Latest Fieldnotes

Visited 13.11.10
Directions: Taking the A4059 north east out of Penderyn you soon arrive on the open moorlands of the Beacons. On your right the first disused quarry you come to is sign posted Cefn Cadlan Quarry (has a metal barrier across the entrance) This is NOT the quarry you need. Instead, keep on the road and in a mile or two you come to another locked metal barrier, also on your right but without a sign post – park here.
(It’s just before the sign stating POWYS)
If you walk around the barrier and walk up the old track you will see a Trigg point on the highest summit in front of you. Head towards the Trigg point and you will easily see the cairn to your right. The cairn is approximately 1 metre high and 3 metres in diameter. The centre has been ‘dug out’ to (I assume) provide shelter for walkers?
The walk form the parking area to the cairn takes about 15 minutes. There are good views to be had in all directions from the top. You also get an excellent ‘birds eye’ view of the Cefn Esgair Carnau cairns across the road.

Visited 13.11.10.
As Karen is now within a couple of weeks of having the baby I promised I would only have a ‘short day’ out and be back by noon, so it’s up early and heading north to the Brecon Beacons National Park while it’s still quite dark. Fortunately I had timed it right and by the time I park it is light and sunny.
Directions: Taking the A4059 north east out of Penderyn you soon arrive on the open moorlands of the Beacons. On your right the first disused quarry you come to is sign posted Cefn Cadlan Quarry (has a metal barrier across the entrance) This is NOT the quarry you need. Instead, keep on the road and in a mile or two you come to another locked metal barrier, also on your right but without a sign post – park here. (It’s just before the sign stating POWYS)
If you walk around the barrier and walk up the old track to the quarry you get an excellent ‘birds eye’ view of the cairns across the road. Looking like small grey islands in a sea of yellow/green grass. Very easy to spot.
Warning – you will need wellies to visit to the cairns if my experience is anything to go by! When you cross the road the land dips down and becomes little more than a marsh, with places several inches under water. The first cairn I came to was the one on its own, a little south west of the main group. The cairn was about 0.5 metres high and about 5 metres in diameter -well preserved with no grass/vegetation growing over it. A two minute walk then takes you to the main group of cairns, all ranging from 0.5 meters to 1 metre high and between 3 and 5 metres in diameter. Although one or two were in poor condition, most were well preserved.
I really liked it here and am surprised that these cairns are not better known. It was a wrench to leave and I would like to visit again one day in the future when I have more time to sit and contemplate. It is quite a striking setting, on flat moorland between two hills with view north to the higher peaks of the Brecon Beacons.
The cairns are only a 10 minute squelch from the road and some of them can actually be seen from the road once you know where to look.
All in all a cracking place to visit and well worth the effort; but remember – bring your wellies!

p.s.
Further north along the A4059 (on the right hand side) the O/S map shows a ‘burnt mound’. If you wish to visit, there is a small parking area opposite. You will see a small pretty stream opposite the parking area. Follow the stream (down stream) and you will come to a point where the stream bends sharply. This is where the burnt mound can be found. Not worth the effort really although it was a pleasant walk alongside the stream.

Head south from the coastal village of New Aberdour taking the Glasslaw/Cowbog road. After approximately a 1/2 mile take the first farm track east then south to Sunnybrae Farm.

To the west of the road is a bog which has had several attempts at drainage. A new ditch has recently been dug as well. The crannog sits near the edge of the bog near to the track with its causeway heading in a north easterly direction. A cairn on the nearby hill has been completely ploughed out, a pity because Bennachie can somehow be seen from here. Not much of a walk and not much to see but Dundarg cliff fort is nearby!

Visited 12/11/2010.

This place is the reason for this day out on a sunny Dartmoor morning, the main objective is the big cist circle and stone row, I knew there was more in the clearing over the fence, but wasn’t expecting wife to be up for a prolongued stone hunt, I was wrong.
The big cist is well impressive, and of the sort you can get into, mmmmmmy favourite.
The stone circle surrounding it is half missing and I only recognised it for what it was after some time (only five minutes i’m not that stupid) .
The stone row emanating from the circle is a low wriggely slightly curving kind of row, the early start from Glastonbury had been worth it, we had the place to ourselves for ages, everyone who passed by carried on up to the Tor, had we put them off ? or is the Dartmoor thing to do go up a tor or two, then maybe an old bridge? sounds like missing the point a bit to me.

