It is no longer possible to visit the circle via the A35 and over the little bridge which is gone.
The gate is sealed and a sign directs to access via the Little chef and path- a bit late if you didn’t know! But probably a good thing as it had to be one of them more dangerous routes to a circle.
North of Ratlinghope, is a not even a hamlet called Stitt, there are just two farms, walk east on the road that is prohibited to motorists, pass two lakes, At the big trees ascend gently sloping hill passing the large spread out barrow en route, carry on up the hill, jump one fence and the fort is before you.
I’ve been to many hill forts, but this one was a bit weird, some say that not all forts are forts but rather defensible enclosures, this could be one of them.
I’ve heard it said that it’s a mere cattle enclosure, but if that were true why would it be on the top of a hill, surely it would make more sense to have it lower down, hidden in a low valley or something instead of advertising your big herd on top of the hill. Or was cattle rustling a big thing in the iron age, i’m guessing it might be. Perhaps it is an unfinished fort ?
Anyway, what ever its use, it is there, it is old, and you can go and have a look. The incomplete ring is as i’ve said at the top of a hill, the very big
gap faces south, out over the edge of the steepest ascent up to the enclosure, it isn’t an entrance it’s just a huge wide weird gap. The best possible entrance is on the other side, facing the barrow, north east, but it’s not a very convincing entrance.
On the south side is what looks like a hut circle, or more precisely a double hut square, shepherds quarters ? in fact the more i’ve thought about it the more it cant be a fort, but where did the people live, inside the enclosure with the animals, or elsewhere ? Why show off your animal wealth up there for all to see, or is that point.
Weird place.
No views today, no Stiperstone ridge, no nothing, visibility only goes as far as Cothercott hill and it’s barrow, if time permits a quick look could be in order, and it is, was.
Nicely tucked away from the maddening crowd, and the fort hunter, hidden amid a mass of very minor roads north of Ratlinghope. Head for Stitt, or precisely Stitt farms. In Stitt turn east, uphill, in about 600 meters park near the entrance to a lane that prohibits motor vehicles. Walk down this lane, passing two dark tree shaded lakes. When you get to the big trees follow them up the hill untill you reach the barrow, you have reached your destination.
Cothercott barrow is very visible on it’s hill top north from here, as is the fort south west from here.
The barrow has spread considerably, but is still over a meter high, it has a large footprint, it is a large barrow, but not a big one.
Some kind of horse jumping equipment was around it and on top of it.
This would be a very nice place on a nicer day, but today is cold wet and grey with added cloud.
Seeing as this barrow was just up the road from Castle hill where i’d just been, and my eye had been constantly drawn upwards I drove up the road to see how close the road gets to it, close enough, close enough for me to be unable to resist a slow jog up the hill, a quick amble, or a moderate wander, just to see what was what like.
I didn’t ignore the near by boundary marker type stone, it had a metal plaque on it ” Manor of Cothercott something 1791 ” but I should have.
Pastscape are over stating the barrows height
It’s not two meters high, one, maybe one point five.
Something has been excavating on it’s eastern side, exposing either bedrock or a big stone, it’s red sandstone.
The views were non existent, the low clouds that had troubled this barrowed summit but not covered it, had now covered it, I was getting wet, a quick amble requires no coat, but perhaps a moderate wander should do.
Short grass, bulky sheep, big barrow, rain.
Visited 27th October 2013
This was a site we somehow missed on our last visit, probably as we were already overwhelmed by the plethora of megaliths in Brittany, but today we find it easily, signposted off the D141 just north of the village of Trehorenteuc.
A large sized, but somewhat potholed and muddy, car park gives access to the site. After parking up just make sure you take the path to the west, directly opposite where you park the car, and not the wider dirt track to the south, and a short walk will bring you to the rectangular stone setting of the Jardin Aux Moines, the ‘Monks Garden’. According to the information sign this would once have been a burial mound, it is 27m long and consists of 26 stones on the south side, and 27 on the north, with a separate compartment formed at the east end of the setting. Briard’s excavations in the 1980’s suggested the moument may have been a multi-stage one, the eastern compartment being the earliest, before the western rectangle was later added.
Interestingly the stones alternate between white quartz and red schist, the contrast really noticeable in the low morning sunlight. Burl also states that the1983 excavations uncovered a pile of red and white stones covering the remains of two late Neolithic pots, so the ancient builders obviously placed great significance in this variation of colours.
