Latest Fieldnotes

visited 14.4.10.
What a whoppa! Situated at the entrance of (Leazby?) farm. The stone is a good 10ft tall and unmissable from the B3297. When I visited I parked at the farm entrance (next to a Tesco lorry which had broken down!) and observed the stone from the fence. The small field which the stone stands in is clearly private and was full of sheep at the time.

Visited 14.4.10.
Easily seen from the B3280. Park at the field gate and access is a straight 2 minute walk through 2 field gates / 2 fields. The site consists of a large mound of stones. There is no public right of way to the field in which the cairn stands so you need to either seek permission or do what I did – make a dash for it!

Visited 14.4.10.
Easily seen from the B3297. Park in layby opposite house. 25 metres to the right of the house is a field gate. The four (quite large) stones can be seen from here. If you want to touch the stones (like I did) a 30 second sprint there and back is required! You can of course always ask for permission and take a stroll!

Visited 14.4.10.
The road up to the hillfort is signposted from Carnkie – Carn Brea Castle. Follow the lane right up to the top where there is a parking area. The track itself continues onto Carn Brea Castle which is now a restaurant. Opposite the parking area there appears (to my untrained eye) to be the remains of a couple of stone dwellings? There are good views to be had in all directions – although I couldn’t see anything obvious to show the defences of the hillfort. There is a huge stone monument on the top of the hill which can be seen for miles around.

Visited 13.4.10.
Signposted all the way from the A30 at Drift. Follow the signs to the car park and then it’s only a 5 minute walk to the site. Be warned – on a wet day make sure you take your wellies!!
You have to walk through a field where cows are fed and it is very, very muddy. The village itself is quite similar to Chysauster although it does have the big advantage that you can go into the Fogou – it is worth coming here for that experience alone!
Th roads to the site are very narrow and bendy and have few passing places – take care. The small car park is alongside a house and can hold about 6 cars or so I would say.

Visited 25.4.10.
Easily seen from the B4319 – from one of several field gates. No public right of way to the stone but it wouldn’t take long to quickly run over if you wanted. I had little Dafydd with me who was asleep in the car at the time so I settled for a view from the roadside.

Visited 25.4.10..
I have wanted to visit this site for many years and at last succeeded! It really is an amazing place to find a chapel and well worth a visit – the views are wonderful. I was surprised how easy it was to reach the capel, simply park at the car park on the headland (information board) and follow the steep stone steps down. For some reason I was expecting more of a hike but it wasn’t far at all. Although it was a bit harder coming back up carrying a two year old!
Signposted from the village of Bosherston.

[visited 25/04/10] This is a peach of a fort. Very well preserved banks, with lovely views, in the middle of a walk in a wood and no massive hill to climb. The latter of which meant my belly didn’t thank me but I cared not.

Massive bivallate defenses stand out through the trees as you approach from the south-west. We traced the elongated horseshoe but mostly strolled near the cliff edge after going up and over the inner rampart which must be 3 metres high and maybe 6 from the lowest point of the ditch between the banks. Inside it’s grassy with several trees to stroll between.

The thing that stands out for me is just how close Clifton Down Camp is on the other side of the ravine. I had wondered whilst stood at Clifton Down Camp, not knowing where Stokeleigh was, whether they could have easily communicated. Standing at Stokeleigh you can see they could have shouted and just about be understood. They could have definately fired lines across attached to arrows and passed stuff back and forwards. It seems hard to believe the two camps were not occupied by the same tribe, unless it was some kind of iron age Joint Security Area. Of course Burgh Walls is just across the ravine to the South East as well. Whilst on the subject of inter-visibility of hill forts in the Avon Valley, from here you can also see North Stoke, Freezing Hill and Stantonbury, whilst Maes Knoll is possibly visible through the trees (definately visible along with possibly Tunley from Clifton Camp). As an aside, is Clifton Suspension bridge the only suspension bridge in the world you can see at least 6 hill forts?

