Latest Fieldnotes

i would agree with a previous poster that it can be hard to work was going on a whitehawk. there has been a lot of development, with a housing estate, allotments and a radio tower covering much of the hill. it’s unfortunate, because whitehawk really is a magical place.
i would surmise that hollingbury hillfort was where people lived and whitehawk was where they partied. with the river in between the sites, down in the valley.
whitehawk has a strange ceremonial feel which you can still catch if you walk down beside the racecourse towards the sea. the racecourse seems to have been built upon or next to the old cursus, as a it curves round the top of sheepcote valley.
i found dave bangs’ book ‘Whitehawk Hill. Where the Turf Meets the Surf: A Landscape History & Natural History of Brighton’s Most Remarkable Downland Survival’ mighty helpful in getting a feel for the hill, but unfortunately i think it is now out of print.
basically, the radio mast stands about dead centre in what used to be the henge or circular fort, with some rings around it. a couple of patches of a few of the rings remain next to manor hill road. and that’s about it.

Details from excavation notes – May 1971 issue of the Yorkshire Arcaeological Journal;

the mound contained 16 burials, many of them children and one a fetus of 7 months under a small cairn.

in the rubble of the mound they found fragments of axe heads from the langdale and north wales neolithic axe factories, and large quantities of snail shells.

This is quite easy to find, easily located near to the centre of the (very sweet but oddly desolate) village of North Deighton. Some locals advised us that the landowners were unfriendly and prone to confrontations, but we followed a track along the edge of a playground to a field where we could easily view the mound.

As it is situated in the centre of field with young crops we felt it would be bad form to stride across private land to get a closer look, hence my photos are from a distance. The mound is on a slight natural swell of the land, overlooking the Crimple river to the west of it.

The mound is supposed to be some 60ft in diameter, but seems ploughed into a smaller state. I still need to read the excavation notes from the YAS journal, and i’m told the finds from the barrow are kept in the pump room museum in Harrogate.

The locals also informed us of the (medieval) mound some distance to the NE of this howe, and their experiences of ghostly activities in the cottage they lived in adjacent to the mound!

Very beautiful location, an easy walk up and very easy to spot the huge cairn from the wall, the cist of the long barrow is just a little further along. The Yorkshire Archaeological Society notes on it detail that the cist contained one skeleton, the remains of a man about 5’4” tall and some cremated remains, possibly from a later date.

From Finzean Long Cairn we walked back to Dardunus but not to the car. By this time it was very dark so we decided to follow the path east up Corsedardar Hill to look for, what I’d been told, an impressive standing stone.

So with the temperature getting colder and rain turning more and more to hailstones we climbed. Fortunately it isn’t to far, no more than 200 fairly steep meters, on the track to Tom’s cairn.

It stands at 1.5 meters tall and looks like a chunk of rock has fallen from near the base. This gives the stone a very fragile look. Hopefully, being near the path, it will be looked after.

With that it was back, at last, to the car. Everything that could be drenched was drenched except our insides. With that we drove back to Turriff, I’d some celebrating and gloating to do. It was a very good day.

Visited 21/05/2011.

This type of post will drive the people who patch me up nuts but I wasn’t alone as the Mad Man Of Glass was allegedly making sure I didn’t get hurt. Keeping this in mind he decided that we should head west from Dardanus to Finzean Long Cairn. The conditions were perfect, it was getting dark, pouring with rain, underfoot was muddy therefore a drenching was assured. Perfect.

An almost 1/2 mile walk along the track, (take the first left) leads to a fantastic cairn. The forest feels very old with the rain and mist adding to the atmosphere. As we walked along two young deer sheltered under a tree (more sense than us) not moving as we passed by not more than 15 meters or so away. After a short climb the path turns north with the cairn straight in front.

It is wedge shaped being some 33 meters in length, 26 meters wide in the east, 9 meters wide in the west and some 3.5 meters in height. Various hollowed sections or wind breaks have been built into the cairn. This is an area with many huge cairns so plenty to see nearby. Even closer still is the supposed remains of another. That can wait till another drier day as we decided to go back to Dardanus.

Visited 21/05/2011.

On the way back up road from Glasgow it was decided to go over the Cairn O Mount. Normally a scenic route but today it was very misty making driving conditions dodgy to say the least. However we reached Strachan and headed north west thru the village of Finzean (pronounced ‘Thing in’, say fast) on the B976. By this time the mist had lifted and the rain had subsided to downpour and hailstones. Perfect conditions for a stroll in the Deeside hills.

