Latest Fieldnotes

Visited 23.5.14

With children in tow we opted for the (sometimes rough) drive up the hill, past the infamous Hell Fire Club caves, and parked in the large car park at the top of the hill, next to the church of St Lawrence.

There were several dog walkers about on this overcast but warm day and myself, Dafydd and Sophie headed towards the church, passing the large boulder on the way.

The church itself was locked and looking around the graveyard there wasn’t (at first glance) much to see. However, it didn’t take long to get your ‘eye in’ and the familiar low circular inner face of the rampart could be made out.

We then went back outside and walked down the path to the left (when facing the church). It was then that the true preservation of the ditches/ramparts became apparent – approximately 2m high. We rummaged about in the undergrowth and in places (which were worn by recent human feet) you could see how the bank was made up of lumps of chalk and flint.

There was a N.T. sign erected which said the site is going to be cleared of trees to improve the view across the landscape. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not?

Despite initial reservations I am glad I visited this site. If you do plan a visit, watch your suspension when you near the car park!

Visited 23.5.15

Directions:
Easy to spot, next to the main roundabout when driving through Princes Riseborough. It is outside a toilet block, next to a newsagent. There is plenty of parking available.

The stone is a little less than 1m square and moss has started to grow around its top.

It is good to see that this stone is appreciated by the locals and has been given the presentation it deserves.

Well worth a look when in the area.

A collection of new motifs uncovered today .

Climbing directly up the grassy slopes of Tal y Fan’s southern flank, we pass a ruined homestead and regain a proper path. The map shows some cairns here, but we fail to see anything obvious. [Postie’s subsequent visit shows we weren’t missing much.]

Caer Bach now rises in front of us, flat-topped and dotted with gorse. Just before we get there, we come across a very strange “structure”, consisting of a huge oval boulder apparently placed over some supporting stones to form a small open-fronted chamber, which appears to have been lined with smaller stones. It looks constructed rather than natural, but what it is we have no idea. There’s so much going on in this area that it’s difficult not to imagine it having some significance.

Tal-y-Fan’s summit, crossed by a typically improbable drystone wall, now looms directly above us. It looks almost within touching distance from here, but it’s not on the menu today. Instead we head for the fort. The earthworks aren’t the most impressive, but as with every other place we’ve been today the setting is superb. The views extend to Pen-y-Gaer (Caerhun) and Cerrig-y-Ddinas, so whether the occupants were friend or foe they were certainly observable. It’s a neat and compact site, feeling quite sheltered in the lea of the mountain’s flank, despite its lofty position.

Even the track feels ancient, a deep green channel between collapsing drystone walls enlivened by vibrant purple foxgloves at this time of year. We pass Ffon-y-cawr, leaning crazily on the other side of the wall. Another one to save for a proper visit, because from here we can see the main objective for today.

Maen-y-Bardd is at once bigger and smaller than I expected it to be. It’s perfectly proportioned and looks out over the wide valley of Afon Conwy, the river itself winding lazily through the centre. And there are mountains, and hills, and little fields, and a huge cloud-filled sky. What a place.

“Stone out of song” goes a poem I hold very close to my heart. But did the song come first, or the stone? Was a bard buried here, or did the place make poets of its visitors?

We stop for a good while. Even the dogs seem content to sit here.

At length an interruption comes in the form of a farmer in his tractor, cutting the bracken in the field next door. The spell is broken. We head uphill.

Cae Coch standing stone is first, just a short pull up a bracken and grass covered slope from the track. It’s one of those eternally pleasing stones with a completely different aspect depending on which side you view it from. The broad face is turned towards the track and is perpendicular to Pen-y-Gaer (Caerhun) hillfort, but side-on the profile is slender with a bend in the middle. The views across the Conwy valley are worth the visit alone. An unexpectedly good site.

As we approached the stone the blue sky had turned unexpectedly dark, and now looks like night has arrived early. It rains, just for a moment. And then it’s gone, so that by the time we regain the track much of the blue has returned.

