Latest Fieldnotes

03/08/2015 – Really liked this cairn. Good size and the view of the landscape far below is fantastic. Much quieter than the summit of Slieve Donard just a short distance south. Top site.

03/08/2015 – We had a few days holiday spare so decided to make the trip to Ireland to visit Slieve Donard. A big hill with a couple of cairns on top sounded good to me. I’d had my eye on this trip since looking across at the Mournes from the Isle of Man a few years back. Good to finally make it.

Starting from Newcastle (great place to stay, ice cream and chippy heaven) it’s a pretty straight forward climb through a lovely wood and then alongside Glen River up to the Mourne Wall. From there the path steepens to the top of Slieve Donard. I’m a bit under the weather at the moment but even on a good day I think I would have found the climb hard going. The last 200 metres gain was tough and I was glad to reach the top. Great Cairn on the summit is quite a size and the view was amazing when the cloud lifted for a brief time. Better still to walk the short distance north to Lesser cairn, great place for a sit and quieter than the top

No fieldnotes since the re-erection, how very odd.

I parked at the gate by the big fancy “look what we did” information board, and took a slow walk down to the dolmen, we had the place to ourselves but the roar of many children playing in the woods drowned out all but the most steadfast of thoughts.
It was a gorgeous evening and we would soon be treated to another jaw dropping Cornish sunset so I decided we would stay until the glorious end, the show would not be over til the fat lady had sung her song.
The stones looked lovely in the setting sunshine, and definitely look better standing up, they did a pretty good job, it’s doubtful I’d have come to see a pile of stones half covered in nettles, but this is very good, natures helping out though.
By all accounts, well just one really, this dolmen has a complicated floor, other smaller stones still lie around unexplained, the curve of angled pebbles at the front? of the dolmen are remnants of the paving, or so I’m left to presume, over 2000 finds from the dig and now there’s a time capsule down there too.
Almost unbelievably the archaeologists say that the stones were never covered in a mound of any sort, but that you could walk under it even in the neolithic, I cant believe that, an open air burial chamber ?, burial chambers are supposed to keep the remains of the illustrious departed safe, it would be like building a car with no wheels, a plane with no wings, an interstellar mission with no murderous robot. Nope.
We’re interrupted a couple of times by photographic opportunists from what looks to be a caravan site in the adjacent trees, but we’re sitting at the front on the purpose made sitting stone, out of the way.
Here it comes, the sun is going down, (photo) going, (photo) going (photo) gone.
There are three clumps of nettles that seem not to have been mentioned by the sustainable trust, each clump has a squarish pit dug into the ground and in each pit is a large stone. The only thing I can come up with is Sweetcheat mentioned a nearby stone circle once, I think, maybe it was a dream.
Just like my whole time in Cornwall.

I parked by a field gate just down the road from the gate you have to climb over to get to the stones. Over the gate and the stones are easily seen about a hundred yards away by the far field wall. I neither sprinted nor asked for permission, sprinting is for young people, and permission is for people who don’t belong, plus if you don’t want people wandering round the field out back, move.
Another nine maidens ? really ? Is crap at counting a Cornish thing, you’ve got ten fingers......try again.
Never been here before and don’t know anything about it, I like that.
At first glance it seems there’s only four stones left of this circle, but another has been built into the adjacent wall, but only visible from the other side of it. I didn’t know of the other, also built into the wall but closer to the house, probably from the second circle. Drat I’ll have to go back for a longer look. When I learned more of these ruined circles I realised that I did know of these stones after all they’re in Burls guide of stone circles but named as Wendron.

Located below and to the north west of the summit of Creagach Leac – the almost entirely grassed-over Bronze Age cairn rather contradicting the ‘craggy, slabby’ references inherent in the name – this excellent chambered cairn is, to my mind, the finest of Kintyre’s ancient monuments... although I guess another chambered cairn hidden away in forestry a little to the north at Greenland runs it damn close. Hey, even the sardonic Greywether rated what is still to be found here gracing the rough pasture separating the farms of Blasthill and Macharioch.

