Latest Fieldnotes

06/06/2018 – I don’t really know how but here we were, by pure chance, on a hot sunny afternoon, plonked down next to a cup marked rock with a couple of cups ourselves, of the tea variety.

The holiday had been a little different so far then I’d expected. The plan was two weeks of walking. First time in years I’d not really picked places with stones in mind as well. So off we went each day for a walk but even when you’re not looking for it, old stuff is everywhere, it’s hard to miss it sometimes. No more so than on the Isle of Bute. If someone, who hadn’t seen much prehistory before, asked where to go to seek out the past, I’d probably say you could do worse than Bute. It has a little bit of nearly everything, in quite easy to reach places but still with a sense of adventure. I think this is important. Good to have a little Indiana Jones moment or two on holiday even if it’s just dodging cows or bashing through bracken to find a hidden cairn or stone that you’ve spied on an OS map. It’s what makes going to sites fun for me and so different to my 9 to 5 at work, staring at a computer all day, with my soul being slowly crushed (still it pays the bills and for trips like this I suppose). Chambered cairns, long cairns, cists, hillforts, cliff forts, crannogs, stone circles, standing stones, rock art etc, the list is long for an island this size. It’s easy to get about on too and the buses are good so you don’t really need a car.

On a hot and sunny day (the weather is amazing at the moment) we started at Kames Bay, heading past Hilton to visit the chambered cairn there and then higher up to Windy Hill (top of Bute, toughish walk across underfoot). After that we headed round the Lyeing Hill to drop down into Glen More to pick up the West Island Way. A few fences to cross but nothing too bad.

Feeling tired I wanted a sit down. That bit of grass over there by them rocks will do. As we approached, the cup marks on the rock stood out clear as day. What’s the chance of that! History is everywhere, you just need a bit of luck.

Canmore states 11 plus cup marks, I agree and there could have been more. Lovely location for this one and so peaceful in the afternoon sun. We sat for ages drinking our brews and just chatting rubbish to each other and the stone. Finally it was time to head off. The way south had the promise of a stone circle and a tea room with ice cream (turned out they had rum & raisin flavour, could this day get any better!!).

It was a magic moment, a chance encounter with the past. It might not be a wow site but it was my favourite of the trip. One to daydream about now I’m back to the daily grind.

06/06/2018 – Easy parking on the north side of Kames Bay (layby marked parking and picnic area on OS map)

Take the track towards Hilton farm. It’s waymarked as it’s part of the West Island Way. As the track turns left to Hilton, continue straight on up the hill on a small path. Cairn is in the field to your right but you have to pass a lot of gorse. Best to head up higher than the cairn and then once past the gorse head right and then back down a little to the cairn. No problems really.

The location for this one is great. Impressive views across Kames Bay and beyond. The cairn hasn’t fared well over the years though. Lots of stones left but hard to figure out what’s going on. Chamber can be made out and there is a Bronze Age cist in it as well. Bedrock (for want of a better word) has been incorporated into the cairn.

Maybe not the best chambered cairn on Bute but the location is worth the walk. I liked it.

Canmore mention a possible cup marked rock 25m W of the cairn. Very faint marking so I wasn’t so sure.

05/06/2018 – The south of Bute really is excellent for a walk or two. We started today at the car park for Blackpark Plantation stone circle. After looking at the stones we headed south to climb Suidhe Chatain and then down to join the way-marked walk round the south end of Bute. Next we passed the remains of St Blane’s church with its mysteriously named ‘The Cauldron’ behind, lovely area here. Then on to the two forts at Dunagoil for lunch. Back to St Blane’s after to pick up the track again heading SE to the coast and Glencallum Bay.

Finding the cairn in an area full of bracken proved our challenge for the day! I was pretty happy once it was discovered. It’s a nice little cairn with the remains of the cist showing.

Our walk continued on north along the coast (great for geology) to Kilchattan Bay and then back to Blackpark Plantation and our car.

We took all day and I think it’s probably my favourite walk on Bute. It was a great day out all and all and a nice cairn to visit in the hot sunshine.

This signposted passage grave lies northeast of the village Krelingen. Parking and access is quite easy, you have to walk only about 70m from the road.

The site is northwest-southeast orientated. The chamber is about 8 x 2 m, from the original twelve supporting stones only eleven still exists. According to the information board, in the 19th century all capstones were removed to build a bridge, but four larger stones lie in the immediate vicinity of the tomb.

Visited June 2018

05/06/2018 – What to say about Dunagoil to do it justice? I just loved it. Two forts to look at, a burial chamber and just wonderful scenery. This really is a must visit site if you’re on Bute.