Access is along well defined paths through a light forest. Its mostly flat and less than 1/2 a mile from where we parked (ST 555 730)

I didnt have an OS map for the place so I extrapolated from the Coflein map and marked an x marks the spot on my road map, then I google street viewed as close as I could. It was enough to get me there easily, infact it made me smile to see places for myself that I’d just seen on the computer 12 hours before. Applause due to Coflein, google and the internet in general.
I parked fifty yards from a house called Pant yr onn and walked with Maggie the Jack Russell up the stoney path. Whilst listening to a cuckoo and watching newly arrived swallows the view to the east began to open out, mountain peaks began to appear over the hilltops and suddenly we were there.
This is one of the strangest placed stone circles Ive ever seen, it looks almost deliberatley hidden amongst the rocks, if it was meant to be seen there are better places, though to be seen from where?
Just over the ridge on the next wide shelf is a cairn, not even a foot high but still discernible coflein gives it the same name as the stone circle.
Nine stones remain in the ring, one stone is just two feet away from a ten foot drop, and as Coflein is at pains to tell us (so much so that there are two entries for this place one a stone circle and the other a cairn circle) the northern stone is not broken there are two stones, the flat top one is a circle stone the other one a wandering boulder.
On the way back down we saw a Jay and a Heron carrying nesting material, and on the way from Mynnydd Pentre two cormorants at Tal y llyn.

Of my trio of stoney places today this is the second place to recieve me, the one in the middle, though not a piggy, but a real gem.
Inbetween Abergynolwyn and the steam railway station less than a mile down the B4405 is a small road leading up into the hills, if the road goes over the railway track your going in the right direction. You can either park here where the sign with a crossed out car is or you can save an hour and a tedious walk through the forest by driving to within a hundred yards of this enigmatic stone. Following the track through the forest is definatly the long way but easily the quickest. The track finally ends with a small place to park two or three cars and a footpath heads west from the forest onto the hills.
To begin with Maggie and me walked within ten yards of it, the views were so immediate we went right past it and off up the hill.
By the time I decided we must have gone too far we were up on the rocky outcroppy bit, where the best views are to be had and where Maggie couldnt stop trying to drag me over to the sheep, she only wants to play, not understanding what sheep think of all dogs, so to try and dampen her spirits we go over to a couple of dead sheep in varying states of decomposition, after a quick smell and a good look she was all mine.
We sat and waited for inspiration on some rocks looking out at the mountains, as my eyes wandered this way and that, they settled on some white things below us, I’d seen them earlier but avoided them as part of maggies sheep ignoring training, then the inspiration came, whilst looking further into Mynydd Pentre on Coflein I remembered that a cairn in the vicinity was almost entirly made of quartz, this was at least a better place to start than way up here. We ran down to the white things, which soon turned into quartz boulders, and there just ten yards away was a large flat stone could this be the one, no it wasnt it didnt have any grooves or rockart of any kind so back to the quartz. The quartz boulders seem to have dragged themselves away from the cairn, which is on a knoll and mostly undercover of that nasty thick grass.
From this definate cairn it was apparently just yards to the rock art dolmen capstone, but the longer grass really hampered the stone hunt.
But after perservering for almost an hour and copiuos perspiration our wanderings paid off and I let out a loud “whoop !!” Maggie wasn’t impressed.

There are more than twenty grooves cut into the stone,( which if picked up by a giant would make a good skimming stone), and at the edge of the upper surface of the stone is a worn smooth long dish shape. I dont think it is art ( and Damien Hirst isnt an artist, so what do I know) it is much more likely to be tool polishing/sharpening, what kind of tool I dont know stone or bronze, can bronze be sharpened on a rock ?
On firmer ground, the incised stone sits flatly on another stone which Coflein suggests could be a dolmen capstone, is the rest of it still there underneath it or has it been taken from a dolmen and brought here, I still dont know even after trying to reach my hand underneath it, Dolmens dont usually have two capstones,
very mysterious, wheres time team when you need them digging up some samian ware no doubt.

Another unimaginatively named cairn by Coflein.
As this cairn is furthest from the car it seems they were saving the best till last, though why a kerb cairn is better than a round cairn I couldnt possibly say, yes I can its because it’s got a kerb, they’re a little bit more interesting.
The Welsh government should make a council of tidy monuments, headed by myself we would visit ancient monuments great and small and if it is deemed that a tidy up operation is necessary then my team and me would come in and spend all day weeding and tidying, when weve finished a sign post would be fixed up by the road attracting visitors to these newly revealed ancient monuments, and people would say “wow I didnt know these were here” and they would wonder, sometimes aloud, why they built them here and who and for what reason, then I could smile and know that my job here is done.
Untill then we’ll carry on regardless.
The kerbing is most easily seen at the west through to the northern edges of thercairn,gorse clings to the edges of the cairn without mercy hiding most of the intersting kerb stones, the interior has been badly robbed for the walls nearby no doubt. Right next to the kerb and round cairn is a hill with a terrific view, down to all the cairns big and small and over to the mountain Cadair Idris and in the opposite direction down into the Mawddach valley and of into Snowdonia.
Whilst walking we saw a tiny brown lizard probably of the smooth variety, sun bathing it was till it saw Maggie then it wriggled into invisibility.

