Latest Fieldnotes

25/09/2012 – We were going to park west of Men-An-Tol but found ourselves in the middle of a hunt. Dogs, big horses and people wearing a lot of red. All a bit odd but each to their own, I suppose. Instead we drove north to park at Carn Galver. A shortish climb found us at the top of Watch Croft. What a place for a cairn. Amazing 360 view and for the first time I felt a long way from home. We stood on the nearby summit rock and watched the rain pass through creating a rainbow above the cairn. Magical. Carried on to Men-An-Tol and the Nine Maidens. A great walk in a great area.

On my way to Twigworth in Gloucestershire to pick up an exhibition I decided that I probably just had time to make a flying visit to Belas Knap, a place that had stuck in my mind since a childhood visit many, many years ago. This really seemed to be quite a remote and difficult site to find, but eventually it found me and I scrambled the fifteen minute walk to the top of the hill. I had the place all to myself for some time and it all came back to me in the serenity, tidiness and beauty of this enigmatic barrow.

After wondering about for around twenty minutes I realised that someone else had arrived there and we exchanged nods. A few minutes later he stopped and asked me if I could take his picture next to the barrow using his iPhone and we fell into conversation. It transpired that he was from Tasmania visiting family and had lived nearby as a boy and had emigrated at the age of 12. He said that he’d forgotten just how much this place had meant to him and how these ancient places got under your skin. “We don’t have these same layers of history as you guys do back here and I really miss it”. That was about the age that I’d been on my last visit there also and though I’ve never lived outside the UK I think I understood what he meant.

24/09/2012 – After visiting the north side of Bodmin Moor in the morning I probably should have had a lie down in a darkened room but instead we chanced me passing out with excitement by going to the Hurlers on the south side. Had intended to just go to the circles and then on to Stowe’s Hill to look at the Cheesewring (both amazing) but we just kept walking north to Longstone Downs. Three nice cairns sit on top. If you visit and have time, carry on to Kilmar Tor. The top is as good as it gets. Walked back along the dismantled tramway east of Stowe’s Hill.

24/09/2012 – Started from Rough Tor car park on a walk in one of the best places I’ve been for a while. Bodmin Moor is wonderful. We made our way via the fantastic Showery Tor and it’s cairn to Brown Willy. Great summit cairn but the one just south of the top was my favourite. Looped back over Rough Tor with it’s brilliant stones and horses grazing just below. I’m not that good with words and I just can’t think of enough of them to describe how much I liked this place. A must visit.

Visited 30.9.12

For directions see Blaen Clydach Fach Cairns.
From the cairns keep heading north until you come to a sort of cross roads with a small army base on the left. The enclosure is approx 1km along the track which runs alongside the army buildings.

The warning signs I had read were still on my mind and when I saw the army buildings I started to think this may not be a good idea. Another red flag was flying.
This was confirmed when I spotted the big red warning sign at the start of the track which said something along the lines of ‘No access – Authorised personnel only’.

I guess I could have taken a chance and asked at the building but as it was a long walk and the weather was awful I decided against it and headed onto my last site of the day which was only a little further north – Garn Wen round cairn.

COFLEIN states:
An Iron Age defended enclosure with an internal platform 35x x 13m separated from the encircling ramparts by a probable quarry-ditch. The rampart does not continue about the east end where the ground tails away to a natural spur and where the entrance is thought to be located’.

Visited 30.9.12

Directions:
Take the A40 west out of Brecon until you reach Llwel.
Then take the (military?) road north signposted Tirabad.
The cairns are on the left next to a parking / viewing spot.

*** NOTE – it appears this road is not always open to the public – depending on any military activity taking place.

Looking at the map I just assumed this was an ‘ordinary’ minor road wending it’s way through the Brecon Beacons. Upon arriving at Llwel we were confronted with a large ‘military type’ sign stating that the road is not always open to the public. A barrier was next to the road and a sign warned against the public opening the barrier if it was closed. The signs also went on to say that if the road is open all signs must be followed and that stopping on the road was strictly forbidden! Not a good start!

What also didn’t help was the fact the weather was foul. The wind was near gale force and the rain horizontal. To add to the mix the mountain mist had come down and visibility was at a premium. Despite the warning signs (and the weather) in true TMA style we (I) decided to press on regardless.

Despite the warning signs I thought it reasonable to park at the viewing area as there is a parking area, bench and one of those bronze panoramas showing what to look out for. However, it was not the view to the east that I was interested in (besides which you couldn’t actually see anything due to the mist) but the two Cairns to the west.

