Latest Fieldnotes

After my vaguely informed wanderings around South Lanarkshire it’s admittedly a little reassuring to be upon familiar ground once more. However it soon becomes clear that my assumed familiarity with the environs of Loch Tay is a little misplaced, to say the least. ‘Hang on, Tiompan reckons there’s a chambered cairn near here’ I think as I pass the (now defunct) Ben Lawers Visitor Centre turn-off on the A827 from Killin ... ‘nothing on the map... but while I’m here I guess it’d be rude not to have a look’, I conclude. Or something similar.

Needless to say – without local knowledge – it’s not as easy as that. Transposing the OS co-ordinates to my map appears to place the site within trees on the Loch Tay side of the road. It’s not. Other side, in fact. Set beyond, and obscured – not to mentioned camouflaged – by a series of rock outcrops beneath a rather iconic tree. Yeah, the tree’s the key. But what of the chambered cairn? To be honest the physical remains are not going to blow you away unless you are completely nuts about the things. Several orthostats protrude from the ground... and that is more or less that.

Except I nearly forgot to mention the overwhelming presence of the near-as-dammit 4,000ft Ben Lawers towering above to the approx north. And that, combined with the setting above the nearby loch is, I think, the real glory of the Kiltyrie tomb. The way it relates to the landscape. Or perhaps the way it helps the visitor to relate to the landscape without them even realising it? Consider this. I swear the thought never consciously occurred to me at the tomb.... yet the next morning, as I drive past the now removed Ben Lawers Visitor Centre car park (the centre’s been demolished due to lack of visitors, not the car park) I am ‘compelled’ to reverse and go climb the mountain there and then. Ben Lawers is the highest peak I’ve ever ascended in my life, by some distance. So this represents a serious challenge.

The action is seemingly on the spur of moment... or did the builders of the Kiltyrie tomb simply perfect the art of locating a monument in order to maximise relationships with the landscape as perceived by the individual? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting for a moment there are ‘mystical’ or ‘supernatural’ forces at work here. Don’t believe in such things. What I am suggesting is the tomb builders may have possessed a well developed (sophisticated, even) appreciation of how the human animal reacts to certain stimuli and located their momument to achieve optimum psycological benefit accordingly? If so, it certainly worked with me.

The top of Cartington Hill boasts three bronze age cairns, in a line more or less north to south, couple of hundred metres apart.

The hill has very nice 360° views, with the border ridge to the west, Simonside very prominent to the south, The Cheviots to the north, and the edge of Rimside Moor to the east. The deeply worn (like 2-3 m deep) drove roads clearly visible up the little secluded (and 99% deserted) Debdon valley hint at very old routeways.

There are a whole boatload of prehistoric sites intervisible as a result of this, but the one that stuck out in my mind was the Five Kings over on Dues Hill to the south west. I’d always thought Dues Hill must have been given it’s name by the Vikings, as it has such a similarity to the Duergar, an allegedly Viking name for the sprites of Simonside. But seeing it leaping out of the murky horizon from Cartington Hill, I wondered it it was possibly of roman origin, as Dues Hill is very clearly twin-peaked.

Anyway, enough of the view. The southern cairn I just managed to yomp to, take a pic, post to TMA, then leg it back to Rothbury in time for tea, is not fantastically accessible, but is worth the fairly short hop through the waist deep heather. It’s been mucked about with over the years, and the sangar is just big enough to provide shelter, but hasn’t disturbed the kerb. It’s quite a size. EH’s listing says it’s 17.5m in diameter and 1.8m high. Sounds about right to me. It’s got an odd remnant of some modern activity in the form of a very weathered wooden stump with some very rusted thick steel cable afixed to it, just poking out from the bottom of the sangar.

Just south, halfway up the hill, are some lovely big expanses of flat eroded outcrops that screamed ‘We probably had cup and ring marks but if we did, they’ve wethered away!’ at me.

Next time, I shall return in better weather, and go see the middle cairn, which has an exposed cist, and the northern cairn, which is totally undisturbed but covered with heather.

I approach this still substantial – although much disturbed – cairn by heading approx north-west across the moor from the Burngrange long cairn. Unlike the latter, no internal detail is now discernable within the more ‘rotund’ monument – at least not to this traveller during the course of a downpour which renders the lichen-encrusted boulders potentially lethal to the unwary. Thankfully there are no slip-ups.