The first stop was Dardanus Stone named after some Pictish King who had been slain in the area. Originally nearer the top of the hill the stone has been moved and broken then repaired. It now stands in an excellent location opposite the War Memorial. Now cemented into the ground and it stands at over 1.5 meters tall. Very impressive, even in the rain.

The stone nearest the field is the Birse Millenium Stone, obviously put up recently, but pretty impressive. Corsedardar is up the hill path about 150 meters away.
Visited 21/05/2011.

Staying for week at the small village of Grange in the Borrowdale valley near Keswick. When a friend asked me several months ago to share a walking holiday in Lake District I jumped at the chance – unbelieveably I had not visited before. At last I would be able to visit Castlerigg, named by so many as their favourite stone circle.

As we approached Keswick on Saturday, the rain as forecast, had started – I spotted the sign for Castlerigg so we did a detour to make it the first the thing to be seen. I was childishly excited as I ran into the circle in the rain – with just sheep for company and surrounding hills shrouded in low cloud it, seemed a remote isolated place.

It rained all Saturday night and yesterday morning it eased a little so we walked to the top of Castle Crag, a nearby hill. By the afternoon the rain had stopped to be replaced with cloudy, sunny intervals ... so we headed back to Castlerigg to see it in different weather. Not wanting to do a long walk in case the weather changed again, my friend parked on the A591 (the road out of Keswick) and we walked from ‘High Nest’ through the meadows to Castlerigg. I became acutely aware of the surrounding fells as cloud shadows and sunlight played on their steep slopes. It was Sunday afternoon, the sun had come out after heavy rain so needless to say there were quite a few people wandering around the circle – which made no difference at all to the impact my second visit had on me. This beautiful stone circle with its small cove of inner stones – surrounding on all sides by the high Cumbrian hills blew me away. I live near Avebury, have been to Brodgar and Boscawen-un, both of which affected me deeply. Castlerigg is up there with them. It is set on a plateau above Keswick in an amphitheatre of hills including Skiddaw, Blencathra (Saddleback) and Lonsdale Fell; in some ways seems to mirror them. I stood for a long while at the far side of the field watching the shadows race across the fells all around the stone circle.

Right now, I’m typing this in the attic room which is also my bedroom in the riverside cottage where we are staying (curses, there is a computer and wifi link there too). The rain is falling in white sheets and the River Derwent has swollen to scarey proportions. The drama is spectacular ... no doubt we will venture out soon – perhaps go down to Grasmere as walking is out of the question until the rain subsides. Up here in the Lakes – almost unspeakably beautiful to this particular southerner – once again Nature rules and puts everything in perspective.

Over and out ... photos to follow when I return home.

Taking all leave of my senses but in need of fresh air, on the way down to Hampden, the Mad Man of Glass (supposedly looking after me!) and myself went to look for the cairn at Finnercy. Traveling east from Echt, on the B9119, take the first minor road south. Stop in between Braigiewell and Finnercy farms and look west.

The cairn, to the credit of the farmer, stands in prime agricultural country in the middle of a field with excellent views to mountains in the west. Ploughing has given it a square edging but the circular outline of the cairn can still be seen. Although grass covered plenty of cairn material can be seen. Larger boulders, presumably field clearence are strewn around the edges. Neolithic pottery has been found here and Canmore say that this is probably a Bronze Age cairn. What is not in doubt is it’s size, some 27 meters wide and 2 meters high. Excavations have left an 8 meter hollow.

Sadly it was fairly cloudy so the foties don’t show the cairn at it’s best. Personally I think it is wonderful that the monument still survives in such a prime farming area. Top marks to the locals.

With that we headed back to car and on to Glasgow for a lovely afternoon, albeit a very wet one.

Visited 21/05/2011.

There are three Lurgans in Scotland all within 14 miles of each other and all above the Tay . Two have rock art close by which is a bit of a problem when it comes to naming . Therefore this new find from last Saturday should not be confused with the more spectacular themodernantiquarian.com/site/10893/lurgan.html .
Hard to believe this has gone unnoticed for what it is , as it is only 6m metres from the farm track and also sports a dynamite hole in the largest cup . The site is midway between a large numbers of marked rocks to the west and smaller but significant numbers to the east ,why this should be has always been a puzzle but the dynamite hole may be a clue ,the immediate area is a wee bit more manicured and has more “sporting ” estates . The day after my visit saw the annual Etape Caledonia cycle race which brings in a fortune for local services and also generates lots of dosh for charities , a couple of years ago it coincided with RAM ‘09 and the organisers were very helpful offering to find spaces in the race to allow us to drive to parking places to access the ornate Lurgan I decided against causing any bother and we went elsewhere but some bright local , who turned out to be a councillor or something similar , decided he wasn’t happy with the road closures and spread tacks on the route ,causing havoc . When he was eventually caught and went to court , he was admonished Sadly it happened again this year , at the nearest point to the route from this stone .