The two stones that give the pass its name are a big step up in size from the ankle biters of Cerrig Pryfaid. Both are taller than me, and there’s some serious girth going on too. The tapering southern stone is a beauty, Blossom and I struggle to reach round it with our combined outstretched arms. There’s a small, shallow drill hole on one side, as if someone foolishly attempted to convert this into a gatepost and was struck dead for their temerity before getting very far. I’ll leave Rhiannon to find some suitably doomy folkore to confirm the point.

By contrast, the northern stone is flat-topped and appears to shine out its whiteness against the dark heather. On closer inspection, the whiteness is entirely illusory, the stone isn’t quartz at all but a light grey. There are two further, shorter uprights close to the northern stone, one of which is indeed a quartzy rock. Their placement isn’t obvious but reminds me somewhat of a scaled-up version of the little followers of Maen Mawr in South Wales. In amongst the chocks at the base of the northern stone is one very dark rock, a matt coal black in colour. It’s not clear whether this is a later addition as it doesn’t seem to be doing much chocking.

We don’t realise that there’s a fan of much smaller uprights close to the southern stone, and in truth a visit in summer vegetation isn’t the best time to look for them. It is a great time to admire the purple flowers adorning the heather though.

Once again, the setting is excellent. The views are similar to those from Cerrig Pryfaid, but with added elevation giving a fresh perspective to the outcrops of Pen y Castell. The stones are not set on the crest of the pass, so there’s no view northwards to speak of. Instead they turn their impassive faces resolutely southeast, looking down the valley of the Tafalog, heading off to join the great Afon Conwy three or four miles away. Surrounded now by pylons and cables, yet they retain their dignity against these huge, transitory metal giants. Time is on their side after all.

I’m really taken with these stones. The sense of deep time seems to hang around them, from the ageless mountains, through the monument builders, the tramp of Roman soldiers, into a hinterland of iron and wire. Rather than detracting, the pylons add to this sense that we’re standing in the midst of a palimpsest, layers of time and people still there, just below the surface. And perhaps we’re a shadowy presence in earlier and later times, too.

From stone circle to cairn. Barclodiad y Gawres is a good size (15-20m irregular diameter), composed of large cobbles with a central scoop. It’s dotted here and there with clumps of stonecrop, the pink-white five pointed flowers a splash of summer brightness against the grey stones. We entirely fail to see the cist, or either of the other cairns that are supposedly close by. A little way to the southeast we come across a small arrangement of stones, which look like they’ve been placed deliberately but not as anything obviously identifiable. Blossom’s dogs find nice big boulders to stand on and survey the area.

The visual focus is the prominent Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen standing stones, visible from here, nestled in the v-shaped pass between the ridges of the Carneddau and Foel Lwyd. The flanking pylons fail to detract from the setting, despite their best efforts.

Elsewhere this cairn would be worth a proper stop, but here it’s probably the least arresting of the day’s sites. And we can see the next one already, so it’s time to head off.

It’s always exciting to start the day with a stone circle, especially one you’ve not been to before. Composed of diminutive stones, Cerrig Pryfaid is certainly no Avebury in purely megalithic terms. But the setting elevates it to something quite special.

The near-perfect circle sits in an amphitheatre of rock, broken only to the southeast where Pen y Gaer overlooks the wide sweep of the fertile Conwy Valley. Even here the longer view is filled with rank upon rank of high hills. The southwestern prospect is entirely blocked by the towering wall of the Carneddau mountains, crowned by Bronze Age cairns on the summits of Carnedd y Ddelw and Drum. To the north Foel Lwyd, the western buttress of the Tal y Fan ridge, rises in a jagged jumble of boulders and outcrops.

Two small outliers stand to the west of the circle, both with tantalising sunrise alignments (midwinter, autumn equinox). But today it’s getting towards midday, in July. So we make do with the earthlier delights of the landscape and views before heading back towards the Pass and our next site.

