Latest Fieldnotes

Visited 5.3.11
Directions: Take the B4282 east out of Cwmafan you soon come to Pen Y Castell farm on your right.. Don’t try to park at the farm drive as it is very posh and you will soon be spotted! Instead there is a turning on the right just before the farm (leading to an ‘executive’ housing development) where parking is easy. Park on the side of the road and you will see a nice new wooden field gate. Over the gate and take the short but steep walk up the hill. When you get to the top you will see the remains of the enclosure behind a wire fence. For a change there was no barbed wire on top so jumping over was easy! It takes 10 minutes to walk from the car to the enclosure.
The remains are well preserved with a single bank / ditch – about 0.5 metres high from the inside but well over head height when standing in the ditch. The site is not big but it was obviously well defended when in use. The site is well postioned for viewing down the various valleys.
All in all well worth a look when in the area. There doesn’t appear to be any official access to the site.

Coflein describes the site:
An oval enclosure, c.72m E-W by 32m, occupying the summit of a steep sided hill, defined by two concentric banks, or scarps, c.10m apart and having an E facing entrance.

‘Visited’ 20.3.11
Whilst visiting the nearby Giant’s Cave Long Barrow I took the opportunity to try to spot this site, which I first saw mentioned on Megalithic. I pulled up on the grass verge and spent a little while trying to spot anything obvious. There were two possibilities – one in a ploughed field and the other in a grassed field next door. Both were little more than slight ‘mounds’ in the field. These could equally have been perfectly natural? Nothing else to report I’m afraid.

Visited 5.3.11
Directions: From Buarth Y Gaer Hillfort head down hill, keeping the trees to your right. In a large field, home to many sheep, there are the remains of this defended ‘enclosure’. At least that is what the o/s map shows but I couldn’t see a thing! Not a sausage! There are two long low ‘mounds’ which run across the field but these looked natural to me. Perhaps these were the remains?
Half of the enclosure is under the trees, the other side of a barbed wire fence, so maybe the remains are better preserved there?
All I managed to get out of this visit was a pair of muddy trainers!

Coflein describes the site:
Gaer Fawr is an oval enclosure, c.50m E-W by 38m, defined by double banks and ditches, has complex outer works, roughly concentric to it, with further banks & ditches & a W-facing approach way, c.164-210m overall diameter.

Visited 12.3.11
I spotted this site on the O/S map as being not far from Coity Burial Chamber.
Taking the very minor roads east then south from Coity you come to a farm entrance on your left. There is just about room to squeeze one car against the hedgerow here – there is a public footpath sign opposite.
Go through the gate and head off to your right, into the next field and aim for the rocky tree covered outcrop.
Although the surrounding fields were well managed, the site of Coed Y Gaer seemed quite ‘wild’ and unkempt.
There is a small rock cliff to climb up and the whole of the site is overgrown with brambles, bushes and trees. There are several barbed wire fences crossing the site and to make matters worse it has partly been used as a rubbish dump. Amid all this it was difficult to make any sense of the site and I didn’t hang around too long. All in all not a place I can recommend.
There is no public access to the site.

Go visit Coity Burial Chamber instead!

Visited 5.3.11
Directions: Take the very minor road north midway between Baglan and Cwmafan and eventually you come to a bridle way on the right; which presumably gives access to the transmitters on top of the hill? (Foel Fynyddau) Park here. Opposite you will see a metal field gate. Hop over the gate and head up the steep hill. You will have to cross two barbed wire fences and towards the top of the hill you will see a ruined stone field wall. Once over the wall, look for a rust metal field gate, ahead, to your right. Once you get to the gate the remains of Buarth-Y-Gaer Hillfort are easily seen in the next field. Unfortunately you have to climb over yet another barbed wire fence!
It is a steep, uphill 15 minute walk to get to the site from the car.
The enclosure is quite large and the single rampart is pretty well preserved, standing acout 0.5 metres high from the inside and between 1.5 and 2 metres high when standing in the ditch. The inside of the enclosure is quite ‘lumpy bumby’.
Due to the steepness of the climb and the number of fences to climb over I would suggest that this is a site for the dedicated and those fairly fit and agile!