Like so many Breton sites it is surrounded by pleasant woodland, and we have the place to ourselves. It’s a nicely restored and cared for site, an enigmatic place, and among the myths and legends of ancient Broceliande well worth seeking out, after all it’s easier to find than the grail.
Visited 26th October 2013
Just before you reach the village of Tresse, this allee couverte is signposted from the road, leading you to a woodland parking spot.
The area is busy with people walking in the woods, most with baskets full of mushrooms foraged from the forest, and we follow the well-trodden path a short way through the lovely mature trees to the monument.
The Maison des Fees really is in an idyllic setting, the woods in full autumn splendour, and as leaves fall in a gentle cascade around us with each breath of wind, the sylvan quality of the setting really does make you think we could be in the presence of the fey. The monument itself as well isn’t half bad, a long passage grave, once covered by a mound, now left exposed like the petrified skeleton of some great beast. Sprouting near the entrance is a strange bolete, a miniature fairy toadstool, and the folklore of the place still seems redolent in the air.
At once I scamper down the passage, low enough that I have to hunch over, and inspect the interior for carvings, of which I’ve heard the site has some good examples. I draw a blank before Ellen calls me from the outside of the monument, where she has found the carvings on the slabs at the back of the monument. There we observe the famous ‘breast’ carvings (a very French interpretation I’m sure!) which are like cup marks in reverse, four stand out clearly, with the remains of a further four visible on a separate slab, though now slightly diminished, as apparently they were smashed off in 1961.
The site reminds me a Dutch hunebedd, looking similar in layout with somewhat rounded stones resting on low orthostats. Nearby a subtly positioned multi-lingual information board is attached to a rock, and another nearby rock sports a somewhat whimsical picture of a fairy, and is also the best place to get a photo of the whole length of the allee couverte.
The Maison des Fees is a beautiful and magical place to be, especially at this time of year, and we spend some time here as people come and go, and even take the example of the French by foraging some sweet chestnuts, dropped by one of the sheltering trees, to take home and roast in the log burning stove.
Visited 26th October 2013
We had a rough crossing on the overnight ferry to St. Malo, so landing in Brittany in a somewhat sleep deprived state, only the excitement of finally being back was keeping us going. So in need of a burst of energy we head off for the second tallest standing stone in Brittany, near the town of Dol de Bretagne, only about 15 miles away from the port.
Dol de Bretagne boasts an impressive cathedral and a maze like road system, so we headed south through the town and hoped for the best before fortunately finding a handy signpost. Soon our first Breton menhir of the trip hove into view, the top half of it standing proud above a field of yellowing corn, and for an anxious few seconds I feared the stone might be surrounded by crops. I needn’t have worried, a nicely manicured area, complete with picnic tables and parking spot gives easy access to the stone, and although surrounded on three sides by corn fields the crops were kept a respectful distance away from the stone, and what a stone it is! Standing a mind boggling 32’ tall, as you stand at the bottom of it and the stone towers above you it amazes how anyone could have erected this without the use of modern machines. Shaped and worked into a tapering top, as Postie says, it’s like some megalithic rocket ship ready for take-off, this really is a superlative menhir.
The stone is smooth to the touch, I hug its huge girth, and I feel revitalised instantly. A nice smoothed boulder rests at the foot of the menhir, and provides a surprisingly comfortable spot to sit on to write some fieldnotes. A nearby information board relates the legends associated with the stone, and although only in French, is illustrated with cartoony pictures depicting the tales, so even with my shaky grasp of the language I’m able to catch the gist.
Probably the best standing stone I’ve ever seen, and an amazing way to start off the holiday in Brittany.
In the Holmswood housing estate in Cabinteely, the standing stone was moved to its present location during building works in 1993. There had been doubts as to whether it was of prehistoric provenance, but upon excavation “... directly in front of the standing stone, on the hillslope side, two small fragments of cremated human bone [were found]. There were no other finds or features but the stone is certainly prehistoric.”
Now about 150 metres away from its original location, the stone has been set in concrete and surrounded by inward-facing, wooden pallisades, in a cobbled ‘courtyard’. Quite considerable thought and expense were put into this by the developer and I have to say that it’s really rather nice.
