Latest Fieldnotes

This one was a bit of a happy accident as I had no idea it was here. We’d set off for a Sunday afternoon walk with my brother-in-law’s family to the Tyndale Monument (the Nibley Knob as it’s known locally) which was erected in 1866 to the memory of William Tyndale, a local man from North Nibley, who’d had the bare faced cheek to translate the bible from Latin to English and was strangled and burned for his trouble in France!

Making our way along the escarpment from Wooton-under-Edge through dense woodland I was suddenly aware that we were walking along the edge of some massive banks and ditches and I asked if it was what I thought it was and was given an affirmative. As we traversed the edge it became clear that it was quite a good size and a typical Iron Age bivallate promontory fort, not quite as impressive as it’s nearby neighbour at Uley Bury and certainly a lot more overgrown with vegetation, but there had been obvious attempts to clear some of this from the outer ditches. On the South Western edge there was an entrance way, but it was difficult to know whether this was original as it looked a bit too new and there were bits of limestone building material visible under tree roots. Possibly it had recently been enlarged to enable the gradual clearance of the interior. However, at the moment the interior is still quite choked and almost impenetrable. It would definitely be worth a revisit during the late autumn when the foliage has thinned as the views over the surrounding area to the South and as far as Bristol are just stunning.

From the Laurencekirk by-pass, A90, take the B9120 south east. I parked at the entrance to the Johnston Mains farm. From here I walked in a south west direction, then headed south east following the track south. By this time a gap in the hedge will point the way east so follow the track up hill. By this time the Tower will be seen to the south east but keep to the track. Jump the first gate and a path will cut up the hill to a path that heads south to cairn. Once again this a fairly steep walk.

Why they had to build a tower on top of the cairn is anybody’s guess. To keep the tower company they put a trig point beside it. Sadly nothing remains of the kerb, it probably is now part of the tower. It still stands at over 28 meters in width and is almost two meters tall. Once again it is made out of pebbles. Once again the scenery is wonderful.

Just like at Shiels I went for a wander, to the north, but found nothing except a gate with a lot of barbed wire on top of it. Another excellent walk through the Mearns.

Visited 9/8/2012.

Just north of the Laurencekirk by-pass there is a minor road that heads south east and leads straight to Shiels Farm. Permission was given to park and I climbed the first stage of Shiels Hill. This is a fairly steep climb but at least it is on a decent track. Follow the track when it heads north but look east. A small, mainly filled in loch bars the way to the cairn. (after trying to walk on water near Inverness I gave this a wide berth.) So head north, then east after the loch (this is very boggy and has been churned up by the cows, who were quite friendly) and walk south along the top of the ridge to the cairn.

Fantastic scenery to be seen includes the Highlands, North Sea, The Mearns as well as modern additions, a wind turbine farm to the east. Still the cairn, almost Wessex like in style, seems in reasonable condition sitting over twenty meters wide, a platform on which sits a central mound over 6 meters wide. The height of the structure is over 1.5 meters. It is also made up from pebbles as opposed to rocks.

So a very lovely cairn, a fine walk and Aberdeenshire looks lovely. On the way down I headed further north to look at what resembled a cairn, it wasn’t, it was piles of rubble from a quarry. After that it was back down the hill and onto the next site.

Visited 9/8/2012

Visited the site today. Situated on a bend in the River Nith’ there was not a lot to see to be honest as any earthworks by the river were overgrown. There was a large earthwork within the woods themselves but this might be more modern and connected to the 18th century stone circle within the woods.

The Houff Of Ury is another cairn in severe need of a clean up. It is heavily overgrown and being only 0.4 meters high it is difficult to spot. However I’m glad to say the kerbs are still there, only three are visible out of 12. There is a slab in the middle of the cairn, it might be part of a cist or just simply a boulder.

I approached from the north taking the last minor road west on the B979. Keep going past Monboys until a small wood on the north side of the road. There is a gate to south half away along opposite the wood. The track here quickly fades into an obstacle course of bogs and holes but it leads straight to cairn.

Visited 9/8/2012.