Hayley now made my day for a second time and readily agreed to a minor stone hunt over the fence, we tied the dogs together and off they ran into the long grass, just seconds later the stone row is come upon, not a long one but a straight one.
The terminal stones are the largest, dont know if thats the norm, but it did look as though it were aligned on a peak on the horizon, since found out it is Haytor rocks. From the tallest stone in the row a view of Bellever tor can be seen, this is the only stone on the hill that can say that.

North towards the Tor half a minute walk and there is another perfectly round cairn circle, and in the middle an overgrown large flat stone flush with the gound suggesting a hidden cist. From this circle another is just twenty yards away, with a more exposed cist but not one that I could get into, maggie could though, the circle stone thats north of the cist is a small wonder the flat top is a perfect recepticle for sitting buttocks, seemingly too perfect for chance . Of all the cist circles up on this hill these two are the closest, hinting at a more special relationship with its builders, but then, can they tell which one was built first or were they all going up at the same time.

Walking back up to the stone row now on our way back to the carpark I spy yet another low cairn circle, no sign of a central cist but then the stones themselves are only centimeters above the grass so maybe its underground, in the northern(?) arc are two large slightly curving stones, I struggle to say why I mention it, but I do and they are thereand I remember them.

There are more megaliths hidden in the trees, two or three cists a circle and a row, but frankly I wasn’t expecting all this so I was more than happy with what we did get to.

Just maggie the black jack russell and me can rustle up excitement enough for the walk round Grimspound, and excited I was too, for we had plenty of time to rummage about in folks houses, to walk the long walk round the walls, to climb the Tor and look down upon ye mighty works of old.
We sat upon the Tor awhile and time just seemed to fly, maggie was looking wistfully down the valley sitting good next to me, but I can tell she wants more walking, the girls playing in the best house have gone now so we now have it and the entire pound to ourselves, but to no avail, we must leave it to the moors for sunset at Scorhill is our last port of calm.

The first time I came here was for an equinox sunrise, we stumbled our way to the circle in pitch black, the sunrise was obscured by the big hill we’d walked down to get to it and even then clouds gathered and it was a none event.

Armed and forewarned I kept this one till the last of the day, it was a perfect evening just the wife and me and our two dogs, even the clouds gathered to make the sunset more dramatic.

This is the stone circle that the camera flies over at the beginning of Country file, but I have no wings so must by neccessity walk amongst them.
Their roughness strangely contrasts with the uber mellow mood that descends upon us, and some of that feeling returns right now just by writing about it.

Stone circles are good but good stone circles are gooooood.

We parked by the gate, but didnt block it and quickly jumped it, here is a lost treasure if ever there was one.
The southern henge, once the entire curve has been noted it can be seen to be really huge, higher in some places and flattened in others, its entirety covered in ferns and brambles, what hides the henge from us hides us from the farmer/huntsmen. Swings and roundabouts.

Standing on the bank of the southern henge and looking into the next field the central faded henge can be seen but a fence climb seperates us from a walkaround of it and its other neighbour, but it can still be seen in the field through the trees.

The incomplete henge can be seen from the other north/south road, the arc can be seen by standing on the gate or possibly by going through it.

[visited 6/11/10] This is a delight, especially in the late autumn sun casting long shadows with the pheasants adding a symphony of noise about me. I was released from my own nest for a few hours out to enjoy for my birthday and picked this as it fulfilled 3 main criteria; away from the masses, still in very good nick and, unlike most now in the peaks, it was new to me. I’ve been to Seven Stones of Hordron Edge a couple of times but hadn’t realised anything else this good was on the same moor. Really should finish reading through “Stone Circles of the Peaks”! Next up for me on here is a nice long walk taking in this, Seven Stones of Hordron Edge with hopefully Moscar Moor and Bamford Moor North as well.

Access is across wet peat bog and up a moderately steep hill, without decent paths. Many many thanks to Postman without whose instructions, I would no doubt still be struggling to find this delightful little circle. For anyone else following the instructions, two amendments may be helpful; firstly after crossing the stream follow the trees up the hill and secondly head in a North-North-Easterly direction from the modern stone, not North east as stated...

Today was my second visit to Stony Littleton long barrow – my first last summer.

Firstly, thanks to my friend for providing transport and plotting out a walk from the village of Faulkland. Weather-wise a rare exquisite November day with sunshine and a clear sky; the going was muddy in places but no matter, my walking boots finally well and truly broken in. Wellow Brook was running fast and full from the recent rain, the walk up to Stony Littleton over two stiles was just as I remembered it from last year. Today we had this wonderful site completely to ourselves, my friend crawled to the back of the barrow to investigate the small side chambers. I suffer from claustrophobia but managed to get as far as the first two chambers. The stonework inside, though no doubt restored, is just fabulous.