Friday the 13th (13.5.2011) brings us to Oswestry for a couple of days, in our ongoing Offa’s Dyke Path walk. Old Oswestry is an easy stroll from the town, it’s only a mile to the northeast.

On our way, we spend a little time in the town’s suburbs, seeking out a rather fine section of Wat’s Dyke that runs through a housing development. Wat’s Dyke is roughly contemporary with the much better known Offa’s version a few miles west of here. Constructed between the 5th and 8th centuries AD (CE), it’s too late for TMA, but is still worth a look, especially as its course runs both north and south from the ramparts of the hillfort. The section of dyke running through the suburbs here remains as a standing earthwork of over a metre in height.

We follow this northwards, until it disappears under a Victorian factory building (being refurbished for re-use, nice to see) and then its course crosses the old railway line that used to run from the main line at Gobowen into Oswestry itself. It runs under the roads and streets for a while, but eventually we come to a recreation ground to the north of the town, where a quick uphill detour offers views of the hillfort itself. From here the low bank of the dyke continues northwards, until it comes to a halt at the foot of the massive earthworks of the fort.

And what earthworks they are. Michael Watson described it as “big, bold and brassy” and he’s certainly not wrong. This is without doubt one of the most impressive prehistoric constructs you can find in this country. Old Oswestry does not have the advantage of a lofty hilltop, or cliffs, or a steep escarpment. True, it is on a natural hill rising above the low-level plains of north Shropshire. But the defensive behemoth rising above us is largely the work of human hands.

Along the road, a gate with English Heritage boards gives access to the fort itself. We are facing the western entrance to the fort, which presents an overwhelmingly depressing sight to any would-be attacker. Seven (yes, seven!) lines of ramparts rise above us, one above another. The only way through is straight up the funnel of the western entrance track, providing any number of places for the defenders to throw javelins, fire arrows, pour hot cauldrons, etc over the hapless aggressor.

Luckily such scenes do not greet us today and we can make our way unchallenged up the steep track to the top of the fort. From here, the scale of the western defences, laid out below us, is readily apparent. Once the top is reached, the interior of the fort is a large open grassy space, now home to a herd of cows rather than the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age houses that once stood here.

We walk clockwise around the interior, watching low rain-clouds passing over but thankfully leaving us alone. The fort’s shape is an irregular pentagon, with the western side being the most heavily defended. Around the other sides, there are only(!) five lines of ramparts. Wat’s Dyke picks up its northwards progress from the northern corner of the fort, heading off towards Wrexham. The surrounding ground is lowest to the east of the fort.

Further to the east, the hump-backed and hillforted Wrekin can be seen, while to the southeast the hills around Church Stretton and onwards towards Brown Clee can be made out. Due south, the view is blocked by the Breiddin hills, while to the west the nearby Offa’s Dyke ridge cuts off any lines of sight beyond.

After completing the circuit, we have a look at the mysterious line of pits that have been placed halfway up the western side of the defences, enclosed between ramparts. Each one is different, some are very overgrown while others appear to be full of greenish water. Who knows what they were for? Not me anyway.

Suitably impressed after the walk around, we’ve also managed to avoid any date-related ill-fortune and so we head off back to Oswestry, where a much needed ice cream beckons. A cracker of a site this, fully deserving of its “show site” reputation.

Am a bit taciturn at present so it takes a good friend to seek out my company. My Cotswold Walking Friend with whom I spent so many sunny days last year tracking down Gloucestershire long barrows, proved their steely merit today. I was collected with a brisk “we’re going for a walk, whatever” and transported to Chavenage Green near Tetbury.

Using OS Explorer 168 we found the footpath which led to Longtree Bottom Covert – a peaceful wooded area whose resident tawny owl was making its presence heard. On to Pond Covert then uphill where my friend pointed out Lechmore long barrow to our left. Over a rickety wooden fence/stile, we found ourselves in the meadow full of wild grass and cow parsley. The song of skylark rose upwards around us; swallows swooped.