I had seen this on archaeology.ie and it was on my list. I had a fare to here the other night and spied it as I was dropping her. I asked her whether she knew if it was ancient or not and she shrugged no, but said that she and her friends had played on the pallisades when they were kids. Worth a look if you are visiting Glendruid nearby.
Just south of Little Stretton turn west onto the B4370, then north west off that road towards Hamperley. Blink and you’ll miss it, but miss it we must, head for Priors Holt, it’s a dead end road. Pass the house on your right and you have reached your destination. Park and exit the vehicle.
There is now a gate blocking access to the road into the forest. There’s hinges and catches and stuff so entry was only momentarily impeded, we follow the track for a couple of minutes following the little stream that is called Nut Batch.
But now comes the rough and tumble, veer off left at your earliest convenience and climb the steep wooded slope. Coming out of the trees follow the tree line up hill, then strike out perpendicularly onto the open grassy hillside, let the mist envelope you, let the rain be a beautiful thing, put your hood up, head down and try to walk in a straight line going north west.
Presently my seemingly random stroll across a blind hillside brings me to a fence with conifers beyond, now turn left (south west), and follow.
Whisper sweet nothings to the cows that watch me go by, whilst dodging number two’s almost all the time. The fence now turns a corner, it goes right, at ninety degrees, with a footpath sign, and round the corner a short grassy bump, honey i’m home.
I was really quite surprised I got to it so incident free, it’s not far back to the car to be sure, but still, picking a line at random and it takes you straight to where your going is the kind of common place coincidence that you get used to.
Thesweetcheats misc note describes it well enough, 4 meters across, nearly half a meter high, a half buried donut.
There are about twenty points on the donut where stone pokes through, ten in one place, does that make it a ring cairn, distinctions escape me, i’m still too amazed that anything from so long ago still survives in fields, on mountains, and on street corners.
I’d love to be able to tell you about the lovely views, the long vistas and which sties can be seen in which direction , but the mist was all encompassing, my universe was about a hundred yards across, cows positioned on the far southern edge, and for now, centrally, a ring cairn and me, it’s a nice ring cairn, grassy.
En route back towards the cows I came across a large irregularly shaped stone, spattered with mud and such, I stood on it and took a photo back over to the nearly invisible ring cairn, I started to think about the stone, then stopped and walked in an unswervingly straight line back down through the trees to the car.
Then when I got home and looked at the 1:25,000 and noted that a small circle was in the stones position, realisation came slowly, then hard, blow me that must be the Botley stone. Bummer. Someone’ll have to go back and photograph it now, cause I did’nt
I don’t know what I expected to find here today, but you always live in hope at this game. Well, there ain’t no cist here no more, and even though it may seem like a wasted journey, it wasn’t entirely: I got to see (or rather stop and see as I’ve ‘seen’ it many times) Edward Lovett Pearce’s monstrous 1727 obelisk. I wondered if the stones of the cist ended up in the structure of a renovated base, but no, the crude base is part of the original (see archiseek.com/2012/1727-obelisk-newtown-park-stillorgan-co-dublin/#.UnGUHI3eoy4 for a contemporary painting).
There is an excavation report that I’d like to get my hands on, when I can stump up the 50 blips (see miscellaneous below).
Once again I’m sorry to say that i’m guessing at this barrows name.
We parked off road opposite Pilsbury lodge, there is no footpath up to the barrow but then again there is no wall, hedge or fence barring the way, a straight walk from car to barrow takes less than ten minutes.
Quite a good barrow this one, maybe about a meter high with perhaps one or two kerb stones still in place.
It bears no excavation scars, but is quite lumpy bumpy and disheveled.
It was the end of the day and the sun was beginning to go down, bathing us in a warming sunny glow. Extensive views are all around us but the best one by far is to the north west, High Wheeldon takes on it’s southern pyramid shape, and nearby are Parkhouse, Chrome and Hitter hill’s.
A very nice place, one more trip round here and i’m done for now.
Best approached from the north, in between two farms a footpath leads most of the way to this fairly decent barrow. The hill has walls separating the barrow from the road, but there are stiles, at no point did we feel like trespassers, five minutes from car to bump.