After parking near Gellilwyd farm in a one car layby follow the path west between two conifer plantations, the cairns are to your right and unmissable.
Some cairns are more famous than others, they somehow attain a name be it a Giantesses apronful or a Greyhounds lair and so on but some cairns remain unnamed and unseen, then when it comes to being added to an ancient monument record and no name is known who gets to name it and how do they choose its name to be handed down through the generations, spreading further than anyone could guess, what if anything was going on in the mind of these cairn namers. The Cairn upon a woodland saddle, it does sound kinda nice, evocative of summer playtimes maybe, but there are no trees here now, just spikes and hay.
What exactly the hay is I dont know, its all over the place and can be picked up so its not growing, it doesn’t half cling to dog fur and obscure stones.
The cairn is twice as big as it looks the stones dissappearing under the hay and gorse, several miles south is Cadair Idris, just 80 yards to the north west is the kerb cairn and twenty yards east is what looks like a smaller cairn though it doesnt really look llike a cairn, it has a whiff of hut circle to it.
The mountain views are breathtaking, as are the views down into the valleys, I wondered for a while why they are sited here, alright there are good views but that wasnt the reason i’m sure, the best I could come up with is, the folk lived down hill from here but were so totally awed by the landscape they wanted to get close but not too close to the mountain so this was a half way
measure, they didnt even dare to build the cairn in site of the summit instead making sure a small closer hill obscured it, but the summit of Craig Las was considered less of a blasphemy(?).
Just 100metres further west and the whole mountain would be in view, but for some reason this little place in a woodland saddle between two small hills was just right.
I hope ive made no sense what so ever, as this is just how the ancients make me feel, they had a big space to play with yet chose the least inspiring corner of it. I dont know, I just dont know.

Just a couple of miles to the west of Dolgellau amongst a labyrinth of tiny lanes, look for Gellilwyd farm house, and park opposite the house right next to a telegraph pole and the footpath stile.
Cross the stile and in thirty yards turn right after a ruined building, go uphill following the path between hillocks the cairns are all to the right side of the path.
This little cairn is the smaller of the three definate cairns (there are two small somethings here also) and has a ruined cist at its centre.
Not quite a metre high the cairn has spine tingling views down int the valleys and beyond to the higher parts of Snowdonia.

From below Easter Voy followed the loch edge around The Ness. Voy simply means Voy means bay or inlet. There are two of these sites ; site 1 is RCAHMS NMRS record no. HY21SE 85 at HY27071511 then slightly further away a likely burnt mound site 2 is HY21SE 86 at HY26091490. Somehow I failed to see the ever-visible causeway linking the former to the land, probably that short distance walking the field edge rather than the shoreline deprived me of this or its more visible from the islet than the shore. From a Romantic perspective site 2 is the more interesting site, with large stones on the top giving a jaggedly profile and that fine section of wall exposed in the western side.

Near the main road is another burnt mound, HY21SE 26 at HY25351497, in the last open space on the south side of the Lyking road. Its being so close to the mill and its dam I can’t help imagining this too was once an islet in the loch like the islet at Redland to the south. In the north side are a couple of very obvious stone blocks. Too nacked by now to go in for a look. The record is for two mounds. That at the back is reckoned natural but it strikes me that what with the disparity between their sizes these could have formerly been one, with the ‘cist slab’ from the highest point being its centre too. The derelict building on the burn’s other bank is Voy Mill itself. On this side further along tis a small scatter of middling stones unlike the usual result of wall collapse and these could have been taken from the burnt mound and removed here after the rest received use elsewhere.

I first came to this magnificent mountain escarpment way back in 1993, looking, believe it or not, for The Llyn Fawr (the lake above The Rhondda, that is). Incredibly naive, perhaps, but I got away with it.... and my sense of awe has not diminished with time. Nor has my respect for the inclement Welsh weather!