The small standing stone on top of Berry Top Hill offers some wonderful views. Alas it has also suffered probably due to weather (winter can be harsh in this area) as the stone has split. However it still stands, wonderfully shaped and triangular. At it’s base it is 1.3 meters wide and stands at 1 meter tall.

At the crossroads just north of Netherley on the B979 head east taking the farm track north, after Berry Top farm, to Whiteside farm. I parked at the farm and then headed in a north westerly direction. This might sound easy, unfortunately the stone resides in a middle of a bog amongst the ‘jabby’ stuff. Cows have also churned up the area so underfoot conditions are also dodgy, but it was a nice way to start the day.

Visited 9/8/2012.

Fieldnotes – Visited Late July 2012

Another classic drive-by TMA site. Although these barrows lie within the parish boundary of Pewsey, they are only a field away from the Everleigh Barrow Group and should be considered as a sub-set of that group.

I really wanted to have a good look around this barrow group as it is said to have contained virtually every kind of round barrow from a Bell, Bowl, Disc, Pond, Saucer and even an elusive “Cone” barrow. As it turned out there was no direct access and I couldn’t be bothered to arrange it with the land owner. The last time I visited the area, the farm was a dairy but this time the field was full of very fat and sunburnt pigs. All their mud pools had dried up and the ones that were not in their huts were wondering around looking angrily at anything that came near them. I decided to leave my visit for another day and carried on towards Everleigh and the Plain.

Fieldnotes – Visited Early Aug 2011

Came past this site and the crop had just been harvested so went to investigate. You can just see the twin barrows from the road as they stand out from the stubble. I would imagine that this is the only time of the year they are visible as they have been ploughed down so much in the past. The current plough boy seems to show some respect for them which is more than can be said for the animal that has dug into one side of them. Clearly this would not have happened if the dreaded black hound was still about. Guess the dog gone when the MOD moved in. Went up to see the single barrow behind the wood but the field was still in wheat, so decided against destroying a valuable crop for my antiquarian curiosity. Site made a good example for the drive-by TMA.

Fieldnotes – Visited Late July 2012

Like a lot of prehistoric sites, Godbury lays a forgotten relic of the past. An Iron Age enclosure, it was probably used in cattle breeding as a corral or way station between summer and winter pasture. Whatever it’s original purpose, the area is now ploughed up and planted with wheat or peas. Only the old drovers tracks, with their wide hollows remain to indicate what use this rural part of the old west once was.

I travelled up to the site by the byway which runs next to it, having skirted the bottom of the hill after visiting Old Hat Barrow. I encountered the tenant farmer at the bottom of the hill and asked a few questions about the area. He seemed mystified as to why I wanted to visit such a place but was happy enough for me to carry on with my exploration so long as I didn’t get in the way of the harvest of disturb his birds. He couldn’t tell me anything about the site or the surrounding fields. I asked about Falstone Pond but he reckoned that the pond had dried up years back when the underground aqua fore had been tapped and the water extracted. Seems that this had also reduced parts of the River Bourne to a stream too.

Godbury itself was much overgrown with scrub and decaying trees. The perimeter was planted very close with peas and after working my way round half the site, I decided it would be a thankless task to go any further into the enclosure. Defiantly a site that is best visited in the winter months when the vegetation has died back and the earthwork is more visible.

I was going to have a look at the barrow on Easton Clump, but after seeing the extent of the vegetation, I decided against it at this time.

Old Hat Barrow – Fieldnotes

Visited – End July 2012

Although there are a lot of round barrows around these parts, this one was the only one given a “title”. The description on Pastscape painted a picture of an overgrown mound dug into by wildlife, but it appears the site has seen some TLC since the record was made. Today the barrow looked in excellent condition, complete with protection stakes and warning signs against trenching by MOD employees.

Like most site visits, I used my bike, leaving the Marlborough road opposite Summer Down Farm and continuing down the byway past Hogdown wood and up to the Scrubs. Leaving the track, I walked along the headland, (the field boundary) and up to the edge of the wood and the barrow. The barrow was easy to see from the field, as stated, looked in very good condition.