Time and, in particular, animal husbandry have not been kind to this stone pile ... a large sheepfold abutting the south-eastern arc of the cairn the most significant of several animal enclosures constructed from its considerable mass... and thus disrupting profile. Nevertheless from a number of angles it is clear that this was once a very significant monument... still is, of course, although one lacking the definition originally intended. Yeah, the estimate cited by Greywether (I believe from Canmore) of probably as much as 18m in diameter and at least 2.5m in height does not, by any means, stretch credulity.

A further, less upstanding cairn is visible some way to the (very) approx east. However time has caught up with me....doesn’t it just? As I muse upon this inevitability of all inevitabilities which haunt the human condition, I conclude that there really is a whole day’s worth of sites to visit just within this ‘V’ defined by the fast flowing North Medwin and Westruther Burn alone. Much more must go unseen, at least for now. Ha! I’ve just time to take a quick look at the round cairns south of the Greens Moor long cairn (one of which is incidentally well worth the effort) before heading back to the car to continue my journey to Loch Tay. As you do.

Found by Tiompan on a massive boulder 15 cups.

Visited 10/06/2011.

A new find find to me, Tiompan found this a wee while back, with 8 cup marks visible to the eye if not my camera.

Visited 10/06/2011.

Another new find to me, Tiompan once again beat me to it :-), this one has 1 good cup mark and 3 not so clear.

Visited 10/06/2011.

Coming from South Ronaldsay after the 4th Churchill Barrier where the A961 turns sharp left to Burray village instead take a right turn onto the Ness road, signposted for the cemetery. Upon reaching Leith the cemetery road goes down directly by Leith’s east side. I had thought to look for any remains that might have survived from the earlier church, but as I passed along to the shore it became obvious that before the Viking estate a broch had stood here. No reference exists to one here, but my fellow Brochaholic Dave said he always thought there should be many more in these South Isles than hitherto suspected. Perhaps this is because despite the monumentality of the mound/s there is a distinct lack of stonework (hopefully because still covered over), though when you think many stones must have been removed before kirk was built the landowners have kept it rather well preserved. It has elements reminding me of three other chapel brochs; the old Holm parish church and Warebeth in Stromness and Overbrough in Harray. The roofless church sits on top of the broch tower mound and the majority of the outer settlement looks to be between it and the nearby burn [to my eyes that is]. For the most part the broch surrounds the kirkyard on the north and west over to the path to the shore. The 17thC church appears to be towards the edge of the tower, either because the old kirkyard has gone or because an early chapel was attached to a Norse hall. It sits in ground above the rest of the kirkyard as there is a two foot deep rectangular cut through the mound. The old wall at the east end looks deeper and a little different in character also.
And the church is worth a visit for itself !

Unlike Castletown E 300m distant this site lies largely under the peat most of the exposed parts are about 4 inches over the ground, took me 45 mins to find, actual co_ordinates are 54.28763 N and 09.28374W, 3 court tombs are very close to each other with good parking and are easy to get to

A new find in the field opposite, to the south, of the famous stone. This has three large cup marks with two that are badly weathered.

Visited 10/06/2011.

Visited 25.5.11
This stone is a whopper!
It would be difficult to get up close to this stone but it is easily seen from the Racecourse entrance.
The field was in crop and the hedgerow high when I visited so I settled for a view from afar!

Visited 25.5.11
Like the Craddockstown West standing stone, this stone is very difficult to access.
I parked near the Racecourse entrance (the main entrance – not the official’s entrance)
and walked back down the road.
It is quite difficult to see the stone over the high hedgerow and I found it impossible to get into the field where the stone stands. Firstly I had to wade through waist high nettles; then go down a bramble filled ditch and up the other side through more nettles/brambles. I was then confronted by a barbed wire fence.
Although I think I could have got over the fence, it would have meant jumping from the top of the fence into the ditch on the way back – a drop of about 10ft.
I settled for a view from the fence.
Close but so far away……………………………

This rock, found by K. Sabine, has 3 cup marks. One clearly visible and two well weathered efforts. Head towards the famous rock, this stone is 20 yards from the track.

Visited 10/06/2011.

Taking the road to Deerness, after the St.Andrew’s School junction you come to the Stembister junction in the Upper Sanday district. This road you then follow all the way to the Stembister millstream. Once over this you should find a place to park your vehicle before going on to the farm. Be careful not to disturb the ducks and geese as you pass through farmyard. The stone is on the northern end of the wifey’s drying green a short distance in front of the house.