Next to the parking area is a metal field gate. I decided to ignore the ‘Do not enter – live firing range’ type sign and hop over the gate to look for the Cairn. Perhaps this is not the most sensible thing to do (particularly as a red flag was flying) but as the field was full of sheep and I couldn’t actually here any firing going on I thought I would be safe for a few minutes!

The sheep were doing a fine job keeping the grass down and the Cairn was easy enough to find – despite the weather! Not a lot to see – a low mound with stones sticking through the grass on its eastern side. I didn’t hang around long and quickly squelched my way back to the car.

COFLEIN states:
‘A partially disturbed cairn, 12m in diameter and 0.6m high’ (Cairn 1)

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A little to the north is Blaen Clydach Fach – Cairn 2.

This is in the next field where there are no sheep and as a result there is a lot of ‘spiky grass’ in evidence. This (and the weather which was by now getting worse) made finding the Cairn tricky. There were a couple of possibilities but I am not sure if I actually found it – not that there is much to see.

COFLEIN states:
‘A wrecked and robbed cairn, once 17m in diameter, now irregular and 0.5m high at most’.

22/09/2012 – Parked at Meldon reservoir on a great weather day. Very little cloud, big blue sky. Headed south via Black Tor to the cairn at Fordsland Ledge. Really fine walking and the cairn is very nice with great views. Continued on to High Willhays and the cairns on Yes Tor. Great loop on the edge on Dartmoor. I hope to go back one day.

21/09/2012 – We drove the short distance after climbing Glastonbury Tor in the morning to visit Wills Neck. It was a nice surprise to come across this 2 1/2 foot standing stone in the car park. Believed to be bronze age, it stands on an ancient trackway that runs along the ridge. Tradition has it that if you sit upon it, the stone will grant you a wish.

Fortunately the weather was very clear yesterday , otherwise this unrecorded marked rock may have gone unnoticed . The cups are very small ( not far from here small cups found at themodernantiquarian.com/site/1274/east_tempar.html ) and there are at least four connecting cups or dumbbells as well as the arrow shaped groove (see close up ) .Hill in the background is Schiehallion .

Once you’ve crossed the field and are on the moor itself the stone wall dog-legs to the left and this is where the rock is – in a direct line with Carr Farm and the radio mast.
It really is a beautiful carving.

Near the track on the right leading to Carr Farm there is a gate and the large panel is in this field, about 15 yards away.
The carving is very clearly defined – a perfect example of cup and ring – so much so that it may have been protected by vegetation till relatively recently.
About 500 yards further to the west over the wall and on the moor itself is the exquisite Tree of Life – definitely worth a visit.

A recent excavation at Waulkmill produced quite a variety of finds from Neolithic to Iron Age .
Pics are of ,a ring cairn probably central to the original stone circle . Bronze Age decorated pottery (in finds tray ) .There was also a sherd of Neolithic carinated bowl . Cremated bone just outside the area of the stone circle . The reason for the standing stone pic ,from the same spot as Drewbhoys is that this one shows some of the packing i.e. a tyre . The stone had been moved from it’s previous site , which was unlikely to have the original site either .

Site re-visit date: 20th Sept 2012.

Whilst I was making a quick return to Zennor Quoit I also dropped in to Carn Euny again to see the fogou. It was whilst coming out of the rear entrance to the fogou that Indy, my other dog and son of Chief, stood on a slightly rocking flat stone to the side of the path. Feeling I should lift it, I did, and was surprised to find it covered a natural water supply about a metre down. Thinking no more about it other than, ‘Oh they were okay for water then’ I just carried on. On leaving, I took the longer path back to the car park and got a real surprise as I left the site, as on the right-hand side immediately adjacent to the site boundary, was a HUGE stone and beneath it a well...a Holy Well along with the traditional blackthorn adorned with ribbons and the usual trinkets and coins pressed into its bark and other orifices. It was a lovely thing to see I must admit and obviously at the same water table level as the ‘well’ at the ‘rear’ entrance to the fogou, which although only a small opening (may have been narrowed because of the path) showed an ‘emergency’ water supply for the fogou users possibly?
I took a few pix as growing out of the top of the huge ‘capstone’ was a tree would you believe with its roots travelling down the stone and into the ground! Here they are:-

picasaweb.google.com/100525707086862773355/HolyWell?authkey=Gv1sRgCI688ZD2lsSj9QE#

Site visit: 20th September 2012.