Coflein describes the site:
Buarth-y-Gaer is an oval enclosure, c.140m E-W by 104m, set about the summit of Mynydd-y-Gaer, defined by a bank and ditch, with a W facing entrance. A cairn (Nprn307229) crowns the highest point of the interior.

Visited 5.3.11
Directions: Take the very minor road north midway between Baglan and Cwmafan and eventually you come to a bridle way on the right; which presumably gives access to the transmitters on top of the hill? (Foel Fynyddau) Park here. Opposite you will see a metal field gate. Hop over the gate and head up the steep hill. You will have to cross two barbed wire fences and towards the top of the hill you will see a ruined stone field wall. Once over the wall, look for a rust metal field gate, ahead, to your right. Once you get to the gate the remains of Buarth-Y-Gaer Hillfort are easily seen in the next field. Unfortunately you have to climb over yet another barbed wire fence!
It is a steep, uphill 15 minute walk to get to the site from the car.
The Cairn itself is easily seen within the earthworks. It is 20 paces x 15 paces in size and the centre has been dug into. There are large stones next to the ‘hollow’ which I assume are from the cairns centre?
There are decent views to be had to the north.
Due to the steepness of the climb and the number of fences to climb over I would suggest that this is a site for the dedicated and those fairly fit and agile!

Coflein describes the site:
A mutilated circular mound, 13.1m in diameter and 0.9m high, set upon the highest point of Mynydd-y-Gaer, within the ramparts of Buarth-y-Gaer (Nprn301301).

Head south from Rhynie on the A97 until the B9002. Take this road, which goes past two very old churches and Castle Craig (my brother wrote a book about this) and keep going until Longlands. This croft has been modernised, however about 500 meters further on is Whitehillock croft which, unfortunately, is completely ruined. Fortunately the site’s standing stone still proudly stands almost acting as marker to indicate the start of Aberdeenshire. (I was tempted to say Drewland, Mr SC!)

I parked on the track to Whitehillock and climbed down to valley bottom. The Burn Of Craig is at the bottom, taking advantage of my long legs I jumped. There are narrower bits for shorter people. Then walk thru a boggy bit and then up to the stone.

It is a beautifully shaped gray granite and is 1.22 meters tall. Almost shaped like a wizard’s hat.

Visited 24/3/2011.

Ord Hill is in a stunning location stuck between two hillforts, surrounded by stone circles, cup marked rocks (many found by Tiompan) and more cairns.

Leave Rhynie, on the A97 south from Huntly, and take the Wheedlemont minor road at the south end of the square. Follow this road to the Templand farm signpost. Fairly easily found as Upper Ord Stone Circle is in the second field up from the road. The cairn is at the southern shoulder of Ord Hill looking down onto the circle.

In 1866 a cist was removed by a tenant farmer and further mutilation has continued by sheep and rabbits. The rabbit damage allows us to see how the cairn was constructed. At ten meters in diameter the cairn is best preserved in the south east (so Canmore says). I love this area, this being my fourth visit this year, and there is more to discover so I guess I’ll be back fairly soon.

However the pub being shut, in Rhynie, at lunch time is a nuisance so the shop in the square has to do. Good butteries tho!

Visited 24/3/2011.

This is an amazing place to visit, the bog island where the Derrynaflan chalice was found. Ive included it here based on the folklore piece I saw on the information board in the town of Templemore on the Goban Saor;

“According to ancient Irish legend, Derrynaflan, an island of fertile land in the middle of The Bog of Allan, was the home of Gobaun Saor, the architect and builder of some of Ireland’s and Britain’s great ancient stone structures”.

