Mentioned by Craig Weatherhill, in "Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly" (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) - "The magnificent headland was defended by one of Cornwall's finest Iron Age cliff castles. The outer defence is a deep ditch fronting colossal earth rampart 6.5m high and 275m long. 60m beyond this are two slighter ramparts and ditches. The outermost of those reaches a height of 2.0m, and the outer edge of its ditch has a faint counterscarp. The inner bank, originally stone-faced, makes use of a low ridge. The fourth and final line of defence is another deep ditch, backed by a heavy masonry wall, crossing the extremely narrow neck of the headland's tip. The inturned entrance retains its gate jambs, and behind it lie traces of two round houses. He appearance of the site suggests that there were two or three phases of construction."
Just off the coastal footpath, on National Trust openland.
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Mentioned by Craig Weatherhill, in "Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly" (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) - "The high central spine of this headland is protected by natural outcrops, but there are faint signs of a wall here. North of this is a well preserved triple Iron Age defence. The outer ditch is 1.2m deep and the stone ramparts behind it are 2.4m, 3.3m and 2.1m high. An entrance roadway, its north side revetted with stone, hugs the foot of the central rocky spine; two round houses lie beyond. The southern defences are behind a natural rocky ridge, and consist of two battered stone banks 1.2m high with traces of outer ditches. There are two hut platforms immediately behind the inner bank."
Just off the coastal footpath.
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Mentioned by Craig Weatherhill, in "Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly" (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) - "Two dilapidated stone ramparts 60m long, with outer ditches, cross the high, narrow neck of this rugged headland, defending an area of 3 ha. The inner bank, 3.0m thick, reaches a height of 1.8m; the outer rampart is now no more than 1.2m high. The two halves of each rampart are slightly out of alignment, forming staggered entries that are now difficult to see. 10m south of these defences is a short length of ditch above the eastern cliff, apparently an unfinished outer defence. Excavation in 1939 showed that the back of the inner rampart had been fashioned into three steps, providing a stance for slingers, as in some Breton cliff castles. Within the ramparts, on the lower eastern side of the headland, are sixteen round houses averaging 6.0m in diameter. They and the ramparts are second century BC."
Just off the coastal footpath, on National Trust openland.
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Craig Weatherhill believes that this is actually an aboveground fogou. In "Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly" (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) he writes of "a scattered settlement of at least three Iron Age/Romano-British courtyard houses and several round houses in a sheltered spot at the eastern base of Hannibal’s carn. In a central position within the settlement is the intriguing 'beehive hut', now regarded as an aboveground fogou from its strong resemblance to the Phase 1 structure at Carn Euny. It had a round, corbelled chamber 4.0m across (the lintelled entrance from the south-west is modern), connect by way of a low, heavily built portal to a small, oblong chamber 3.3m by 2.1m, which was its original entrance passage (the wall blocking the south-east end is also modern). Both chambers are now roofless. The best preserved of the courtyard houses, with an adjoining paddock and walls up to 1.5m high, lies 180m to the west of the fogou; another, 60m south of the fogou, has a medieval cowshouse built inside its courtyard."
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Mentioned by Craig Weatherhill, in "Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly" (Cornwall Books - 1985, revised 1997 & 2000) - "The slopes of Garrow Tor are strewn with the remains of settlements and fields which probably date from the Middle or late Bronze Age. Most of the fields are of strip type, with their long axes at right angles to the contours. The main centres of settlement are at SX147786, SX144780 and SX143781. The huts, of which well over a hundred are visible, are from 6.0m to 8.0m in diameter, with walls up to 1.5m thick and 0.9m high. At SX145780 are the ruins of an extensive settlement of medieval longhouses. Excavated huts have produced pottery, beads, slate bangles and querns."
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Janet & Colin Bord's early gazetteer ("A Guide to Ancient Sites in Britain",1979, Paladin Books) shows a really interesting photo of the site after it had been excavated and left open (i.e. with at least 13 of the chamber stones sticking up proudly, before it was backfilled into the lumpy mess it is today). The book actually calls for the exposed stones to be preserved properly - presumably they had visited the site before it was backfilled in 1976 and didn't know that by the time the book was originally published (in 1978) it had already been covered over, although maybe not in the sensitive way that had hoped for!