The long barrow has a single hawthorn tree on it, today in full may blossom. Cow parsley and wild grasses covered the barrow and to some extent concealed the scatter of limestones across the top of the barrow. The sun tried to shine, the rain tried to fall, the wind won the day. Lovely!

Driving down Hilton Drive towards the ARI I spied this standing stone quite by accident. Supposedly Bronze Age it stood in the grounds of Hilton Secondary School (brave thing to do!) but was moved to it’s present home at Hilton Heights. It looks like a part of the stone has been broken. Still it remains looking magnificent and now has excellent views to the mouth of The River Don and the North Sea.

Visited 9/5/2011.

Visited 29.4.11
Spotted this on the O/S map (marked fort) and a visit was therefore required!
I parked at the field gate on the minor road to the east of the site next to a broken public footpath sign. I followed the public footpath along the edge of the field to the point where it comes to the small copse of trees. Here I was met with a sign stating that the path going up the hill (where I wanted to go) was on private property (the public footpath continues north west).
Needless to say I ignored said sign and headed up hill along the edge of the field following the tractor tracks. At the top of the hill was another sign stating that this was private property and access was not allowed – clearly visitors were not welcome! I don’t know why as the gate at the top of the hill was wide open and only led to a rectangular shaped grass field – no crops or animals.
The eastern ramparts had all been ploughed away although the defences to the west were better preserved. A single bank / ditch survive to a height of about 0.5 metres on the inside of the Hillfort and about 3 metres when standing in the outer ditch.
In a field to the east is a very odd circular ‘thing’. Fairly small, surrounded with what appeared to be a wall and hedge of some sort. Certainly not old but strange all the same – I wonder what it is?
The 10 minute walk back to the car was lovely. Sun shining, pheasants scurrying about, birds singing and best of all, sheep and young lambs bleating in the distance. The countryside can indeed be a wonderful place to take a walk. Those people who never see outside of a city don’t know what they are missing. We of course know better!!

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Visited 3.5.11
I spotted this site on my O/S just off the A381, to the south of the hamlet of Halwell
If taking the minor road to the north it is signposted ‘Little Oaks’.
If taking the track to the south it is signposted ‘Stanborough Hundred’.
DO NOT attempt to drive down the track to the east of the site unless you happen to be in a tractor!
After risking the exhaust / suspension of my car I was rewarded with a field with nothing in it! I could see no trace of the Hillfort and would therefore recommend not wasting your time in visiting. I would rather recommend you check out Halwell Camp a mile or two to the north – easy to access and much more to see.

Visited 3.5.11
I first became aware of this site after seeing it mentioned on Megalithic.
I took the track off the A381 just south of the hamlet of Halwell and parked next to a field gate. The field in question was full of young cows who must have thought I was the farmer as they stampeded across the field to the gate as soon as they saw me!
Needless to say I decided not to enter the field and instead climbed to the top of the gate. From here I could spot 3 Barrows in the field. Two were on the far side of the field – approximately 0.3 metres high x 10 metres across and the third Barrow more in the middle of the field – approximately 0.5 metres high x 15 metres across.
There may very well be more Barrows in the surrounding fields but due to my bovine friends I was unable to explore any further. Dafydd found all this rather amusing!!!

Visited 3.5.11
I spotted this site on my O/S map right next to the junction of the A381 / A3122, just to the east of the hamlet of Halwell. (marked on map as Halwell Camp)
An easy site to access with a large lay by right next to the field in which the Camp stands.
The metal field gate has a small information sign on it showing the Camp and several Barrows in the fields to the north (I didn’t have time to check out these Barrows)
The ditch/rampart is very easy to spot being between 2 to 3 metres in height. The ramparts form a semi circle and I assume the building of the A3122 has destroyed the southern half of the site? The ramparts are covered in that dreaded yellow gorse which I hate so much!!

Visited 29.4.11
Spotted this on the O/S map (marked tumulus) and just had to investigate!
Taking the B4017 north out of Drayton you soon come to a rough track on the left with a bridleway sign. There is room to park one car here.
Walk a short distance up the bridleway and the Barrow soon comes into view in the field on your left, under some telegraph cables.
When I visited the field was full of crop (chest high) so only the contour of the Barrow was visible as raised crop against the skyline. It appears to be about 1.5 metres high x 20 metres across. A winter visit would be best to give a more accurate description.