More info on Derrynaflan and the Goban Saor

slieveardagh.com/info/derrynaflan.html

libraryireland.com/LegendaryFictionsIrishCelts/I-9-1.php

Derrynaflan Island
Derrynaflan is an “island” of green pasture surrounded by brown bog. This was the site of an early Christian monastery, and also the home and burial place of the legendary craftsman, An Goban Saor.

On 17th February 1980 locals Michael Webb and his son, exploring with a metal detector, found a priceless treasure hoard near the pre-Romanesque church within the monastic enclosure, giving rise to a national controversy about ownership and compensation.

The Derrynaflan Chalice, a silver paten, a paten stand, a strainer and a bronze basin, all dating from the late C8th / early C9th, are regarded as among the most important surviving examples of Insular metalwork found so far. They were eventually “donated” to the Irish State and are now in display in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.

Derrynaflan also has a remarkable Sheela-na-Gig, the largest of a group of stones about 100m SSW of the ruined C13th Norman church on the hill. The stone depicts a skull at the top and two large testicles at the bottom. In the centre a small face appears, followed by a small body, a vulva and 2 upturned legs. This Sheela turns out to be a sword handle and the head and feet match a fully clothed Norman lord. Two other stones are of a similar pattern.

In the North Tipp Inventory this is down as a possible hillfort. Growing up we always knew the story about the cross that had been erected here in the 1930s and had been struck by lighting and collasped. It has since been replaced by a metal cross in the 2000s. What is interesting is that they picked this hill to put the cross, similar to other hills which have been christainised, it maybe says something about the older history of the hill.

The Inventory records it as follows “A large irregular shaped area enclosed by two earth and stone banks with intervening fosse (wth 2.5m) visible from S through W to N. The natural fall of the cliff-edge forms the defensive features at E. The inner bank (wth 2.5m; int H 0.7m; ext 2.5m) is the best perserved while the outer bank (wth 2.5m; int H 0.5m) is covered by peat and furze. The ground surface in the interior is very rugged, occupied largely by rock outcrop. There is a low circular platform (diam c.20m) containing a stone edged wall at the N end of the hillfort interior, possibly contemporary with the hillfort construction.”

This unusual arrangement of stones is in a field across the road from the main mound of Borrisnoe.
It isn’t marked on the OS map or in the Arch Inventory but to me looks very clearly to be the remains of some kind of megalithic tomb.

This rath is across the road from a national school and not far from the main mound of Rathcroghan.

Herity’s book describes it as “A wide deep ditch, 7m in weight, provided material for a bank 38.50m in diameter which encloses a small area with a convex surface at the top. There is a good deal of stone in the bank which stands out from the knoll in the profile of the monument towards the east. An entrance on the east side is placed opposite a causeway across the ditch”.

Ring-barrow 28.5m in diameter and a ditch and bank. Charcoal found during excavation dates the mound to 150-200 BC.

This stone is found by walking through a number of fields from Owenynagat. This is cattle country with high barb-wire fences and lots of beefy cattle so I would regard this walk as only for the brave.

According to Michael Herity’s book on the area “The standing stone of red standstone is 1.85m high, 1.4m by 25cm at the base. This Coirthe Dearg, Red Pillar Stone, reputedly marks the grave of King Dathí (Nath I), nephew of Niall Noíngiallach, Niall of the Nine Hostages, who was killed by a flash of lightning on an expedition at the foot of Sliabh n-Ealpa”.

Niall was of course the slave dealer that brought St. Patrick to the Irish shores (or some my memory of primary school history goes).

We visited this amazing site as part of last years Irish megameet. Access to the site is good, its up a lane and it seems to be ok to drive up and park beside it.
Thats the easy part, getting the courage up to slither in and see what is inside is another thing.

I understand that a reused ogham stone acts as the lintel to the souterain and this in turn leads to the limestone.

megalithomania.com/show/site/2240/oweynagat_cave.htm

Fourwinds gives us a little bit on the massive folklore associated with this spot.

