Latest Fieldnotes

Visited 31.7.10.
Whilst visiting Fognam Clump Barrow I ‘happened upon’ this site – I had no idea it was here!
The site it is well worth visiting and is easily seen alongside the B4000 near Ashdown House. It is very reminiscent of the surviving fields of stones found around the Avebury area. Wow!
Certainly gives you an idea of how the area would have looked when the prehistoric sites were being built.

Visited 31.7.10
This site was very easy to access. Heading west towards Ashdown House (N.T) along the B4000 from Lambourn you come to a small parking area which has several public footpaths leading from it (about 1 mile before you reach Ashdown House). Park here.
You will see a footpath running north and south and a path running south east (behind the trees next to the road) – this is the path you need to take. The field on your right is fenced off and the barrow is clearly seen in the corner of the field straight in front of you. (The barrow is actually visible from the parking area). When I visited the grass was high around the barrow but it was easy to spot with a large squarish stone sticking out of the top. There were various other ‘lumps and bumps’ in the field but I don’t know if these were smaller barrows or natural? O/S map only shows one barrow.
There is what looks like a standing stone to the left of the barrow amongst the trees but I assume it is natural as there is nothing showing on the O/S map.
Whilst visiting the site it is well worth continuing along the B4000 towards Ashdown House to see the field full of erratic stones on the left before the turning to the House. It is very reminiscent of the surviving fields of stones found around the Avebury area.

Visited 1st August. I was lucky enough to arrive at the farm in time to catch a very nice lady in the yard. Permission was readily granted to visit before I had chance to ask ( yes, she knew why I was there before I said anything)
I took lots of pictures but Postie has it mostly already covered. Just some faintish ones of the carvings to share. They are generally quite small, being a couple of inches long at most, and some are difficult to make out. There are quite a few but faint, easily lost in the natural lumps and bumps of the stone.
A Panoramic view of the Brecon Beacons. I will be back to this one.

Visited 12.6.10.
Easy to find to the north west of the White Barrow on the road from Tilshead village towards Chitterne.
A little way along this road is a large car park on the right. Park here and the barrow is clearly seen in the field about 100 yards away. There is no public access as it is on MOD land but the barrow is easy to spot on the brow of the hill and worth a look when in the Tilshead area.
The long barrow is marked on the map on Horse Down – next to the road.

The solitary stone in the wall is easy enough to see, but the walk to it involves some pretty wet trousers as the long grass is now soaking wet. Across to the circle itself, I’m now having to wipe the lens between shots, which suggests the weather isn’t improving! But this is what I’ve come for, these lovely stones, standing tall and impassive against the backdrop of the Stride. No cows today, just me and the rain. Each stone is markedly different from its fellows and most bear some kind of cup marks – natural? Old? Recent? I don’t know!

Into the trees as a gentle rain starts to fall, I remember why I liked Doll Tor so much the first time I came. I have the place to myself, a little secluded corner where everything is green (including the stones of the circle). This site may have been heavily restored and a couple of the stones bear the scars of hideous treatment (they’ve been shattered then stuck back together with little regard for cosmetic surgery), but it remains a winning combination of peace and seclusion coupled with a delightful stone circle. There is a fair bit of tat hanging from some of the trees (I leave the ribbons but feel compelled to get rid of the horribly rusty “pagan” key fob) but it doesn’t spoil my enjoyment. I sit for about 40 minutes and no-one else comes near. But eventually the bus timetable starts its inexorable call and I must get on to my next site.

From here the path heads west to the minor road that takes quarry traffic along the edge of the Moor and more importantly gives access to the Andle Stone in the field opposite. This enormous natural outcrop is surrounded by a swathe of the same purple flowers (really must find out what they’re called) and is a lovely summery spectacle, except that the clouds are closing in and the rain is just starting to fall. I don’t climb the Stone as I picture myself getting up but then being stuck on the top! Instead I cross the field southwest to the little wood that contains one of my favourite sites of all – Doll Tor.

