A real bu***r to find! Sits in the valley between Louden and Roughtor, just a low assortment of rocks orientated north south. I would not have found it with out a line drawing of what to look for..and then I was not too sure at first.
30 m long by 12m wide at the north end this cairn was not discovered until 1976 and only recognised as a long cairn in 1984.
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Don't go looking on Louden Hill for this circle..it's to the south of it. The circle lies on a plateau just to the south of the track to Fernacre Fm from Middlemoor Cross. Visiting in August most of the stones are well obscured by the grass..although there are very few to be seen anyway. To be honest it is not worth making the trip just to see this circle...good job Fernacre is just up the track and Stannon just over the hill..oh and Roughtor and Brown Willy looking down on you from above...and all the stuff to hunt for on Loudon Hill..and just the thrill of being out on Bodmin Moor.
What more could you want?
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Just when you think you know of all the sites in West Penwith you find Ocifant has posted some info on one you are not familiar with..so you have to have a look.
A couple of weeks ago at the Dry Tree Menhir on the Lizard I was having a discussion about the biggest menhir in Cornwall. I was adamant that nothing compared with Dry Tree.....then I find this beauty!
OK, so she is not so broad, but height wise she must come pretty close. Positioned on the brow of a hill with far reaching views eastward into Cornwall and over St Ives bay at one time this must have been a wild windswept place. Now the stock fencing and nearby development take away some of the feeling for the place but standing to the north of the stone looking back towards Trencrom Hill you can just about imagine the Bronze Age landscape.
As with Ocifants instructions, park by the big bowl and take the footpath up past the cottages. It starts off as a nice Cornish lane and then as you pass the last cottage turns into a narrow path before entering the field. Stone is over to right, can't see any reason for not being able to walk to it.
Mr H
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For some strange reason I have never visited Chysauster before....is it cos you have to pay! No..can't be that, I flashed my Tour Guide badge and got in for nothing.although I did by a book.
I chose a great day to visit, the sun was shining, the whole site bedecked in flowers, gorse and foxgloves prominent. The only slight problem was the easterly wind...but this did at least mean that the casual visitors didn't stay long.
There was more to see than I thought, and much easier to decipher what's what than at Carn Uny (although the guide covers Carn Uny as well). There are 9 houses to explore, in different stages of preservation and after a while they all start to follow the same pattern, eastern entrance, courtyard, bay on the left, long room on the right and round room opposit entrance. Each house has at least one "stone with hollow", not allways in the original position and most have the remains of water channels, lines of stones running down across the courtyard.
I know English Heritage come in for critism sometimes on this site but I have to say I was happy with the way Chysauster was presented. Yes there are info boards dotted around the area but they are not too intrusive..and not everybody wants to buy a book. The gray hut at the eastern end could be moved a bit further away from the main village. I was not sure if it was a tea shop at busy times or where the lawn mower is kept. That was another thing, the site was tidy, the grass was short in the houses but the flora was allowed to grow elsewhere. Some clearence of gorse has taken place, but all in all there was a nice ballance.
Good clean toilets at the car park..nice to know if you are walking in the area.
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26.5.06
You wait nearly 30 years to get back into a site...and you are met by thick mist!
As a young army cadet I spent several weekends at the MOD camp at Penhale...with no interest in history. Now that I am a big boy I finaly get to go back in on a fieldtrip to look at landscape (sand dunes).
Walking down through the radio station at the north end the low banks of the Iron Age cliff castle were pointed out to us...through the mist...I was not allowed to go too close so the only photo is the best I could get.
Who knows what the strange hoops are that sit inside the banks...the MOD guy had no idea!
The SWCP runs the other side as far as I know but they were keen to stress that trespassers are not tolerated!
Mr H
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Can't find any documentary evidence on this one, but....
Unless you knew it was there it can only be spotted from the bottom of the permissive footpath that exits RedMoor nature reserve and climbs to meet the Saints Way. Once you start climbing it is hidden by gorse bushes and once on the Saints Way the banks are so high you can see nothing.
It's a big stone!...and just outside the area enclosing Helman Tor. An ancient trackway passes just down slope from it and in the hedge/scrub behind is a large dump of granite that has been cleared from the field. Why was this stone left?
So, I can not prove its origins or find a record of it on maps or any of my books...but it feels right!
I have now had it suggested to me that this stone has been moved from elsewhere in the field...and that they had dowsed the field and found an area with a stone setting in it...
Go look for yourself..and while you are there enjoy the "prehistoric" wildness of Red Moor reserve.
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Brown Gelly is one of those hills you see from miles around...and notice that it has features on top. Right of access has always put me off climbing it, but now that it is open access I decided to take a stroll up onto the summit on a glorious May afternoon.
There are a couple of gateways along the Dozmary Pool-St Neot road that give access to the hillside and then another couple of gates give access into the summit field.
Please use them and don't go scrambling over walls or fences.
The top of the hill is reasonably flat and featurless, several wet areas are best avoided and it is only the southern end that has rocky outcrops.