I approach from the village of Southend, the hill rising above to the north bearing the tell-tale contours of Iron Age earthworks to off-set the fact that the later settlement is not, in actual fact, the ‘south end’ of anything, let alone Kintyre... yeah, that accolade, of course, belongs to the (in)famous Mull a little to the approx south-west. Chances are you might have heard of it referenced by another of the area’s ancient relics? Anyway, crossing the Conieglen Water at Mill Park I ignore the immediate left hand turn to follow the minor road past Blasthill Farm (on the left) and, in the interests of symmetry, Kilbride (on the right). It is currently just about possible to park – without causing offence – in the entrance to the driveway of an unidentified house a little beyond ‘Suilven’. Needless to say that’s not the celebrated mountain... or else I’d suggest you dispose of that Satnav in the nearest litter bin forthwith. Hey, do it anyway. Before it becomes self aware.

As Greywether notes the track opposite the aforementioned Kilbride is key here with a field gate, fastened with nothing but ubiquitous rope, encouraging even the somewhat reticent Englishman to enter. I head for the far (northern) shoulder of Creagach Leac, encountering a pretty worthy area of bog upon abandoning the sanctuary of the track, wetland enlivened by the vibrant hues of the occupying gorse. This formidable natural barrier duly breeched, the way lies open to the fabulous chambered cairn located, unseen, beyond.

To be fair there isn’t an excessive volume of ‘cairn’ material to be found here. No soaring, enigmatic vertical profile; rather the well preserved/restored (?) orthostats and internal features of a Clyde-type chambered long cairn. Arguably the most impressive component is the crescent façade at the eastern end of the monument emphasising the entrance to the axial chamber. As you’d expect with such a cairn there is also a lateral chamber, this within the southern flank and possibly sited to focus upon the summit of Creagach Leac since the northern flank, overlooking the fertile fields bordering the Corachan Burn, would’ve otherwise seemed a more natural choice to me? In addition, more-or-less the entire footprint of the cairn is defined by the remains of a peristalith. OK, none of the stones are that large, but substantiality has numerous measures, so to speak. According to Audrey Henshall (1972) this long cairn is “about 72ft overall, with cairn material remaining to a depth of only about 3ft... The stones are irregular in shape and pointed, the tallest, 3ft high above the turf being the north portal.”

Blasthill is orientated approx east/west which, given the nature of the landscape, would appear very deliberate policy on behalf of its erectors. Let’s just say that otherwise it wouldn’t make much sense.... not with a glorious vista in the general direction of the Mull of Kintyre there for the taking to the west and the aforementioned aerial view – looking across Corachan Burn to distant hills – to the north. OK, the low mass of Creagach Leac (413ft) obscures any far-reaching outlook to the south, but east still wouldn’t have been my choice upon aesthetic grounds. My assumption is therefore that other factors held sway back then.

Whatever the reasoning, the monument is a fine place to hang out for a few hours in the sun before finally moving on to the Bronze Age summit looming insistently above.

As luck would have it I ‘had’ to pass the Glebe cairn to get back to the B+B – honest!

On my last visit I settled for a view from the museum cafe due to the rain. But, as we all know, that isn’t the same as a proper visit. It was getting dark and I didn’t have long.

I walked over the top of the cairn – not sure if this is the ‘done thing’ – but it seemed the natural thing to do. Just me, the sheep and a large pile of grey stones. I crossed the field in the gloom and headed up the hill to the B+B. And back to reality............

Visited 24.7.15

For some reason I didn’t get to see this fantastic site on my last visit to Kilmartin. Something I intended to put right on this visits.

And it certainly was worth the wait. Wow. What a great place – one of the best of the many excellent sites in Kilmartin Glen.

I heaved the metal hatch open and climbed down into the chamber. The cup marked cist cover is a sight to behold and the intact cist is a joy. This is a place to sit and ponder.

Which I did until my ‘phone went with Karen insisting I get to the B+B immediately as the children were playing up (a common theme on this holiday) and she was pulling her hair out.
Time to go – prompt!

This is one of the many ‘must see’ KIlmartin sites.

Next up Nether Largie Central.

Personally I preferred north and south.

The metal rods holding the capstone up is a bit of a turn off although it does the job it is intended to do.

Due to the lessening light I was unable to make out any carvings. I spent less time here than the other sites. You are spoilt for choice at Kilmartin.

