Latest Fieldnotes

This site is a tragedy and a severe disappointment after Davie’s Castle Fort and the unexpected Upper Auchenreath. If there are any standing stones then I didn’t find them. I looked everywhere with jabbies and whins taking full revenge on my legs. What is left is a badly mutilated cairn with stones possibly buried underneath a pile of vegetation. Still it must have been a nice place in its day with nice views west to the Black Isle and north, to the Moray Firth. I’ll go back and look in winter maybe something will turn up apart from me.

Continue up the road, north, from Upper Auchenreath. Turn west at the crossroads and go about 100 yards, the cairn is on the other side of the road.

Visited 12/4/2011.

As the alternate name suggests a chapel once stood in this area and near it also stood this 1 meter high standing stone. The stone was moved slightly to the east to allow for the erection of the war memorial. With Spring in the air and daffodils adding welcome colour, this is an attractive little site.

Go south from Elgin on the B9010. Kellas is the first small place on the road with the site near the war memorial slightly to the eastern side of the road.

Visited 12/4/2011.

One of the last great North Walean hillforts on my list of must see’s, and what a cracker it is.
I parked on the B5437 and made my own unguided way up, on my way up I tried to see if I could see Owain Glyndwrs mount down the river a couple of miles but it was out of view, but I did see a load of rabbits, more than seems reasonable, especially with three Buzzards circling constantly overhead.
The hillfort is close to the road but it’s a steep climb from there, when I eventually huffed and puffed my way to the top I was at the south east corner of the fort, the best preserved part of the wall, its stone spread is now more like a really really long cairn, indeed as I walked round I unconsiously kept looking for cists, only to immediately remember where I was.
Coflein says this is a multi phase hilltop site, starting with a small fort at the top, which was later incorperated into what we see now, which goes some way to explain the weird rectangular annexe on the north east corner. Here the walls are truly massive, so much so that the obligatory giant was drafted in to explain the mighty work.
The grand entance is at the eastern end, but it hasnt fared well over the last two millenia, at least two other smaller entrances are at the east and west.

Go west from Buckie on the A98 taking the minor road north at the Mill Of Tynet handily placed near a hotel. Upper Auchenreath is the first farm track east. Go the end of the track, then head north to the second field. The cairn is slightly to the west.

As its alternate name suggests some kind of justice was carried out here. Canmore seem to do it an injustice by saying a small cairn some 18 meters wide once stood here. I’d like to know what they think is big!

To me the satisfying thing is that there are any remains at all. the present farmer must take a massive amount of credit as it looks like he takes care of the site. I know that he puts poles up to mark the site so it doesn’t get any further damage during harvest. So good on him.

The site is about 18 meters wide and is 0.5 meters high with views to the Moray Firth and maybe more importantly south east to the Hill of Maud.

Strange to be happy when there isn’t much to see. Then again it’s good to learn that some people care.

Visited 12/4/2011.

From A98 just before Cullen head south on the B9018 thru the village of Lintmill until the first minor road west at Nether Blairock farm. From here go for a mile (approx) until the first corner. Stop here, as forestry roads lead to the site. Walk a few yards and take a the track going in a north easterly direction. This is a beautifully quiet place, a stark contast to noise of the match I’ve just been to and the singing on the bus (1-0 us). But a great way to start the day. Its early morning and the this part of the world, at least, is tranquil. Follow the track for another mile and the tree clearing narrows and a hill appears. Cross over and climb.

Most of the rampart seems, to me, to be in quite good condition. The west heads north to arc round and head south in the east to eventually end with an abrupt drop into quarry. The ditch/rampart height must average at 4 feet all the way round except for the two ditches at the southern flank. A possible entrance is in the north. The fort’s interior is now covered in trees but in the middle there seems to be usage. A small circle of stones contains a couple of skulls and limbs of something. Seems pretty deliberate to me. Some kind of sacrifice, I hope not but I don’t know much about these things so I can’t really comment.

So with that done it was a pleasant walk back to the car from a site that I found quite inspiring for reasons I don’t know why. Time for a few more sites before catching the supporters bus to Perth for tonights game.

Visited 12/4/2011.

Visited 8.4.2011. First, a little preface. My only other visit to Mitchell’s Fold was in August 1999, when I came with my Dad. It turned out to be our last day out together, as he died a few months later. Along with a visit earlier the same week to Four Stones, I treasure those days out, as we were probably closer then than we had been for a long time.

