Latest Fieldnotes

This site is no longer an island due to a fall in the level of the loch. It is unmarked on OS 82, but delineated by a cairn symbol on Explorer 310 on account of the spread of stone atop it. Access is from the fisherman’s car park at NX 235 549, from whence paths radiate, then beating your way through the brush. Canmore ID 62149

A short distance west and the second large cairn can be seen. This cairn is slightly larger than its near neighbour standing at over 10 metres wide and 1 metre tall. Cairn material still sits over the top of the cairn which has retained its shape. A slab on the top might suggest a cist cover whilst several kerbs have been scattered. It must also be said that several kerbs remain in place despite the forestation.

This hunt on the south of the River Dee has provided many highlights and this was another site well worth a visit.

Visited 3/11/2016.

A Catalan Gallery dolmen . Very few finds from the chamber when excavated , a piece of flint and some undecorated ceramics . In common with the other dolmens in the area (approx 20 in the Serra Rodes )the chambers tends to follow the orientation of the ridge they are on , or perpendicular to the ridge , the latter tend to be lower down and not on the ridges . Most are aligned on a part of the horizon where the sun and moon are never seen to rise or set .

Take the first minor road heading west after crossing the River Dee southwards on the Slug Road, the A957, heading south. After Balbridie Farm take the minor road heading south and follow it through the crossroads, by this time heading south west, pulling in at a wooden hall.

After parking I walked in a north west direction through Burn Wood which merges into Pelham Wood until a clearing emerges created by forestry works. This cairn despite the severe battering it has taken remains in reasonable shape. A lot of cairn material can be seen in its 10 metres width and 0.6 metres height. One or two tree stumps are in evidence on the site but not enough to distract the visitor from the glimpses of the view south.

Another wee forgotten site but well worth a visit.

Visited 3/11/2016.

From the Black Wood Leys Of West cairn we headed west to the Tomfat cairn. Reaching the resumption of the woods we found a path and gradually veered south west eventually spying the standing stone on top of a wee hillock.

Large slabs seem to feature in this area quite a lot and Tomfat is no exception with a stone that is almost 2 metres tall and 1.5 metres wide coming to a rounded top. A kerb does exist but is difficult to spot underneath the turf. The cist has been left open, as explained in Canmore, and also like Canmore I don’t think it is an Orkney-Cromarty type. My hunch is that it is a smaller version of the Mains Of Gask cairn just down the road.

Tomfat brought an end to another wonderful day in the hills. Much to find nearby so another visit coming up soon.

Visited 22/10/2016.

From the Black Wood Of Leys 3 cairn we headed north east to a supposed track which headed south westish. We found the track but it was in terrible condition, new paths had been created nearby but this had long been forgotten. When we found the track that headed west to our next location we discovered it was in equally bad condition. However we battered on and eventually found a proper path. Once reaching this we headed north west after passing a small hill covered in trees we headed straight west again. This area has had its trees removed so at least we could were our feet landed!

This area has several cairns but with light gradually becoming an issue and Tomfat demanding a visit I explored the main cairn in this area.

The cairn sits at over 7 metres in width and is almost one metre tall. A cist partially remains in the centre with the possible capstone pushed to one side. Some kerbs do survive in an earthfast condition but most have been shoved around by forestry work. Like a lot of places in these woods it seems to have the ability to survive.

Another visit to discover the rest but now it was on to Tomfat.

Visited 22/10/2016.

The Hillhead of Maryfield cairn can be seen from the east but the rest of it is covered in dying vegetation. Still this is maybe no bad thing as the cairn still survives at 9 metres wide and stands at 1 metre tall. Underfoot the cairn material can be felt and the height of the cairn could be judged by my long legs. Also underfoot can be found/felt the remains of much smaller cairns and dykes.

From the Knappachs head north west until a gate is seen. Climb over this heading northwards of the trees and keep going until the next fence. At this point head south west to the top of hill taking care not to trip over dead branches and wee rocks which are strewn everywhere.

Not the best site to look at but another that probably that isn’t to badly damaged.

Visited 3/11/2016.

The third of the eastern cairns is also the smallest in size but like the others it is set on a wee knoll to give, back then, good all round views as it sits at almost 7 meters wide and is 0.8 high. 3 kerbs still stand on the northern side with the cist surviving at over 1 meter in length.

With the east side done it was time to head back west on tracks which could be best described as variable.

Visited 22/10/2016.

Dismissed by the only previous poster, I hereby suggest this idiosyncratic cairn is in need of reappraisal by Citizens Cairn’d travelling to the Snowdonian heartlands...