Visited 24.7.15

The next stop off on my solo walk around the Kilmartin sites. It was bliss to have the whole place to myself and not have the children in tow. I could stop and look and spend as long as I wanted at whatever I wanted.

The sun was getting low in the sky and the shadows were getting longer. I clambered into the cairn and looked around and marvelled and pondered – all in equal measure. This really is a great site to visit.

I noticed on a post near the cairn that this was podcast number 6. I am sure that will mean something to you hip and trendy I.T. people out there! :)

There has been a mention of a splendid example of recently discovered prehistoric rock art near Barrhead , just outside Glasgow ,so I went to have a look .
It is rock art so probabaly not quite right for this section , it is however not prehistoric .
Quite a few giveaway signs , mainly the differential colouring of the incised areas and the rock surface .If the surface had ben previously covered or exposed the incised areas and the rock surface would have had similar colouring but there is quite a difference , just as we find when rocks are recently engraved .
The markings are very fresh but with no signs of any pick markings , from the stone tools that we might expect to have been used to engrave them ,instead the incised areas are very smooth unlike the natural smoothness found after millenia of exposure . The cups are just not like real cups the edges are too well defined and the cups too shallow , this may sound like special pleading but anyone who has seen genuine cups in all their varieties will know what I mean. Finally the site is at a junction of three paths ,complete with a signpost ,thousands of people will have walked over it and past it , it’s evry unlikley to gave gone unnoticed . I have found examples of genuine rock close by paths but nothing as obvious as this ,you can even see the markings from some distance away . So yes it is rock art but probably engraved in the past couple of years .

We went to Paignton zoo earlier on today, the kids asked “what next dad”,
“umm, some stones maybe” I replied, pushing my luck,
“ok”
That went better than I expected so we drove back into Cornwall and headed for Redruth, no mean feat with the A30 being widened and so, actual hell on the roads.

A trio of sites for this evenings delectation, with blue skies and bright sunshine, I pulled up at the entrance to the farm house and saw the tall stone not far away. If you look on Google earth streetview there’s an actual stone head on his way over to the stone.
The stones not far from the road but a locked gate needs to be climbed over, so we did. Private property or not a look from the road aint never going to be enough. En route to the stone a car drove up the farm house driveway, we had a good look at the stone, took a few photos, copped a feel and made our way back to the car.
No problem.

When you get two full moons in the same month we call it a blue moon, today is that day, blue is nearly my favorite colour so with the moon showing us a full fat face we decided to pay a visit to Men an Tol.
Well, we were in the area already having just been up to the Nine Maidens so it would be prosecutably stupid not come over to the stones.
It was getting dark so we had the place to ourselves, then we reckoned that we may have gone through the holed stone the wrong way last time so we went through from the other direction three times, just to make sure, I really don’t want Scrofula.
Then we were away, just a few minutes, that’s all, a quick hello to an old friend.

En route to the wonder that is the Nine maidens, I spied a large stone protruding from the bracken and decided to have a look on the way back. So..... on the way back we made our way over to the stone and found a well defined ring of stones, oooh I thought, it’s a cairn. Then I saw the hole with the metal in it and I realised where I am, Sweatcheat posted on this just the other month, hey look at that I said, that’s good isn’t it. Eric didn’t get it , and I never explained.
The sun was very low now, and the light was going, the bracken was high and kind of obscuring so we headed off to Men an Tol, I’d quite like a photo of it with the full moon.

I have by now forgotten how long I’ve been going out stone hunting, but way back at the beginning before the kids were born we came to Lands end, but I decided it was a stone too far for my diabetic wife. The next two trips down here it was too far for my small children, but this is the day when it all comes together.
Today we went to the Scilly isles, first stone up the road from Penzance was Lanyon quoit, that’s a good one, then we parked in the Men an Tol car park and Eric and me left Phil in the car and went for a walk.
All those years ago if someone had said you wont be going to that stone circle until your as yet unborn son is 13 I’d have laughed and come back down the week after just to prove him wildly wrong, but there you go, people who don’t exist know the future.