On the way back to the caravan park following a visit to Berry Pomeroy Castle (another English Heritage site knocked off the list!) I took the opportunity to have a look at this Barrow I spotted on the O/S map (marked tumulus).
Taking the minor road north east towards the village of Marldon you climb up Beacon Hill and come to 2 large TV transmitters on your right (visible from miles around). There is room to park in front of the locked gate which leads to the transmitters.
Jumping over the gate I followed the track towards the buildings which surround the transmitters. The transmitter to the left is surrounded by a security fence and just inside the fence you will find the Barrow – covered in scrub.
The Barrow itself was about 2 metres high and 10 metres in diameter.
I didn’t hang around too long as the sign on the gate warned about 24 hour security surveillance!

Visited 23.4.11
A beautiful sunny morning and I was up at the crack of dawn – well, 6.30am anyway.
Out the door by 7.00am and parking up in a minor lane north of the village of Bonvilston by 7.30am.
Parking was difficult and this minor road was surprisingly busy – even at this time of the morning. I eventually found a place to pull in, where the lane is a little wider, a little further north next to The Cherries house.
Walking back down the lane you will see Highlands House on your right and a grass track running alongside it. Follow the grass track (it is a public right of way) and you come to two stiles near some farm buildings. Go over the left hand side stile, across the field and over the next double stile. The Hillfort is in amidst the trees on your right – behind the barbed wire fence.
Walking across the field was wonderful; with the sun on my back, the moon still in the sky in front and the only thing for company being a white horse wondering what I was up to.
Jumping over the fence I was confronted by a carpet of bluebells – literally covering the entire woodland floor – I have never seen such a concentration before. I was loath to walk over them and access into the interior was difficult due to the tress, bushes and brambles.
From what I could tell the single rampart was about 2.5 metres high – certainly above head height when stood in the ditch. There also appeared to be a smaller outer rampart / ditch near to the fence line – approx 0.5 metre high.
All in all a very pleasant way to spend an hour although there isn’t a huge amount to see and I certainly wouldn’t recommend travelling any distance to see the Hillfort.

Coflein describes the site:
A sub-oval enclosure, c.62m NW-SE by 40m, defined by a single rampart, set within a second, ditched, but otherwise similar circuit, defining a rather more irregular area, c.130m by 98m. Both circuits have N-facing entrances.

‘Visited’ 3.5.11
Or more to the point – didn’t visit!
After spotting this site on the O/S map I thought I would have a look following a day in the picturesque town of Dartmouth (a lovely place to visit by the way).
I drove down the very rough track to Woodbury Farm where I was hoping to ask for permission to visit the Hillfort. When I reached the farm (the track getting progressively worse) there was no one about. There was a rough tractor track which headed up hill which I reckon was in the general direction of the Hillfort.
However, I had Dafydd and Sophie with me and for some reason I didn’t feel comfortable attempting a ‘sneak’ visit. There does not appear to be any public right of way to the Hillfort so I decided to cut my losses and head home.
Looking at the O/S map the defences appear to be a horse shoe shape with nothing remaining on the eastern side.
Apparently the Hillfort is 145 metres above sea level – according to an entry I found on Wikipedia.

Walked up to Segsbury Camp today from the village of Letcombe Regis (having started from Letcombe Bassett).
A steep but steady uphill walk to Segsbury Castle – the narrow road is little used except for farm vehicles. Segsbury is a huge hillfort cut in two by the road and on the edge of the Oxfordshire section of the Ridgeway. The hillfort and surrounding meadows are under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme and Countryside Access Scheme; sheep graze on one side of the hillfort whilst wild flowers flourish on the other.
There is something about the downland hillforts that never fails to have a rejuvenating effect – today I walked up there under my own personal dark cloud. The clean fresh air and this grand Iron Age endeavour with its magnificent skyscapes blew my cloud away, somehow everything fell back into place. I had a strong sense that this hillfort must have once held a community of people – its massive diameter seemed far too big to be just a defensive position.
Leaving the hillfort for the Ridgeway caused a minor problem as the step to the very high stile was missing. Not blessed with paticularly long legs I had to do a bit of precarious clambouring and jumping to gain access to the Ridgeway before walking for about half a mile or so to another stile (this one fine). Then a lovely downhill walk on springy meadowland back to Letcombe Bassett. Spotted my first ever stoat which ran across across our path several metres ahead.

First pic is one after initial clearance of brash a few yers ago the next three are what that section looked like about a year ago .

An area relatively devoid of rock art .
canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/16049/details/leakin/