The Cork Stone, unmistakeable and impressive, soon comes into view with its inevitable attendant sheep. Behind it an enormous bush of purple flowers is in full bloom (must learn some plant names). I am reminded of the shots Faerygirl recently posted of the stone in a bleached-out snowy landscape, very different from today. But the jelly-baby shape is the same. Circling round to the NW of the stone I am struck by its P-shaped resemblance to one of the slabs at Stanton Drew Cove.

Returning to the path, Stanton Moor South is just off to the left (east side of the path). Another well-heathered circle, the bank can nevertheless be easily made out, with one upright on the inner side – not sure if it’s actually in situ though as it seems to lean against the bank.

The next major site is Stanton Moor Central, a wide (c.20m) circular enclosure surrounded by a well-preserved (restored) bank, with an entrance at the south and a marker stone numbered 56, a reference to the numbering system used by Heathcote who dug and meddled on the Moor in the 1930s. This site is easy enough to find but is also virtually impossible to photograph owing to a thick covering of heather (where’s Postie with his step-ladders when you need him?).

It’s been dug, it’s been camped on, it’s had fires lit in its centre, but Nine Ladies remains a wonderful, must-visit site. Situated in a perfect fairy clearing amongst silver birch trees, it has a lovely atmosphere. I arrive to find no-one there, amazingly. Apart from one sheep, who steadfastly refuses to move from the circle and appears in all the pictures I take. Well, she was here first after all. It’s funny the things you notice on a repeat visit. I notice the embanked nature of the circle, as well as the fact it’s actually on quite a slope. To be fair, I’ve usually been here in either thick mist or heavy rain (while an archaeological dig was underway), neither of which do much to aid a proper consideration of the place. The King’s Stone outlier seems to be in a sorrier state that I remember, not only graffiti’d but it has had a chunk knocked off along the top edge, exposing the redder stone under the weathering. I stay for a while, until a family arrive and the children have their pictures taken in the circle (hopefully the start of their own stone-appreciation?). I head east, noticing what look like some small cairns in an area that’s been cleared of vegetation.

Stanton Moor North, a well-preserved embanked circle (or is it a ring-cairn?) is northernmost and first stop-off. Right near the northern boundary of the Moor, in the trees to the left of the main north-south path, it’s easy enough to find if you know it’s there, but easily missed if you don’t. I’ve only been here once before, in Spring 2002, and I half-expected this to be completely overgrown. It isn’t, and the bank is clearly visible. There are a couple of small (a foot tall or so) uprights protruding and the entrance gap at the NE is easy enough to see. It is however very difficult to get a decent photograph, as there are trees growing on the circle as well as closely surrounding it. I half-heartedly try climbing a tree, but this isn’t really my thing and I’ll probably end up stuck, so enough of that! It’s a nice spot here, but I’m eager to press on, so I head back to the path and on to the most famous of Stanton Moor’s many sites, Nine Ladies.

This was such a surprise; a friend in my walking group mentioned they had seen it from the road on the way Scotts Poor this morning where our walk started. The walk didn’t take in the longbarrow so the friend who had spotted it offered to stop later at the byway a mile along from Scotts Poor (SU285562 Exp 131). An astonishingly large longbarrow on the brow of a hill overlooking some stunning views. A very odd shape, sunken in the centre it gave the appearance of two banks; reading the previous fieldnote it appears to have been plundered in the past – a couple of sarsen stones are still visible at what must have been the entrance.

It had the lot, the views, the hawthorns and the sheep. A great end to a totally enjoyable walk.