This is by far the best barrow we saw today, then again the one before this turned out to be Anglo Saxon and the one before that cows barred our way, and the one before that was very low. As if to signal our success a partial rainbow sprung out of the ground to our south, pretty.
The barrow is maybe a meter high and has two depressions dug into it, a walkers cairn has been constructed on it’s oh so lofty summit.
It even has what looks like kerbing in places around the cairn, and almost inevitably, for the area, it has a good view of High Wheeldon. It was very windy and beginning to rain again so we scarpered back down the hill to go take in one more barrow before we must go home.
Twi Ness rather than meaning twin-ness is said to be tongue-ness as there is no double headland, but the name Point of Dishan can only go as far back as The Douche so could well have been the other half of a Twi Ness (Doocot Point is shown seperately). The mound sits above the rocky headland. I wonder if the large stones in the cliff face part of a stoney outcrop on which the mound is placed or placed stone ? Because the upright slab being radial sounds like it might be more a divider than an encloser – wheelhouse maybe
There is no footpath to this tumulus, the most direct route to it is from the main road opposite the entrance to Hindlow quarry.
Though if you were to see either of the three pictures ive supplied you’ll probably rather go see one of the other nearby cairns or barrows. Despite it’s name, The Great Low, it is anything but great, it is barely a foot high, who named it ? did they actually come here ?, because i’m at a loss to explain why it is so named, surely something like Underwhelmed Low would be more suitable, or maybe low low.
It’s one redeeming feature is the view north-ish off towards Nether low, Chelmorton and its pair of lows and further off still Five Wells burial chamber.
It’s also a good place to sit and grumble about the quarry across the road, eye sore at best, violently raped mother at worst.
The rock art is a new find from a couple of weeks ago The stone setting , possibly remains of a hut circle or ring cairn , would have been noted by whoever cleared the heather from either side of the new track allowing access to the new Denny -Beauly super pylons . A good practice not always followed elsewhere .
Visited 16 October 2013.
We take the Thurso-John o’Groats bus as far as Brough (pronounced to rhyme with “loch”), then it’s a simple road walk of three miles to Easter Head, the most northerly part of Dunnet Head. I had completely underestimated the distance from the map (doh), so it becomes a bit of a rush to get up here. The quiet road climbs steadily, winding its way past a selection of heather-imprisoned lochs, bright mirrors in a dark and impenetrable setting.
The highest point of the headland, where the cairn is, is visible the whole way, but doesn’t seem to get any closer for quite a long while. Eventually we round the corner and the lighthouse suddenly comes into sight. A car-parking area is available, which attracts several blink-and-they’re-gone other visitors during the time we’re here.
The cairn itself has sadly disappeared under a circular seating/toposcope thing, but this place is well worth the effort of the visit on a clear day for the views of the Orkney Islands across the Pentland Firth, almost close enough to touch. As the helpful, albeit cairn-destroying, panels inform us, we can see Hoy, Scapa Flow (which brings schoolboy memories of the sinking of the Royal Oak by Gunter Prien’s U-47), as well as the cliff fort of Holburn Head, Ben Loyal, Cape Wrath to the west and Duncansby Head to the east, amongst other things.
We have about three quarters of an hour before the repeat journey back to catch the bus, during which time the wind whips up a frenzy, even on this mild and sunny afternoon. The headland is dotted with abandoned concrete buildings of a military-looking type, casting an air of post-apocalyptic decay onto the scene. I’m sure the weather was all lovely and tropical in the Bronze Age when the cairn was built, but this feels as close to the ends of the Earth as anywhere right now. Perhaps they felt that too, some days. Until we make it across to the Orkneys one day, this is as far north as we get.
For all the howling wind, I find it a wrench to leave here.
27/10/2013 – Standing on top of Hill of Barra, looking out over the impressive ramparts to Bennachie and its own hillfort on Mither Tap, I gave myself a telling off for not coming here sooner. Really nice walls surrounding large summit area. The views all round are fantastic. The view down the corridor between Bennachie and Hill of Foudland to Dunnideer and Tap O’ Noth being particularly good. Started from Oldmeldrum and walked over Hill of Barra to Kirkton of Bourtie stone circle and back. Signposts all the way. Great stuff.