I met a local walking his dog and asked about the second site of my visit, Godsbury. He told me that the landowner had created a “permissive path” not shown on the map and I should be able to follow this on my bike as it was wide enough for a horse, down the hill and back out onto the byway. This path follows the parish boundary, which is the dotted line shown on the O.S. map. Although the map shows several other barrows around Milton Hill Farm, I fear that they have been ploughed out but I couldn’t really visit them on this occasion as the fields were all in corn and about to be combined.

After reaching the end of the “permissive path”, I came out by a gate onto the byway and found a notice board giving details of the paths created in the area. It showed the paths connected up to The Giants Grave on Milton Hill, so you could explore a lot of the prehistoric sites from there.

Just picked up a map and guide to the area around Elton (a village nearby), produced by Elton Local HIstory Group, which says:
“South-west of Robin Hood’s Stride, next to the path behind Wattscliffe quarry, look for the stone foundation of a small, circular Romano-British building, thought to be a shepherd’s hut.”

Leave Knockando heading south on the picturesque B9102 take the second farm track west. This goes past Garlinemore House, a small wood before Leakin farm comes into view. The cairn is a short walk in a field to the south.

It sits about 16 meters wide and is just over 1 meter tall. Cairn material can be seen but turf mostly covers the site. Some kerbs remain in place and more importantly a cup marked slab in the central cairn can still be found. I counted 18 decent cup marks and a few weathered efforts.

Visited 6/8/2012.

From the small village of Auchbreck head south on the B9008 taking the first minor road east signposted Tombae. Keep going until the road ends until the Auchdregnie track. This is beautiful countryside and it seems apt that the Gaelic name means ‘Field Of Thistles’.

About 300 meters short of the farm the stones can be spotted in a field a short distance to the south. The two stones are very small both less than a half meter in height, almost fragile but proud all the same. An interesting conversation with the farmer then followed about a possible third stone as reported by the previous owner but once again the powers that be seem to have missed this info. He was also keen on football and supported Aberdeen. (so obviously his knowledge on that subject was limited compared to that of a Celtic fan) On the subject of the fence, hopefully that will be restored to make the place look tidier.

Still, a nice place in a nice setting. With that it was up Auchdregnie Hill to look for more small standing stones. Unfortunately the farmer hadn’t heard or seen them but I had a look anyway.

Visited 6/8/2012.

Visited Early Aug 2011

An unexamined late Neolithic Long Barrow with slight traces of it’s side ditches.

The barrow is the hangin’ of teenage, green smoking, special brew crew of Bulford.
Wasn’t riding with my possie when I breezed through on the way to Ratfyn and the new Tesco, but had me some pictures and gassed with the kids for 10 mins. Site had a nice vibe to it.
Not much change here on the scrap metal front since the last field notes were written.
Brothers and Sisters this hood needs cleaning up! Where’s Heritage Action when you need ‘em?

Visited Early Aug 2011

A pair of Long Barrows lie just off the Tidworth to Bulford road and are very close to the Devil’s Ditch which forms the county line between Wiltshire and Hampshire. A major track runs next to the barrows and the surrounding area is used as an assembly point for the army. There is an area set aside for parking and the site seems to be a favourite for local dog walkers. Public access is not a problem, although the area to the West is part of the MOD ranges and access is prohibited when the red flags are flying. There are a number of round barrows close by, together with numerous earthworks, some prehistoric while others date from the First World War. Some of these First World War trenches were practice trenches dug by WWI solders prior to digging the real thing in France. The better examples are now listed as protected monuments in their own right.

Not sure if this site is unique in having two long barrows side by side but it is the only one I can remember visiting.

Having visited and read up on a lot of long barrows, in my opinion, the southern one of the pair, SU24NW102 (scheduled Monument WI10193), which is the larger of the two, is the original and dates from the early Neolithic, while the smaller, northern one SU24NW101 (scheduled monument WI10194), appears to be from the later Neolithic. Neither barrow shows signs of excavation or examination and there is certainly no account of any such actions on the Wiltshire Sites and Monuments database.
Both barrows are orientated east-west with SU24NW102 having more pronounced side ditches and the remains of a berm. The other barrow, SU24NW101, shows traces of the side ditches created when it was constructed, although these have silted up over time. Both barrows have been protected by posts all the way around and the sites are clearly marked as protected monuments `

On our return from a visit to the promontory fort “Kemp’s Wark” a couple of miles up the road, a glance at the OS map indicated a “Standing Stone” this is on the left hand side of the road as you head toward Port Patrick about 300 yards past Knock & Maize farm.