Good parking and access from NS 0888 5354. Short stroll to Dunagoil Bay and the first fort (Little Dunagoil). There is a small cave at the front of this one where a shell midden has been found. Walking between the forts, don’t forget to keep a look out for the small burial chamber (it’s good). After that, a little climb brings you to the top of Dunagoil.

The main fort is just great. I love a fort with a bit of vitrification and the walls on this one have loads. It’s one of the best I’ve been too. Such a mystery as to why and how.

The geology of this place is pretty special too and the views!!

Lots to see here. If you are thinking of going, I thought I’d mention two little books I bought at the tourism information centre in Rothesay which I found most useful whist on Bute. They are pretty cheap too.

Reading the Landscape of Bute – Hill & Buist (great for short walks looking at geology)
Archaeological Landscape of Bute – Geddes & Hale (great for prehistory)

We were only supposed to make a flying visit here as part of a longer walk but Dunagoil was too good and we ended up staying far too long. Very hot and sunny day.

05/06/2018 – Of all the sites on Bute this was the one I most wanted to see. Each stone looked so distinctive from looking at the photos on here. Only 3 left but each had it’s own character.

The first one is like no other stone I’ve come across. So thin at the bottom and then ballooning out higher up. A megalithic lollipop.

The middle one is my favourite. Split now and a good size. And the faces!! Once you’ve seen them you can’t un-see them, just great.

The third is smaller and has it’s own little booster mound so it can hang with the bigger guys.

Great vibe to the site, surrounded by trees. Easy access and parking, A must see place.

04/06/2018 – First morning on the lovely Isle of Bute. Straight off the morning ferry (I love ferry trips, always a sense of adventure about them). First port of call was Barone Hill. Ticks both ‘need to climb a hill’ & ‘look at old stuff’ boxes.

We drove out of Rothesay on the B878 a short way then took the small yellow road south to the end where there is good parking before Loch Fad (NS 07926276).

A track heads up the hill towards works and a dam. As the track turns left near the reservoirs, a path leads up to the summit of Barone Hill (one stile to cross). No access problems.

The fort is quite overgrown but you can follow the wall in places. Still a little overcast this morning so the distant views weren’t great.

Nice fort and hill. Worth a visit as the climb isn’t too bad and the effort is rewarded with a good view of Bute and beyond. I guess you would be unlikely to bump into folk here as well (though probably cows as they’re everywhere on Bute).

After a bite to eat and a sit on the top we took Gladman’s tip and headed back to Rothesay to check out the castle which is really excellent.

From the cairn near the fence we headed down the track towards the River Calder and headed west. After crossing a small ford follow a small track heading north west towards a small wood.

At some point this must have been a huge cairn but now all that is left is a faint reminder of former glories. Canmore says 13m wide but it seems to me that some earthfast stones indicate 18m plus. Large kerbs still remain in place on the south side. Whatever its width it is easy to spot were the stones went.

Less than 10m east there is the remnants of a massive enclosure and possibly a small croft.

Pity, as glorious all round views of river and snowy mountains. Perfect :-)

Visited 6/4/2018.

We headed down from the fort back down onto the main track to find the small cairn we saw on the way up. From here we headed south west to the mid point between a wood to the north and the River Calder/track to the south.

The small cairn has been clipped by the rarely used track on its western side. Despite this the turf covered monument retains its shape and more importantly several kerbs remain in place.

It is 6m wide and 0.4m high, having slight damage to the centre. This might be more like farm machinery damage than the traditional houking.

Visited 6/4/2018.

03/06/2018 – Great Cumbrae is a lovely island just a short ferry ride away from Largs. The ferries are very frequent and cheap (about £6.00 return for the two for us). You don’t really need a car on here. A lot of folk seem to go to hire a bike in the town of Millport (buses run there and back from the ferry) and then spend the day cycling round the island.

The walk on quiet county roads to Craigengour Wood is nice. Small paths lead you through the trees to the standing stone, which is near the far end.

At about 6ft tall, it’s a good sized stone. I was really taken with it’s surroundings. It stands in a little clearing protected by lovely tall trees. I think they look after the stone well, as do the people of Great Cumbrae. It has a small info board next to it with a square thingy you can point your phone at to get more information. The back of the stone has a lot of initials on it, don’t know why.

It’s a nice stone as is the whole island. Good views from the top and the cathedral in Millport is worth a visit too.

02/06/2018 – Nice little hillfort above Largs. Easy access from Douglas Park below. Path is a little steep in places. Great views from it and a fine place for a sit.