Today I decided to celebrate Lammas weekend by participating in a ten mile walk to Knolls Down, Tidcombe Down and Hippenscombe Bottom. Today’s walking group were a lively mixture with a few of them in training for more strenuous hill walking at more exotic locations.
Harvest time in Wiltshire and the crops are being gathered in; some of the fields already cut but most still golden with barley, wheat and oats.
My favourite Wiltshire walks are the ones take in an Iron Age hill fort and this one took in one of the highest (at 950ft) and largest hill forts in the county. Fosbury overlooks Hippenscombe Valley on one side and the North Downs of Hampshire on the other.
We stopped for lunch on the bank overlooking Hippenscombe before walking along to the wooded section with its massive much initialled beech tree and down into the valley

To me Stanton Drew is one of the best and one of the worst stone circles in Britain, on the one hand the stones are massive colourful giants gnarled with ages unguessed, and theres not just one circle but three, and not just three circles but a cove too, but...
On the other hand more than half the stones are pushed over perhaps into pits dug to recieve them, so now they barely poke through the grass,
and the Great circle is almost too big to take it in as a whole circle, the passage from the big field to the south west circle was muddy last time (the kind of mud that stinks and melts wellies), this time it was bovine rush hour . The south west circle is loads different in character to the other two, it occupies a small hillock and the stones are smaller.
Although there may be two hands, a visit to Stanton drew is always worth the long drive (unless you live in Bristol) and one I will continue to make, news of the cove being part of a longbarrow and a lost henge surrounding the stones, just makes the place all the more interesting.

Its about ten years since I first came to Stanton Drew , that first visit I didnt come here, cant quite remember why, perhaps the size and breadth of the stone circles shone too brightly, the second time I made sure of a visit but I was decidedly not alone, this third time proved the charm, untill a German couple came through the gate, I sat at a table and fiddled with my camera for a few minutes then they left.
So is this not a cove then? moss’ longbarrow news makes a lot of sense, the only other coves that come to mind is at Arbor Low and Avebury and they are decidedly inside the circle, but here at Stanton drew theres a big enough gap between circle and cove they could fit a church in, also at Avebury there is a big long barrow nearby,so are they stones from the chamber and always have been or were they reused as a cove?
With late afternoon sunshine dappleing the stones through the leaves of the trees, and swallows pelting by every twenty eight point 3 seconds (approx) it was my best cove moment so far, just then I heard a shout from the carpark they had cleaned the dog sick out of the boot and were ready to go.

Why has a Henge gone unvisited for seven years?
Jimits almost fieldnotes then nothing, It was time to set things right.
Situated on the northern slopes of the Mendips near the intriguingly named velvet bottom, Gorsey bigbury henge lies beween two farms by what looks like a very minor road on the map, its very overgrown, no car has passed this way for years but it is now a very pleasureable walk.

We appraoched first from the east and attempted a parking at Lower farm, strictly private no parking sent us scurrying back to the road, we then tried the western farm, the way was clear so I knocked at the door and took a half hearted look around the farm but couldnt find anyone, I turned back but then spotted a women changing out of her caving gear, I asked her if the owners were around she said they were in the house so I knocked again but still no answer, hmmmm what to do? I ethically parked the car next to the cavers van hoping permission would rub off and onto me, issued instructions to wife and daughter on what to do if confronted by farmer whilst me and Eric were off hengeing.
The overgrown old farm track leads almost directly to the henge, cows watched us pass them by, unconcerned by us they continued chewing the cud, despite some slight nettleing we made it down the fenced off nature trail to the point where we had to jump the fence to gain acess to the henge field, Eric shimmied under the barbed wire, and I expertly vaulted over it.
We could see the earthwork from a distance allaying my fears that the place was too flattened out to be able to appreciate it properly, the Hawthorn trees (one now dead) also marked its position.

Some small stones are visible on its northern side I dont think they’re part of anything original probably dumped there by farmers past, the place seemed lost and unknown, a few standing stones and thered be a visitor centre over the road or a regular ferry service, as it is I couldnt think of a more pleasant place, the sunshine was only interupted by fluffy white clouds, the cows left us in peace, complete lack of other people, no all obscuring vegatation and Eric had much to say as usuall and not all about the henge either.
The walk back to the car was once again nettleing but otherwise uneventful, I’m off to Stanton Drew now and there is nothing and I mean nothing that I would rather do.