Outside the barrow a pair of buzzards hovered overhead; a flock of seagulls circled. There seems to be something mystical about buzzards over long barrows. We stayed for a bit, sitting on the edge of the barrow facing the early afternoon sun before returning to Faulkland village – followed the lane on the other side of Wellow Brook then the lane out of the village of Stony Littleton – at this time of year probably the easiest route from Faulkland to Stony Littleton.

(Note: We examined the large ammonite in one of the entrance stones though today it was in shadow so didn’t show up in any of photos.)

Finished our megalithic day with a visit to Westbury White Horse hillfort – the sun going down, casting long shadows onto Bratton long barrow.

Visited today, 10/11/10
An exquisite day weather-wise, the final day (perhaps) in the summer’s ‘Cotswold-Severn long barrows Tour’. It is my friend Ravensroost who I must thank for providing the transport, maps and often much of the research too.

In the village of Rode we parked the car in The Bell pub carpark before setting off over the fields; although waymarked with stiles we did in fact have to crawl under a barbed wire fence (found an alternative and much easier way back). Defra signs on a couple of fenceposts marking out route of a walk.

The barrow itself was a complete surprise – I knew nothing about it until today. The large stones are pale yellow limestone (Bath stone perhaps) I thought I saw some white quartz in one of them. Although we were not conscious of walking uphill when we looked around we could see we were on higher ground – panoramic views. A great start to the day before carrying on to Stony Littleton long barrow.

Very easy to find as the B3180 passes straight through the middle of this handsome Iron Age fort. We happened to be staying about half a mile from here while working in Honiton and were vaguely aware of it’s presence the first night of our stay as we drove through. The next morning gave us more tantalising glimpses as we made the return drive to Honiton with perfect low sunlight filtering through the copper coloured leaves of the beech trees on and within the banks of the fort. The fort itself sits just slightly atop a wild and open area of common land and the OS map shows evidence of a number of tumuli in the surrounding area but sadly, we never had time to investigate these. The banks which are quite substantial in places are made up largely of smooth rounded pebbles from an ancient river bed and a little further down the road from here is a company extracting the same material for aggregate. This area must once have been a large alluvial plain stretching between the River Exe in the West and the River Otter to the East. A great place to wonder around on a sunny autumn day with stunning views across the common in all directions

Mitchelhill Rings – Sunday 7 November 2010

A couple of hours free, I plumped for Mitchelhill Rings, a stunner of a hillfort on the eastern shoulder of White Hill. I nipped through Biggar out past the Rugby Club, over the top at Crosscryne and descended into the lost valley of Kilbucho. Parking isn’t hard but it isn’t easy. There is a fairly wide verge with some great old Beech trees at the side of the road nearest the hillfort (over the years I haven’t found anywhere better or nearer, but tuck your car right onto the verge as this is a narrow road with tractors and farm equipment rattling up and down it). Across the road from a little cottage go through a gate then follow the burn to the base of the hill. You can either go straight up the side of a forestry plantation or follow the track which winds up to the right. I just go straight up. The fort is about 300 feet above marked by bumps on the skyline. Once you reach the track halfway up follow the line of the spring which trickles down the side of the hill (it is betrayed by a fine healthy growth of reeds and a trickling sound). The source of the spring is just below the level of the fort, where (one above the other) two deep, mossy, reeded-up basins about twelve feet across and six feet deep catch the water of the spring. As I stood after the steep ascent, gathering my breath, my heart pounding (as it frantically tried to squeeze blood through my larded-up arteries), I wondered if the fort builders might have created these basins as an easy way of gathering an easy water supply on this high hilltop.
From the fort the views are incredible, the remains are impressive and look out over the gap which leads through to Broughton and Drumelzier. The isolated valley which Mitchelhill Fort broods over is an incredible place. It has no less than eight hillforts stretched across a space of less than four miles by one and a half miles. They guard this lonely valley’s few narrow entrances and exits. Many of the hillsides are scarred with rows of cultivation terraces, at least half a dozen “settlements”, many enclosures and I’m sure the modern roads pretty much sit on what went before. There are a number of burial cairns and one (possibly the pretty much destroyed one on Threepland Hill) held some very important people because two identical gold lunalae were discovered in 1859. Bronze Age axes and spears have also been found in the valley as well.
Sometimes a good map or diagram is worth a thousand words in helping to describe or imagine a place. here is a link to an OS map of the valley with the option of clicking for aerial view etc.

bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=55.59186199568212~-3.505965423583973&lvl=13&sty=s

I had intended making the short crossing over the top of White Hill to Cow Castle hillfort for a few pictures – but the beautiful, still, frosty afternoon suddenly took a much more aggressive turn and first sleet, then snow began blowing in horizontally. I descended back down by the spring and said hello to a farmer and his collie dog as they rode their quad along the hill track carrying some bags of sheep feed. They waved back and headed further round towards Kilbucho. I was back at the car in ten minutes and in front of my fireplace ten minutes after that. The sleet battered at the window and I reached for the log basket. I was glad I was not trying to keep warm at Mitchelhill Rings.

From the standing stones head to the top of the hill past some very large flat rocks. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any rock art. The burial cairn has all but been removed and replaced by one of these modern jobbies which I dislike. (same feelings as Gladdie)

To say it has totally gone might be wrong as on the eastern flank boulders still remain along with odd humps and lumps so an aerial photo would be a good thing. Unfortunately for me I left my camera on the 3rd standing stone so another climb needed. Good boots as the land is fairly boggy.

Visited 23/10/2010.

A short distance from the stone circle/kerb/cairn at the Chapel Of Sink is the legendary Ark Stone. Many think, and I agree, that it is the recumbent from the nearby site. It seems very sad that they had to move it.

Head east from the cairn to the fence then head north. Follow the dyke/fence until the corner at which the Ark Stone acts as a meeting place. As usual brilliant, today very cold and damp, views of Bennachie, particularly the Mither Tap.

Visited 8/11/2010.

Set off on Sunday in the expectation of getting a temperature inversion at Loch Earn but it was just beautiful clear skies , so had to put up with that .
Some new finds , two of which were notable in relation to their relatively limited viewsheds , something that I’ve noticed with other monuments i.e. they are sited metres away from what would be a very expansive view in most directions but an intervening ridge blocks much of it .In one case the marked rock is actually in the bed of a burn with sides 3m high and therefore a very limited view . By the time I found it the sun had gone in and the cup marks are not at all clear . In the other I have included a pic of the view that is only a matter of metres away .

Visited 6.11.10
Now it’s not very often I set out on a days ‘adventures’ with only one target in site but after failing on my last attempt, I was determined to succeed this time. Since it appears to be no longer possible to gain entry to the access road leading up to the former landfill site I decided upon a different tactic.
Once you find the village of Gelli (not as easy as it sounds as the road signs are not as good as they could be) I headed for Bwllfa Farm (as per Burl’s advice). It is probably easiest to ask a local for directions as it is a bit of a maze of terraced houses / side roads to navigate. (As an aside I saw my first house with Christmas decorations!!)
Once you have parked, walk up the track that takes you to the farm and you will come to the metal gate which is at the bottom of the farm drive. Immediately to the left of the metal gate is a sort of ‘home made’ wooden stile (strangely enough I saw two pigs feet at the bottom of the stile!). Climb over the stile and you come onto the road which leads to the landfill site (the same road that the bloke on the gate won’t let you up!). Walk up the road and just before you reach the locked gates at the top, you will see a parking bay on your right and a battered public footpath sign. Go up the grass bank and follow the chain link fence (on you left) for about 10 minutes. You will then see a green ‘shed like’ structure on the other side of the fence. The cairns are a bit further on, over to your right.
I am no expert and it took me quite a while a while to ‘get my eye in’ and spot what I believe were several of the cairns. They ranged from small ones, about 2 metres in diameter to large ones about 10 metres across. They were all covered in grass/moss and consisted of low mounds with stones sticking out of the surface. Some of the stones were large but most were small. There are a lot of ‘natural’ stones sticking out of the ground so it is possible that some of what I saw was natural and not a cairn. The ground was very uneven and the grass / brown ferns still fairly high so it was not an easy exercise to locate the cairns. The ring cairn (about 10 metres across) is in the same area but nearer the fence – there were several larger stones in this cairn.
From where I parked it took half hour to walk to the site and although I am glad I finally managed to visit –the ‘Welsh Stonehenge’ in all honesty it is hardly worth the effort. There isn’t a great deal to see although there are reasonable views to be had. The highlight for me was spotting what appeared to be a lone standing stone quite close to where the hill starts to shelve off. It is about 20 inches high and triangular in shape. Again, I am no expert so perhaps this was also ‘natural’?
One other thing I saw was an obviously recent burial site on top of the mountain. There was a small wooden cross with still freshly cut flowers around it. It made me think that over the thousands of years people were still using this site as a final resting place. Goes to show that some ancient traditions are still maintained? There are certainly worse places you could end up.