This can easily be seen on the northern half of the Loch of Swannay side of Costa Hill when coming up from Evie, a mound with two layers of vegetation. However even when you know where it is it is a far harder spot from the road below, as the photo shows. My theory to explain this is that the barrow has a ditch and a [?low] bank, and that these survive best above and below as a person coming up or down a hill would avoid such big bumps along the way. Unfortunately being on my way to Birsay I did not go up and investigate. The hardy may choose to climb the wearyall to the viewpoint on top of the hill, where amongst the WWII radio station remains you can see for vast distances across Mainland and over to several of the other Orkney Isles.

Greywether’s notes are a succinct summary of a somewhat confusing, yet very atmospheric long cairn. The location is excellent, set upon the western flank of Horse Law, overlooking Westruther Burn, the water course needing to be crossed if the monument is approached from the Greens Moor long cairn lying virtually directly to the west (a little over half a mile distant and visible upon the horizon). Note that this did not present a great obstacle at the time of my visit and that the minimalist ‘bridge’ mentioned in G’s notes still exists.

Preconceptions are shattered immediately upon arrival, the mass of stone visible from Greens Moor turning out to be a large, drystone sheepfold standing immediately east of the cairn. No prizes for guessing the source of that, then. Orientating myself accordingly, I realise what lays before me is in fact a heavilly robbed long cairn, not the expected round variety. Not an issue, since I love long cairns, me. Even better, there are also the clearly identifiable remaining orthostats of a chamber – G and Canmore cite a possible other, although owing to the profusion of heather I’ll need to take their word on that. As regards the obvious one, the stones are substantial and aesthetic, the passage facing south – that is to the right when looking across the chamber towards the sheepfold.

As I sit and have lunch, back facing the lashing rain, the sheer, primeval ‘reality’ of the moment begins to sink into my consciousness, something infinitely more welcome than the moisture beginning to find its way inexorably through my waterproofs and dampen my knees. OK, accusations of ‘wouldn’t be such fun if this was how you had to live all the time’ hold much more than a grain of truth.... but I do think periodically reminding one’s self just how brutal Mother Nature can be – even in the limited UK sense – holds much benefit for the individual. But I digress....

Looking west I notice another, large cairn some way to the right of the Greens Moor long cairn. Must be Westruther and the next port of call. Ha! With all this rain perhaps the ‘port’ analogy is appropriate? I leave Burngrange long cairn well satisfied... sure, under finer conditions this site would provide an exceptional hang of many hours for those who like that sort of thing – like myself – but Scotland is Scotland and you have to take what you can get.

Woods Of cairnie 2 is much easier to find than number 1. If you park or start where I did you will see a track heading south east. Give or take a tree or two this leads in the direction of the cairn. Many years ago I’d been here so I thought I knew the area quite well. Indeed I do, one problem I was coming from the east heading west, not the other way round. Finding the first cairn was a fluke, but a path heading west was found which eventually led back almost to my car. Heading south east it was easy despite the rain which by this time had eased to monsoon.

This cairn also is set in a clearing and has remained undisturbed, once again being hidden by the trees has done it a huge favour. Standing at 8.6 meters wide and 1.1 meters high, grass covered, it remains defiant in state of splendid isolation which in this case is a good thing.

Another wonderful place, if in the mood for walking Springhill Stone Circle is on the Kirkton Of Skene road, the next minor road north to the west.

Visited 11/06/2011.

After the nice warm evening of Rock Ness last night (Glasvegas – magnificent!!!) Aberdeenshire was under water today. It adds to the atmosphere and creates another picture, there are always plenty of dry days. But this went to another level and getting lost didn’t help. After leaving the B9119, south after Hatton Farm, I parked at the edge of Torshinach Wood. To the east are the Woods of Cairnie.

To get to Cairnie 1, you must walk past Cairnie which is quite easy to find, number 1 is a nightmare. So in the end I walked up and down tracks, crawled under trees and generally disturbed all matter of wildlife except one deer which was nosey and followed for a wee while. In a clearing is the splendidly shaped cairn (or barrow) sitting as it has always done undisturbed protected by the trees. Even trees supposedly planted on top of the cairn seem to have walked away leaving one of their kind. As for the cairn it is almost 12 meters wide and 1.3 meters high. A single stone sits in the west, lurking around possibly a last kerb. Then all matter of hell happened, it lashed down, trees don’t offer much protection so head down I trudged on back west, I hoped.