I made this flying visit back to Zennor for two reasons. Firstly, I wanted to see it and the surrounding landscape without a blanket of fog surrounding it, and secondly, I had read of the Borlase account of the farmer being paid 5 shillings to stop breaking up the stones to use as a cow shed or field shelter, so thought I would check this out.
I wasn’t to be disappointed on both accounts. On a clear day this time the landscape was, as one would expect in a moorland setting, remote, haunting but with a feeling of peace in the air. After yet another look around the quoit but this time taking full measurements, orientations etc I had a very close look at the right-hand side front facade stone. Narrower in width to its partner on the left it is also, today, short in height compared to it. The reason, because this is one of the stones to be desecrated by the said farmer. As the photos show, a close look at the top of this stone shows the drill holes made either side of this facade stone where the steel wedges were inserted to split the stone and coincidentally, in the background, the very stones that were split off as if cocking a snoop at us set amongst others!
As the holes are randomly drilled it will be an easy task to seek out the two? sections of stone removed off the top of the facade stone by measuring the gaps between the semi-circular drill holes on both the facade stone and the ones used as uprights to the shelter. This I will do on my next visit after I have made a ‘sliding template’ to make life easier for myself.

picasaweb.google.com/100525707086862773355/ZENNOR?authkey=Gv1sRgCNWevuuX_rjRHg#5792007563200663426

I found this barrow powerful. Although it has been very badly damaged by the MOD track which cuts across it, the site had a welcoming feeling, female and homely. I got a feeling of a community gathering, meeting up here for ritual celebration. Maybe the celebration or ritual occurred in the middle of the hill, between the two barrows.

As in the other barrow, the Iron-Age Earthwork cuts into the barrow with no reverence to the ancestral territory claimed by the barrows position.

This barrow, although the larger of the two barrows, didn’t seem to have the energy of the smaller one. The rutted track made by the MOD traffic runs between the barrow and the Iron-Age Earthwork. This track has cut into the edge of the barrow but apart from this, the barrow is well defined. Records indicate that “a recent hollow in the centre of the mound” is noted in 1926, although no record exists of the contents. The “army triangulation point, concreted into the top” noted in 1972 has also been removed.

For parking, see Fieldnotes for Southly Bridge Barrows

I walked up the bridleway with my bike after visiting the Southly Bridge Barrows. I got the area where the earthworks have been cut in two and left the bike in a wooded area at the bottom of the hill. Although a footpath runs along the base of the hill, I climbed up the rutted track made by the MOD along the spine of the hill. This track has really damaged the barrows and looks like it was made by tanks or heavy duty trucks.

In the Bronze-Age mindset, the hill would had made a natural sacred place when viewed from Sodbury Hill. Two natural hillocks, one at either end of the level hilltop, have both been crafted into burial mounds for the elite. One for a king and the other for a queen maybe? or perhaps a father and son. The Barrow built upon Pickpit Hill would have made up the sacred three hills found throughout the ancient landscape.

The Iron-Age Earthwork raises some questions with relation to these barrows. The Earthwork does not encompass the barrows, but is built right up to them. If the earthwork was defensive and formed a palisade of stakes, they did not claim the ancestors. Were the builders of the defensives taking over from the original Bronze-Age descendants?

The area may had become part of the Royal park at Ludgershall in the reign of Henry III. Leland records that it surrounded Ludgershall Castle (SU 25 SE 3); in 1583 it was two miles in circuit.

Visited late July 2012

This group of barrows are not much to look at now but would had been positioned next to a downland paradise when first constructed in the Bronze age. Below the barrows runs the River Bourne and this section contains many natural fissures where underground water rises to the surface. It would have been a place of great enchantment to ancient man, as well as being a hunting, fishing and food gathering supermarket. Today’s extraction pumping has destroyed the natural habitat, along with a lot of the aquatic wildlife.

Park by the war memorial on the A338 lay-by, and cross the road using the byway (SU 23287 50957). The bridge over the river is very overgrown and looks little used. Once across, follow the bridleway on your right and the barrows are in a clump of scrubland. One barrow has been cut into by the Sunny Hill track but the other is reasonably intact and has been staked off by the MOD with “No Trenching” signs erected.

The area around Leckford Bottom would have been particularly marshy and an obstacle to any force approaching the area using the Sunny Hill track. This would explain why the Iron-age defensive earthworks were constructed to the East of these barrows, along the ridge of Windmill Hill by King Ina.

With most of the barrows or earthworks on this part of Salisbury Plain, a visit in the winter when the vegetation has died back, giving a clearer shape to the sites’ features, is always going to better.

Although this long barrow is close to a main road, I would recommend that you park in the MOD assembly area (SU 20442 52494)

The barrow is quite easy to find and sits next to the only fenced off piece of improved pasture on that part of the training area. I was probably the only person those bullocks had seen all week. With most of the barrows or earthworks on this part of Salisbury Plain, a visit in the winter when the vegetation has died back, giving a clearer shape to the sites’ features, is always going to better.