The book comments "This Neolithic tomb is a good example of what happens to a megalithic burial chamber which is excavated and left open to the weather. When burial chambers are restored, a certain amount of rebuilding is necessary, and such unnatural materials as concrete are often used. This work can with some justification be criticised by the purist. But if the alternative is a sad picture of dereliction, such as we see at Notgrove, then surely preservation is justified. When the result is a beautiful structure like Belas Knap long barrow not far away, preservation is certainly justified."
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Cheryl Straffon in 'The Earth Mysteries Guide to Ancient Sites on the Scilly Isles' (Meyn Mamvro - 1995, revised 1999) gives the following information "to the west [of Tean] is the small inlet of Old Man which has a ruined entrance grave in a mound with kerb, orientated E-W to the equinox (at SV90491631). On the west side of the inlet the sea uncovered a cist (at SV905163) which was excavated in 1933 and 2 bronze brooches found."
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Jeanette Ratcliffe in 'Scilly's Archaeological Heritage' (Twelveheads Press, 1995) gives the following information "Visible below high water mark is a fragmentary system of rectilinear fields defined by boulder walls. Some are well-preserved with long stretches of set boulders, others have become spread by wave action. They are of prehistoric or Romano-British dates and probably originally connected with similar ones on Old Man, in East Porth and in and around St Helen's Porth. On the south-west side of the system is a large cairn, stones heaped around natural rock with seven kerbstones around its perimeter - the result of stone clearance or a burial cairn."
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Jeannette Ratcliffe in 'Scilly's Archaeological Heritage' (Twelveheads Press, 1995) gives the following information "On the summit of this hill, built against an outcrop, is a flat-topped cairn surrounded by ten kerbstones housing a rectangular chamber, whose walls protrude just above ground level. No capstones survive. To the south, an oval area enclosed by a low stone and earth wall is either a ring cairn or round house, with a possible entrance on its south side. At the hill's south-western end, a cairn, defined by a kerb of massive slabs (now mostly fallen) and natural rocks, contains a chamber, with slab and coursed walling, partly destroyed on the south-east side. These are two displaced capstones."
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This tiny island, on the south east of the Eastern Isles, has a cairn at SV95531366. I think the first person to get fieldnotes on this definitely deserves a pint or two!
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Jeannette Ratcliffe in 'Scilly's Archaeological Heritage' (Twelveheads Press, 1995) gives the following information "On the summit of this hill, built against an outcrop, is a flat-topped cairn surrounded by ten kerbstones housing a rectangular chamber, whose walls protrude just above ground level. No capstones survive. To the south, an oval area enclosed by a low stone and earth wall is either a ring cairn or round house, with a possible entrance on its south side. At the hill's south-western end, a cairn, defined by a kerb of massive slabs (now mostly fallen) and natural rocks, contains a chamber, with slab and coursed walling, partly destroyed on the south-east side. These are two displaced capstones."
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Craig Weatherhill and Paul Devereux, in 'Myths and Legends of Cornwall' (Sigma Leisure, 1994) believe that "Bolster is a good example of a giant being named after an earthwork, in this case the Bolster Bank which runs from Chapel Port to Trevaunance Cove, thus enclosing a large area of tin-rich land including the entire hill of St.Agnes beacon. The bank is now interrupted in a number of places and an isolated fragment immediately south of Bolster is a contraction of 'both lester' (boat-shaped hump)."
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The round apparently still stages the occasional miracle play, and the Cornish Gorsedd has been held there three times.
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‘The Archaeology of the Bromley Area’ (Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit – 1985) reports that “…..at Warbank, Keston, a large unenclosed Iron Age settlement was excavated by the West Kent group in 1969-75 and this must have related to the hill fort in some way. This work revealed many pits and four-post structures as well as pottery and quernstones for grinding corn”.
The publication later seems to contradict itself by writing that the site was enclosed (not unenclosed)…. “Part of the [Roman villa] building cut across an earlier (Iron Age) enclosure, though it is interesting that the centre of the villa appears to line up with the enclosure entrance!”
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‘A Walk Through Keston’ (The West Kent Archaeological Group – Second Edition 1976) mentions a bank and ditch on Keston Common immediately above the ponds, on the top right-hand (west) edge of the car park. “This can be traced running westwards for a distance of about 270 yards and there is a possible entrance near the center. It is possible that this is a boundary ditch dating from Saxon or later times, but it is also possible that it was built in Iron Age times and related in some way to the great hill fort in Holwood Park ”.