After the surprisingly wonderful ruined circle at Rempstone I have to say that I was slightly under-whelmed by Kingston Russell, not a feeling that I’m used to when encountering prehistoric sites. Did Burl have the same feeling too? Maybe that’s why it doesn’t appear in his book. It just didn’t seem to have the oomph factor and the views from this setting are kind of so-so rather than wow! (as at Hampton). I think possibly the flatness of it all as well, the anticipation built up by the spotting of two very large stones in the hedgerow (one next to the farm entrance where you can just about park and the other about half way between there and the circle) and the lack of a dramatic sky to set it off probably didn’t help either. The only thing that I thought might redeem it would be to go there at night with a clear sky, some time in the near future, and try some very long exposures. That should do it.
Visited: May 3, 2011
Hunebed D16 Balloo is fairly complete, with nine capstones resting on 19 sidestones. There is also a complete entrance portal comprising two sidestones and a capstone, as well as a few of the original kerbstones. When Albert van Giffen made his inventory of D16 in 1918, the dolmen was in very poor condition, all nine of the capstones having slid down into the grave.
In the 1978 restoration, these were all put back in place but, over the years that followed, first one, then a second fell off again. At the beginning of December 1999, both these capstones were reinstated and secured with steel pins. In late June 2000, another capstone was dislodged from its supporting sidestones, apparently, deliberately by force, and all three of these stones now have large splinters broken from them. The damage was made good later that year.
An interesting feature of D16 Balloo is that capstone No 6 has a set of six cupmarks on its upper surface. D16 is the only Dutch hunebed on which such cupmarks are found.
You can reach the road that takes you to D16 in 10 minutes by taking either Bus 21 or Bus 24 from Assen station to Rolde, and alighting a little before the village of Rolde—at bus-stop Weg naar Balloo (blue marker on map). From here, follow Tumuliboslaan northwards through an avenue of trees for 200 metres and branch left on to a sandy track called Weg voor de Strengen. After 150 metres take the path to the right through Kampsheide, staying on the same track for just over half a kilometre, where you will find the hunebed among scattered trees at the edge of the field to your right (Total walking distance is 1.5 kilometres. Takes 25 minutes).
You can view a short YouTube video about D16 Balloo, which includes a sequence showing the cupmarks.
The easiest way up the mostly steep sided High Wheeldon hill is from the south east, we came at it from the opposite direction though, from by the rock climbing quarry of Aldery cliff. The foot path doesn’t go up to the top, it skirts round the hill on it’s north side, so a slippy scramble and stumble up the 20 degree slope is required. Luckily we had the dogs with us to pull us up, if only they went where we wanted them to go.
The cave is up near the top, but its closed off with a metal gate and another blockage has been constructed further inside. There is a sign explaining why the gate is there and a phone number to ring if you want access 01335 350503, I’m very sure access will be readily given to anyone wishing to get dirty.
The view from the top is sweeeet and trig pointed to 422 meters, far away south I could see Minninglow, not far east is Cronkston Low, west is Hitter hill and beyond that the old coral reef hills of Parkhouse and Chrome, and just a bit further still Hollins hill.
This area of the Peak district is very under visited despite it’s obvious beauty, it was also obviously a special place for our bronze age brethren, as there is much for the TMA’er to get his/her teeth into. I’ve been round here at least five times and there is still stuff to see.
Best approached from the Leek to Buxton road the A53, heading east on the small lane turn right at the Buxton raceway. Then turn right again at the cattle grid and park at the next cattle grid. The cairn is over the fence and fifty yards distant.
There is loads of exposed Limestone outcrops between the road and the cairn but when it runs out and the grassy hill top takes over this is where the cairn is.
It is only a foot or two high, but still quite large in circumference, some stones are visible, some may even be kerb stones but I doubt it.
The best thing about this cairn, as with most hill top cairns, is the view, the surroundings. Hollins hill with it’s highly visible hill top cairn is immediately south, north is High edge with a cairn on top, but I couldn’t find it, unless it was built upon by one of the weird door-less bunkers that are round here.
South east is Tor rock and beyond that the wonderful Chrome hill, Hatch-a-way cairn, Dowel and Etches caves and High Wheeldon are all hidden from view by another nameless hill.
A very beautiful part of the Peak district and highly under visited.
Highlight of the day (and we still took in the magnificent Dowth henge) and a wonderful surprise, I don’t know how to classify this. There’s an ancient pond and this has been enclosed by a bank, well over 2 metres high in places, like you might see in classic henge construction.
