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StoneGloves wrote:
A stone circle was nearby - in living memory and on the Victorian 6" maps - but that has been pulled out, leaving the stones in a pile.
That really made us sad, we have so few decent megalithic sites in our area, to know that one was obliterated relatively recently so close to home, grrrr!

A few years ago we were talking to the landowner of a beautifully intact four poster in Perthshire, and we mentioned that he must feel very lucky to have such a jewel on his land. He replied that no, if it were up to him he'd pull the stones out, seems the circle caused problems with his harvester as it was difficult to navigate around it. At first we thought he was winding us up, but they way he looked sadly at the circle, slowly shaking his head as he said "but they won't let me touch it" really did give us the chills.

So, not only is the latent tendency for megalithic destruction still alive and well, it now comes equipped with heavy machinery.

Maggie & Keith

Yes, all the sites I've found are vulnerable. None of the farmers I know are bothered about the stones and would rather they weren't there. But they've been indoctrinated to idealise a rectangular green strip. I've seen a long list of things being destroyed. The most shocking - a long cairn going through a crusher - I'd been badly warned previously. But it continues - the front of a long barrow in Bolton has just been pulled away, no resistance.

The three cairns, on the banks above the stone circle, at Kirkhaugh, are recognised and unphotographed. I've never seen them. The Alston Anthracite pit is near to Whitehouse - it's still worked. Lovely coal, very low ash, very hot. The most historically aware farmer, on Alston Moor N, is the one with the Roman Fort remains. He's become practised at meeting archaeologists and EH officers. It seems as though large parts of whatever was standing at Kirkhaugh was there when the romans were and that the destruction is contemporary with the turnpike. The Pennine Way, in that valley, follows the track of the Maiden Way closely, and that was an ancient track.

Megalithics wrote:
A few years ago we were talking to the landowner of a beautifully intact four poster in Perthshire, and we mentioned that he must feel very lucky to have such a jewel on his land. He replied that no, if it were up to him he'd pull the stones out, seems the circle caused problems with his harvester as it was difficult to navigate around it. At first we thought he was winding us up, but they way he looked sadly at the circle, slowly shaking his head as he said "but they won't let me touch it" really did give us the chills.

So, not only is the latent tendency for megalithic destruction still alive and well, it now comes equipped with heavy machinery.

Maggie & Keith

Carse ?