This cairn can be found in the woods in front of Leochel-Cushnie parish church. It has a width of almost 13 meters and it’s maximum height is close to one meter.
As I was returning to my car an elderly gentleman, visiting his wife’s grave, explained that there had been another cairn. This had been used to built the dikes surrounding the graveyard. Nothing remains of this cairn.
Visited 15/2/2010.
This cairn about 40 meters, approx, from Monael 1 has one kerb in place. Others might be there but fallen trees have covered them as well as the possible cist cover in the middle of the cairn making visiblity impossible. However the cairn is 7 meters in width and half a meter high. Cairn material scatter the ground all around.
Visited 15/2/2010.
This stone is 1 meter by 1 meter and I recounted the cup marks which came to 27. The widest mark being 5cm and 2cm deep. Most of the cups are this width but the depth varies.
Re-visited 15/2/2010.
Walk another 50 or so meters from the cup marked stone north. This small cairn isn’t marked by the OS but is by Philips. Two, fairly steady, kerbs remain in place whilst others seem to have joined into the main cairn. The cairn is some 4 meters wide and stands, at it’s tallest, at just over 1 meter. Once again it is set in stunning scenery.
Visited 11/2/2010.
After my visit to Bush Bank standing stone and the slight weirdness of Kings Pyon church, it’s a relief to find this excellent round barrow. It stands on a natural rise, between the two conical hills of Pyon Hill and the nearer Butthouse Knapp. A very large mound with a flattened top, as yet unexcavated. It is unfortunately fenced off but is clearly visible from the road. This must be the largest round barrow in Herefordshire, covered with trees and very reminiscent of the large round barrows along the Ridgeway near Overton Hill in Wiltshire.
[When I got home I checked it out on Pastscape, which now appears to assign this as a motte. I’m not convinced, as it is totally overlooked by the much higher and within easy bow-shot Butthouse Knapp, making it a nightmare to defend. Having said that, there are many more mottes than round barrows around here. Until it’s excavated, we’ll probably never know for sure.]
Fieldnotes from Bush Bank and slightly beyond (13.2.2010). The 501 bus stops within 100 yards of the stone, so not much effort required to get to this one. A small upright stone of (I guess) sandstone, very shaggy with moss on its eastern face. It has apparently been re-erected and did not originally stand in this position, which is on the embanked verge of a minor road, not far from the Roman road (A4110) making its way to Kenchester (Magnis) a few miles to the south. Local ley-hunter Alfred Watkins assigned it as the remains of a wayside cross but is has been considered as a Bronze Age standing stone elsewhere (see Miscellaneous post).
There’s not much to give away its origins, but it’s worth a quick visit as it is so easily accessible and because Herefordshire is hardly overburdened with megaliths (of which more shortly). From here I set off for Canon Pyon round barrow, via Kings Pyon village. The church in Kings Pyon is very odd! It’s built on top of huge mound, on the top of which is what appears to be bank and ditch (ditch on the inside, like a henge). No idea if this is in any way significant. It could be a Christianised prehistoric site, but equally a medieval construction or modern landscaping. Inside the church (nice medieval beamed roof – sorry I’m rather out of TMA remit here), was an extraordinary single-sided leaflet:
“This church stands on a site sacred to our ancestors for at least 5,000 years. At Midsummer, they would look towards the Stone at Bush Bank at the sun rising over the Stone Circle atop Westhope Hill and onwards to stones where now stand Stoke Prior, Pudlestone and Bockleton churches; at the Midwinter sun rising over stones preceding churches at Wellington, Marden, Withington, Stock Edith, Little Marcle and Donnington. The Circles fell into disuse and now our Churches are threatened from all sides.”
So I’m apparently in the middle of a megalithic complex and ritual landscape to rival Wiltshire. Apart from the fact that there is nothing but an over-active imagination and complete conjecture to support any of this, what a surreal thing to find in a village church!
From here it’s onwards past the (to my now fevered brain) proto-Silbury of Pyon Hill to the round barrow, with visions of a hitherto undiscovered world of Herefordshire stone circles, henges and monoliths in mind.
Corsindae cairn is some 9 meters wide and a 1/2 meter in height. It is completely grass covered. Surprisingly Canmore doesn’t mention the two kerbs, one of which still stands the correct way. Excellent views to the south, east and west so understandable for the building reasons.
If visiting Midmar RSC (and you should) keep going up the minor road till it ends. At the junction turn left and stop at the Midmar village hall. The cairn and stone are on the hill immediately to the North east of the car park.