The Sieben Steinhäuser (aka Siebensteinhäuser) are a group of five passage graves, which are situated within the NATO Bergen-Hohne Training Area. The only public access to the tombs begins at a military checkpoint in Ostenholz, about 4 kilometers southeast of the motorway interchange Walsrode. Access to the site is only possible on weekends and public holidays from 8am and 6pm, if no military practice takes place.

On my last attempt, during my return from a holiday on Föhr, access to the sites was unfortunately not permitted, as the Training Area was not open to the public :-(.

I found the following link, which may inform if access is permitted or not.

02/06/2018 – Managed to get proper lost looking for this one. At least now I could go on Mastermind with the ‘Backstreets of Largs’ as my specialist subject!

Turned out it is dead easy once you look at the map properly and follow a few signs. Head through Douglas Park to the back and arrows point you to the right and the cairn – simple!

Don’t let the town location put you off going to see this one. It’s nicely tucked away in a slightly overgrown area of trees and tall grass. Very, very green and sunny today. The heat was something else as well.

The cairn is great. I liked this one. Bigger than I thought it would be.

There is an uphill path behind it to a viewpoint and hillfort which is well worth doing if you have the time.

31/05/2018 – Looking at the map I liked the look of this one. Old cairn on top of a hill, bit in the middle of nowhere feel. The hill is even called Cairn Hill. Turned out this isn’t Nithsdale’s answer to Tinto. The Cairn’s not that exciting, still the walk was good.

We started from Glenim Cottage on the Mennock Pass (good parking and access). A fine day out, looping round Auchensow Hill, Dalpeddar Hill, Cairn Hill and Meikle Snout. Steepish to start with but after that the walking was good between the tops.

The cairn at the summit of Cairn Hill has a large footprint but is very low lying. Canmore mention traces of a kerb but I couldn’t really make one out.

A very similar cairn is on the top of Dalpeddar Hill as well but I can’t find any reference to one on the web.

Go for the walk and just take the cairn as a small added bonus.

Though nothing to do with prehistory I thought I’d give the nearby villages of Leadhills and Wanlockhead a plug. They are well worth a visit and surrounding hills make for good walking.

26/05/2018 – Starting from Biggar we took the small path off the A702 (NT 04673824). It’s just after the new housing estate and a bit easy to miss. The path goes straight up through the trees then turns right through tall gorse. After that, cross a couple of fields and a final climb up to the top.

It was a busy Saturday in Biggar so it was nice to get away from the rush and spend a peaceful hour or so on Bizzyberry Hill (great name). Sunshine was lovely and the views fine.

I enjoyed my visit to this one.

26/05/2018 – Easy parking for this one. Layby on A701, just to the north of the hill (NT10343911). Walk south down the road a little and a gate and small bridge gives access to the field. From there it’s a short but steepish climb to the top. Cows in the field today but a long way off so no problems.

The hillfort has grassed over double ramparts. It’s nice enough and has good views all round. Worth a walk up if you are passing.

Visited: May 2, 2018

Some 250 metres due north from the car-park opposite Trumpan Churchyard lie the remains of a small promontory fort called Sgoir Beag. From the car-park head northeast up the road for about 130 metres till you cross a stream then immediately enter the field on the left via the gate. Follow the stream which dives down to the sea immediately adjacent to the fort.

The grassy rise ahead quickly leads to a deep natural ditch which cuts off the dun from the east. Descent into the ditch is easy but the face of the dun rises much more steeply beyond. A well worn path to the left eases the climb to the top of the dun, overlooking the precipitous drop into the stream valley.

The surface of the dun is a grassy oval, with only a small fragment of walling, two courses high, showing at its nothern edge.

I parked the car with daughter within at the little car park just south of Llyn Pendam, and walked into the woods along a track that at first looks like it could take a car, it can’t, fallen trees and bottomless puddles etc.
Soon I was out of the trees and on an open hill side, just as the track plunges down hill, look right, the house is hidden by garden trees, the stone is hidden too, but I was sure of it’s location, so I climbed over the gate and walked the walk. On approach, the standing stones worse nightmare had occurred, the stone was indeed hiding, it was lying down in a ring of dead Daffodils. The ring of Daffodils was a bit odd but shit man the stones fallen over, how very sad. Sadder still, i’m the first to have visited in 14 years apparently, so god knows when it fell.
Looking at the clump still clinging to the bottom of the stone, and the muddy tide mark showing how deep it was inserted, I’d say it let go of the vertical world no more than a year or two ago. It was leaning even when Kammer came, so a bad wind storm or two would have been all it took.
How sad.