The latest ascent is made in the company of The Mam Cymru, my sister. Not too canny with map or compass, it has to be said, but a dab hand with anything to do with the soil. And besides, everyone knows women can’t read maps and men can’t walk and look around at the same time. It’s Nature, see.

Fan Foel is, to be honest, a northern spur of Ban (or Fan – sorry I never could figure these language mutations) Brycheiniog, at 2,631ft, the summit peak of Y Mynydd Du, The Black Mountain. From a megalithically-minded and – arguably – general perspective, the best approach is from the Trecastle road to the east. This necessitates crossing the infant Afon Tawe before even beginning the ascent, not the easiest task, even in summer, but then proceeds to follow a lively, cascading stream, the Nant-y-Llyn, right back to it’s source. This is no ordinary ‘source’ either, but the legendary Llyn-y-Fan-Fawr, companion lake to the even more legendary Llyn-y-Fan-Fach.... The path follows the twisting, turning, right-hand bank, past several pretty impressive waterfalls, not to mention a genuine Bronze Age cairn...

themodernantiquarian.com/site/12742/nantyllyn_mynydd_du.html

...the Maen Mawr and Y Cerrig Duon also visible on the right-hand skyline.... a good place to chill out on the descent. For now, simply follow that stream (!), the landscape becoming more and more brutal until, after several ‘false crests’, lakeside is attained at 2,000ft, the elegant escarpment of the mountain towering above to your left. Perhaps my favourite upland lake, it’s tempting to call it a day here at this exquisite spot. But.... the call is unspoken, never unheard. There’s round barrows in them thar hills.

A ‘rocky staircase’ at the southern end of the lake provides a steep, but safe passage to Bwlch y Giedd and the crest of the ridge above. Turn right here and the OS trig point and ‘circular shelter’ of Ban Brycheiniog is soon reached. Unfortunately there is no prehistoric cairn upon this summit, ‘courtesy’, no doubt, of the aforementioned shelter and the muppets who built it. I mean, who would want to cower in a shelter when the view down to Llyn-y-Fan-Fawr is simply magnificent? Ha! Moving on along the escarpment edge, any feeling of indignation is soon alleviated upon reaching the vertigo-inducing buttress of Twr-y-Fan Foel, for this is crowned by an apparently undisturbed Bronze Age round barrow [see misc post]. The siting is amazing, it really is.

The second cairn lies upon the summit of 2,575ft Fan Foel itself. Subject to an excavation in 2004, the finds were somewhat interesting, to say the least. Please see the miscellaneous post and Rhiannon’s link for details, but suffice to say it appears Bronze Age people certainly knew how to ‘say it with flowers’. To stand here is deeply moving and makes a mockery of the ‘R*mans brought us civilisation’ dogma I was taught in school. Honestly, does anyone actually still believe that rubbish? My informed guess would be ‘yes’. Looking west, Picws Du, adorned by it’s own Bronze Age cairn, towers above the waters of the magnificent Llyn-y-Fan-Fach. Strong walkers can visit the peak from here, but I’m afraid those days are past for Gladman..... [Incidentally several ‘circles are to be found to the north of Fan Foel, not forgetting the wonderful pair beyond the Usk Reservoir].

Perhaps the most significant aspect of a visit to this wonderful spot, however, is the ‘big picture’ it conveys of South Walian Bronze Age burial practice. To clarify, glance to the east, across Llyn-y-Fan-Fawr to Waun Leuci, Fan Gyhirych, Fan Nedd, Fan Frynych, The Brecon Beacons, The Black Mountains – a linear procession of burial cairns literally as far as the eye can see; then to the west, the two great cairns upon Garreg Las beyond the aforementioned Picws Du, with examples upon Garreg Lwyd, Carn Pen-y-Clogau...etc.. fading to the horizon. Clearly there was something very serious and widespread going on here... Hell yeah!