So, as I walk down Stapeley Hill, eager to get to the circle, I am suddenly hit by a powerful and unexpected wave of emotion. And it turns out to be anger. Anger that my Dad stupidly let himself drop dead, so that he isn’t here to share these visits with me. Blimey, perhaps you don’t get over these things as much as you think. And then it’s gone, passing as quickly as it arrived, like clouds across the sky on a windy day.

And without further ado, the circle is upon me. Or I’m upon it, rather. Although my previous visit is remembered fondly, I also remember it being busy. And I don’t remember the circle being quite so brilliant. But today I have it under a clear blue sky, all to myself. This is a magnificent site. A spacious ring of stones, of varying sizes up to a slender pillar, taller than I am. Corndon Hill looms to the south, an obvious relationship. But over to the west, the panorama of Mid-Wales and southern Snowdonia, across to Cader Idris, makes for a truly jaw-dropping setting.

The nearby outlier and cairn add to the sense of this being part of a complex setting, but there’s too little left to give enough clues. But then that’s how we like it, perhaps.

I spend a long while in and around the circle, still in splendid isolation. Eventually I must leave, as there’s still the long climb up Corndon ahead and the sun is beating down fiercely. Cheers Dad, I’m only sorry you weren’t with me on such a lovely day.

Visited 9.4.11. After a mooch around The Hoarstones, the obvious route south-westwards follows a track through the Forestry Commission woodland, emerging onto access land and the lower slopes of Stapeley Hill. From here it’s a short uphill pull to the hilltop. Stapeley has two modest summits, roughly of equal height at just over 400m. But although modest, this is enough elevation to provide a wonderful panorama on a clear day.

To the east the rocky ridge of The Stiperstones, while a short hop over the Welsh border to the south, the view is dominated by cairn-topped Corndon. Over to the west and northwest, the various mountain ranges of southern Snowdonia, from the Berwyns to Cader can be seen, fading into blue in the hazy heat.

The northern summit is crowned by a small modern walkers’ cairn. A few earthfast stones protrude through the short grass, maybe indicating that an older structure once stood here. Nothing is left now.

Crossing the saddle towards the southern summit, the cairn comes into view without much warning. A low ring of earth and protruding stones is all that’s left, either suggesting serious robbing of a larger mound, or possibly a ring cairn. Some of the stones stand upright, inside the “ring” of earth that marks the outer edge of the cairn.

The southern summit is topped by a larger walkers’ cairn, sitting on a natural(?) mound. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if this didn’t have older origins as well. Well worth a few minutes of your time, if only to take in the view. But the real business of the day is still to come, so it’s onwards southwest to Mitchell’s Fold.

Two videos from the weekend, the first a minute long and 11Mb, the second 11mns and just under 240Mb (like other fileshares the free download times look to be based on dial-up) :
rapidshare.com/files/457098362/apex_Head_of_Work.wmv – basically the top of the round cairn, rapidshare.com/files/457096748/Head_of_Work.wmv – the whole thing walked around

What a strange little oddity this is, far too close to the roaring A55, though out of site of it, the oddness trumps the roads proximity.
Not marked on my map, but Burl gives thier co-ordinates in Carnac to callanish, and coflein confirms their existence by tentatively confirming them as a Bronze age two stone row.
Untill recently they were mostly hidden in the bracken at the side of the road, but concerned locals who have moved them at least twice, and periodically whitewashed them, have now built a gateless fence round them and a nice info board tells the story of the horses leap (Naid-y-March).
But how odd to find two standing stones, both cut short, either side of an old lead mine (now filled in), it kind of has a Gwytherin four stones feel to it, just swap the road for the church.
Funny how this place has escaped my attention for so long, barely over an hour from my house and I never knew it was there, after driving past within a hundered yards on the A55. I liked this place very much, I climbed over the fence and sat with my back to the northwestern stone.

This stone is on private land belonging to Trelew Farm.
www.trelew.co.uk

Built into the wall, it is recognised as a monument although some might say it was ancient farmers making use of a large lump of stone...we may never know?
Another stone has been identified nearby lying recumbent in the wall.
Within five mins walk of Boscawen-un, this whole area seems to have more standing stones than any other part of Cornwall.

Wow! photos do not do this stone justice..it’s a big un!
Easy to find just up the drive to Trelew Farm. It is on their land but they are happy for people to visit. In fact guests using the farm for B&B are encouraged to walk through the fields to visit Boscawen-un passing another menhir on the way.
See link for details
trelew.co.uk/

This stone is on private land and the field is used to keep horses in. I was advised that the landowner would probably not want people walking through the fields.
The stone can be seen from the road just east of St Buryan but it is narrow at that point and not easy to stop.