There is free parking for nigh on a dozen cars by the church, south of the fort, as parking spots go it’s a good one, on one side is Carn Fadryn itself and on the other is the rest of the Lleyn peninsula, for those who elect to stay in the car it at least has a good view.
On the other side of the church go up a lane that goes up to the covered reservoir, go through a gate turn right and follow the thin but well worn path, it goes all the way (baby) to the top.
Near the top we go through the southern entrance, the wall goes off to the right and round a corner and left it continues up hill towards the rocky summit. The childrens guide to climbing mountains expressly forbids any dallying with ancient remains, but insists that you proceed straight to the top with gusto and intrepidity. So, straining against the strong wind I’m led up a mountain by two thirteen year olds, one of whom has never been up a mountain, and the other has seen too many Bear Grylls.
I turn to photograph some of the huts and pounds that huddle out of the wind under the cliffs, from here I can see Mynydd Tir-y-Cwmwd, where we’ve just seen a very sorry dismantled dolmen, below me is the fort interior, coflein assures us that the entire place is covered in hut circles, but they’ve all gone from there, but not gone is a cairn, we’ll see that shortly though. There is also a cairn further up the rocks behind me closer to the top, so I return to following the kids, who have now somewhat disconcertingly, disappeared.
I catch up with them huddled behind some rocks, the wind is very strong, not cold, but strong. They have also inadvertently stopped right by the cairn, so I give it a good inspection whilst they sit and look on.
Right up at the top is the trig point, 371 meters high, doesn’t sound much does it, it’s not even once round the running track, but 1217 feet does sound a lot. Apparently if a hill is over a thousand feet its a mountain, perhaps explaining why we consider Wales to be very mountainous.
Up at the top, the ground seems not wholly natural, I found that was probably because there was once a Norman tower castle up here, nothing too big, just big enough to make the downtrodden locals feel oppressed.
From up at the top the view is teasingly not over expansive, behind Garn Boduan The Rivals struggle to be seen through the haze, and the whole of Snowdonia just isn’t there at all.
We start the walk along the great north wall, the night watch are long gone now, the dozens and dozens of huts and pounds are getting swallowed by high heather and much greenyness. I even stumble across the north entrance, it too is choked with undergrowth. But even better hidden than the entrance will be something I’ve not heard of before. If it’s not unique let me know, this is cofleins description..........A robbed and ruined cist or ancient burial vault, 2.4m by 1.2m, is overlain by the inner rampart of Carn Fadrun. It is suggested that the cist was originally covered by a cairn, of which a scatter of loose boulders remain. Such a monument would conventionally be ascribed to the Bronze Age...........
How on earth am I supposed to discern a cairn with a wall over it, a wall that fell centuries ago and has spread twenty yards in either direction, this one will stretch my stone finding skills to be sure. A needle in a haystack, and a haystack made of needles.
We continue to the end of the north wall to the north east corner of the fort, on another rocky outcrop. Ive already seen half a dozen contenders for being ex cists. But then I find what I thought to be hut circle attached to the inner side of the inner wall, but the interior of the hut is very small, this could be the cairn, the inner scoop of the cairn is chokka block full of plant growth, at the time, I was still unsure so we carried on. At the south east corner, I decided that that was it after all, maybe, probably.
I detour into the forts interior to see the big cairn, it has been added to by Joe public, massively. So much so that I wonder if its bronze age at all, the very lowest section looks to be it, even a couple of kerb stones?
Back to the kids and we finish off the mountaineering part of the day by returning to the path via a path of our own choosing, over and among massive rocks, short cliffs and small caves, quite dangerous, stick to the path.

A superb hill fort with loads to see, epic views, easy to get to, but, still not as good as Tre’r Cieri.

13/05/2015 – Nice chambered cairn on top of Cnoc Na Maranaich with nearby standing stone and cairn. The walk from Dunbeath is a good one. Passing a couple of brochs as we walked up Dunbeath Water then onto the chambered cairns of Carn Liath and Loedebest. Finally a short pull uphill to Cnoc Na Maranaich. Makes for a good day trip and the view from the top is great.