I drove past this in Wales and didn’t have time to stop, but it’s always stayed in my memory as it was a very beautiful stone almost sculptural and the location is very wild and scenic as well

One of the carvings on the left hand side of the stone is a sort of half man half fish that has a faint ‘familiar’ look to it. (see photo)
The name of this, as I always understood it, was Darren Dusant meaning Black Saint (cliff or rock of), it’s not the spelling on the map but three saint would be tri-sant as in Llantrisant which is very near by.
On OS maps there is also “Well” on the left(West) side of the lane directly above it and Lle’r Gaer is next to them both

Well I made to to see this today, followed scubi’s directions by turning off the A4 just after it leaves Marlborough to head up Downs Road towards Manton House, it was racehorse country so everything seemed a bit cultivated, but near the dolmen was a path through some grass and sarsens, and a wildflower meadow leading up to the dolmen. It was very accessible and easy to find. I climbed up to the top but forgot to look for the cup marking on top of the capstone! I may go back and look for them, although had trouble getting down as couldn’t see my footing. This is my first dolmen I have been to visit and I was very impressed. I climbed through the portal and felt the cosmic energies!

I usually go here in the autumn, the dappled light through the beech trees on a sunny day in autumn makes it very atmospheric. The stones are old and gnarled and it looks like West Kennet on a smaller scale, though it has a lot of its own charm. Have been there since the neo nazi activity and not seen any noticeable damage. I am going to read Walter Scott’s legend of Kenilworth as he is responsible in large part for the folklore about the phantom blacksmith which has made the site so popular.
I read Clive Spinnage’s myths and mysteries of Wayland’s Smith which is an excellent resource although I still have not been able to find the “snivelling stone” he speaks of which is supposed to be there.

Uffington Castle is an amazing place to watch the sun set

I can’t believe there aren’t more posts for this. I went to see this last year, it’s an absolutely huge hill fort and an amazing site. It’s unusual because all the ramparts and fortifications are still there and stone built, rather like Grimspound in Dartmoor on a massive scale. The huge cairn on the other side is called the red cairn I think and is a huge pile of stones that could be mistaken for a quarry.

Well. What to make of this? I enjoyed the walk from the car park through the strange tree covered earthwork, and it was quite a long way although with excellent views across the national trust landscape, until we reached oldbury hill fort. The earthworks seem quite extensive and interesting. Then into view comes a strange obelisk, which looked to me like something out of HP Lovecraft..perhaps the temple to Dagon? Up close it turned out to be a monument erected by some aristocrat in memory of his ancestor, and it seems like a blot on the landscape of what would otherwise be a very natural landscape. It depends on personal taste I suppose. The monument is now crumbling and in the hands on the NT. We walked around towards the cherhill white horse, it was spectacular views from there across the coombes.
However as someone who lives near Uffington white horse, which is of course far more ancient and significant, there was just no comparison. This is not to say I won’t come back as it was very interesting and enjoyable walk up to the site.

Went there today, it’s a shame there’s no roundhouse. The place has some excellent scenery though and is a very easy walk about half mile if that from the car park. The immense size of the ditches made the most impression on me. There’s still an information board there.
The interior of the hill fort is very rough ground with sheep grazing and lots of vegetation, which contrasts with the flat ground seen in the centre of places like uffington castle and segsbury. It does have a country park feel although this was not a bad thing, I saw some people taking pushchairs with babies up there so it’s very accessible. Did not see the disc barrow so might go back for that.

I fulfilled an ambition of many years today by finally making it up to Windmill Hill. Having been to Avebury lots of times over the years, this was the one part of the landscape I had not visited and it was well worth seeing. We did a circular walk starting from the church near the Alexander Keiller museum, when we got there walked up to the top of the largest barrow and found it very peaceful and atmospheric. One might say there isn’t much to see, but it’s unusual because it does some interesting barrows and it’s a neolithic enclosure which is different to the many hill forts which are so ubiquitous in the area.
As an integral part of the Avebury landscape you can’t fail to miss this if you have a serious interest in the place, or like me it’s great for any completists who come back time and again and want to see more.

My second cup marked stone find. This time much closer home, and the sun shone. Lovely!

After finding the cairn I noticed a lot of flat rock surfaces and my luck was in. On the crest of the hill facing towards Bennachie is a rock with 5 cup marks. 3 are very noticable being about 8cm wide and 2cm deep. Two other weather worn cup marks can also be seen. Backley Hill is covered with this type of surface but these were the only cups I could find. However like the fairly close New Craig I wonder whats under the turf. With Bennachie in perfect view.............

I must thank George Gauld and his wife for allowing me to park at the farm. Also for showing me a very old map which indicated the nearby Elspet’s Cairn and a long forgotten about and destroyed stone circle at Crowmallie. So thanks to them, very interesting.

Visited 24/04/2010.