Latest Fieldnotes

Just southwest of Westbury, and northwest of Mondaytown (I like that one) this one is quite easy to find, but parking can be rather problematical. Even more so when they were torturing the hedges up and down the road, but I found a spot, took it as my own and nonchalantly walked passed the tractor doing it’s hedge thing and proceeded towards the fort.
Passing a sign on the very gate I wanted that read Private no trespassing, bugger. I wasn’t going to waste time seeking permission, especially if it wouldn’t be given, so I walked out of sight of the tractor, the negative signed gate and the farm and leapt cat like over the fence. I’m in, I whispered to my non real accomplice.

As thesweetcheats link says this fort has been remodeled in the medieval period, in places quite extensively.
The defenses outside the wood are slight at best, still recognisable, but slight. But once in the welcoming shelter of some mature trees the ditches are deep and the banks are high.
Firstly I followed the long impressive ditch south on its northern side, that doesn’t sound right, but you have to remember that the fort is positioned southwest to northeast. Half way along the interior of the fort is the Norman motte on top of which is a short section of curving wall, I like castles and older forts, so it was nice to get two for the price of one, which is free. But it was/is difficult to separate the two. South west of the motte is a maze of high banks and ditches, one ditch seems to have gone right through solid rock.
Beyond the maze further south is what I took to be both the original and medieval entrances, some Norman stonework is visible here too. More ditches here as well, I follow one and it takes me to the gate with the Private sign on it, perfect, I jump it gleefully and walk back to the car trying not to look like I just got away with something, I don’t think I pulled it off entirely successfully.

Six and a half hours going spare, it’s pay day and ive not been to a good hill fort for ages, destination, Shropshire, in between Shrewsbury and Welshpool. I like the place names around here, they really made an effort to be interesting, Halfway house, Mondaytown and Picklescott are some of the best.

From Pontesbury it’s not far but a bit hit and miss trying to get to the small car park that is just north of the first fort on Pontesford hill, (Surely it should be pontesbury), parking is free, room for a dozen.

Hill forts are the easiest of ancient sites to find, you just go up,always go up, you cant go wrong with going up. The first fort is reached in a short time, ten minutes from the car park, no more. The path is easy to follow, watch out for a smaller path going left and up, you’ll need that to get to the higher fort. Twenty yards on and were at the entrance to Pontesford hill fort. It is perhaps predictably facing the entrance to Earls hill fort south of here. The best preserved part of the fort is the entrance, the part facing it’s immediate neighbor. I partake in a woodland stroll around it’s circumference, it’s a nice walk, but there isn’t much left to the fort except the entrance.
Crossing the hill top is a linear earthwork and at it’s northern extreme is a small doughnut shape earthwork, a small barrow perhaps, doubt it but it was quite mysterious. Due to the undergrowth I couldn’t really tell if either of them were in the fort or outside.

From the fortlets entrance I walk back down the track to the now right and up path, it is smaller and in places less well defined than lower down the hill, but still easily followed, even up the steep bits, of which there is much.
The ground levels out and the trees are mostly replaced with conifers, through the tunnel of trees I can see light, I’m nearly there. But underfoot I notice a raised long straight platform, I decide that it is perhaps an ancient causeway leading from one fort to the other.
Out of the trees and over the stile is the first earthwork, a long linear bank that cuts the hill in two, I cross over the line and give it some more up.Thirty yards or so up from the bank line are two big ditches either side of the walk to the forts entrance, one ditch is full of brush but the other is quite open, i’ts like a reverse long barrow.
I carry on up to the entrance high above, after much huffing and puffing I pass into the fort.