Yeah, despite having been the unfortunate recipient of several, large rogue boulders – presumably field clearance from times unspecified (let’s face it, Wales has a lot of those to choose from) – and featuring the criminal presence of embedded industrial polythene, this monument confounded my expectations, such as they were nearing dusk on a seriously overcast evening of gale force winds.

The cairn is reached by a short, yet splendid ascent through woodland above the old school house of Capel Curig. In fact the public footpath is seemingly served by a handy car-park... unfortunately this is not actually the case, a sign stating rather pedantically that said enclosure is a private facility for the exclusive (get that) use of visitors to the Community Hall, or such like. Presumably so fine, upstanding members of the ‘community’ can discuss how the community is manifestly – not to mention disgracefully – failing to protect Capel Curig’s ancient heritage from damage by local inhabitants? Hmm. Needless to say they probably have far more important items upon the agenda. I wonder what they could be?

Nevertheless the rugged Snowdonian landscape transcends all, particularly when, in a state of agitated turmoil, its Turner-esque attributes never fail to overwhelm my senses. Such is the case as I break the forestry line and, veering to the immediate left, realise an hour is not going to be anywhere near enough. The setting is exquisite, Moel Siabod towering above to the south-west, Crimpiau presaging the rise to the Creigiau Gleision and the high Carneddau to the north; and the lights of Plas y Brenin twinkling away in the ever growing gloom. Wind violently agitates the foliage, likewise the captivated traveller, rendering photography more a matter of luck than judgement. And then – a point worth mentioning, I’d have thought? – there’s the more-or-less intact cist still in situ amongst significant cairn material, the latter arranged to incorporate natural outcropping to a degree I don’t think I’ve witnessed before. In fact such is its regularity I have to admit I’m not sure whether some of this initially assumed naturally occurring rock is not artificially placed? Either that, or the architects of this tomb possessed an appreciation of the landscape far in advance of supposed enlightened moderns such as myself. Mmm. Maybe I’ll go with the latter? Yeah... as the lovely Marsheaux girls said... ‘Figure it out’.

So, what’s not to like? Ah, yes... the embedded industrial polythene waste. Can’t blame tourists here, my friends. The fault lies much closer to home. Remove this and – in my opinion – Capel Curig will once again possess an absolutely first class prehistoric monument. Set the record straight. Hey, perhaps the local community might wish to decease biting the hand that feeds and do something of worth to future generations? Just a thought....

This was the second of the eastern cairns we visited and once again another wonderful kerbed site. Kerbs surround the cairn several of which still stand and are in view. Others are covered in moss and turf. The probable capstones mentioned by Canmore are both still there covered in vegetation. What might be a cist, Canmore says no but they might well be wrong, still remains in the centre of the site.

At over 10 metres in width and about 1 metre high this is still an impressive site.

Visited 22/10/2016.

Rather than be destroyed three cists were collected and re-erected near Banchory House at a very beautiful spot. A short and long cist were taken from Clashfarquhar Farm, Downies near Portlethen. The other short cist was discovered at Ardoe during construction at the South Deeside Road. Fortunately both of these places were part of the Banchory House estate.

The pond that the cists were placed beside has long gone but an attractive small stream runs past the site.

From Tollohill head south then take the first minor road heading north west. Follow the road round a sharp corner heading west until a crossroads involving a minor road and a farm road. The farm road heading north leads to the home farm of Banchory House. I parked at the roads end and climbed the fence following a path south. Walk about 300 meters and the site will appear to the east (and above) the wee stream.

A nice site and good to see that some things were saved during the 1800s.

Visited 28/10/2016.

Benthoul is lovely cairn situated close to the minor road at the east of the Durris Forest and reminds me of The Slacks cairn close to Tyrebagger. I approached from the south using the Auguston minor road which eventually ends up near the Standing Stones Of Echt (Cullerlie). By that time the road has disintegrated into a very poor farm track.

Fortunately the forestry people have provided a wee car park opposite Benthoul Cottage. The cairn is a very short walk to the north.

This is a very well shaped cairn that sits over 11 metres wide and is well over 1 metre tall. Recent storms have blown a fir tree over onto the cairns south side. Once again the houkers have been delving away and they succeeded in making a large hole over 2 metres wide almost 1 metre deep. Today the turf covered cairn is a very quiet place and a thoughtful place. Almost as if the houking never happened.

Visited 28/10/2016.

The first Black Wood East kerb cairn we visited has at least 6 kerbs still standing, mostly like a street fighters teeth on the western arc (lots of gaps). Most of the way round fallen kerbs can be found. The cist still survives in the middle well hidden by turf but still has the remains of the stone coffin. A capstone can also be found on the southern side of the cairn.