It’s a delightful chunk of grey sandstone sitting quietly in the field quite close to and visible from the road, but as with all stones you have to touch!
We parked just up the small side road and climbed over the farm gate for a closer inspection.

“.....Standing stones on the vacant wine-red moor,
Hills of sheep, and the howes of the silent vanished races,
And the winds austere and pure…”

Not knowing whither or not it would be possible to drive down the track to the fort from the road, and be able to park, we left the car on the roadside and elected to go on foot.

As it happened, it would have been possible to park close to the base of the fort. However at the time of our visit (July 2012) some sort of civic construction project was in progress so proceed with caution.

The description of the remains I shall leave to Canmore, save to say I was impressed. For a promontory fort in this part of the country it’s big (real big) with loads of stuff to explore and on a nice sunny day well worth the walk down.

I’ve driven past this barrow more times than I can remember, at least a hundred. But today I was taking in some near to home barrows and thought it would be rude not to. In passing Ive noticed another larger mound to the east, this turned out to be a Norman motte, but a good vantage point to look over the area. I climbed the small hill wading through waist high thistles and scaring rabbits away, whilst keeping an eye out for anyone with a glare and baleful eye. No one, no one but me and good long views over the barrow and off towards Llangollen and Ruabon mountain and south of there the beginnings of the Berwyns. Good stuff.

I drove the drive down to the barrow and noticed the map informing me there is a footpath running right by the barrow. Perfect, I even manage to find the stile going into the field, it’s getting a bit overgrown, so I quickly trample down the nettles and brambles so other people can see it and enter the field. Occupying one of the highest and most prominent positions, as a barrow is wont to do, a big barrow this was once, it’s considerably spread out now, but still recognisable and indeed impressive. The footpath has no markers on it, in fact it’s not there at all as far as farmer is concerned two fences had to be jumped. The barrow has a fence running over it, and in the field to the left of the fence is a timid horse, I don’t approach, two horses in the field behind me and a shed in the corner have me feeling penned in.
With such fine views of towards Eglwyseg with all its cairns and menhirs and stuff, it’s inviting to think that the body interred here on Bryn Rossett may have had ancestors back that way and wanted to keep in contact even in death. Tempting.

Pastscape says this of Meadows farm barrow......

A bowl barrow, 50 to 60ft. in diameter and
approx 6ft high, was excavated by Mr J Blake of New House Farm, Shocklach, who discovered an oak plank at a depth of about 7ft, possibly part of a trunk coffin. It is suggested that the barrow covers an inhumation burial of E.B.A. date. (1)

The barrow at SJ 45454834 is oval in shape, 20.0 m. E – W, and 16.0 m. N-S. This shape is probably due to ploughing. It is 1.5 m. high, and grass covered with no ditch. (2)

I parked by the eponymous meadow farm and followed the Bishop Bennett’s way footpath south, a nice if a little muddy path lined by a stream and trees. The path branches, turn right ignoring the stile in front of you, twenty yards on and the barrow can be seen through the trees lining the path. Now the pointlessly hard bit, cross the boggy line that could in heavy weather be a stream, jump the fence and there’s the barrow. Pointless ? well where the path starts by the farm house don’t go down it, just enter the field to the right and there’s the barrow again at the back of the field.

Luckily this barrow doesn’t have a load of trees on it, it’s as bare as...... as a grassy mound can be.
I later find out it was a bowl barrow, you can’t tell just by looking at it. I stand on top of the barrow which is kept free of crops, and the grass kept short. I walk round the barrow photographing it as best I can. But then it starts to rain, it’s about time as well as it’s been thundering for a good couple of hours now. I precariously take cover under another tree right behind the barrow and ready my camera for another picture only to miss a  long vertical streak of lightning by about two seconds. I stand at the ready in case by some miracle it does it again and I can capture it on film, but all’s it will give me is a glimmer of sheet lightning, it’s not like I’d be quick enough anyway, some dark and stormy pics will do instead.