10 April 2011
Fantastic sunny day with little wind. Decided to do a circular walk taking in Watch Croft, Carn Glava, and Bosigran. Approcahed Watch Croft from the west, parking the car beside the fork in the road with the ‘modern’ quoit above Morvah. A Bridleway leads up the hill to the old mine and the adjacent houses. At the entrance to the houses we turned right and followed a vague path up to the summit and trig point. BE CAREFUL..plenty of pits in the area...they may not be very deep but you never know!
Even in early April the amount of undergrowth makes going off path difficult but we made the summit easily and took in the views. The standing stone is just south of the summit and a little bit of a disappointment after the others we had seen in the previous 24 hours...but nevermind.
From here we headed east on a well used path to Carn Galva...always the highlight of any trip to the far west.

Visited 9.4.11
If travelling north towards Cloigyn, the field gate you need to access is on the right, just before the (welcome to) ‘Cloigyn’ sign. The small lay by (one car) is a further to the south.
Deciding to take Sophie with me I gingerly walked up the busy road keeping will into the kerb. I then had to clamber over the old rusty rickety metal field gate (with Sophie in my arms) and trudged up hill towards the large twisted tree stump. It is only when you get to the top of the hill that Garreg Fawr becomes visible – and a large beast it is.
The strange thing is that the closer we got to the stone the more Sophie cried. In the end I didn’t hang around long as it was impossible to ‘enjoy’ the visit with all the crying going on. As I walked away from the stone back down the hill Sophie’s crying became less and less – eventually stopping when I got back to the gate.
I wonder if she could ‘sense’ something – more likely she just wanted her bottle of milk!!

Visited 9.4.11.
Found it!!! In the same field as Y Garreg Goch standing stone.
Follow directions for Y Garreg Goch. When you enter the field look to your left and you will see the top of a roof and chimney of a house over the field hedge. Scan across to the right, along the hedge row and you will see a single large tree. Just to the right of the tree, in the hedgerow (behind the barbed wire fence) completely covered in ivy is Pistyll Gwyn. It would have been impossible to have spotted this stone in the summer. I only just noticed it because its silhouette stood out through the hedge. Even then I had to peel some of the ivy off to confirm it was a standing stone underneath and not an old tree stump! Felt very pleased with myself!
The stone is about the same size as Y Garreg Goch.

Visited 9.4.11
I parked near Clos Teg farm house and took a surprisingly muddy path up to the field in which the stone stands. I would dread to think what this ‘path’ would be like in wet weather!
A five minute squelch and you are there. A large stone which is well worth a visit but make sure you take your wellies if not visiting during a heat wave.
It was a pity I didn’t have my camera with me as I would have had a cracking picture of Dafydd alone in a large green field, picking dandelions for his mother under a blue sky; with a standing stone behind.
Ah well, as least I have my memories.

Visited 9.4.11
Taking the main road north out of Kidwelly you shortly come to a narrow turning on the left sign posted for Bryn Glas / Penlan Uchaf farm. Take this turning and head uphill until the road takes a sharp turn to the right – there is just enough room to park at this point on the left in front of a field gate. Go through the wooden field gate, down the slope and through another wooden field gate on your right. You then step over a small stream and walk up the hill. As you approach the top the stone comes into full view.
The stone is about 6 ft high x 4 ft x 2ft covered in yellow, white and green lichen.
The coastal views to the south are cracking – a great place for standing a stone.
This is an easy site to visit although technically there isn’t any public access to the stone.
Well worth a visit when in the area.

A beautiful April day (8.4.2011). The sky is bluer than blue, stretching wide over the Shropshire hills. Access to the circle is easy, as the 553 bus from Shrewsbury runs to within a mile of it (at least it does at the moment, but local bus services are under threat in this area – evening and Sunday services have already gone).

The directions given in Reg’s post are spot on. Where the track enters the Forestry Commission woodland, you’ll see a low boulder on the left hand side, as well as a wooden waymark. A trail runs along the edge of the wood, until you come to a (currently fallen) stile directly into Hoarstones’ field, which is marked to show that the access is permissive.

This is a great little circle. Although its stones are small and many are missing, the form of the circle remains and the site has a great view of Corndon Hill, with its multiple cairns. The largest stone is in the centre, Burl questions its antiquity, but if modern it isn’t out of place and it has a lovely yellow lichen topping, like so many other standing stones.

