Latest Fieldnotes

Visited 27.7.14

Directions:
At the southern end of Port Elphinstone – behind the BP petrol station

Today was the first day we had rain. Considering we were now into the second week of our holiday we could have few complaints.

The area in which the henge stands is overgrown and has the appearance of waste ground – although I am sure it isn’t! Access to the field is via a metal gate.

The henge is easy to spot with the bank being between 1m and 2m high from the bottom of the ditch.

The standing stones are between 1.5m and 1.8m high. The Pictish symbol stone has nice markings on it. At least the weather made them easy to see.

It is a pity more is not made of this site. A good hair cut and an information board would go a long way. It doesn’t look like many people come here which is a shame.

Well worth a visit if you happen to be in the area.

From Plouharnel, take the D781 north west to Erdeven. In a few hundred meters a sign will point you left down a small side road, the Dolmens are behind the houses of the main road, parking is right next to the big mound.
When we got there, there was some Germans looking round, so I got out of the car slowly and quietly, so as not to spook them. I strolled round the perimeter of the round sandy mound, it’s about twenty meters across. Soon enough fritz was had completed his perusal and gone off back to his home-made motor home, and I was left on my own. I could hear the kids laughing in the car, Swifts screamed and reeled about overhead, the sun was no longer at it’s hottest, all was right with the world.
The big mound contains three Dolmens within it’s structure. The eastern most of the three internal structures is mostly covered by capstones, within the end chamber is a small side cell in the corner.
The middle tomb is is perhaps the best and biggest. The chamber is pretty much a wider extension of the passage, the capstone is big and the floor is dry, so I sit and enjoy the comparative silence.
The third eastern most tomb is later and much smaller than the other two. The chamber is unroofed and full of earth, it would not be more than three feet wide. The capstones still left over the passage are so low that no egress is possible.
What a fantastic thing this is, so very very old and still so intact, despite the sunny seaside town nipping at it’s heels.

Peninnis Head High Stone

Writing in Meyn Mamvro 84 (Summer 2014), Vivien and Robert Seaney mention a lost standing stone on Peninnis Head referred to by William Borlase in 1756: “The High Stone, fronting ye Rock bason Karn at Peninis 30 ft high”.

30ft high? Yep, that’s what he said. His depiction of the stone is of a tapering stone with a series of curved indentations down one side. The Seaneys have found a recumbent stone on Peninnis Head, 90 metres east of the lighthouse that certainly looks similar to the shape of Borlase’s stone.

So as we’re on St Mary’s (20 June 2014), it seems too good to miss. After a revisit of the Salakee Down cairns and the possible lost stone circle there, we walk round Old Town Bay and back up to the wonderful Peninnis Head.

The stone is exactly where the Seaneys place it, easy to find as it’s somewhat apart from the main outcrops on the headland. It’s blooming massive.

However, to me it seems very doubtful that the stone ever stood. It looks like it’s always been recumbent and the curved indentations are the edges of a number of rock basins on its upper surface. Is this the High Stone? Was Borlase being fanciful when he showed it upright? Or was there another stone, 30ft high, now vanished?

Whatever the truth, go and see for yourself, the fantastic sculpted granite makes Peninnis Head a wonderful place regardless of whether this is the lost High Stone.

There is a footpath from the Cromlech to these alignments but if you are vigorously opposed to walking get the car turned round and turn left back onto Rue de Kerbourgnec then at the T junction turn left and the stones are nearly two hundred meters on your left.
I promised the kids there might well be stones near the beach but there will be no walking, so far the stones have not disappointed. There was no walking at all for them as they are staying in the car, leaving me to wander hither and thither with the only contention being some young Frenchies smoking an electronic cigar on the bench at the side of the plot, but every time I wanted to take a picture there was always a wide stone to block them out.
Twenty three or four stones stand arrayed in five interrupted rows, arranged in a fan shape. But today they align on nothing more than modern suburbia.