Visited 1/11/2010

In the fields at the foot of Oliver’s Castle, there is a small wild wood, with tangled undergrowth from which emerges a lively stream (carrying a surprising amount of water) at its western edge. This wood is marked on the OS map as Mother Anthony’s Well. Access to the interior was difficult, but once inside the wood,there are springs in abundance.
We had given up on finding the well in the wood and were walking around its perimeter to retrace our steps back up to Oliver’s Castle when we heard the clear sound of running water – and there it was, forming a small pool before falling into a fast flowing stream.

It is reputed to be the site of a Romano-British shrine, but archaeological finds there put its use back well into prehistoric times: flint tools from the Mesolithic and Neolithic; a Neolithic axehead and pottery fragments; Bronze age pottery and flint tools; and various objects from the Iron age, including a brooch, a ring and a whetstone.
ref: (Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Sites and Monuments Record).

Note:
The hummocky hillock landscape on the ‘other side’ of Roundway Down has an ancient, odd feel to it – hard to describe, walking through it is recommended.

A daytrip to Aviemore to travel on the Strathspey Steam Railway, 6.10.2010. I couldn’t exactly pass up the “ring cairn” shown on the OS map as being pretty close to the centre of town, so we had a wander along the main street to find it. Just past the fire station and sign-posted as “stone circle”, this is a great site if you come with no expectations (as we did).

Yes, it’s in a little suburban cul-de-sac, with houses very close by, but it’s still an impressive monument, albeit one lacking in atmosphere. But it doesn’t take much imagination to magic the houses and their towering hedges away and visualise the circle with the Cairngorms providing an irresistable backdrop.

Not visited, but viewed 6.10.10 from the window of a steam train on the Strathspey Steam Railway, which runs right past the stones (and the kerbed cairn to the NW).

Set in a lovely landscape of the River Spey valley, with the Cairngorms as a backdrop.

Splendid Isolation – Crookedstone – A Stone Alone

31 October 2010

My domestic duties done and household chores completed I nipped out for a couple of hours to seek out the Crookedstone. I turned out of the road-end and headed south on the A702 into an afternoon of perfect autumn stillness, brilliant sunshine, blue skies and rusty coloured hills.
I turned onto the B7076 after Abington and stayed on it, by-passing Crawford and ignoring the signs willing me to visit Elvanfoot and Drumlanrig Castle. After another mile, the B7076 curved over the M74 and a wee signpost bearing the legend “Crookedstone” pointed to a turnoff. I drove down and came to a wee level crossing. You have to cross the main Scotland/ England West Coast Rail Link to get to this site. The crossing gates are hand-operated and to raise them you have to pump them up by a handpump. I quickly changed my mind when out of nowhere a Virgin Pendolino hurtled past me, causing instant sphincter tightening fear and sucking the breath out of my lungs. I decided to leave my car where it was and cross the tracks by the wee pedestrian gates. I crossed rather quickly and was immediately spotted by a gang of sheep who showed a vague interest in me before rushing off along the peaty banks of the Clyde Burn like an absurd impulse towards Elvanfoot.
I tramped the half mile or so up the farm road. The stone is in a field next to the farmhouse and as I approached I was greeted by three large snarling, barking hounds. Thankfully they were behind a high fence. The racket brought out the farm’s occupants. They looked rather surprised to find a visitor wishing to see the stone but were not in the least bit “off-ish”. The farmer was kind enough to point me a way to access the field with the Crookedstone in it, and asked me to close the access gate firmly as there were tupps in the Crookedstone’s field who were aching to attend on the ewes in the adjoining field.
The stone is about two metres long and stands about one and a half metres high, pointing upwards at 45 degrees. It is covered with large natural looking cup marks and leans Northwards in its gently sloping field about a mile across the flat valley floor of the River Clyde from Air Cleuch. The top of the stone’s profile appears to mirror that of a fold in the hills to the North-East. I wondered about rising sun alignments. I wondered about the robbed-out cairns I’d seen at the side of the field. I wondered about the strange isolation of the site. Cut off on the West and South sides by the River Clyde, Daer Water and Potrail Water, cut off by heights of Beattock Summit to the East and completely cut-off from the North by the M74, the B7076, the West Coast Main Railway Line and the Clyde Burn.
A mile or so to the South there is a MASSIVE early settlement site which covers a wide hillside near the Daer Reservoir. With masses of material from the Scotland earliest visitors through to the very first farmers, it’s been under excavation for nearly five months with the hearths and tool finds right below the bottom of the peat. I wondered about that too and those first farmers checking on equinoxes, planting crops and keeping animals. The hills and valley floor here have three feet of peat growth on top of them now. The Crookedstone seems to stick a lonely finger up from its grassy field and say “We were here”.
On the way back down the farm road I climbed uphill under a couple of nice old Scots Pines and checked out an alignment of three stones I’d spotted on the way in. Set in the turf a couple of feet apart only their topmost edges and one side jutted out of the turf. When I reached the little terrace where the stones were I saw they had a range of cups on them, some very large, some small and some which looked like pecking. The Crookedstone has natural cups on it but the cups on these three stones looked nothing like them.
Again I found myself leaving a site with much more to think about than when I arrived, but maybe that’s how it should be. I’m detecting a pattern.