A third of a mile north east of Whitewell barrow is another smaller barrow, but looking at the map you’d think this one would be bigger, it isn’t. Follow signs for Iscoyd park, then turn left onto smaller lane through some woods. Park here.

Now strike off heartily north through the woods, worry not about nettles, brambles and fallen trees, the barrow is but two hundred meters from the car. Climb the steep but short bank, prepare to trespass, deep breath and hop over the fence.
The barrow is visible from here, it should be it’s just seventy meters away, but the grass is long and a big old Horse chestnut tree grows on it. Only it’s position pinpointed on the map gives it away.
On closer inspection another fallen chestnut tree surmounts the barrow, the barrow isn’t a big to start off with but with all the growth on it it’s not easy to identify at all. Two maybe three feet tall at best. I take a pew under the tree just as some big black clouds come scooting by full of thunder and the odd sparkle of lightning, I notice i’m under a tree and wonder if there is somewhere else I can enjoy the ambiance from, but there’s just more trees. I go for a walk round the field inspecting the barrow from different angles, no rain, but plenty of noise, and not being struck by lightning is always a bonus.

From Whitchurch take the A525 to Wrexham for about a mile then turn right at the sign for Whitewell. Turn left then right and then turn right once more following sign for St Mary church of Whitewell, park here at the church.

Whitewell barrow is our last port of call for this slight foray across the Welsh border, it’s less than a mile from the border, and at the church of St Mary four footpaths converge. Walking around the old white washed church the barrow comes in to view, glimpsed through centuries old Yew trees and decades old wooden fencing, but then we get to the stile over the fence and we can see that this barrow is quite frankly huge. It is unfortunately off the footpath, one path goes north and past it by a eighty meters, the other path east and past it by a hundred meters, but from the eastern side the barrow blocks out the farm buildings that are too close to it.
We approach quietly across the old roughly plowed field, crunchy on top soft underneath. The barrow is really quite big at least twelve feet high and fifty feet across, if I’d known it was this big I’d have been here ages ago, something I say too much regrettably . It’s entire surface is pock marked profusely with rabbit holes, and less profusely with little blue flowers that weren’t bluebells and lots and lots of pine cones.

I came across this site a couple of days ago 320 M od above Loch Tay 5-600 metres from various marked rocks . about 7-8 metres across ,banks are 2- 2.5m high ,entrance at the south 0.8 m immediatley above what is now a very damp area nearest water course these days is 50 m away . I thought it may be a burnt mound ,there are none recorded for miles .Any thoughts ?

A previously unrecorded marked rock from Cowal , not particularly photogenic but an addition to the record that had little in the immediate area .

I was a bit surprised to see that someone else had already added this site, they were, I thought, a quite obscure pair of barrows. I was not however surprised to see that it was Carl, he gets about a bit, which is what it’s all about, getting out.

I was “just passing through” from one place to another, when on the map, jumped out two very close to the road barrows, well, map says ones a barrow and t’other is a cairn, what’s in a name?
loads, you know that.
I parked in front of one gate and approached with Arthur J. Russell, just intending to have a look see if I was in the right place, I hadn’t even got my slippers off, try driving in walking boots. The cairn loomed across the field which had been ploughed and was bone dry, I decided on a one in a thousand chance and visited my first cairn in my slippers, mmmm comfy.
The cairn is about two meters high, and well over twenty across. When I first saw it at the field gate I woohooed at it in splendid surprise, i wasn’t expecting it to be so big. There are four largish boulders hugging the north western arc but whether they are field clearance or kerbing I couldn’t say. Castle hill to the east and Gwastedyn hill to the south create a pleasing backdrop to the cairn.

Half a mile east of Rhayader on the north side of the A44 is this large conifer coated heavily eroded barrow, it’s about fifty yards from the road, not much parking there except on grassy sloping verge, or in front of the gate.
A large grassy mound about a meter and a half tall, by many meters across, time hasn’t kept this barrow well, it’s well spread out.
No gate to speak of, it was either very open or not there at all, I didn’t notice because my gaze was being held by the big old barrow.
As far as incidental barrows go these were quite good, I was just passing through saw them on the map and just had stop and take a minute.