There is two parts to the fort, the high inner fort and the lower outer fort, like a digital number eight. I start the walk of the fort starting on the west and go south, the banks and ditches are slight at best here, but get better as you reach the south end of the inner fort, passing into the outer fort I follow its western ramparts south, from here the lower fort looks very impressive, above and in the distance is the Stiperstones and I think Castle Ring must be there somewhere.
I turn past some wary sheep and the now highly eroded southern entrance and start the walk back up the hill on it’s eastern side, far in the distance I can see the distinctive shapes of the Wrekin and Caer Caradoc.
Like the Wrekin, Earls hill fort incorperates some volcanic rock outcrop into it’s defenses, and is almost exactly the same layout as both distant forts inner/outer and higher/lower, interesting.
I now scramble up to the top of the hill for the now obligatory stand on the trig point, you all do that too right, at least when alone. Speaking of which, despite the ten cars in the car park Ive only seen two people, a jogger, and a yappy dog owner.

Right next to the trig point is a strange circular earthwork, a low ditch that encircle the hill top, twenty yards across maybe. If i’m not mistaken there is an identical wotsit on the Wrekin, dare I surmise it to be a drip gully from a round house, please see photo and say yay or nay.
This is a very good hill fort, very photogenic, with superb views containing four or five other forts. It’s on a parr with the Wrekin and Caer Caradoc with whom it shares many similarities.
I start the walk back down the hill, say charaa, and i’m gone.

Visited September 13, 2013

The Strubben Kniphorstbos is an area of woodland extending over some 150 hectares, located between Anloo and Schipborg in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is the only archaeological reserve in the Netherlands. Its double name comes from its native stobbige oak trees and Gerrit Kniphorst, a 19th century owner of the area. In addition to two hunebedden (D7 and D8) the area contains some sixty or so burial mounds, one of which is the Galgenberg (you pass the Galgenberg, on your left hand side, as you walk from D8 towards D7).

The Galgenberg (Gallows Hill), so-named since at least 1332, probably dates from the Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, and stands on a crossing point of ancient routes through the sandy Hondsrug region of Drenthe. Although this burial mound is not particularly high, it was very much a landmark for traffic crossing this level terrain. The single large stone on its crest is one of the very few old mediaeval boundary markers that remains today. Until 1900, when the region was planted with trees, this was an area of open heathland.

During the Middle Ages, a gallows was set up on this burial mound (hence its name) and the bodies of those hanged were displayed as a warning to others.

Situated in a wood just behind Glenkilrie this cairn must have been an impressive sight. It is now covered in ferns and grass but still stands at 24 meters wide and is at least 3 meters high. A dry steen dyke surrounds the base of the cairn. Unfortunately a telegraph pole has been plonked into it as well.

When I visited it was a battle against huge ferns and nettles. A visit in winter time, if roads are open, would give a more accurate picture.

Visited 8/8/2013.

Visited: September 15, 2013

Borger Round Barrow, some 2½ metres in height and between 10 and 12 metres wide, sits in a large grassy field to the north of Borger, on Drouwenerstraat. It’s a pleasant walk: just follow Hoofdstraat through Borger and, at the point where most visitors turn right along Hunebeddenstraat to visit the Hunebed Centre, continue straight ahead along Drouwenerstraat. You’ll see the roundel of mature oak trees surrounding the mound of the barrow long before you get there: it’s about half a kilometre farther on from the last houses of the village. On the day of my visit, the oak trees were laden with acorns, while a carpet of fallen acorns crunched under my feet. Unusually, the main vegetation covering the barrow (other than grass) was a large stand of wild raspberry plants.

The notice at the site states:

“This burial mound is the only one remaining of a row of burial mounds between Borger and Drouwen. The other mounds have been levelled over time. Perhaps the heavy and massive pile of stones applied when the mound was raised was its salvation. Based on this stone packing, the mound can be dated to the Bronze Age, and we between 1800 and 1500 BC. The burial mounds in this area were raised along an ancient, north-south route across the Hondsrug. In prehistoric times it was (apparently) customary to bury the dead atAez ten tangs along roads. These roads were no er than simple etpaths or cart tracks”.