I pondered (excuse the pun) the purpose for quite a while, thinking of ritual drownings (recent reading about iron-age and neolithic sacrifices encouraging my more morbid imaginings) or some sort of neolithic baptism or ritual bathing, with punters lining the sides of the enclosure in awe and reverence. I mean, why else enclose the place?
There’s a ditch very visible on the outside to the east. The bank is at its highest on the western arc. There’s an entrance to the north where the stream that feeds the pond cuts through the bank and there are signs of another entrance on the eastern side. I’d like to go back here in say January, when all the growth will have died away and the construction would be more visible. A real treat this.
On the eastern side of the road of the site of the Battle of the Boyne, not 300 metres above the river, are 2 standing stones and a double chambered souterrain. The easier accessible stone is little more than a scratching post, a metre tall and square in profile. The other stone is is the adjoining field to the south.
The souterrain has now been filled in, with just some corbelling and a capstone visible in one of the chambers.
I was browsing the National Monuments Database at webgis.archaeology.ie/NationalMonuments/FlexViewer/ recently and zoomed in on Burren in north-west Cavan. There looked to be a lot more sites marked there than when I’d last visited. In fact, there are 16 separate entries for rock art alone, each with a description. Someone has been busy!
I’ve a friend living in Cavan town, so a two birds with one stone murder seemed like a plan. It’s still a fair old hike to Burren from his nest though, almost the full length of the county, but it is beautiful country. Cuilcagh mountain needs to be circumvented, south on fairly uneven roads, or north, through Fermanagh and back into Cavan at Blacklion. We took the southern route.
The source of the Shannon, the Shannon Pot, is nearby but we kept going as we were late and I wanted to see as much as I could. The Burren archaeological trail is still under construction and there is work ongoing in the forest, including the felling of trees. The first signed site is the portal tomb in the trees on the right.
Next is a piece of rock art – this I hadn’t seen before on my two previous trips. It’s a split boulder with faint cupmarks, some which seem to be in a rosette formation.
From there we moved on to the signed “Unclassified megalithic tomb”. One large capstone-like flag has collapsed over a supposed chamber. Three very worked, almost squares profiled stones lie around it, two in a position that could lead you to believe that this is a simple wedge tomb of the Burren, Co. Clare type.
Further on up the track we came to the Calf House portal tomb. The capstone of this has to be in the top ten of Irish dolmen capstones. Its huge weight has caused the structure to partially collapse and the whole thing is kept semi-erect by modern walling. Both portal stones are now free-standing and impressive megaliths in themselves.
Moving swiftly on we headed over to the Giant’s Leap wedge tomb, east of the portal, down a small gully and up the other side to a flat-topped ridge. This is the show tomb in Burren, and that’s saying something given what else is on offer. As part of the ongoing works, the trees that enclosed this have mostly been felled and the views opened up. Lough Macnean can be spied to the north. The wedge tomb itself can be seen for a good distance from the west. This has to be one of the best examples of this class of tomb in Ireland, still having much of its structure and all of its roofstones. The nearest comparison I can give is with Moylisha in Wicklow.
With very little time and daylight left we headed back over the valley to the boulder burial and its attendant rock art. There are at least 5 marked stones here, two of which I found and photographed. One is a double, conjoined cup and ring motif, the other a simple cup and ring mark.
There’s much more about to be discovered but alas we hadn’t the time. You could pass a very busy full day here in Burren, Co. Cavan and probably still not have completed all there is to see. A great place and highly recommended.
Another enigmatic suburban Dublin mound, this time in salubrious Foxrock. It’s in an estate just to the left off Westminster Road as you come in from the N11. The developers bypassed the mound and wheeled their road around the back (south) side of the monument when they built the estate.
Like the tumulus in Coolock this is tree covered. However, unlike Coolock, access is simple as it sits on the edge of a public green space in the Cairn Hill estate. It’s oval shaped (longer axis being east-west, about 20 metres long), about 2 metres high and reminds me of a barrow. It seems much higher on the south side, but this is because of the previous mentioned road construction.
I visited on a work day in the lashings of rain and took the accompanying shots with my iphone. I’d thought of coming here for quite a while but had procrastinated, thinking if there was anything here, access would be impossible. Not so.