Visited 11/2/2010.
This was the first stop of the morning. Clova 2 can be found in the next clump of trees south of Clova. I managed to wedge myself in past the door and immediately wished that I hadn’t. Foxes obviously use this place as their kitchen, it stank with the remains of chickens and rabbits. Probably I was scared as it was pitch dark, stupidly leaving my torch in the car which in turn made me miss a stone covered in cup marks. But that isn’t a problem I’ll be back to this area and the site is a short walk east from the road.
To be fair, the souterrain is a remarkably good condition as the foties show. Crawling around in the dark isn’t much fun but thankfully I’d the sense to wear gloves!
The Canmore link will show what I have to get next time.
Visited 11/2/2010.
Old Kinnernie was found as a fluke as I made my way home from Corsindae at Midmar. The easiest directions are head east from the village of Sauchen, on the A944, and take the second minor road south.
I was heading north and it was by luck that I spotted it. By that time the old leg had had enough so a fotie from the side of the road had to suffice. The cairn is 14 meters wide by 11/2 meters tall. However field clearance has been added. Good location tho!
Visited 11/2/2010.
Park in the Midmar village hall car park. The stone is 3/4 of the way up the hill walking in a North Easterly direction. The remaining kerbs of the cairn will be passed, the boulder, held up by chokes is the next large item on the hill.
Visited 11/2/2010
Just as the A97 leaves the village of Glenkindie pull into the side at the left nearest the last house. Jump the gate and follow the dry stane dyke up the hill until another gate, over this, then a wall and fence climb another 400 meters climb another fence. About 20 meters bang in front is the cup marked stone. (Did I tell you that this...............)
The kerb cairn is east of here by about 60 meters. At least 7 kerbs remain in their original position. I must admit that this is a very scenic place with superb views up and down the Don valley. As I was about to go and visit the second cairn, it started to chuck it down with and knowing how changeable conditions can be I headed back down somewhat reluctantly to the village.
Apart from the obvious good news, the garage and shop have reopened, as the last time I was here it was shut.
Visited 11/2/2010.
The first new find of the year and my first ever find of a cup marked stone. High on Monael Hill overlooking Glenkindie and the River Don. I counted 18 definite cup marks, maybe there are 3 weathered cups but hard to tell even with the naked eye.
Visited 11/2/2010.
(I am so chuffed!!!!!!!!!!)
Head south thru Logie Coldstone on the A97, and take the second track to the east after the trees. Please shut the gate behind when driving in. The track is in ok condition. Go thru the farm and a further 1/2 mile leads to the old cemetery with St. Woloch’s Stone standing proudly outside. If there is a Celtic Cross then I didn’t see it. What I did see was the fantastic Strathdee mountains looking magnificent with a covering of snow.
Cheers Rhiannon, excellent stuff!
Visited 11/2/2010.
What a strange strange place, i can’t make head nor tail of this jumble of boulder.
I spent over an hour wandering around scratching my head, hmmming and arrring.
I’m no ancient fort expert, which would have been evident had you been there with me, still scratching my head now.
Great place for a fort though, if that’s what it was.
*Scratches head some more*
This was my first visit to Badbury Rings. Despite the fact that I’d been to college in Bournemouth some 25 years before, and was now here for the day taking my eldest son to an interview at my old college, I’d never made it out here. It was one of those bitterly cold days when you’re not sure quite what the weather is going to do – one minute snow showers, the next bright sunlight. The approach to the Rings is quite spectacular in itself as you come along the Blandford road through an amazing avenue of tall, mature beech trees bereft of their leaves at this time of year and then swing into the carpark past three of the large Bronze Age barrows to your right. It’s only a short walk from the carpark to the Rings and as you progress up this fairly low hill you’ll notice a fourth barrow on your right and beyond the ramparts away from the other three. It reminded me very much of Danebury in Hampshire which is also on a fairly low hill, multivallate and with a small wood planted within its enclosure. The entrance differs to that at Danebury, and to its enormous neighbour at Maiden Castle nearby at Dorchester, in that it goes straight in towards the centre instead of zigzagging, so you can imagine they must have had some formidable gates here to prevent an easy ingress. Having walked anti-clockwise around the inner rampart to the Northern side you can see a couple of hundred yards off what looks like a low bank running roughly SW/NE which I guessed to be either a fourth defence or boundary marker. This is infact the Ackling Dyke, a Roman Road which takes a turn to the left just North of the Rings and continues towards the Dorset Cursus. Another interesting thing on Google Maps is the cropmark of what looks like an echo of the Rings reflected in the line of the road. Does anyone else have a theory about this?