The original mounds in this area were raised along an ancient route extending from north to south. In prehistoric times, it was apparently common practice to bury the dead alongside roads.

Visited 2.8.13

Directions:
Just south of the A849 / B8035 junction. On the left of heading south.
The Cairns are situated on a small rise visible from the road.

We were heading back to the B+B and despite it still being fairly early in the evening, due to the weather; the light was already starting to fail. We pulled over on the side of the by now deserted road and with some trepidation I got out of the car into the pouring rain.

The fence between the road and the ridge is the type which is head height and due to the weather I didn’t fancy trying to climb it. I could see no obvious gate giving access to the field.

The ridge upon which the Cairns reside is quite close to the road and there are several ‘lumps and bumps’ on the ridge which could have been any of the Cairns. Without getting closer it would be impossible to say what was natural and what was man or woman) made. In this weather I would imagine the field would be very bogy.

Canmore states:
‘There are 3 cairns about 750m NE of Rossal, overlooking the tidal flats where the Coladoir River runs into the head of Loch Scridain.
Cairn A – the most northerly cairn of the three measures 4.6m in diameter by 0.3m high and stands on the summit of a rocky ridge. It has been severely robbed but a number of kerb stones are still in situ, the tallest 0.8m high being on the N side. Outside the kerb on the S side there is a single stone 0.7m high which may be one side of a ‘false portal’ setting.
Cairn B – 80m SSW of cairn ‘A’ on the W flank of the same ridge. It measures 5.3m by 4.6m and 0.5m high but only a few kerb stones are visible. At the centre are the remains of a cist measuring 1.2m by 0.9m. The stones protrude only 0.2m above the turf.
Cairn C – 17m SW of ‘B’ measuring about 8.2m in diameter and 1m in height.
No other cairns were noted in the vicinity.’

Foel Fadian is a shapely large hill/small mountain (depending on your point of view) standing point to the NE of the central Pumlumon massif, overlooking the awesome crags of Uwch-y-Coed and the lovely mountain tarn of Glaslyn. As such it is a first class viewpoint, particularly looking toward the great Bronze Age cemetery – not to mention ‘Mother of Rivers’ – that is Pumlumon itself.... and north to the sublime skyline of Snowdonia. To be honest that would be more than enough. With knobs on. However the 1:50K OS Landranger map also shows an ubiquitous ‘tumulus’ sited upon its eastern shoulder...... always a welcome discovery for a TMA Citizen Cairn’d partial to the odd earthen mound, too. Coflein concurs, describing the monument as:

‘a round, ridge top, earthen mound, 22m in diameter and 2.0m high, apparently undisturbed barrow’.

Now my last visit here was some 14 years ago, incidentally coinciding with some absolutely appalling weather, winds gusting in excess of 50mph. Not so this time around, the slumbering mound just about the perfect perch to sprawl and think about ‘stuff’ under a pristine blue sky bearing clouds of a much more benign, serene nature than all those years previously. Yeah, this is a somewhat understated monument, residing these millennia past far from the mountain’s summit, a visit to which is highly recommended for further excellent views. However I feel a brooding presence here.... no need to be flash when you are the real deal.

The site is perhaps best approached from the Vaughan-Thomas memorial on the minor road to the north-east (the gentleman, a former war correspondent, was quite a dude who walked the length of Wales aged 70 – right on! – having earned his walking spurs upon the flanks of Y Mynydd Du as a youngster). This is not a difficult walk considering the terrain, the height gain a lot less than you may expect. However today, coming from a sojourn upon the pair of barrows upon Bryn y Fedwen to the east, I make my way directly to the round barrow from the entrance to the Glaslyn access track.... where it is possible to park a car without blocking the gate.

P.S – OK off topic – however you might also want to take a look at the excellent waterfall of Ffrwd Fawr a little to the east of nearby Dylife..... but careful now. Keep a watch upon any children since the cascade is ‘shy’.... no viewing platform. Again, the real deal.