Visited 30.10.10.
Starting at the Maen Llia standing stone, I headed south east across the bumpy, boggy ground towards the small hillock at the bottom of the valley. I had to climb over a rust fence and leap over the infant Afon Llia River – not a big leap but the water was quite deep and very fast flowing. Climbing the rise you come to the remains of the cairn.
It is about 8 metres in diameter and easy to spot. Lots of stones sticking out of the grass and the remains of the cist in the centre. The cist is about 2 feet x 1 foot and had one lining stone remaining. The interior was largely filled in and covered in grass.
The Cairn is about 300 metres from the standing stone and took 10 minutes to walk. It is well worth checking out when you visit the more famous Maen Llia although it would probably make more sense to approach along the Sarn Helen Roan Road from the south. Access would then be very easy.

Visited 30.10.10
Parking at the small pulling in area near Maen Llia standing stone I walked back down the road a short distance (south) until I came to the wooden stiles on the opposite side of the road. There are two stiles next to each other – climb over the small one. The ground is very bumpy and quite waterlogged.
Heading in a south western direction a short distance I think I spotted the remains of the Barrow, although I am not 100% certain. (It is very difficult to tell for sure in this terrain) I was able to make out a circular ‘feature’ about 8 metres across and less than 0.5 metres high. It had what appeared to be a small raised rim around the edge and the centre seemed to have sunken into the ground rather than dug into.
As I say, I cannot be 100% sure that I found the Barrow but what I saw was in the right area and there wasn’t anything else nearby which looked ‘Barrow like’.

Re-Visited 30.10.10
This is a cracker of a stone and well worth a visit.
Since I last visited the walk up from the road was a bit longer than I remembered (took about 20 minutes) but just as wet! Many sections of the Sarn Helen road were underwater to a depth of a couple of inches. I have been to this part of the Brecon Beacons several times in the past and one thing is for certain – it always rains so bring your wellies! As with my previous visits, I had the place to myself and you get a good feeling when walking alone in such scenery, quite therapeutic really. When approaching from the north the Latin inscription is on the far side of the stone.

Re-Visit 30.10.10
Visiting Maen Llia is like visiting an old friend. Since my last visit I have visited many standing stones up and down the country but this remains a favourite of mine. I think it’s a combination of the size, shape, colour and dramatic setting. As a bonus it is very, very easy to access.
I notice that on the far side of the stone some moron has used spray paint to graffiti his name. I notice that this isn’t a modern form of vandalism as there is a name carved in the other side of the stone dates 1869! I am sure the stone will survive such minor irritations.
This is a fab stone, in a fab location – visit, visit, visit. You won’t be disappointed.

‘Visited’ 30.10.10
No so much a visit, more a ‘couldn’t find it’!
I parked on the side of the minor road north of Ystradfellte (plenty of room) and trudged off into the trees. Luckily I was wearing my wellies because as soon as you get in amongst the conifers the ground is completely sodden with hidden puddles aplenty. It was difficult to see far ahead due to the density of the trees and despite my best efforts I was unable to see the Barrow. I know I was in the right area but this one escaped me I am afraid to report.
One piece of advice to anyone else that goes looking for the Barrow – make sure you wear your wellies!