These are very good stones, tall, wide, twisted and gnarled, they are very shapely stones, very bright stones , it seemed to me they would not look out of place at Avebury somewhere. One stone reminded me of Maen Penddu in North Wales. I wonder how many have been lost, I read somewhere that they once went down into the sea and out again the other end of the bay, but seeing as that’s eleven miles away near Arzon, it’s preposterous.......isn’t it ?
A great and mellow site, and a corner shop down the road, probably.

I came directly from Dolmen Roh an Aod, down the D768 whilst looking for left turn Rue de Kerbourgnec, then it’s immediately left again into stone circle avenue/Rue Du Cromlech, just say what you see.
Parked on the road outside some nice houses across the road from the stones, no prizes for spotting the stones here.
This is both amazing and terrible, look at all those stones, there’s more than enough to get your megalithic pulse going, they are big enough to demand respect, if this were complete it would be astonishing. But.
But look at what they’ve done to it, it’s been incomplete for so long that they aren’t even sure whether it was a complete stone circle or a horseshoe open to the east.
The house or what ever place inside the circle stops you from getting in the circle, you can only see the stones from one side, the fence is so close to them.
But then i’m used to the wilder parts of our country, where you can walk for miles with out even seeing a house, all these houses are, well, they’re undesirable, to say the least, unless of course you live there.
But the stones are ace, and it’s brilliant to see them at all.

JC’s directions got me there perfectly and without incident, as you pass the very small right hand turn off you can see the dolmen, but keep going to the large apparently free car park.
How utterly ridiculous and yet completely brilliant this strange little dolmen is. I cant imagine what saved it from the greedy little stone wrecking paws of the local inhabitants, lightning strike ? conscientious clergy man ? or loud booming words from above ? what ever, it is here, and one would hope for a lot longer.
I have not seen a dolmen constructed in this way before, most curious, the entire edifice is corbelled. Some burial chambers have corbelled roofing and we think that’s pretty good, but the builders of Roh-an-Aod decided to make the whole structure a lesson in corbelling. You cant help trying to guess how many roof stones are missing, we got it to be anywhere between one and three. Was there a passage ? or was it always straight into the large circular chamber.

When Eric and me got there, a car was being unloaded into the house with the external stairs that one has to climb in order to get “that” picture, looking down into it. So we waited and he drove off, but the house is far from deserted these days, so a quick up and down, vroooaaum, and were done. Were off to the beach now, one that just happens to be by a stone circle and some stone rows, vroooaaum.

It’s very easy to find this site, it’s off the D767, follow signs for Larcuste (Google dictionary wants to change this to Testicular). It’s a tiny village, when the road turns hairpin sharp left, stop and park at the corner of the field on your right, room for maybe three cars.
Barely a five minute walk around a field next to a field full of corn, they like corn fields round here.
Then there they are, two little beauties. There used to be, once upon a time, four cairns here but two are no longer showing at all above ground, and the two that are here have been restored, some time ago.
But it doesn’t matter, I love these two, they remind me very much of some Cornish sites, Bosilack, Brane or maybe it’s the flora that grows upon them, either way they are sweet and beautiful little cuties.
They are arranged north and south of each other upon a very slight hill top, they call this a hill top ?
I’ll show them when I get home.
The southern cairn is entered from the east, a passage leads for maybe twenty five feet, off both sides are three chambers, six in all, in case my descriptive powers are too limited. The three on the south side of the cairn still have their capstones, on the north side one chamber is covered the next is half covered and the third is not covered .

The north cairn has two passages entered from the east again, leading to separate circular chambers. The southern chamber is not covered at all, but the northern chamber is, it has a large undulating capstone with two worn basins upon it. there are also supposed to be some vague carvings of crooks and serpents, but I never saw anything. Dated to 4000BC, so that’s old, very old, but still not the oldest, nor is it even close.