Visited 2.8.13

My last site of the day.

The rain hadn’t let up all day and by now even I had just about had enough for the day and was looking forward to a warm shower and a change of clothes.

To be honest I didn’t have the enthusiasm to go and ask permission for a close-up look at the stone and instead settled for a view, through the mist, from the top of the drive.

The stone certainly deserves more attention than I gave it – but on a better day!

As we approached the peak of Glyder Fach the low clouds drifted in and we completely lost any distant views, so we concentrated on what was there. The cantilever, the stone that hangs over the edge of other stones, was smaller than I thought it was, but I still clambered round and under and on top of it, I was very nervy, among the giant boulders are deep and nasty crevices. The very very peak of the mountain is only a stones throw away. Massive and pointy boulders make up the summit, perfect for clambering all over, so long as you don’t look down the pits and holes, they are very deep in places. Two or three boulders occupy the very top and they are worn smooth by the tonnes of eager feet that just have to get to the utmost top and all the tired and weary bums, like mine.

Now and then, fleetingly, a large formless shape would half materialise through the low clouds, like it wasn’t really there at all, if no one can see it is it still there? it could only be one thing, Castell y Gwynt, we made off through the pea soup towards it.
Soon the shape in the cloud started to take on a definite form, it became rooted in this reality, and showed itself to be a, well, a natural feature ? Rocky outcrop ? a rock stack ? none of these are enough, but they are all right. From the north east monstrous spires of rock jut mostly straight up, we can see someone standing on top, striking a manly pose and showing us that you can get to the top. But you have to go round the side a bit to find a less dangerous way up, and as you get in among the castell it gets bigger and taller. Alken has to get to the top, i’m only a few meters beneath him but I decide here is enough for me, my legs are shaking so I take a precipitous seat and have a very satisfying smoke.
Far beneath me I can see llyn Cwmffynnon, and I think I can even pin point the location of the stone circle there too, far away to the south west, but close enough for the Hulk to jump to, is Yr Wyddfa, the big one, Snowdon, and it’s nearby neighbours, afternoon sunlight bathes there lower reaches but with their heads in the clouds they remain aloof, for now.
We realise with downplayed concern that time has gotten away from us, so we start the scramble down off the Cathedral of rock, this giants castle in the sky has me very much taken with it. We keep on turning back to take one last look before we yomp our way up to cloud wreathed Glyder Fawr, and it’s from here, south west of the Castell that the full size of it all is revealed, it’s so much more than a castle, it is just huge, almost completely blocking the ridge between Glyders. Its as big as a small town. I couldn’t help feeling that there are no cairns here because this was the abode of the gods, you could come up here and do the things that the ancients do (Vague?) but you couldn’t stay.
This is a very important site in understanding Bronze age Snowdonia.

The summit of Glyder Fawr is less rocky than its twin across the way, but it’s higher and similarly cloud make it devoid of any views. We don’t linger long, instead we bid a very fond farewell to Y Glyderau and head for the path that leads down to the Devils kitchen, but just before we go we are rewarded with the view of the top of Snowdon and friends, from here they look very high and very formidable, more high ridges than you can shake a walking stick at, I will need to work my way up to them.
The path soon veers off to the right, and then plunges off the edge of a cliff and into the lovely Cwm Idwal. The path is a real tour de force, a masterpiece of path making, imagine the stairway at the back door into Mordor, it was impossibly steep at times, often the path is not detectable for more than ten feet, where is it going next ? Punctuated with waterfalls, and with a full on view of Pen Yr Ole Wen and with the ever present, never out of view for long Tryfan, this was an epic footpath, The Devils kitchen, brilliant.

The Path rejoins the Dyke south of Orsedd Wen. The next section of the earthwork is once again particularly fine. Just after it passes through a little wood, a footpath heads off eastwards and will take us to the second Bronze Age treat of the day, which can be seen from the Dyke.