Along the ridge run five cairns, the size of which you only realise once you get up close.
At the northern end a large cairn has had its top compleatly taken away and the inside scooped out. Uninterupted views of Dozmary Pool and Brown Willy and Roughtor can be had from the cairn.
The second cairn I found the most interesting. I suppose it would be called a ring cairn..but on a giant scale. The outer bank is about 3 ft high with a depresson about 4 or 5 ft across inside of it before reaching the central mound. The central mound has been dug into deeply, and looked like it might be holding water...I didn't investigate.
The central cairn is the largest and I would think about 15 ft high. It stands proud on the hill with steep sides and a good dome shape. Although there has been some excavation on the summit it is not too severe.
The fourth cairn is a mess. It has been dug into and pulled about and is just a low pile of stones. A Trig point stands beside it, built onto what looks like a base of stones taken from the cairn.
The last cairn at the southern end has again been dug into but not to the extent of cairn 1 or 4.
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Sitting on the side of the hill that eventually becomes Brown Gelly, I can not find any info on this earthworks to date it. Marked on the OS map as a three sided square, the south east side was not visable but may be over the wall.
So, what is left?
Two low ridges with a shallow ditch on the outer side, all getting eroded by cattle. As can be seen in one of my photos there is some stonework remaining at the north east end.
Access is by a gate off the Dozmary Pool to St Neot road and is on open access land.
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Just to the east of the huge Boconnoc estate in east Cornwall sit a group of 6 or so barrows. They may be linked to the Taphouse barrows on the other side of the estate, the two groups between them certainly form a impressive collection of large barrows.
The Buckabarrows stretch out along the eastern boundry road of the estate. The four photgraphed here are joined on the OS map by two others, one deep in the woods at SX166607, which I never got to and one supposed to be in a field at SX174611, which I failed to spot.
Bucka or Bucca is a Cornish word for ghost but i have not come across any tales about these barrows being haunted....barrowwrights in Cornwall! ......there's a thing!
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I have been intrigued by the Giants Hedge for many years...Living in Looe at it's supposed eastern end I could never understand why it was called giant..it is just like any other hedge...more like a bank as it runs through Kilminorth Woods beside the West Looe river.
It is only when you see it towards its western end at Lerryn that you realise it is no ordinary field boundary.
But when does it date from?...the general consensus is that it is post Roman...so it really should not be on here, but...
There are several Iron Age and older settlements inside the hedge (between it and the sea), but then again there are a good dozen or so barrows just to the north of it....but none as grand inside.
Walking along the top of a short section of it this morning i noticed how good the view was across the Cornish countryside. It does in many places run along the side of a steep escarpment..and if topped off with a wooden fence would have been quite impenetrable.
Whatever it's history, I'm sure no giants were involved in its building.......just some very hard working Cornishmen of old.
...and I would love to know where the bit is that's 8 yards across !
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With only half a day to explore and a bitter wind to contend with... and no map or guidebook, I hope I can be excused for not finding any ancient sites! However I did drive past the Culverwell site on the way out to Portland Bill. It sits right beside the road, which was how I spotted it, with a sign saying middle stoneage site (or something along those lines). All I could see as I drove past were two B&Q sheds and a larger wooden construction that was obviously covering something. The site was not open and you would have to walk to it from the car park at Portland Bill (pay and display) as parking on the road is not allowed.
For more information on site see links.
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Leaning beside a wall just off the military road that runs along the coast at Whitsand bay is this former gatepost. I have to call it that because of the fact that it still has the rusty hinges embedded in it. But it is alone... I could find no other granite gateposts in the area during a two hour walk. The stone is long and slender and stands very near to a field called barrow Field. This is supposed to be the site of the Treninnow Stone Monument (see other posting). Could this stone have been part of the monument?
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22.10.05
Drove up through village to the end of the tarmac. parked and followed sign up track rather than cross fields on footpath. Passed the farm and hit the mud! Once out onto the open moor it is a short walk to the right to find the stones. There is now no sign of the burning from a year or so ago, infact the stones are now surrounded by a good covering of bracken. The sky over Keninjack was ever changing from gray to blue as the sun threatened to come out...I waited patiently and finally got my rewards. Behind me from atop of the wall the Scilly Isles stood out proud whilst St Just church tower gleamed in the sunlight...I would have loved to have walked up to the carn but time was against me...perhaps next time.
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Third time lucky....
October is not the best time to be up on Bodmin Moor looking for sites..bracken is covering almost everything. However, at the third attempt I found the Bearah Long Cairn. If others wish to follow in my footsteps then i would advise taking the minor road from Minions to Henwood. Once in Henwood turn right and climb up beside the riding stables. As the road drops down again there is a road going off to the right. Park on the left and take the track that goes up on the left.
After going through a gate this opens out onto moorland in the bottom of a valley. Follow the track as it climbs and snakes towards Bearah Tor. After most of the bends are negotiated look out for the cairn on the right hand side. The stone that is still "upright" is half surounded by a hawthorn tree and is obscured by it if approaching down the track.