We noted the entrance on to the moor where the holey stone is, I didn’t mention it to Eric at the time but I intend to quickly call in on the way back. Then Men Scryfa goes by on our left, I fight off the urge to go over, I haven’t seen it since my first time, pre kids, so we carry on.
The track bends to the right and we follow it on up the hill, I thought we’d have been able to see it by now, surely when we get to the top of the hill we will be able to, and so it is.
The top of the hill has a small standing stone standing just proud of the bracken on it, I decide to have a quick look at it on the way back. But from here the nine maidens are clearly visible maybe a hundred yards away, onwards.
Eric stops to answer natures call and momentarily loses his phone, but I am blissfully unaware of this because I am at the stones and they are blowing me away, I am alone in brilliant sunshine at a stone circle that it seems I can only get to once in a blue moon, bugger where is that boy I can’t see him at all, that’s never a heart warming feeling. Then he just pops up out of the heather and mozies on over, all unhurried like.
I’m kind of glad that I didn’t come before the re-erection of stone/stones, i’m sure the impact would have been lessened if more stones were lying down.
Whilst maybe half of the stones have gone the circle is still complete, no quarter is left stoneless.
Sweetcheat says this is his favorite site of all, I never really got that, I cant quite put my finger on my favorite site, but being here right now, I can see why he likes it. The stones are tall and made of a fine kinda stone, the barrow on the edge reminds me of Arbor low, the cut off outlier reminds me of Mithcells fold’s outlier. I suddenly feel connected with vastly disparate places all around the island, i’m feeling giddy like I did when I got to the ring of Brodgar. The sun is beginning to set, and we’re bathed in glorious golden light, but then someone else turns up at the stone circle coming from the direction of the mine whose name I may not mention.
We’re sharing the stones with a couple now, it’s proving impossible to photograph the stones without getting a fat old man in them, then his slim wife points out the full moon just risen in the east. Then my phone alarm goes off, it’s a reminder that today is the day of a blue moon, that’s two full moons in the same month. It shouldn’t have the impact on me that it did, it’s a simple occurrence, but it blows me away, you should literally imagine an explosion with me at its epicenter, leaving only a stunned and smiling shell. It’s taken maybe 18 years to come here, and not only am I here, i’m here with my son at a very decent stone circle on a beautiful day at sunset and with a full moon rising and it’s blue.

This is why I do this.

Visited 26.7.15

Directions:
From the B842 take the minor road signposted Dalsmeran. Drive up the steep and narrow road, past Homeston Farm, until you reach a kink in the road at the top of the hill. The cain is (somewhere) next to the road on the left (when looking uphill).

We were staying in the lovely (and posh!) Oatfield House B+B and this site was only a short distance drive to the south. How could I not visit?

Unfortunately the site was totally overgrown with chest high ferns. I trampled about in the wet vegetation but there wasn’t a hope of finding the remains of this chambered cairn.

This is definitely a site which requires a winter visit.

On the plus side there are fine views to be had as you drive back down the hill over the surrounding countryside.

Directions:
On the road to Iona (A849) Park at the cemetery about 1 mile west of Bunessan. Go through the gate and up the steep but short hill. When you reach the top you will see the ruined, deserted buildings and the two standing stones.

The views north across Loch Na L’Athaich over to the mountains are breathtaking. We stopped of here on our way back from Iona. You should do the same.

Canmore states:
There are two standing stones on the NNE side of the barrow. One stone measures 1.1m high x 0.6m and the other 1.95m high x 0.6m. The smaller stone has a hole 0.4m from the top but this does not seem to be an ancient perforation. 1974.

You cant go to Bants Carn without having at least a quick look at the ancient village, with time all run out we had a whirlwind tour, stopping only to photograph the best bits. I can well see how someone could spend all day on this hillside, but we only have two minutes.
The stones used in some places are big ones, standing as tall as me, the houses are easily picked out from the many various stones, it mostly reminded of Chysauster.
But mostly it was just a very pretty place to be, like most of St Mary’s.
I’ve fallen for Scilly a bit, can’t tell though can you ?