Our Hotel was on the outskirts of Vannes, and it seemed when looking at the map that no matter where you went, in any direction you like, and you can find a Dolmen or a stone row or a standing stone to stop off at on the way. This Dolmen was on the way to the Carting track so I took a right turn off the D767 going north to Locmine turning at a sign saying Bignan. The Allee Couverte appeared right next to the road on my right hand side. Parking was within ten feet of the site.
Leaving the kids in the car I climbed up the bank into the woods, there is an information board, which surprised me as it’s not really a well known place, I had to add the site myself. There are only three capstones left I think and they are not perfectly in place, you cannot get into this burial chamber, robbing me of one of the best parts of a burial chamber, getting in.
I was glad I got to see this place despite it’s half destruction, but I was quite galled to find on the portal that there are two burial chambers here, the other is in the woods across the road no more than a hundred yards away. It is not an allee couverte but of a type that is more of a tumulus with exposed chamber, wish i’d known.
Next time.

Situated right next to the road, the D768 from Auray to Ploharnel, and less than half a mile north east from the roundabout, cant be missed.
Has anyone else noticed how half the places in Brittany begin with either of two syllables, Plo ‘n’ ker, can we read into this ancient communications with people of Peckham. Probably not.
If the D768 is in fact an old Roman road I cant understand why it runs nicely and harmlessly by, if the Romans were so very bad why didn’t they destroy all three Dolmens?
Did you get that? three Dolmens? three of them in an area no bigger than a big back yard.
The underground one is arguably the most interesting, the stairs that go down to it is only two feet from the side of the road, careful, it’s also five or six feet below you too. Passing into the chamber we notice that some one has been chalking in the ancient carvings, these carvings are more abstract than the ones ive seen so far.
The chamber is dry and dark, the sound of passing traffic is muted, if you listen carefully you could perhaps hear mothers voice and distant music.
Above ground you might mistake the massive capstone for a random half buried rock, from some angles there appears to be only two Dolmens here, the underground tomb is most interesting.
Right next to it is the more knackered of the two allee couverts, it is low and only has two capstones. But just a few meters away is the big impressive one, it still has four capstones in place and one of them is really big. Some allee couverts are very long but these seem to have been quite short ones.
There is, it has been said, the remains of a stone circle here too. But i’m just not sure, four stones are all I could see and three of them were in a row not an arc. When these Dolmen were complete and perfect, would all three have been covered by the same mound or would they have all had their separate mounds.
This is a cool and mysterious place that brings to mind lots of questions, as is the whole of the Carnac area. Back home if you see a big stone near a stone circle you cant help wondering if it is some thing, but in Carnac it is usually always something, your just falling over somethings, they are everywhere.

Visited 23.7.14

Directions:
Alongside the A838 (east side) overlooking the southern end of the Kyle of Durness.

It was a beautiful, hot, sunny day in this lovely and remote part of Scotland. A cool breeze off the coast was very welcome. The cairn is visible from the road and we pulled over in a parking area near the bridge. Due to the nice weather the ground was dry underfoot but in wet weather it would be very bogy.

The grey stones of the cairn are covered in ‘hairy’ moss – a sure sign of the clean air here. The thick capstone was part covered in stones and ferns were growing out of the cist. The cairn is surrounded by ferns and heather. Evidence of recent peat cutting could be seen.

It is a great spot for a cairn. Mountains to the west and overlooking an unspoilt sandy bay. This is a good place to visit and well worth the walk up from the road. On the way back to the car I spotted Dafydd making his way up the hill. He had woken up and wanted to see the cairn for himself – good lad! As I approached the car Sophie was walking along the road to meet me. Despite it being an A road there wasn’t a car in sight – one of the reasons I love this area so much.

CANMORE state:
At the bottom of the cleared area at the center of the cairn is a cist, 1.2m by 0.6m by 0.5m deep internally with a displaced capstone about 1.2m in diameter and 20cms thick. Two small intrusions have been made on the SE side of the cairn, one of these are base level.
T C Welsh 1972.

A bare stone cairn 16.0m in diameter and 2.0m high, with a central cist as described by Welsh. There are no indications of a retaining circle. The trench round the N half has a well-defined scarp defining the far side and the ends; the near side is partially obscured by tumble off the cairn.
Revised at 1:10,000.
Visited by OS (J M) 16 November 1978.