13/05/2015 – The area round here is full of cairns, brochs, settlements etc. It was hard to pick which way to go. This chambered cairn was my favourite of the ones we visited on our walk. Canmore describe it as ‘Orkney-Cromarty, long, horned, with Camster-type chamber’. Well worth a visit combined with a few of the other sites nearby. Easy access from Dunbeath.

13/05/2015 – Just a short walk upriver from Dunbeath broch are the remains of Balantrath broch. The walk along the bank of Dunbeath Water between the two is lovely. This broch is pretty overgrown but the location is good.

12/05/2015 – Nice chambered cairn on the south side of Langwell Water. A lot of the stones have been removed but enough of the stones that make up the chambers remain to still get a good idea of what it was like. Well worth a visit, I liked my time there (only slightly spoiled by the caterpillar tracks right through the middle of cairn)

11/05/2015 – On the way back from Backlass stone circle we had a look at these stone rows at Dirlot. Parking in a nearby passing place, it’s a short walk to the site. The stones are small and quite hidden in the heather. It was fun walking the side of the hill trying to find the rows. Canmore state ‘possibly twenty rows’, we didn’t find that many but there are a good few visible. Two small cairns are situated on the knoll just above the rows. Worth a look.

11/05/2015 – A visit to Backlass stone circle makes for a lovely walk in the wide, open landscape of Caithness. We took the good single track road (plenty of passing places) from the A9 at Mybster to a parking area about 1 km west of Strathmore Lodge. From there it’s about a 7 mile round trip to Backlass, nice flatish walk, track all the way. I love this area and the walk alone is worth going for. A real feeling of loneliness in a big landscape where everything looks so far away. The stone circle is in the long deserted township of Backlass. Five stones remain but a few more potentials are in the surrounding stone walls. The weather was good and we sat for a while by the circle and had our sandwiches. It was hard to leave and make the slow walk back to the real world. Great site and day.

10/05/2015 – Afternoon walk up Beinn Dubhain from Baile an Or. We took a slight detour on the way down to visit this stone. Well worth the effort. Great cup and ring marks and a lovely view from it.

10/05/2015 – If you fancy a trip along Strath of Kildonan to visit the many fantastic sites there, this one is a good way to start your day off. Easy access across the golf course just outside Helmsdale. It’s a nice location and a decent long cairn.

From the centre of Fettercairn near the shop take the B966 south past the impressive looking church. Look for a wee bridge to the north. This bridge, which crosses the Crichie Burn, looked unsteady for the car so I had a pleasant wee stroll along the track.

The track leads to a sports pavilion and cricket pitch, both of which haven’t been used for ages sadly. Walk across the pitch to the clearly visible barrow. Yet another beautiful place with barrow sitting at 22 meters wide/2 meters tall. Quarrying has happened on the southern side. Trees sit on top adding to the atmosphere on a nice Spring day. Also sitting on top of the barrow was a wheelbarrow.

Another affa bonny place.

Visited 15/4/2015.

This is a lovely barrow some 17 meters in diameter and 2 meters high. Situated near the B974, the famous Cairn O Mount road, the barrow is very close to this road. It can be found slightly to the north of Fettercairn (the village) and just to the south of Mains Of Fasque entrance.

Being set in a wood the sense of ancient times is everywhere despite the nearness of the road. Sadly some quarrying has happened on the south east side but most of it remains intact.

A very beautiful place.

Visited 15/4/2015.

Visited the neighbouring DSPCA today, 12/5/15 and couldn’t resist this. Seems that they may be realising what they have on their hands here as there was quite a bit of recent heavy shrub felling and the site is quite open. I don’t know if the DSPCA own the land that the mega-megalith is on, but they have marked it on the map on one of their hand-outs.

I always struggle to explain this place, and the scale of what may have once been a capstone (or may have been an over-ambitious and abandoned operation). The stone’s only rival for weight, as far as I know, is at Browne’s Hill in Carlow – much better known and valued.