This is not really what I would call a long barrow. It does not have much of a presence in the landscape and looks like it was put together in a hurry, without much thought to any alignment or positioning. It does not say anything about laying claim to a piece of land or territory. It makes me wonder if it was even built by the “Long Barrow People” at all. The nearby henge would indicate a sizable community of people living or carrying out ritual in the area.

We can only speculate as to what was going on during the late Neolithic but the “Long Barrow People” may have been killed off as a separate race, by people coming in from other parts of Europe. Whether these people came with peaceful intentions or not, they could easily have introduced infections that the native population had never encountered and had no immunity against. This situation occurred time and time again wherever the European explorers came into contact with natives.

I’m willing to bet good money that this stone is in the top 100 of Britain’s remotest stones, at the same time as being in the top 100 of Britain’s prettiest places. No, maybe not prettiest, it’s pretty lower down the valley at Hafodygors wen, here it’s wild, rugged and beautiful, with a capitol W.

I cant imagine any one will come here just for this one stone but if you do leave your car at the car park near Llyn Eigiau. Strike out North west towards Clogwyn yr eryr, if you don’t intend to see the stone row up there, turn right onto the footpath that takes you to the dam where the Afon Mellynyn turns into the Afon Dulyn. From the dam the path goes west, either follow it to the long fence line then go up, or when you reach the strong mountain stream Afon Garreg Wen (River white stone) cross it follow it up stream till you find mega sheepfold city one. From there a large outcrop can be seen and the stone is by the fence just below it.

Actually there are two stones, one higher up the hill than the other. The higher up of the two is about four and a half feet tall, covered in, wait for it, white lichen. There are no holes in it for posts of any sort, it does not lend any structural aid to the fence at all, but the fence is tied to it with thick twine. The other stone is about five and a half feet tall on the other side of the fence, this one has no holes and is tied to the fence as well.
It is not quite as white as it’s smaller sibling, but white enough to give it’s name to the river that goes noisily by.
But perhaps also of interest is the outcrop right by the stones, it splits naturally creating ready made standing stones, it’s another one of those menhir factories. One big lone stone stands at it’s eastern end at least ten feet tall, wide, yet thin and very tall. Also I found a stone with a weird smooth area worn on it’s upper surface, another stone with probably natural cup marks, yet another stone has some strange grooves up one side, like a corrugated shape with perfect ninety degree angles, haven’t seen owt like it before, a big Elephants tooth it resembled.

If you did go to the stone row before or want to go now just follow the fence line down the hill over the river and up the other side, this will also take you back to the car park.

Visited 9.9.12

No more than a grass covered ‘bump’ – approx 0.5m high x 15m across.

Although the Barrow is close to the road, the hedgerows are high and it is difficult to even get a glimpse of the ‘bump’ – don’t bother.

COFLEIN states:
‘A mutilated roughly circular mound set on the crest of a hill. It is about 16m in diameter and 0.7m high. Similar mounds are generally identified as prehistoric funerary monuments, often Bronze Age’.

Visited 9.9.12

No more than a slight ‘bump’ in the middle of a grass field – don’t bother.

COFLEIN states:
‘A ploughed down roughly circular mound some 30m in diameter and 0.6m high’.

Visited 9.9.12

This is a whopper of a stone which unsurprisingly is easily seen from the road.
I would estimate the stone to be 9ft tall x 3ft wide at the base.

Parking is easy although to get up close and personal with the stone you would have to clamber over a wall and a barbed wire fence.

Well worth a view when in the area.

Visited 10.9.12

The site is sign posted and a 5 minute walk brings you to this well preserved enclosure.

On the way through the fields check out the ruined chapel (also a CADW site).

The hut group is in a delightful woodland setting and has good information boards.
The information boards date the site back to the Iron Age. Then used throughou the Romano-British period.

There are good coastal views.

This is well worth a visit when visiting the nearby Lligwy Dolmen which is just up the road.

Visited 10.9.12

Best place to park is the parking area for the Din Lligwy Hut Group and then take a short walk south down the country lane.

This is an excellent site to visit and the capstone is indeed enormous!
I would estimate it to be 3m x 3m x 1m thick.

Although initially a little afraid; Sophie soon got the hang of things and was wandering about inside the chamber.
He had a quick game of ‘peek-a-boo’ through the supporting upright stones.

This is an excellent tomb to visit which is easy to access.
A ‘must see’ when visiting Anglesey.