Visited 23.7.14

Directions:
A short distance north of Sarsgrum Cairn on the A838. Near the car park and sign for the Cape Wrath ferry.

Not much to report – a grass covered mound.

CANMORE state:
‘A cairn evident as a turf-covered mound, approx. 17m in diameter and 1.5m in height, quarried from the N and E. There is no trace of the second cairn noted by Horsburgh, but immediately N of the cairn are traces of a circular enclosure some 19m in diameter, mutilated by car parking, and in too poor a condition to classify’

Directions:
On the A838 – right next to a derelict farmhouse overlooking the Kyle of Durness.

Funny how Rhiannon posted folklore about this site only yesterday and now here I am posting field notes about the place!

This is a super site and I am really surprised that no one has commented on it before now giving it is right next to the main (only) road. As anyone who has visited this part of the world will know you can park pretty much where you like.

The cairn is right next to the derelict cottage and is enclosed by a stone wall. The pile of stones is quite large but best of all is the huge cap stone lying on top of it and its exposed cist!. There are also superb coastal views from the top of the cairn.

I love this part of the world. Where else can you park on an A road which has passing places and where you have to stop your car as there is a lamb suckling milk from their mother in the middle of the road! If you like isolation – this is the place to come. Fab!

I heartily recommend a visit to all who come to the far north – you have to drive past the thing anyway!

CANMORE states:
‘The remains of a large cairn about 50ft in diameter. Most of it has been removed, exposing a cist lying N-S and consisting of a covered slab, 4ft 10ins long by 3ft 4ins broad and 8ins thick, supported on three upright slabs, a fourth at the S end having fallen’. 1909

‘An overgrown cairn as described by RCAHMS and measuring 16m in diameter and 2m high’ 1960

‘This cairn, with cist exposed, as described by previous authorities’ 1978

Directions:
A short distance west of Castletown, north of the A836. Immediately north of East Murkle Farm.

The cairn is easily seen as a grass covered mound in an othervise flat grass field.

CANMORE states:
A low circular mound measuring about 32.0m in diameter and 1.5m high is under plough, revealing a basic content of earth and shale with some small stone slabs and limpet shells intermingled. In the SW periphery, two rectangular stone slabs of different character lie on the surface.
Visited by OS (N K B) 16 February 1965.

This cairn is a described by the previous field investigator, except that the two stone slabs are no longer evident.
Visited by OS (J B) 2 November 1981.

Directions:
North of the A836 – near the Dounreay nuclear power station.

The ruined broch is clearly visible from the A836 as a very large grass covered mound in a flat field. The mound is directly under overhead power cables.

Due to time constraints and the close proximity of the power station (not sure what the security situation is like?) I chose to observe from the road. To be honest I don’t think there would be much to gain by a closer look anyway.

CANMORE states:
Notes NC96 5 KNOCK URRAY NC/98438 6630
Possible broch in Reay, Caithness, consisting of a grassy mound some 26.54m (87ft) in diameter and 3.05m (10ft) high and with a flat top 16.47m (54ft) in diameter on which may be a ruined broch. However no wallfaces are visible.

Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NC96NE 16: 2. RCAHMS 1911a, 94, no. 349.
E W MacKie 2007

Visited 24.7.14

Access to Achkinloch is via a short walk from the Great U and through a kissing gate.

Even though the weather had been hot and dry for days the ground was spongy. I imagine that in wet weather it would be very bogy underfoot.

If for no other reason it is worth visiting the chambered cairn as it is a good place to view the Great U.

The standing stone at the cairn is about 1m high.

Visited 24.7.14

Directions:
Sign posted. Approximately 1 mile off the A9. Parking space next to stones.

Visiting the Great U involved a fairly long detour off our planned route but this was a site I was very keen to visit. I wasn’t disappointed.

The stones are surrounded by miles of bleak moorland with hills in the distance.
There are three information boards.
This is an excellent site and has a feeling of remoteness about it.

The stones are quite large and the grass around them not too overgrown.
It is odd how the stones are ‘side on’ instead of the normal ‘front facing’ – there must have been a reason why they set the stones up this way?