This time I had my little companion with me and hope that today’s shots show some scale.

The first time I tried to come here we got hopelessly turned round coming from the wrong direction, I lost my way and about 85% of my grip on reality, gave up and went somewhere easier to find, ie; home.
Better equipped, we returned for another crack at the whip, another stroke of the goose, another push at the rod accentuater, another.... well, again.
From Llanbedrog head south on the A499, for those eagle eyed among us they may notice the pair of hill forts either side of the road, turn left after here at a brown sign saying Bolmynydd. Follow this single file lane, it turns 90 degrees right, then hairpins back on itself, follow this till you get to a small car park next to the Bolmynydd caravan and campsite. From the car park head up the lane with no end, you can get up there by car but there probably wont be anywhere to park, and it’s only a five minute walk. At the blue Peugeot, it’s on street view, keep going on the footpath and out onto the heath, when the footpath branches, go left for 10. 65 meters then strike out into the grasses, the big stone is there and visible in low undergrowth, from car to stone about 8 or 9 minutes.

We had another of Eric’s school mates with us today, Jack, clearly he had no idea about what a trip out into Wales is comprised of. Eric and me immediately laid into the brown ferns and the ready to strangle brambles, peeling back the undergrowth so as to reveal as much of the big stone as possible, Jack looked on bemused, I then realised that we hadn’t explained what we were about, I’d taken it for granted that this was normal and everyday, the look on Jacks face was priceless, clearly we were suffering from some kind of neurological impairment. It’s just a rock he suggests, I explain that it’s a stone, not a rock, I can tell this is not washing, so I explain further, but this takes us into territory that I often wrestle with myself, why, how, when and what does it all mean, if anything, any way it’s a stone, ok?

Coflein says the big stone is 3.58m by 1.42m and about 0.5m thick, and that it’s the capstone of a megalithic chamber, ‘thrown down’ c.1850, and possibly obscured subsequently. So they destroyed a dolmen and then tried to bury or hide the one big stone they couldn’t remove. The Bounders.
After revealing almost all the stone, some of it obstinately refused to come out of the ground, I photographed it and with not a small amount of.....something, I agreed with Jack and said it is just a stone, mainly, lets go and climb a mountain.
Everyone understands the worth of climbing a mountain, Jack certainly did, back on firm ground, Terra Normality.

Visited: May 12, 2015

Revealed at last!

After years of neglect, during which this Bronze Age Cairn on Aberdeen’s Tullos Hill lay almost totally hidden under a thick blanket of gorse, a pathway has at last been opened up to its grassy summit.

There’s still not a lot to see of this tumbledown cairn, but in early summer it opens up an amazing vista over swathes of yellow flowering gorse.

After Norseman Village take the Gorseness Road and at Grind turn onto the Hackland Road. On your left is a field with large wartime remains/ruins. In the next field a building perhaps of the same era marks Sandyhall barrow 3. There were others here but the only prominent one is near the farmroad junction. This mound of earth with a few stones is directly beside the Hackland Road and has several large scrapes.

After a most rewarding afternoon on the Lleyn I decided it was high time for round two with Penbryn Mawr, for an idea on how round one went refer to my field notes of December 2009.
Suffice to say, I didn’t find the stone last time, but after much snooping about on the portal and google earth, I knew exactly where it was, and I knew why there was so much confusion the first time.
The grid reference numbers given on this site page and the Penbryn Mawr page on Coflein are out by over five hundred metres. The actual grid reference is SH45355391. To also throw into the confusion, Cofleins description of the stone describes to a T the stone in the driveway of Penbryn Mawr house, but not the stone by the road on a hump at the grid ref given here.
So, the bronze age standing stone is by the road 530 meters (app) west of Penbryn Mawr farm house, however, for those of us blessed by a comprehension of the Welsh tongue a knock on the door at Penbryn mawr could be more rewarding than the actual standing stone itself. Read previous notes.