Wonderfully shaped and beautifully hidden hopefully this cairn like it’s near but seemingly faraway neighbour will be here many years yet.

Visited 11/06/2011

Another of Greywether’s ‘obscure specials’ which, together with several other monuments in the immediate vicinity, was scheduled for a visit last year. Then, as per usual, time simply ran out. By happy coincidence, however, I happen to find myself with an opportunity to rectify that situation whilst on the way to Glasgow. Right on! Trouble is it is teeming with rain. Not so good.

From Carnwath I take the A70 to (eventually) park just before Redford Bridge. Not sure I’m at the right bridge at first, since I’m unable to get a positional fix until I stop and locate the farm of Waulkmill, tucked away down a track on the right. Then it’s a case of crossing the bridge, slipping down to the right and following the left hand bank of the North Medwin between forestry. The path veers left along the treeline where the Greens Moor round cairns should become visible to your right, beyond a fence. Cross this and the long cairn will (hopefully) be self evident.

I wish I could say this is physically a classic monument... however, unfortunately, it is not, having suffered grievious damage, no doubt at the hands of generations of farmers. According to Canmore it is now ‘nowhere more than 1m high’, although this is hard to judge due to its overgrown nature. What is clear, however, is its length, ‘measuring 82m long from N to S by 13m in greatest breadth’ (once again according to Canmore). Or in other words, what Greywether said. This is most certainly a ‘long cairn’, then.

And of course there are the metaphysical attributes, too. What this monument lacks in terms of preservation it more that recuperates in terms of vibe. Extreme vibe. Despite the hammering rain, this traveller felt no compunction to leave whatsoever. To the east, beyond Westruther Burn – about half a mile distant, I think – stands another long cairn. North, the substantial remains of a round cairn.... ditto to the south. Hey, Greens Moor long cairn may be denuded, but don’t be deluded, since I would say it is well worth a visit.

The Burngrange chambered cairn ‘calls’ me. ‘C’mon, you know you want to visit me, too’. It’s right, dammit. Despite the appalling downpour beginning to penetrate the zips of my expensive overtrousers, I have no choice. Yeah, it’d be rude not to. To the east, then...

Leave the B979 and take the back road to Westhills. I pulled in between two hills, Hill Of Keir to the right, Souterhill to the left. Fresh from a drenching at Cairnie I wasn’t worried about rain and ironically it stopped.

I headed up the hill, over a dry stane dyke, thru a new deer fence and clambered up the hill. Lots of flat rock but no rock art today. The cairn still sits at 6 meters wide and 0.4 meters tall with one possible lonely kerb to the north. To the north is the enclosure at Hill Of Keir, standing stones at Tertowie, Auchronie and Auchinclech are in the area, an end to a very wet but strangely rewarding day.

11/06/2011.

As incredible – or just plain stupid – as it seems to me in retrospect, I actually considered passing over a visit to Arbory Hill in favour of completing my (fruitfully) interrupted journey to Loch Tay. Luckily, however, reason prevailed – for once – and I got to see what must surely be one of Scotland’s finest hillforts?

The site is one of enormous natural defensive potential, the ground more or less precipitous to north, south and west, with the col between Arbory Hill and Tewsgill Hill (to the east) the only remotely practical approach. Suffice to say that, in my opinion, the successive planners and builders of the Arbory enclosure took the opportunity presented to them by the short n’ curlies... and flung it screaming down the stairs. The resulting structure must have been as near to impregnable as any hillfort – anywhere – ever was ... water supply notwithstanding? As implied, attaining the ramparts of Arbory is no easy skate, even via the aforementioned saddle to the east. But, hell, to say it is well worth it for lovers of pre-R*man fortified enclosures is, I think, a major understatement.

The hillfort is protected by three lines of powerful, concentric rampart, the outer two – now mostly grassed over – in all honesty all that was really required. In support of this observation Canmore reckons the inner, massive drystone rampart was actually a later addition. Assuming this to be so, such over the top fortification, allied to the provision of no less than five entrances through the outer ramparts (the inner citadel has ‘just’ the two), strongly suggests a warlord with a serious need to impress/overawe his supporters and would-be opponents.... ‘don’t even bother opposing me when I can pimp my hillfort like this’.