Negotiating the often steep maze of lanes from one stone to the next we passed by this iron age settlement, I had wanted to see Pen y Castell hill fort but was unsuccessful in my management of time, so this little one would do for a surrogate iron age fix. It isn’t the best fort in the vicinity, half of it, to the west, including the entrance is too ploughed out to photograph. But a quick look at the aerial photos on Coflein will show it’s hillfortyness.
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Visited: May 2, 2018

Skye’s Waternish peninsula is best known for its three brochs: Dun Hallin, Dun Gearymore and Dun Borrafiach. But near the community of Geary on its eastern coast, unmarked on the OS map, lie the scant remains of Geary Promontory Fort.

Canmore’s notes from 1990 state:
This fort is situated on a small promontory on the precipitous cliffs towards the N end of the Geary crofts; it is defined by an arc of walling 4m thick and 0.75m in height that cuts across the promontory and line of the cliffs to the E, N and S providing protection on these flanks. At the S end the wall does not run up to the cliff edge, and although the N end is now wasted it can be traced up to the edge of the cliff.

At the time of my visit it was hard to believe that any defensive wall existed. But the location of the site was absolutely confirmed by GPS: I was definitely on the correct promontory.

The promontory is totally overgrown, in part by semi-mature thickets of shrubbery and elsewhere by rank grass and vegetation. I could find no coherent evidence of any protective wall: just a couple of large boulders, an earthfast moss-covered stone, and what appeared to be a thickly vegetated rampart which stretched across around a third of the neck of the promontory.

The only redeeming feature of this site is the views it gives across Loch Snizort to the Ascrib Islands, and northwards along the rugged Waternish coastline.

If visiting by car, parking places are non existent. However a helpful local told me to ‘just park in a lay-by’. As there is no through traffic in Geary, the temporary loss of one lay-by for parking is of no great consequence as everyone living there has parking on their properties.

After a good look round the Iron Age cairn we squelched to the north of the small hill to climb Sidhean from the north west. Just a short steepish climb to some glorious views of one of my favourite places.

Obviously from the car park follow the previous directions and have a look at the wee cairns. Also look in the middle of the fort/enclosure and find a circular object that looks like a hut circle. Could this be Johnnie Blair’s garden?

Next its to the west and two more cairns in this fantastic prehistoric valley.

Visited 6/4/2018.

Moving up from the cairn, on the way to the fort, we climbed over the small hill to the west of Sidhean and squelched through a small bog to a fence over which the cairn is situated. This Iron Age cairn, first I’ve seen specifically called that, is almost 4m square with stones clearly marking the corners.

The main views are south west, looking down Glen Banchor towards the River Calder. Beautiful views!

Visited 6/4/2018.

From the car park, at the road’s end, we continued over the Allt A Chaorainn burn and took the track , heading north, which heads straight to the fort/enclosure.

About 3/4s of a mile up there is a small cairn just to the west of the path.

Sitting at just over 3m in width and 0.3m in height the cairn has impressive views of all the surrounding mountains, rivers and other prehistoric monuments. Several kerbs remain in place despite the site being slightly houked.

Difficult to spot, find the area that looks like a large platform area, the cairn is about 100 metres south.

Visited 6/4/2018.

Visited: April 29, 2018

About half a kilometre south of Flodigarry, on the A855, you pass Lochan nan Dunan, a small roadside lochan with a parking area beside it. Immediately on the right hand side of the road (if travelling north) is a heathery hillside rising steeply for about 15 metres. A stout barbed wire fence precludes immediate access opposite the parking area, but walking back down the road for 50 metres or so revals twin boulders arranged to form a stile.The fort of Lochan nan Dunan is revealed after making this short climb.

The fort comprises two enclosures, separated by a mighty rock stack twelve metres in height. There is little of real note to see although the grassy stumps of the enclosing wall of the eastern enclosure, little more than half a metre in height, can still be picked out. The western enclosure, located on a gentle slope, boasts an even less significant grass-grown wall.

The best part of the visit is the view it provides towards the mountainous backbone of the Trotternish peninsula. Particularly prominent is Sron Vourlinn, the gaunt flat topped hill to the northwest, and the Quiraing to the southwest.

Visited 22/5/18: Having just visited Parknabinnia we spotted a small group of people at what appeared to be another wedge tomb on a high point on the other side of the narrow road. It was a beautiful morning so a pleasure to make our way slowly towards them looking at all the wild flowers (mostly orchids) on the way.

I think we were sort of hoping the group would have moved on by the time we reached the wedge tomb but they were engrossed in drawing and measuring the tomb. We could also see it was the same small group we had had a happy chance encounter with the previous day – an archaeologist named Ros and three American students. As with the day before, Ros was helpful and generous with the information he gave us – am very grateful, as our two encounters enhanced our own visits tremendously.