A nice appetiser for the wonders ahead, a visit to Hoarstones and then up Stapely Hill makes for a superb approach to Mitchell’s Fold to the south.

A small, low bowl barrow on Warren Heath, which is on the edge of the Higher Hyde nature reserve. Not the best photo but I had my brother with me and he wanted to see nature stuff – lizards and such so I didn’t get a chance to walk to it.

This is a short, smooth pillar stone, just over a metre high. It is unrecorded on the O.S. map.

This is quite a large stone, over 7ft tall. It is situated in a field behind Lislea House.

Head south from Logie Coldstone on the A97 taking the first minor road, west, signposted Groddie. Keep going until Bridgefoot were the tar ends and stop. There is plenty of room for parking. Also you will just have gone past Milton Of Whitehouse souterrain.

Good boots, sticks, waterproofs, water, clean clothes are or pretty much essentials for this walk. Look west and a stile can be seen. Up and over, thru the gates, past the ruined croft until the next gate. At this point there are two choices, take the path south or north. I chose south. From here the path, sometimes good or bog or snow or mud winds itself around the bottom of the Little cairn hill gradually climbing. I kept going until the path met a track which went further up the back of Little Cairn. At this point I headed cross country, crossing the Coinlach Burn to go thru the heather in a north westerly direction bypassing the 2nd hill, Mid Cairn. From here it begins to get quite a bit steeper and snow still hung about. Fortunately I’d fitted spikes to my boots so hardly any chance of slipping.

Over the ridge and go in a North Easterly direction. This led to a path that leads straight to eastern end of the top section. The cairn is at the top on the western end, so another 1/4 mile. As seems the norm the trig point is surrounded by built up stones forming a much needed wind break.

Slightly to the south the cairn still stands defiantly against modern man and the weather. It is made up of quite large stones. Unfortunately misguided idiots have placed smaller stones on top making a weird pyramid shape. Shame, but it still stands at 17 meters wide and 1.7 meters tall. The views are fantastic, almost unbelievably Bennachie can be seen to North East. Lochnager to the South, the Cairngorms to the west and rural Aberdeenshire to the east.

Even tho it was a warm day it was violently cold and windy up top. So wrap up warm.

On the way down I chose the path down past the Mid Cairn. To start with, tho rocky, this seemed a good idea. Go past the cairn and go steadily down to jump the upper reaches of the Coinlach Burn. Climb up the ridge following the path. From here it became, for me, a nightmare. It is violently steep, unrelenting it would have been much better to go the way I’d came but curiosity had taken me to the other cairn. The path by this time is a slippery shambles and with the spikes and sticks serious injury was avoided. Eventually I reached the bottom but my ankles and feet were in agony. The little shuffling steps being a tall person’s problem. 874 meters of sheer hell!

Still I’d reached the bottom, no real injuries and weather, as arranged, had stayed reasonably good all day.

(31/2 hours up, 21/2 hours down)

Visited 7/4/2011.

Myself and my wife and of course the dog climbed up on St. Patricks Day. I had read about a heart attack enducing climb but being honest we didnt find it too bad.
I had read a write up on mountianviews about following a field wall and coming up from the north side and this is what we did, finding the going a lot easier.
When we got up, the cairn itself is great. Its approx 10m diameter. What is really interesting is that every second kerbstone of the kerb is set radially. Since I had heard of it Ive been thinking of a of Mogh Roiths Burning Wheel or a cosmic wheel. I know this is a very rare set-up in Ireland but Im not sure how rare. I tried to unsuccessfully find another radial cairn near Mallow in Co. Cork.
There is also a kist housed in one edge of the cairn and an unusual standing stone on the opposite side of it.

This court-tomb is right next to the sea and I believe is the most southernly court-tomb in Ireland. When I visited there were a couple of those signs about being on a farm up, so I got in and out pretty quickly.

Monandavan is set in a beautiful valley in a beautiful part of the world. It is also set in the middle of a field used for equestrian sports. Fortunately the season hasn’t started so no dirty boots.

Follow the directions to Kinord but stop 100 meters approx along the track and look north. The low outer ring is some 16 meters wide with the inner ring being 8 meters. To my eyes it looks possible that most of this site remains except the passage to the inner chamber. Almost makes me wonder what a little TLC would reveal. Then again that is maybe the reason to keep on looking and wonder. Sadly some field clearence fills the inner circle. On one side of the valley was the soon to climbed Morven (and it’s horrifying descent) and Mulloch with it’s nightmare western side. (that is for another day!)

Visited 7/4/2011.