If you happen to be heading up the east coast of Scotland try to make time to visit the Great U. It is a most interesting place.

A fairly substantial grassy mound. Easy to find and easy to see (if you know what it is). Also saw a barn owl and an aerobatic display from a biplane so it was even more exciting!

Parking is on the D768, right next to the Mane Kerioned Dolmen complex. But then you need to cross the busy road and then walk off down the road that turns off the D768, for about 100 yards. looking for a track going off to the left and a hand written fading sign saying Dolmens. Follow the main track straight to the honesty box covered dolmen.
The evening light was shining through the trees and the bird life was going for it vocally, the burial chamber was oh so good, but, good lord but the kids aren’t half messing about. If we were at Stonehenge they’d have chucked us out, but we’re not, we’re in some woods completely alone, the stones are ours, all ours.
There is enough of it to make it quite an easy matter of recreating the whole edifice in ones imagination. You could remove a few more stones and then you’d have three quite perfect dolmens, the kind they have in Wales and Cornwall. One of the capstones is very large, reminding me of Browne’s dolmen in Ireland, it’s not that big but it does remind me.
Soon the kids have tired them selves out and lain down on the grass, I take my photos and get under the capstones, job done. Lets go and see some more.

Today we have mostly been Karting and to Chateau de la Hunaudaye (A really good castle ruin), with a burial chamber on the way there and back. Then on the way from the race track to the castle I spied a road sign pointing to a menhir. I’ll have a look on the way back I told myself.
So after the obligatory Pancakerie, I turned left and followed signs for Menhir de Guihalon, it wasn’t on the list, but you cant resist a chance encounter can you ?
We pulled into a small car park, parking for at least ten, should be a good stone then I thought. We quietly padded down the path through the woods, trying to be as quiet as possible because not ten minutes ago a big deer ran across the road in front of us and , well, if your quiet and observant you might see another one. I’ll try anything to keep ‘m quiet for ten minutes.
The stone was a big one, a really big one, then, ooh hang on I know this one, ive seen pictures of it somewhere else, Google Earth or the Portal maybe. I count it as a score and start the slow circuit round the mighty menhir whilst Eric sits quietly shushing us twenty yards away in the woods. Philli keeps nattering on to me about some boy band, maybe, but i’m not really listening so she picks a rock, sits on it and watches.
It is, Burl says, five meters tall, he also calls it Tregomar. He also, rather infuriatingly for me, mentions two other very nearby menhirs, two, and two and a half meters high, poot, I’d have looked for them if I’d known.
But really the menhir of Guihalon is enough for the megalith lover all on it’s own, the woods lend a mysterious atmosphere, the other rocks around the menhir make the place feel more like a temple.
The stone is big enough to have several different kinds of lichen and mosses, up one side it’s orange, up another bright green. Oh, and it’s really big, but ive mentioned that already.

Really big.

Visited 29.7.14

Directions:
Near the church in the village of Dunino on the B9131

This is without doubt the best ‘Sacred Well’ type site I have ever visited and was one of the highlights of my fortnight in Scotland. It is a superb place to visit.

We parked next to the church and I walked alone down the path running alongside the church towards the trees. It is a lovely little walk through the trees and you then come out to the promontory where the well is. The hole in the rock is circular (the water didn’t look that clean) and next to it is the foot carving – very similar to the one at Dunadd Fort. Yes, I did try my foot for size and yes it did fit!

From here I walked down the steep, slipper stone steps, cut through the cliff face which leads to the gorge floor and stream. This really is a very quaint set of steps although you do have to take care. As you reach the bottom you walk past the Celtic Knot carved into the rock (on your left). Whoever carved this did a very good job.

When I reached the gorge floor the first thing I noticed was the upside down tree trunk bug into the ground – a mini Seahenge no less! This is clearly still an important place to a lot of people. There were lots of ‘offerings’ all around. Teddies, toys, coins, ribbons, candles and even an old black and white photo of a couple sandwiched between two sheets of tin for protection. Someone’s deceased parents perhaps? Clooties festooned the lower branches of several trees. There was also a small hearth near the upside down tree trunk.