I stand upon this windswept, rain-lashed hilltop, gazing across the Clyde to the Abington Services on the A74(M) and – more scenically, perhaps – to the surrounding hills and the deep valley separating Raggengill Hill to the south, and try to imagine what Arbory must have been like in its prime. It is silent now.... a vacant, empty shell, where once people actually lived and died, perhaps occassionally violently in respect of the latter. Yeah, it’s difficult to envisage the noise, the smells that once held sway at this ethereal place. Needless to say the manner in which the location oversees and dominates modern communication routes says all that needs to be said about the strategic value of the hillfort in its heyday. This would have been the abode of ‘The Boss’. Yeah. And not that American with the, er, idiosyncratic voice.

The linear grouping of cairns is puzzling. Initially, so is a series of what I take to be walkers’ shelters within the rubble of the inner drystone rampart. Why here? I mean, where are the bloody walkers? Perhaps these were actually later dwellings inserted within the partially collapsed wall, thus implying continued occupation beyond Arbory’s use as a fortress? The previous post’s reference to nearby Cold Chapel Farm is intruiging. Hermit cells, perhaps? Pure supposition, of course, but why not?

[Note – back at home a fortnight later... I notice numerous other forts/settlements to the north and south of Arbory, particularly on the southern slopes of Castle Hill. I need to do more research, clearly, but Arbory’s position as a focal point of the area seems ever more likely, does it not?]

An obscure one, this. Or so it would appear. Nevertheless Black Hill is mentioned in my battered old Oxford Archaeological Guide (Anna and Graham Ritchie; ISBN 0-19-288002-0), so I decide to take a look... particularly since a visit promises the opportunity to see both a Bronze Age cairn and hillfort at the same time. Two of my favourite things. Nice one.

The site is actually signposted on the B7018 a little west of Lanark – it’s apparently owned by the Scottish NT – an (even more) minor road heading west to eventually join the B7086, crossing the southern flank of Black Hill as it does so. At the approx highest point a – currently signless – pole marks a parking spot in front of a gate. Warning signs suggest the area is a prime spot for locals to dump their rubbish, but there you are... only a pile of road aggregate is in evidence today. Hopping over the stile, a curving track brings me to what are apparently the enclosing banks of a later period settlement adjoining the southern-eastern flank of the earlier hillfort... unfortunately the cow, which appears intent of guiding my footsteps, doesn’t elaborate.

Crossing another stile, the relatively well preserved eastern rampart of the hillfort leads me to the summit of both hill and enclosure.... like many, it is surmounted by an OS triangulation pillar. However this example happens to sit upon a relatively large cairn, c1m high and of 18m diameter (according to Canmore), the form of which is scrupiously respected by the later defences. What’s more, the western arc of the cairn features several large stones still in situ; the obvious inference is the remaining section of a kerb. The northern rampart of the hillfort is also pretty well preserved, all things considered; sadly the same cannot be said of the remainder of the perimeter, although the ramparts are at least traceable, with several large stones visible along the way.

Looking to the horizons there is much to see, Black Hill occupying a prime location overlooking the River Clyde. Tinto, with it’s great cairn, dominates the skyline beyond New Lanark (incidentally where early utopian socialist Robert Owen established his model factory), Glasgow, with those distinctive tower blocks, emerging from the gloom to approx north-west. Yeah, Black Hill is not a spectacular site... but combining Bronze Age cairn, hillfort, settlement and extensive views, it has all the attributes for a great couple of hours, I’d say.

Talk about blundering around in the landscape... having only decided to try and visit the massive Tinto cairn the night before, I’d no time to purchase an OS map of the area... so took a few compass bearing notes from TMA (in case I got into trouble with cloud), nonetheless leaving me completely ignorant about the existance of this rather fine hillfort literally right beside the approach path from Fallburn. Pleasant surprise on the descent of Totherin Hill, then, to see the enclosure lying below..... although how I walked blindly past on the way up Tinto might well be a case for Mulder and Scully.

To be fair the site is (in late May, anyway) overgrown with heather, so much so that – aerial views from Totherin Hill notwithstanding – it is only by getting up close and personal that the true, substantial nature of the twin ramparts and ditches becomes apparent. Initially I must admit I thought the enclosure was tri-vallate... however Canmore cites my third, outermost rampart as being ‘a slight upcast bank on the counterscarp [of the outer bank] round all but the NE quarter of the circuit.’ Hey, the heather’s my excuse. Although, having said that, the relatively powerful inner rampart is easily ‘walkable’. I make out two entrances to the enclosure (Canmore agrees... to ENE and WNW) with some unidentified enclosure in the centre (probably more or less modern).