Sadly this is the last of the trio of “show” sites that I’ve got time for today, and even sadder is that I’ve got the least time to spend at one of them. But, it was quite easy to tear myself away from this little beauty because a noisy family had set up camp for the day no more than twenty feet from the chamber. Strangely there would be no one at all at the Halangy down settlement down the hill.
But my ten minutes with the stones were very productive, that’s not the right word, rather, this place is about three hundred miles from my house but I’d prefer to be here for just ten minutes than at home all day watching crap on TV. A very worthwhile ten minutes, I found the place to be very beautiful, the light on the water, the distant beaches, the pinky red heather, the green grass, of course grass is green, but right now, it’s, just more. Even the gorse has shed it’s new sweary name.
The burial chamber is now my new lost love, we had just ten minutes together, a brief encounter to be sure, but not on a stinky railway station but on a pretty sunlit island, a ten minute rendezvous that i’ll always remember. She was beautiful, showing more naked stone than the other two sites I fancied, check out those capstones, you can see it all. Inside the tomb was light, airy and a cool place to be.
From outside the tomb looked like a spaceship to me, Cylon maybe, or the attack UFO’s from Independence day.
But is she beautiful? can a burial chamber, which is after all, an arrangement of stones, be beautiful?
Naturally speaking, shouldn’t only the opposite sex be beautiful, why rainbows, why a tiger, a diamond, a car, are they all linked, why do we find so many things to be lovely ?
Answers on a postcard to.........

Visited 24.7.15

This standing stone is only a short distance away from the Creagantairbh stones. If visiting one stone along this beautiful valley it makes perfect sense to visit the other.

There is just about room to park on the narrow road but it is tight. Access is via a gate and then up a rough track. The stone is quite close to a farm house but I never saw anyone at home so it wasn’t a problem.

The stone is 2m high and covered with moss.

The cairn next to the stone consists of an overgrown mound of ‘spiky’ grass. There are many stones sticking out of the ground.

Unfortunately I didn’t know about the rock art at the time so missed that. Well worth a visit.

Visited 29.7.15

Directions:
A couple of miles north of the Drumtrodden stones on the B7085. It is on the west side of the road just north of a crossroads.

The stone is easy to see from the road and access is via a handy gate. The field was empty when I visited.
The stone is approximately 1m high x 0.5m wide.

Visited 23.7.15

From the parking area head for the the kerb cairn within the trees. Visible from parking area. Follow the (infrequent) white painted stones next to the fence on your right. Keep walking and you will see a large, old wooden gate (with equally old, wooden sign on it) which gives access to the field where the circle resides. This is to your left as you walk keeping the fence to your right. I hope this makes sense?! The circle is not visible from the parking area but it is only a short, if wet, walk. Well worth the effort.

This is a good spot for a stone circle (I assume this area was drier when it was built) It is in a natural amphitheatre which reminded me (a little) of Castlerigg. Some of the stones were harder to get close to than others due to the standing water.

There were several other visitors which surprised me a bit as this is well off the beaten track. One was a car load of Americans and I tried to explain what the standing stones, kerb cairn and stone circle were about – given my limited knowledge. They had previously visited the Orkney sites and the Clava Cairns so knew a fair bit anyway. Not your average American tourists then! :)

This large stone is covered with ‘hairy lichen’.
A notch is out of the top of the stone.
The field was slightly drier here – relatively speaking!

The sun was shining, mist enveloped the distant mountain. I saw a pheasant, rabbit and swift (or was it a swallow?). Lovely.

This standing stone is to the right of the gate which leads you into the field where the circle is.
Easy to spot.
I wonder if it has been struck by lightening at some point? Just a thought.

This site is also visible from the parking area. A little oasis of trees in a field of water and bog. At one point Dafydd’s welly got so stuck in the mud it came off his foot and I needed to use two hands to pull it out of the mud, such was the suction.

I liked it here (I like sites with trees). Several large kerb stones remain and the entrance is well defined and in good condition. Very nice and well worth stopping off for on the way to the circle. Just make sure you bring your wellies!

Visited 26.7.15

The stone can be seen on the approach road and from the parking area.

It was sunny and not raining! However, this water meadow (it must be) was incredibly wet and muddy. Parts of the field was underwater. The landlord of the B+B we were staying in said that normally the field was dry from June to August – but not on my visit. Apparently local farmers were reporting this is the wettest summer they have had since 1985. This I can believe. The stone now has its own moat to protect it.