After a long visit to Bristol zoo (my favorite creature was a tiny bright green wasp) and a nice picnic on Durdham down in the centre of Bristol, I unveiled my megalithic plans for the rest of the day, they were less than enthusiastic it has to be said so I agreed to go easy on them, our first visit is to a dolmen that is no further from the road than someones house.......no really.
Along with Hamish’s directions and the splendour that is Google Earth (streetview allows you to take a real look at what your looking for) it was a piece of cake to find the place even in the most hateful place on Earth... the city.

Parking was easy, the house is number 59 and there is a name plaque next to the front door saying Cromlech, just in case there was any doubt.
I gave the doorbell a push and the lady of the house soon came, wearing my most pleasant of faces I asked politely if she had a burial chamber in her back yard, and could we please have a quick look, I gave my camera bag a tap as if it would explian everything, she looked a bit perplexed for a second and I thought I’d got the wrong house, then realisation dawned upon her face and she said its over there behind you, “Really”? said I, “oh yeah, can we have a quick look”?
“Sure you can” she replied, I dont think she gets many visitors, which is a shame, because how many dolmens survive in these urban settings, more than you think but still not many.
The capstone is bigger and longer than I expected and looks as though only one upright is left kind of supporting the capstone, since the last TMAer visit five years ago the garden has come on really well from a gardening perspective
and I do really like gardens but not when it obscures me stones, take solace knowing that the stones are safe and might outlast the roads and houses it is surrounded by, as we walked back to the car, down the road is the only hint at what kind of view it would have enjoyed all those years ago, looking down into the wooded Avon valley, it then reminded of Gwal Y Filiast in Wales, and what does Avon mean? its Welsh of course for river.

A further 100 meters east a smaller cairn can be found. Time hasn’t been kind as all matter of destruction has applied. Fortunately something still remains. A mound about six meters wide stands at 30 centimetres tall. Surprisingly two kerbs remain in place on the eastern side.

Unfortunately some other cairns, of various sizes, have been smashed to bits.

Visited 1/08/2010.

Just south of Portlethen on the A90 take the minor road west towards Durris, two RSCs are at the start of this road. This is a terrible road, full of twists and hidden points so if driving please take into account slow moving farm traffic. It is also used by many cyclists, like me! Keep going until the second minor road north . Take this and park at the filled in quarry, popular with anglers. Stranog Hill is on the opposite side.

Over the gate and head slightly west past an old quarry. Granite lintils litter the area, what a waste of beautiful stone and workmanship. Over a fence and up the hill.

Canmore don’t say much but I think they must have been here when it was overgrown. There does seem to be a double kerb going around the cairn, tho this has been badly damaged. A small bank exists between these kerbs. At its maximum it stands at 10 meters wide and half a meter tall. Great all round views at this very under rated site. Had a good look for rock art as there are a few rock plates here suitable but my eyes spied none.

Visited 1/08/2010.

Sitting upon the Barrow Copse long barrow, wondering where to go next... as you do... it suddenly dawns upon me that I’ve never been to East Kennett. Eh? How did that happen? Ah, that’s right... access ‘issues’. But now I’ve thought of it it’d be rude not to go say ‘hello’ to arguably the most mysterious and enigmatic of the area’s prehistoric treasures – I mean, even Silbury’s been excavated, if only to generate a myriad further questions..... not to mention almost destroy the monument in the process. But that’s another story.

Parking near the ‘no coins accepted’ ‘phone box – a paradoxical sign of the times in ‘timeless’, chocolate box East Kennett – a short stroll past the church and patrolling ‘guard geese’ and ducks gives access to a byway, this bisecting the ‘White Horse Trail’ a little further on. Turn left at this point and the majestic tree-line, which I assume must cloak the long barrow, becomes the primary focus now. There are no signs forbidding access from the main track and no fence. How refreshing. Logical, too, since the visitor can skirt the bountiful crop with ease by following the field boundary past a particularly gaunt hawthorn. The retrospective is of the iconic Silbury across golden fields of wheat, or barley. No, I think it’s wheat. Where’s Sting when you need him? He’d know.