Id highly recommend bringing some clean clothes because it was very muddy inside and this was the height of a very dry summer so I would imagine that it could be dangerous during wet spells.

The Claidh Dubh is a linear earthwork of approximately 22.5km in length.

Its first mention in literature was in 1846 the earthwork"is a remarkable ditch which runs westerly from Cappoquin, into the couny of Cork, how far is uncertain. This the Irish call Clee-Duff, and give several uncetain and improbable reasons for this work. As it extends through the plain along the sides of the mountains, it is conjectureed that this was no other than a fence or boundary made to preserve their cattle against Wolves, which coming down from the mountains made frequent havock among them; and this seems the most probable cause why this entrenchment was cast up”. (Ballyhoura Hills Project)

However it is thought that townlands / parish / land divisions do stop on either side of the earthwork and this division dates back in written record to 12th century.

The following link dates the earthworks construction to prior to 100AD and this date links to to other earthworks in Ireland such as the Black Pigs Dyke up North.

excavations.ie/Pages/Details.php?Year=&County=Cork&id=6087

My own impressions of the sections I located was that if this is a linear earthwork then there may be other such earthworks left undiscovered as to me it was indistinguishable from other sections of ditch around it.

12/03/2011 – I’ve love going to Tyrebagger hill, with it’s little tower on top and great views inland and of course it’s fantastic stone circle on the east side. Today, after reading about a ‘recumbent’ stone, Bishops’s Cross and The Great Stone on the south side I went to have a look.

The ‘recumbent’ stone (NJ 8431 1212) is one big stone with the odd cup mark. corner of a wall and hard to miss. I couldn’t find the Great Stone, think it’s probably gone now but about 250m east along the track, the Bishops’s Cross (NJ 8438 1187) is still there. All worth a visit if you are in this neck of the woods :)

ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_060/60_269_273.pdf

canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/19561/details/tyrebagger+hill/

Take the road that lies west of the Loch of Bosquoy that runs from opposite the Shunan lochans past the Merkister Hotel to end near the Harray post office. Approaching the bend at Mill Cottage looking due south the broch lies on a promontory sticking west into the Loch of Harray.

Hmm. What do we have here then?

Merrick reckons ‘there is a ragged, botched feeling to the state of this cromlech’. I concur. However, despite coming from the sublime Garnwnda a little to the approx west, this wedge tomb still presents a visually impressive aspect upon arrival, thanks to restoration between the wars, of course (thank you). The size of both the capstone and supporting orthostats ensure this is a substantial tomb indeed... if a little rough ‘round the edges, so to speak. And then some. Hell, I prefer to term it ‘character’. Rest assured there are no smooth surfaces here.

I park to the west beside a cemetery of rather more modern origin – one assumes – a bridleway leading past stables to Penrhiw Fach farm. To be honest I lose my bearings somewhat, so ask a passing ‘horsey’ person for directions to the burial chamber. ‘Don’t look out for those sort of things’, she replies. Fair enough. Except, upon rounding the next corner, there it stands in full view in the centre of a field, a gate providing public access. No comment.

In typical wedge tomb fashion the visitor must recline somewhat to enter. However this enables me to escape the truly biting wind prevalent today. Which is a bonus. I also have the opportunity to inspect a lovely growth of orange lichen upon the rear stone.... see even here, within such an austere structure, there is exquisite beauty waiting to be discovered.

Even a thorn has a rose...... OK, perhaps that’s not a very elegant paraphrase; neither is the Pen Rhiw wedge tomb, for that matter. Elegant, I mean. But to find a wedge tomb this side of the Irish Sea is a wonderful thing in itself. Unlike my sense of direction, needing a compass bearing to find my way back to the car...