From the fallen standing stone we walked east along the forestry track until shortly after the crossroads. From there we headed south east and walked straight to the site. Despite the cross country route underfoot conditions were pretty good except for the odd fallen tree. Probably a distance of about 3/4s of a mile.

The cairn still sits at 14 meters wide and is at least 1 metre tall. Another wonderful site.

Visited 22/10/2016.

Visited 15.3.2009 as a precursor to a walk to the hugely impressive Painswick Beacon hillfort.

A triangular enclosure in a triangular piece of woodland, close to the busy A46 but far enough away for the noise to be left behind. Very overgrown even in spring. The enclosing banks are quite well defined though, under their covering of brambles and ivy.

No-one seems sure of the date, but its proximity to the Iron Age camp at High Brotheridge may be significant.

Heading east from Drumoak, on the A93 towards Aberdeen, take the first minor road south, take the sharp corner east and pull into the East Cairton drive. Plenty room to park. Head straight north through the woods, there is a track of sorts, jump the fence and walk until level with Bogton Farm in the west. Look east and the cairn will be in front.

This, I think, would be a perfect little cairn for a little restoration as it appears to be in its original shape and looks like it hasn’t been houked. It still sits at 8.5 meters wide and is over 1 meter tall. However it is mostly covered in vegetation and large boulders have been dumped onto the eastern side.

Remove the jabby stuff plus the boulders and it would be perfect.

Visited 28/10/2016.

New find to the west of Garlogie Woods. Single cup 8cm wide and 3.5cm deep.

Visited 28/10/2016.

Yes, I know I’ve wrongly uploaded a Cairnholy pic ..can’t remove. (Eds?) Nor, he neatly sidestepped, the memories of visits to Drumtroddan. One of my ‘evening’ sites that suit that time of day. Night comes in, sun fades in the west. The stillness, the manicured grass island wherein they stand and lie, the horizon, the lichen. The two that lie.... perchance they sleepeth. One is on guard, slender but imutable, in profile in mourning for the fallen. Barsalloch mid October for the late afternoon bask, then here. Turn back and look when you get to the gate at the road. That head will still be visible against the fading light, still bowing, this time to you. Reciprocate. Try to return.

Due to this trip being a flying visit to the area, I had about an hour in which to decide between two sites I had wanted to see for a while – Nine Ladies or Doll Tor (I couldn’t do justice to both).
As I was about to trek over to Stanton Moor, I heard a few walkers mentioning heading off downhill through the field of cows sharing their field with the Andle Stone. The guy seemed confident where he was heading, so I thought they could only be going to one place – Doll Tor.
So, I left a reasonable, un-stalker-ish gap, and then followed down through the gates, to that second copse of trees. I probably ruined their short trip there when I arrived minutes later to disturb their moment (sorry – I couldn’t wait).
I had always loved how this little circle looked in other pictures, and it didn’t disappoint. Such a great spot looking out over the valley, just hidden away enough to protect it, but reachable. Neat, and kept, but still feeling as natural as it can be this far into modern times.
Although sad at missing the Nine Ladies (this time), I was happy with my choice, and spent a good while soaking in the circle, before heading off back up to the road, as the cows closed in on me...

Arriving back at the gates we climbed over and headed east. Take the second forestry track heading south east, then at the crossroads head east. Walk about 200 meters and head to the north of the track a short distance.

The almost 2 metres in length stone, sadly, no longer stands. It has fallen or more likely felt the back end of a forestry machine. A socket remains so they could put it back up on top of the small knoll. From this vantage point this could well have been a marker for many prehistoric in the area. Slightly to the north of the stone sits a huge glacerial rock.

Visited 22/10/2016.

Once again at these woods we parked at the Inverness end of these woods about a 1/2 mile north of the Tomfat Chamber Cairn. Once again the condition of the entrance to the walks car park was a shambles and the gates were closed so I parked as close to the side as I could.

The Black Wood Of Leys cairn is just to west of the road, the B861, north west of the gates. Look closely and the one remaining standing kerb can a be seen. The white amongst the heather easily spotted. To get to it another 1/4 of a mile must be walked to get clear of the thick strip of furze, whins, gorse etc. A wee path leads straight to the cairn.

The one remaining kerb makes the site easy to fine amongst the heather. At least another 5 other kerbs can be seen, all fallen. Sadly the cairn has been ‘houked out’. Still it is quite an impressive little site standing at over 7 meters wide and just short of 1 metre tall.

A fine start to the afternoon.