In my experience this is a rather unexpected location to find such a well constructed defended enclosure as this, that is at the foot of nearby high ground. Perhaps there was a ritualistic focus upon the great, sprawling mass of Tinto, crowned by its extraordinary cairn? Or perhaps just the practicality of the site won the day for the planners, the man-made defences being thought more than enough in their own right? Dunno. But Fallburn is certainly a great, albeit unexpected, way to end a visit to Tinto.

Mind you, if mountain climbing isn’t your bag, I’d say Fallburn is well worth a visit in its own right. Simply follow the main track towards Tinto from the large Fallburn car-park... and the hillfort stands to the immediate left a little way up. Can’t miss it. He says.......

This is what Coflien have on the stone.
RAF aerial view centred on standing stone near Pontrug area taken in 1948.

NPRN
59973
Map Reference
SH56SW
Grid Reference
SH51866217
Unitary (Local) Authority
Gwynedd
Old County
Caernarfonshire
Community
Llanrug
Type of Site
STANDING STONE
Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Period
Prehistoric

The aeriel veiw is not really centred on any stone I could find. But I did find 3 others very near by.

From caernarfon take the A4086 Llanberis road. Just after the Pont rug Bridge turn right signposted for Beddgellert. Take the first left almost straight away.
Follow this single track road to a farm on the left called Cilgwythwch. There is a place to park a few yards along the road on the right.
The first stone is in a field next to the farm house.
It does have telephone poles near by which is a bit off putting.
We tried to access the public footpath that runs next to the farm but there were several farm dogs running loose so we didn’t risk it. I didn’t get a very good look at this stone nor did I get to touch it.

I think that this is more likely the stone mentioned in Coflien. Although all 3 are marked on the 1891 map.

You can see the 2nd stone on a hill in the distance.
It is possible to do a circular walk. And it is a rather nice easy walk.

Follow the road up to the cross roads and turn left. After a short distance the road forks to the right where there is a gate house calles Plas Arfon. Park near here if you’ve driven. The next stone is up on a hill opposite this house.

We walked up through the field next to a dry stone wall, up to a gate on the right. This opened right next to the stone which is in the adjacent field.
This stone commands wonderful views.

Back down onto the road. Follow the road you were on. There is a public footpath on the left that leads through a church yard past the wonderful St Michaels church. Check out the beams in the church porch.
Turn left past the church and follow this footpath past the caravan park. After passing through some rhodedendrun and over a little stream you will see a field on the left. There is a gate that leads into the field.

The next stone is in the middle of this field. Some one has placed a flat stone on the top of this which I am not tall enough to attempt to remove.
And as there are some doubts about these stones I am not sure if it was put there when the stone was placed.

Following the path onwards in the direction you were walking will bring you out next to the first farm house at Cilgwythwch.

Visited 23.5.11
This is a very large henge encircling the top of the hill.
I tried to shelter from the wind which by now was taking my breath away. I watched as the last of the dg walkers gave up and went home, leaving the entire Hill of Tara to me.
Unfortunately in this wind it was impossible to enjoy my isolation. It is not very often that a visit to a site is spoiled by the wind but this was such an occasion.
I headed back to the car for a breather – where Karen and the children were wisely waiting for me. The car was being rocked from side to side.
Karen told me of how she watched a council workman trying to sweep the path clear of dirt, only for it to blow back after every sweep. In the end even he gave up!
I was planning to visit the other sites on Tara (Sloping Trenches, Rath Loegaire etc) but by now I decided enough was enough and time to head back to the hotel.
One thing for sure; today has certainly blown the cobwebs away!!!

This is a very strange Hillfort, being so close to the King’s Seat.
It’s not very big (for a Hillfort) although the banks still stand to an impressive height of 2 metres in places. I would say the interior of the site is about 30 metres across..

As an aside, I picked up a very good guide to the Hill of Tara from the visitor’s centre at Newgrange. A small booklet costing only 50 cents. They do similar booklets for Newgrange, Dowth and Knowth although they were sold out of the Dowth ones when I visited.