Standing 2m tall, Carreg-y-Big is probably Shropshire’s tallest standing stone, just topping the large pillar at Mitchell’s Fold to the south. The name looks like it should mean “The Big Stone”*. Damn accurate with their names, these Welsh folk (I know, it’s not in Wales). I was mainly aware of this one from Postie’s lovely snow-bound pictures from a year and a bit earlier, but it looks equally impressive in watery Spring sunlight.

I’m particularly taken with the quartz vein running through the stone, being a sucker for a bit of quartz. There is also evidence of packing at the stone’s base. The positioning is slightly obscured from the east due to a hedge, but otherwise the stone would be prominent and just the kind of thing that could be used as a way marker, perhaps pointing the way to nearby Selattyn Hill ring cairn. Cynynion, a further, very similar, stone lies a mile and a half SSW.

Now comes the biggest hill of the day, one I’m looking forward to greatly as it boasts the first prehistoric site we’ve been to since leaving Castell Dinas Bran. It only requires a short diversion off the Path to reach it, through an area of recently felled forestry. Standing at a reasonable 372m, the summit of Selattyn Hill is high enough to command excellent views into Shropshire, as well as of the Berwyns to our west and (I think) the Breiddins to the south. Seeing the former gives me much pleasure, as we sure didn’t see much when we were on them!

The monument here is a ring cairn, sadly much trashed by the plonking of a stupid Victorian tower (now itself ruined) in its centre. However, traces of the stonework that comprised the ring can still be seen protruding through a heather covering. The construction is a wide bank of large blocks of stone, and would have been pretty impressive without the tower. It is best seen on the northern arc, the southern being very overgrown. It’s a great spot though, now that the surrounding forestry has been felled to open up the views, and should be even better once the resulting debris has started to break down. There is another cairn (Orsedd Wen) on the next hill to the west, but we can’t make this out today. It is also noticeable how few footpaths there are on the Welsh side of the border here.

Whatever the post-Roman politics of the Welsh border, Selattyn represents a natural frontier, as the last hill above 1,000 ft before the drop down to the Cheshire/North Shropshire plain to the east. Certainly a worthy place for the twelve urns containing burnt human bone, found here when the tower was built.

At length we head off south, alongside an ancient field boundary composed of huge boulders and an equally large field clearance heap. I find a small sliver of flint on the path, apparently worked (but broken) and certainly not native to this part of Shropshire.

Karen woke up with a back problem so our planned day out had to be put on hold. The weather forecast said it was likely to be the last day of summer sunshine so I was eager not to waste it. I told Karen I would take the children to nearby Dyffryn Gardens (N.T. site) who had an open day so entry was free (it would also allow her to rest with the children not around).

By co-incidence, you have to drive past Tinkinswood to get to Dyffryn – all the excuse I needed to call in to say ‘hello’.

The weather was indeed very good with warm sunshine and white fluffy clouds. We parked up next to the gate and the first thing I spotted was a police notice warning motorists not to leave valuables in the car – clearly they have had some problems here?
I also noticed a sign advertising the fact that next Saturday (21.9.13) between noon and 4.00pm there would be an expert on site who would be giving free guided tours of Tinkinswood – sounds good. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it as I have a children’s birthday party to attend!

We headed across the field and had a good look around. For a change the inside of the burial chamber was dry and free of the near ever present puddle. I sat in the sun and tried to contemplate things while the children were happily playing in and around the chamber. Several people came and went while we were there. It was also nice to see that the ‘information machine’ was back in working order and both children had a go at turning the handle.

As an aside, the machine at nearby St Lytham’s was also in working order when stopped off there on the way home.

On the way back to the car we climbed over the stile and had a look around ‘The
Quarry’. In fact, when I visit Tinkinswood these days I seem to spend as much time at
the quarry as I do at the burial chamber itself. I find the place interesting and imagine
that at one time the whole area was covered in such large stones. No shortage of
building material here – there are still easily enough stones left to make another
burial chamber.
Credit to CADW for making this area accessible to the public –
something that was not possible until recently – not officially anyway!