Visited 22/10/2016.

From the kerb cairn we headed back to the tall wooden gates, climbed them and headed in a north east direction. This cairn is difficult to spot thanks to the blanket of heather. Sadly this didn’t prevent it from getting a houking.

This cairn is built amongst a few hut circles and is over 8 metres wide and almost 0.5 meters tall. Several kerbs remain in place. Another nice little site with good views. After a good look round we made our way back downhill avoiding any dodgy bogs.

Visited 22/10/2016.

This was the third attempt to find this cairn which in the end was hidden in plain view. We parked at the Craggie junction on the B9154 opposite the kerb cairn of the same name. From there we jumped the gate, near the bus stop, and headed south going uphill. At the top there is a stile to get over the fence. Keep heading south past a couple of small woods and a bog until the next deer fence. At this point there are tall wooden gates which are easy to climb over. From there head slightly south east with the cairn sitting on top of a small hillock.

This is a very good site with terrific all round views, the most notable being on the other the side of the valley, the fort of Dun Davie. 9 kerbs remain in place on the turf covered site and we counted at least 8 fallen stones. The undisturbed site, hurrah no apparent houking, sits at over 12 metres wide and is 1 metre tall.

Wonderful site!

Visited 22/10/2016.

This was supposed to visited during the Slagachorrie Dun visit but that walk ended in complete despair and misery. However this visit was much better as the Eberdein and Turra Loons invaded the Highland region once again. Also, handily, the weather was very good.

Leave the B9101 taking first minor road south, west of the A939. Keep going south, past Regoul, and pull into the second forestry track. Head south east then take the track heading north east. The cairn is about a half mile up this road to the north side of the whins which block the view from the track.

Sadly the cairn is covered in vegetation and has been houked. However the kerb still exists except in the western arc were it has taking a battering. The site stands at 10 meters wide and is almost 1 meter high.

With that done it was to nice clava cairn/stone circle at Little Urchany. A much better result than last time!!!

Visited 22/10/2016.

From the Drummossie Muir kerb cairn we headed back northwards to the supposed track. Once on the track we headed north east but it soon became one massive loch. We climbed onto the top of dry stane dyke to north and proceeded for a while in the same direction until we came across problems. ALC fell into a hole waist high (the dog had a good laugh) and vegetation blocked the way forwards so we jumped into the ditch on the other side of the wall. Fortunately it was dry. The idea of taking this route was to avoid going over the hill and thru the forest to the fort. Hindsight is a great thing. Still we plodded on until a deer fence which we followed in a north westerly direction passing a badly ruined building. Climb the nearby gate and go straight west following another deer fence, keep going until another deer fence and the fort will be front.

On the forts eastern flank there is a bog which becomes a small stream, handy extra defences as the fort is built on a small rising. Most of the defences have been robbed. Turf covered ditches/ramparts at the western end do survive and curve round, at least 2 meters tall, until they taper out, probably robbed of their content. Luckily a ladder propped against a tree, leading to a shooters chair, provided the opportunity to take photos of the fort spreading out to the east. A good thing as furze, whins, gorse etc. made walking to the internal fort impossible. From the top of ladder we could see that we had almost walked to the outskirts of Inverness.

To get to Daviot we went back to the ruined buildings. Instead of following the deer fence we headed north east to the far corner of the field were luckily we ended up back on Wades Road. From there the tracks and paths greatly improved and we made it safely back to the car. The expected 3 or 4 mile walk had ended up in a walk of over 10 miles.

Visited 17/10/2016.

Visited 23.10.2016

There is plenty of parking either side of the B3180 immediately adjacent to the hillfort.

There is a badly worn / vandalized information board at the edge of the car park, on the approach to the steps which take you up the inner rampart. From the bottom of the ditch I would guess it was perhaps 8m to the top of the inner rampart. From inside the hillfort the rampart was about 3m high in places. The whole area of the hillfort, both inside and outside the ramparts is covered with large, mature trees of various type.

It was a beautiful autumn day. An azure sky with the warm sun filtering through the reds, golds and browns of the leaves, which were falling like confetti over our heads.

I was really taken by this site, it was a really lovely place to visit. Particularly in weather as fine as today. In fact I would say it was even better than the not-to-distant and more famous, Blackbury Camp. This is no slur on Blackbury Camp (a fine site) but more a high recommendation of Woodbury Castle. In my humble opinion a ‘must see’ when in this part of the world. And it couldn’t be easier to find and access.

The B3180 follows the contours of the ramparts as it passes through the site. Which leads to an obvious question – which numpty decided to build a road right through the site instead of around it?