‘The Archaeology of the Bromley Area’ (Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit – 1985) is a little less ambiguous and after discussing the hill fort, adds that “It’s surviving main entrance lies close to Keston Ponds where it is in turn protected by another rampart and ditch on Keston Common”
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‘The Archaeology of the Bromley Area’ (Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit – 1985) reports that “…by about 200 BC a very large and powerful tribe dominated the area with a territory probably reaching to the River Thames. Unfortunately, its name and its chieftains are not known! Such were its resources in terms of manpower and organization that it was able to construct a massive hillfort at Holwood Park, Keston, covering an area of about 43 acres. Here large numbers of tribesmen and women would have been required to construct the massive multiple ramparts and ditches which in places topped 40ft and ran for a mile in circumference. Although much of the fences were thrown down in the 18th Century, it still rates a one of the most spectacular prehistoric sites in Kent. It is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monuments and lies within private grounds. Minor excavations took place here many years ago, but the interior has never been excavated”.
This publication also has two good diagrams of the site. The surviving defences are univallate (i.e. a one bank and ditch) on the North side, and bivallate (i.e. two banks and ditches) on the West side. The north west section also shows an entrance. The rest of the defences have been flattened.
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I’m pretty sure this is the hill fort that was mentioned by the esteemed John Craven on ‘Countryfile’ last weekend in an article about better public access to a lot of the land to the East and South East of Craven Arms following agreements between local landowners and the local authority as part of an effort to create circular walks in the area and attract people to Craven Arms / Shropshire.
It is Scheduled Ancient Monument. Looking at the OS map it looks like it had pretty decent access around the outside anyway – maybe it’s the interior that is now permitted access as well?
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Not much info on this one. Jeanette Ratcliffe in ‘Scilly’s Archaeological Heritage’ (Twelveheads Press, 1995) merely says “This entrance grave has a chamber extending almost its whole diameter. Nineteen simple cairns lie to the north and north-east.”
‘The Earth Mysteries Guide to Ancient Sites on the Isles of Scilly’ (Meyn Mamvro, 1995, revised 1996 & 1999) adds that the entrance grave is “30ft in diameter, with a chamber 4ft 9in wide in the middle, occupying almost its whole diameter. Four capstones remain”.
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Jeanette Ratcliffe in ‘Scilly’s Archaeological Heritage’ (Twelveheads Press, 1995) explains that a Civil war battery dominates the area and “a possible magazine in the platform’s north-east corner re-uses the chamber of an entrance grave hose visible remains are an upright slab and capstone. The curve of the battery on this side may reflect the circular edge of the entrance grave”.
‘The Earth Mysteries Guide to Ancient Sites on the Isles of Scilly’ (Meyn Mamvro, 1995, revised 1996 & 1999) adds the entrance grave is 75ft in diameter and has a chamber 4ft 10in wide, orientated SW (winter solstice sunset).
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Please note - this part of Gugh is used by nesting colonies of black-backed gulls during spring and early summer
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My real name is Martin, but there is already a Martin vigorously posting on this fantastic web site so I decided to use 'Pure Joy'; which was the title of the Teardrop Explodes and Julian Cope fanzine that I set up in 1988 and ran until 1991/2. Strangely my interest in ancient sites pre-dates the knowledge that Julian was also into them. However Julian's book has certainly led me to visit more, and plan holidays and pit-stops around places to visit! Studying History (and International Relations) at Uni and coming from the West Country led to a healthy fascination with ancient sites and the countryside.
I was born in 1970 in Colerne, a historic village between Bath and Chippenham (mentioned in the Domesday Book) and have spent time in Bath, Reading, Manchester, West Africa, and Ethiopia. I'm currently living near London, but itching to live in the countryside, preferably Cornwall, or Africa. Reality check! little money and inertia creep.
Most of my working life has been in the voluntary sector, usually by supporting voluntary and community groups with advice and information. I enjoy doing quite a bit of voluntary work with our Credit Union, and as an elected Council member of the National Trust.
I'm no photography expert but I like to take photos (nearly always black and white) of places I visit. Some of the earlier ones looked good but it was only with a £25 point and shoot camera that was amazing unreliable. I've now got an old Pentax SLR, but at the moment I refuse to use filters and special effects. You get what you see.
Up side of ancient site = the sense of history, the countryside, the walk, the sense of adventure, the tranquillity, and the weird things that sometimes happen.
Downside = the loneliness, territorial cows, and the cravings to get back to the countryside
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