At the side of the (newly widened) road in Ballinascorney, I’ve passed this umpteen times and never recognised it. It’s quite hard to spot, but very distinct when you do. From bottom of fosse to top of mound is maybe a foot, and the bank is quite clearly visible too. It’s very circular and maybe 8 metres in diameter, though cut into on the side closest to the road. I would call this a disc barrow or a ring barrow (as it is called in Monumental About Prehistoric Dublin by Tom Fourwinds, from whence I got my directions).

I used to view these ‘earthfast’, ‘sub-megalithic’ burial chambers as not worth the effort of visiting. That I was wrong is, I think, self evident; not least since even the remnants of a largely destroyed monument still serve to focus attention upon the landscape it once formed a part of. Yeah, for me location will always be the primary attribute of a prehistoric site... so it depends upon where the tombs are....

It goes without saying that the Garnwnda chamber is exquisitely placed, overlooking, as it does, the justifiably famed northern Pembrokeshire coastline. That much can be surmised by anyone who can – ahem – read a map, after all. What isn’t so obvious, however, is the size and sheer aesthetic beauty of the capstone supported upon its single orthostat. Hey, this mighty stone doesn’t need any additional, supporting acts... not when it puts in an oscar winning performance of such magnitude just by remaining upon this hillside. No need for any pretensions here. It’s an impressive, substantial tomb appearing to emanate from the very crag upon which it was built. In a way, I guess, it did.

Nevertheless it is the location which elevates Garnwnda to the status of a megalithic ‘must see’ for me. Despite the overcast weather, the fine hillfort of Garn Fawr crowning a somewhat murky skyline to the approx west, this tomb speaks volumes.... much of which it would perhaps not be prudent to try and put into words. Even assuming I’ve understood, of course. Suffice to say it feels ‘right’ to be here, you know? It is not a ‘pretty’ spot, the gorse and brambles not at all out of place in a landscape which might well be labelled brutal. But nature is brutal by nature (ha!). And Garnwnda seems to me to reflect what its builders thought about their relationship with the earth. Perhaps such a relationship was too intense for a 21st Century mindset to begin to comprehend millennia after the fact? However I think we – from the vantage point of a ‘modern world’ which has no doubt reduced our capability for sensory perception – underestimate these people at our peril. There may well be much to learn at places such as Garnwnda which is not only relevant, but possibly essential to the future of our species? Here’s to insight, then. In whatever form it may take.

Not typical of the island and don’t even know if it is recorded .

[visitedish 13/3/11] Apparently not much to see here, but as genuine earthern long barrows are rare in these parts, I headed over for a shufty. I only got as far as the field next door though. From there the barrow is clearly flattened from what it was but surviving and obvious as a raised bank in the field.

Then I met the friendly son of the farmer who owns the land and was politely told I was off the footpath and I should ask permission from the farm if I want to see the barrow close up...

Access is either across fields from sparrow pit or via Harrat Grange farm which is within clear site of the barrow. *whistles*

[visited 13/3/11] My overriding thought as I reached the summit of Gautries hill was how small the hill was to merit a cairn on its top. I guess being one of the northern most of the limestone hills was enough. Great views in all directions but the North where the looming hills of Dark Peak are starting to form.

Another reason for placement was presumably the fact you could have seen Harrod Low and perryfoot from up here.

The cairn itself is well formed and small befitting perhaps the small hill, but obviously worked over by an antiquarian or two. Definitely make the effort to pop up here is you are visiting Harrod Low.

Access is across a few fields from Sparrow pit, through a bit of mined wood and then up a (dare I say it again) small hill.

[visited 20/2/11] This is in better nick than its near neighbour, Cow Low, presumably due to the additional effort required to get up to the ridge top. It does have a big chunk missing however so has been had at. The snow was a foot deep in places and its fair old bitter up here in winter but I’d say this was worth the effort. However I could only see 50 metres or so due to the mist, so the panorama sometimes on offer didn’t open up for me.

Access is over a gate and up a steep field so probably not for the unfit unless they have a while. Its on open access land.