The stones sit atop a cairn that is very overgrown with bracken and i could not make out too much of what remains of the surrounding stones. The central stones, at least three large lehgnts, are laying as if fallen, the one remaining standing being at a angle of about 40 degrees.
It is only in the last 20 years that this cairn has been recognised and i am not sure if any dig has ever taken place. One wonders what form the cairn took in the past? Did all the stones stand upriight and was there a capstone, making it more of a quoit.
I will try to return when the bracken dies down and the rain that soaked me has departed.
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Far, far away from civilisation, deep in the wilds of Dartmoor lies the Erme Pound. It is a collection of broken walls once used to hold animals. It may not be prehistoric but around it lie several stone rows the most famous being Stall Row, perhaps the longest on the moor. It actually crosses the River Erme jus above the pound and goes off into even wilder countryside.
To reach this point requires a stiff walk from Harford. The reward being that you can take in many antiquities along the way including following the stone row if approached from the western side of the valley.
For those wanting isolation, this is the place...especially on a wet misty day like I had!
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Is this the longstone still marked on the latest OS map as recumbent? I have visited it twice now and can find no other stone in the area that could be the longstone.
Found on the southern side of Piles Hill just to the left of the Two Moors Way. It has a boundry stone beside it and tends to be surrounded by mud caused by cattle using it as a rubbing stone.
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With so much to see in this area, I missed this the first time around. My second visit this year was with the owners of the land and with their guidance I was led to this site. As Lubin says it can be found by heading north from Harford gate (Not a place to leave valubles in your car) and following the highest edge of the field walls. A track runs to a gate in the field system and then on wards towards Piles Wood. The cist lies on the hillside above the track just before the gate.
No sign of the capstone unless it is the stone a little further up the hillside.
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Although this area of the Lizard is covered in barrows there are very few other remains to be seen except for the odd menhir like Dry Tree. WARNING! Not all is as it seems...during the 2nd WW the RAF set up a base here called RAF Dry Tree. Much of the base was to do with radar and telecomunications, hence the dishes we see today. The other remains that lie across the landscape are whats left of the station, including some of the "barrows". Take a closer look and you will see that some of the humps and bumps hide modern buildings, all part of the war effort to camoflage the area.
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27th Sept 05
The EH carpark has now been tarmaced and the whole area tidied up. Three info boards now tell the story of the whole region. Paths have been improved and new permissive rights of way opened up. You are now free to explore the whole of Goonhilly from here down to the sea.
It is still posible to follow the path along the perimeter fence of the telecom ststion but a nicer route is to head south of the dishes around a large almost hidden 2WW building (it is possible to climb on top for some great views over the downs, but be carefull..there is a double wall with a big drop in between). Go past this and around to the south of a large cream coloured domed building. Once around the dome you will see the dishes to your left, head towards the fence and a kissing gate at the right end of the fence. Go through this and you will find the menhir. You can then return to the car park via the original walk beside the wire.
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A bit of a swine to find......
Take the road from Heamoor up Bone Valley then go straight ahead at the crossroads (signposted Carfury). The road descends into the valley winding past an abandoned quarry on the right. Just as you reach the bootom of the valley a path/track goes off on the left. There is room to park a car here.
Walk down the track ( I would guess it is muddy after rain) and when you reach the bottom there is a wall goes off on the right. If you are agile enough you can scramble carefully up the tumbled boulders here and get into the upper field. Walk out into the clearing and look up to your left. You should be able to see the stone standing proud above the vegitation.
From here you can continue up through the field. If you have decided to stay on the track then continue up to a gate. Go through the gate and then wind your way through the gorse, bracken, brambles and rhododendrons arcing around to the right but always climbing. At some point the stone will come into sight...but it is not easy to find this way.
The stone itself is a stunner..it stands about 10 ft tall, built into the ancient wall. From it Mulfra Quoit can be seen as can the sea to the south. I did not find the other stones that are supposed to lay in the area, due to lack of time....and a rumbling belly.
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Mr Hamhead started as a doodle on a scrap of paper many years ago.....then he became a submariner in a series of poems that I am writing. When I needed a name for this site he just sort of popped up.
In the real world I go under the far less interesting title of Mark Camp, keen walker, historian and tourist guide.
I am lucky enough to live in Cornwall, a mile from the south coast and within half an hours drive of Bodmin Moor. Hence the sites I have contributed.
My first love up on the moors (and Cornwall in general) is industrial history, but you are never far from a lump of granite and through research for walks I have become interested in all things ancient.
It has helped that I have been listening to Mr Cope since buying Reward as a young student and have followed his career from the far west where musicians seldom come to play.
As I have said before on the site, if any TMA contributors are in the area and fancy a walk on the moor, get in touch, I will be happy to share my knowledge of everything the moor has to offer.
oh yes ..my website is at http://www.walkaboutwest.co.uk
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