Tinkinswood and St Lytham’s are without doubt ‘must see’ sites of South East Wales.

Visited 2.8.13

Another standing stone right next to the road to Iona (A849)

You can gain access to the field where the stone stands through a gate.
The stone stands on the brow of a hill and is about 2.5m tall.

I can’t comment on the views due to the mist and rain.
I am sure I would have stayed longer had the weather been kinder!
Still, this is without doubt a good stone to visit when in the area.

Visited 2.8.13

The rain continued to pour. This was easily the wettest day of our holiday. Still, you can’t let a bit of moisture stop you from visiting a site can you?

The wind was so strong it blew me back into the car as I got out – much to everyone’s amusment! The bank up from the road was very slippery and the wooden stile was on its last legs. In fact it gave way under me as I crossed over – again much amusement from the car!

The stone is a good one. It is about 2.5m tall and stood in what was now more of a swamp than a field. I didn’t stay long before hurrying back to the sanctuary of the car.

Well worth a look when you are on your way to Iona along the A849.

This pair are hidden from the road by a thick hedge. Heading west on the Solway Coast road (A710) from Dumfries, pass through the hamlet of Mainsriddle. after the bend in the road there, pull into the first lane on the right. There should be enough space to park there. Enter the field across the road by the field gate, turn right and walk up to the opening in the dyke into the next field, turn left and head down towards the sea. The stones should be visible after a few yards. They are about 100 yards apart. The first is a boulder of only a couple of feet in height and the second is a block about three feet high. Not spectacular but not hard to tick off if on your Galloway list. A couple of fields away on the other side of the road there is another stone – Kells farm – not seen it yet.

I’d been to Carbury Hill before and not visited the barrows. The site is really a barrow cemetery – I counted four, but there may be more under the gorse as the hill drops away to the west.

The main barrow is huge and its ditch hasn’t silted up too badly over the years. Indeed, it’s almost 2 metres deep in places. The diameter is about 30 metres and it has two satellite barrows within another 30 metres of it. There’s also another small mound/barrow about 120 metres to the south with the ubiquitous trig point plonked on it.

From the main barrow, there would be views all around had the gorse not taken hold so vigoursly.

I’d spent an hour looking for this stone about three years back. After that failed visit, Tom Fourwinds stumbled upon it and I’d been meaning to visit for quite a while.

This was our first site visit of the day and we were delighted to see that it had a small black cat/kitten as a sentinel. The basin on this one is huge, maybe a foot across. It’s cemented into the boundary wall, above the small tributary of the Liffey that flows past the front garden in suburban Clane.

The friendly landowner convinced me not to go out to this site and it is completely overgrown. It’s marked as a holy well on the map but as a bullaun stone on the National Monuments Database.

The lady said that there are some Americans interested in the site and that they are going to do some work there in the near future, tidying up the site and freeing up access. I asked could I come back next summer and she said sure.

(I’ve posted this here as the folklore is worth relating)

Two small bullauns in a field that has an old burial ground beside it. There’s a small structure here too that may the site of an old family burial plot. For the second time today we were met by a very friendly and knowledgeable landowner as we were about to take our leave.

He said that he had the whole history of the vicinity and I asked had he family in the burial plot. He said no, that he was a catholic and I said so the site is protestant. He said yes. I explained that I was interested in stuff before all that and that the bullauns were maybe from that era. He said aye, the druids and the pishogues (pisógs in Irish) and that he wouldn’t touch the stones. A lovely man again – we’d still be there had we not made our excuses.

When I first knocked at the door of the house and asked for the bullaun stone of the lady of the house, I was met with curiosity and puzzlement. Then I mentioned the wart stone and she pointed over my shoulder and laughed. Just then, the man of the house came out (they were just finishing their dinner – taken at lunchtime in many houses in rural Ireland) and accompanied me over to the stone. He had lots of tales of the many people who come here from all over Ireland, and the world, for the cure.