The long barrow is completely shrouded by it’s green canopy of high summer, as if Nature is reluctant in the extreme to grant an audience with her monument. No, you’re not gonna destroy THIS one, too, you swine that you are! A glance back across the Downs to poor West Kennett Long Barrow swarming with figures and I know exactly what Rhiannon means upon reading her own excellent account. But what if the great Boyne tombs hadn’t have been excavated? And look what happened to The Thornborough Henges, quietly bought up by a commercial company when nobody was looking. Sadly it would appear that precious treasures cannot be ‘left alone’ in this cynical world in the hope that things will stay as they are. People will take advantage, sooner or later, with an eye on the eternal ‘profit’, methinks. In my opinion East Kennett must be highlighted, celebrated for the exceptional monument it is and the message sent out that ‘we are watching’. It was never designed to be the beautiful sister of WKLB hiding away at home. Surely?

I wish I could say that this was a perfect visit, but the noise from a nearby speedway meeting (I kid you not!) competed with the wind in the trees for a time. In the centre of a World Heritage Area? What is it with people who couldn’t give a monkey’s about any one else? The contrast when the tannoy announces which respective muppet has ‘won’ and they all go home is, well.... Rhiannon’s notes say all I wanted to say about the barrow itself, except a pair of overtrousers is a good idea to brave the head high (!!) nettles which colonise the massive mound in summer. The trees add much atmosphere, particularly when acting as foreground to a very large barrow marooned within crop to the SW. According to the map there is another example the other side of the long barrow.

A walk around the site emphasises just how massive East Kennett is. Will it ever be excavated? Apart from by the numerous beasties which call it ‘home’. It is an exciting prospect, although things will then never be the same again, will they? Then again the current status quo would not appear to be the intention of the original builders. Something this substantial was clearly meant to be seen, not hidden away for the personal enjoyment of the few! Yeah, you shall go to the ball! EKLB wears an exclusive shining gown of white chalk by established designer M Downs..... not available in the shops for another six millennia.

Going south from on the B979, leaving the B9077 near Maryculter, take the second minor road west. Go past Altries and the hamlet of Airyhillock pulling in at the first track heading south. A nice and not very steep walk comes next.

The stone stands with a dry stane dyke built each side of it. It stands at 11/2 meters tall being aligned to Bennachie to the north west. The stone known as the wife stands slightly to the west and is shorter.

visited 31/07/2010.

There is no easy route from Knockargety Hillfort to this cairn. So climb down the northern flank and walk towards the west on the forestry road. To the north a gate appears, over this recrossing the bog to another gate. From there its over the fence and to the top of the hill in front, Knock Hill

The cairn is almost destroyed but is almost 12 meters wide with a circular bank. Perhaps a couple of kerbs remain in place. Nearby are the complete shambles of smaller ruined cairns and hut circles. Smashed to bits by tractors etc. A shame but the scenery is still good.

Visited 31/07/2010,

The ramparts at the west and east ends of this fort were never completed, which can be seen at their best on the eastern side. But what a place to build a fort, glorious all round views in countryside overspilling with loads of things for the prehistoric eyes to see.

From Ferneyhowe cairn it would be easy to say straight up the hill. There is no path from this side so its over the deer fence across a bog and over the next deer fence. Add in a barbed wire fence then quite a steep climb and you’ve made it. The path in the fort is part of the Tarland Walk system and takes the walker back to the village of the same name.

Visited 31/07/2010.

With Turriff Show weekend upon us, the North East has its normal summer weather sun and downpour, and down in Deeside it’s exactly the same.

Turn east along a newly resurfaced farm track, just south of Blelack farm on the A97. This track leads to a number of cottages the last of which is Ferny Howe. The cairn is to the south east of this house. Water proofs and decent boots are needed as this is the starting point for another three sites in a long circular, or should have been, route.

The long cairn stands at some 16 meters wide and is almost a meter tall. Various rubbish has been added so it looks taller. Canmore says no kerbs can be seen but I disagree. At least 1 earthfast boulder sits on the eastern flank and probably if some the turf and extra materials was moved some more might be found. The mountains to the west are spectacular but at this moment shrouded in mist.

Visited 31/07/2010.