Western one as a ‘rimmed platform cairn’ and the Eastern one as a ‘rimmed platform cairn with kerb’.

Leskernick complex - Long Mound / possible long cairn on The Beacon - 3.4.2003

I didn’t have all my details with me at the time so didn’t try to find this but on the lower slopes of The Beacon a possible long cairn has been discovered at SX19037955. I first saw it reported in the Cornwall Archaeological Unit’s Annual Review for 1995-6, which says it was first ‘recognised’ by Peter Herring and Tony Blackman on a field trip in April 1995. I’ve posted the full text on the The Leskernick ‘Quoit’ site. Later, more research was undertaken re this alignment by a team from University College, London but I don’t know the results of this.

Peter Herring and Peter Rose, in ‘Bodmin Moor’s Archaeological Heritage’ (Cornwall County Council - 2001) say that there are three known long cairns on Bodmin Moor (Bearah, Louden and Catshole) and three possibles (The Beacon, Kilmar, and Shallow Water Common). Typically they are slight elongated mounds 17 to 30 metres long, sometimes with traces of internal structuring, although the original nature of this is obscure. They would be of the 4th millennium BC and therefore some of the oldest structures on the Moor.

Leskernick area - Possible Kerbed Cairn on The Beacon - 3.4.2003

Whilst walking down from The Beacon, back to Westmoorgate along the field wall, I came across what looks like the remains of a kerbed cairn between the summit and a small craggy outcrop. It has a classic round shape with hollowed top, plus 3 recumbent stones around the edge near the field wall (two stones are large and one medium sized)

Greywethers Stone Circles - 29.3.2003

Aubrey Burl can be a miserable sod sometimes. To describe the walk from Fernworthy Stone Circle to the Greywethers as ‘through the forest and across the shabby moor’ and as ‘tedious but rewarding’ hardly does it justice. I was honoured by a beautiful day, and a tinder dry moor, but I think it would be a great walk even in worse weather. You could probably just about do it without a map and compass, but it’s a risk I would not encourage anyone to take. It’s not worth the risk to get stuck out there for the sake of a �7 map (or printed off OS website for squat) and a compass (starting from �4 in Index). From Fernworthy Stone Circle join the track again and walk straight on (as if you hadn’t stopped at the stone circle). Keep on going straight ahead, even though it becomes a much smaller track than some of the bigger left and right tracks. You will be going uphill for about 10 minutes. Trust me. As you come towards the brow of the hill there is a large clearing on your right and soon you plunge down hill, through thick sexy forest, punctured on a sunny day by a huge hole of light awaiting in front of you. As you get to the end of the forest the moor suddenly opens up in front of you.

The official footpath on the map (to the Greywethers) is not really clear on the ground but don’t worry too much - within reason, and especially on a clear day, all roads south lead to Rome. You can walk along the top of the field (i.e. close to the forest) and you’ll pass through a clear hole in the first field wall, or you can decide to head for a very visible (at least on a clear day) old set of gate posts further down the field. Once past this wall, a wooden gate is visible in the far distance in the second wall. The Greywethers are literally behind this wall. One advantage of the higher route (or disadvantage if you want a surprise) is that you can see the stones from quite a distance. Judging from the state of the small gullies down these two fields and the presence of marsh grasses I can imagine that when it’s wet, it’s a much harder walk! On this nice day it was a very brisk 30 minute walk for me.

Because I arrived on the lower route, the first time I could see the stones was as I approached this gate. Wow. And then all of them unfolded as I walked up to them, saying to me “look, we are a double circle, and yes we are almost complete - that bloody showed you what a major ancient site could have looked like didn’t it”. After seeing so many ‘difficult’ circles: tiny things, broken up, battered, ploughed over, stolen and pillaged; this is a shock. A truly stunning and a spectacular setting.

All the way there and back I didn’t meet one other person. However at the Greywethers themselves one group of young kids (probably doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award or something) suddenly yomped down over the hill, soon to be joined by another group, and another. Later a fourth group were making there way towards the circle just after I’d left.

Fernworthy Stone Circle - 29.3.2003

Fernworthy Reservoir is a slightly difficult place to get to; whichever way you take it’s pretty much a jumble of country lanes upon country lanes. My starting point was the ‘junction’ on the A382 opposite the road to the Spinster’s Rock - it’s as good a place as any to start. Several kilometres of country lanes further on, and just when I was getting a little tired of map reading, signs started to appear to guide my way. Depending on what you wish to do there are several places to park in the forest although there is only one large main car park, near the entrance. I drove as far as the road would go, and parked at a lay-by (circa SX659839). A sign clearly shows the way up the track to the circle and further onto Dartmoor, saying ‘Footpath and bridleway to the moor’.

Walk up hill, straight ahead for approx 500 metres and suddenly the forest on your right will clear, and the stone circle is just there. When the opening suddenly appeared, after constant forest, an amazing feeling of freedom came across me; a sort of liberation from the oppressive trees - so much more light suddenly floods your vision.

The circle is really nice and atmospheric, and quiet! I wandered all this area for ages, and later walked up to the Grey Weathers without seeing or hearing one other person. The circle had obviously be ‘used’ recently - an ugly patch of burnt ground scared the middle, and rotting daffodils had been placed on and by two stones.

Because this small area is so full of sites (including two stone rows and two cairns and cairn circles) I’m adding the others as separate sites within this one. However it has to be pointed out that it’s pretty hard to really tell much at this site because who knows what was cleared or moved when the trees were planted, or when they were cleared!?