He related a story of a neighbour’s boy, a three-year-old that had been to the Mater hospital “up in Dublin” with warts that were covering his hands. The doctors did their best with surgery and medicine but still the warts grew back. Somebody told the parents of the stone and they brought the boy here, washed his hands in the water that collects in it (I asked if he ever puts water in the stone and he said no, the water is only ever what collects naturally) and the warts went, never to come back.

He had other tales of a burial chamber on his land, water divination and the hanging of a priest on the road at the front of his property. He also told me that the structure beside the stone, and the little enclosure that the stone rests on, were built around the stone and that he would never dream of moving it. A very friendly and accommodating man.

If leaving Castle Douglas on the A745 Dalbeatie Road, slow down after passing the last houses and look for a small access road on the left and pull in. this is a field access lane but there is lots of room to park at the start of it without obstructing anything. The stones should be visible across the field ahead. Walk up the lane a fie yards to the gate to the adjacent field. Walk up that one then cross into the stones field at the gate. There is probably closer access from the other side of the field where new houses have been built but this route was easy enough.

We asked for permission to visit the rock at the small cottage on the right hand side of the lane as you head down. We were met with suspicion and hostility and told that no, we couldn’t visit the site. I asked why was that and the old farmer told of how many people had come and damaged the fences and crops around the stone. The field that you would have to cross is too wet to be a tillage field so half of his argument was bull’. I explained that the people who had pissed him off previously maybe didn’t have the same respect or reverence for the site and that me and my four year old daughter would do our best to leave his place exactly as we found it. I pressed him a bit, and felt then and feel now that if I had pushed a little further, he’d have relented, but I wasn’t up for the argument, annoyed at his small-mindedness and suspicion. I’m not in Donegal that often and will probably never come back this way again. Shame.

Visited 2.8.13

On the way back to the B+B after visiting the wonderful island of Iona we stopped off to have a quick look at this impressive standing stone.

The stone is approximately 2.5m tall and is next to Achaban House.

We were all soaked to the bone following our trip to Iona and the rain continued to pour.
We were all cold, wet and hungry and it was still a long drive ahead of us.

Well worth a look if heading over to Iona.

Known elsewhere as Meelaghans, this is actually in Kileenmore townland. When we eventually managed to get to the small copse of trees where the stone is, I was hugely disappointed to find that it was no longer there. First thoughts were that either it had been dug up and carted off (unlikely, but you never know) or that it was buried under the nearby pile of manure.

We moved over to the other copse 100 metres south and found the single bullaun. The basin is set into an earthfast stone about 3 metres long and is quite substantial. I was still flabbergasted by the absence of the other stone and I didn’t give this too much time.

We headed back to the nine-hole stone copse. I just couldn’t believe that it wasn’t there any longer. Rooting around I noticed a curve in the soil that looked like the lip of a bowl. No way – could it be buried? I knew that the stone was about a foot below ground level so I got a stick and started digging and sure enough, a bowl/basin re-emerged. So this is how bullauns get lost – neglected and forgotten about, the bowls fill up with soil and detritus and eventually they get grassed over.

Paulie attacked the digging with vigour, re-finding 3 of the large basins. I just hadn’t the heart, thinking that the landowner doesn’t give a rats and that the stone will get covered over again. I was annoyed and angry and just wanted to get out of there, curious bullocks adding to the tension I felt. I don’t know what to do about this situation – petition for the stone to be brought into state care? Not a very likely proposition at present.

Head for the southern pair of stones visible from the lay-by on the main road. At the corner of the field across the little burn and copse of trees there is a short, gated public pathway between the two fields. At the end of this the two standing stones are down on the right. Enter the field on the left by the gate and the cairn is visible. Head for it and to the left among the weeds lie the two large fallen stones.