This place simply oozed with atmosphere. The sky was blue and the sun shone brightly down through the trees into the gorge, dappled by the leaves. Everywhere was shady and damp. Deep dark moss hung from rock and tree alike.

I really can’t put into words the sense of tranquillity felt here with only the sound of bird song and the trickle of water for company. Coming here gives an understanding of how the ‘sacred groves’ of old would be so important to the ancients. One thing is for sure, if there were such things as fairies, this is where you would find them.

I can’t recommend this place highly enough, especially on a day like today.
I left with a sense of contentment and a smile on my face.
This is why we travel all over the country to seek out these special places.

Visited 21.7.14

Last time I was here I didn’t have time to park up and walk over to the cairn and had to settle for a view from the road. I was determined to put that right this time.

Karen pulled into the narrow lane opposite (Old Ferry Road) and I quickly crossed the road and headed across the field towards the trees and the cairn. I had to climb over a rusty and rickety barbed wire fence but it wasn’t too difficult.

Luckily the weather had been good and the grass underfoot dry and crispy but in wet weather it would be very bogy.

This really is a great spot for a cairn with expansive sea and mountain views. What was disappointing was the amount of rubbish left on and around the cairn. Not the normal type of rubbish you see – plastic bottles, wrappers etc. but old bits metal, farm machinery etc. There was even the remains of a fire and charred wood in a hollowed out section at the top of the cairn. No doubt a good spot for a BBQ?

I am really glad I got to have a proper visit. Much better than seeing from afar!

Visited 21.7.14

Funnily enough I have driven past this stone several times over the years and although I have noticed it I didn’t realise its prehistoric origin.

It is fairly easy to pull over on the grass verge for a quick look at the stone although the A827 can be busy. The stone is on the left hand side of the road if travelling north into Killin.

The stone is about 1m tall and has a pointy top. It is leaning backwards away from the road.

Worth looking out for when heading to/from Killin.

Failed visit 21.7.14

The trees have been cut down and the area is now a ‘forest’ of dry tree stumps and broken branches.
(Although to be fair sapplings have been planted)

The stile mentioned in earlier fieldnotes is also no longer there – not that I could see anyway.

I walked up and down but was unable to see the cup marked stone. It is surprising how much a dead tree trunk can look like a stone from a distance!

Hopefully you will have better luck when you visit.

Visited 21.7.14

Karen was keen to spend a bit of time in the gift shop – I wasn’t – so I took the children for a walk to this cracking stone circle. Any excuse!

The walk along the road was longer than I remembered and it didn’t take long for Sophie to start to complain. At least it wasn’t pouring down like the last time I visited.

Soon enough we reached the metal gate which gives access to the field where the circle resides (be careful of the electric fence next to the gate).

The crop in the field around the stone had been harvested although the grass in and around the circle was long. In addition to the six standing stones there are several large stones lying prostrate in the middle of the circle. Field clearance perhaps or fallen standing stones?

Oddly enough, although Fingal’s Stone is mention (and has a photo) in the Killin village paths guide I picked up from the library there is no mention of the stone circle. Perhaps because it is on private land? – although there is no problem with access.

This is a great (and easy) stone circle to visit set in a great location. As I have said before, Killin and its waterfalls is a great place to come and whilst there you just HAVE to visit the wonderful stone circle.

Visited 21.7.14

Directions:
Once you have parked in the free car park, walk north along Main Street in Killin. On the left hand side you will see the library. Next to the library is the entrance to Breadalbane Park. From here a sign posted tarmac path leads you directly to the stone – complete with lamp posts for when it gets dark! They have even provided benches for you next to the stone to rest your weary bones!
What more could you ask for?

The stone has been clearly cemented into place and does look a little worse for wear – but at least it is still with us! It is about 1.3m high and the top is covered in green, white and yellow lichen. It also has some moss growing on the top.

There are fantastic views to the North West.

This is am easy site to visit and worth seeking out if visiting Killin.
Clearly access is a lot easier now than when Hamish visited over a decade ago.