Fourth time lucky.
An early start and the roads are snow and ice free, the first time there was too much snow, the second time too much ice and fog, third time crashed the car, so it was looking good for a bit of success.
I parked on the horseshoe pass itself, and walked along the south side of Moel y faen and then up to Gribin Oernant, then I was on the main path along the Llantisilio mountains.
It should have been a good path, but it gets really steep sometimes, and in the icey conditions quite dangerous, along the path were mini glaciers angled at forty five degrees on the mountain sides, now that was really quite dangerous.
The barrow at the top is big, and has big views across more than half of north wales, I stood on top and gazed out at the world as the freezing wind gusted into my face taking out a filling in the process ( not really) I laughed at the absurdity of it all, here I was, on the edge of existence, the meaning of life perhaps just round the next corner, then in a few short hours I would be at school picking up the kids, and the whole morning will be just a memory,
fading like tears in the rain.
Untill the next time.
I approached from the horseshoe pass, up and over a windy frosty Moel y Gamelin, there and back is nearly three miles.
Unimaginatively named Moel y gaer (yet again) is very steep sided, even the path, that is wide and distinct is quite treacherous, specially this winter.
The ramparts themselves arent impressive they completely dissapear in two places, and I can only presume the entrances are west and east along the line of the hills.
But there is two really good things about this hillfort, the views are really quite good, south down to the river and llangolen, and north up to the coast with the whole legnth of the Clwydian range. The other is the intervisibilty of North Walean hillforts, I used to think of the Clwydian forts as a whole community, little knowing that this Moel y gaer was yet another in the long line of forts , and from here you can see the fabulous Dinas Bran extending the line even more.
Perhaps we could look at this at least thirty mile line of hillforts as a precursor to Offas Dyke.
Or at the very least a good days walkabout.
Formicaant’s notes prompted me to quote my fieldnotes of 6th May 2007 for this sadly neglected site... so here goes..
Finding no apparent access from the minor road crossing the shoulder of Castle Common – and more importantly, no place to park – I decide to leave the car at the hairpin bend at Mole’s Chamber and approach from ‘round the back’...
Take the higher of the two bridleways heading north before veering steeply uphill to my left. It soon becomes apparent that the landowner clearly does not want people to see this fort, despite it standing on public access land... hmm. However, keeping to the right of a barbed-wire fence, I ascend a gulley with not a little difficulty, eventually reaching the ramparts marooned within yet more barbed wire. How I hate this stuff! Persevere, however, since there is a gate giving access to the enclosure at the SW corner.
Although pretty eroded, the ramparts are still more than discernible and bivallate where not protected by steep slopes to the south and south-west. This has apparently led some to contend that the hillfort was never finished, although I must admit a ruthlessly practical husbandry of resources appears a more likely explanation to me. There even appears to be the remains of a round barrow in the NE corner?
Shoulsbury is not the most powerful hillfort you’ll ever visit, but the majestic view southwards over Exmoor is a veritable glory indeed, a vista which, unfortunately, is not destined to last today since a violent storm front sweeps in to obliterate all and give me a fearful hammering. Consequently I decide to return to the car via the road to the south, descending out of mist to find the gate barbed-wired across. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions as to the mentality/morality of the landowner.....
So, Cow Castle may be Exmoor’s hillfort jewel-in-the-crown, but Shoulsbury nevertheless possesses superb views, great atmosphere and some reasonable ramparts. Combine a visit with the nearby Setta Barrow and you’re laughing... provided you aren’t put off by a bit of wire.
Returned today in slightly warmer weather ,at least the moss ,heather and turf could be shifted and as hoped and expected there were more cups ,30 in total .
I saw this site from the valley below while visiting the nearby Setta barrow and five barrow hill. From below it does not look very substantial, sadly I ran out of time so could not get up to it, good excuse for another trip to these parts.
A cold grey February afternoon is not the best time to go viewing Dartmoor’s antiquities...so we spent a pleasant three hours in the pub and then had a quick drive up the road to view this beast. Size wise it is impressive but it all feels too modern.....
...By that I mean the rebuilding of the quoit somehow takes away the magic..it is after all only an approximation of what was there before and its a bit like a Victorian tourist attraction.
I am sure I have read somewhere that at one time there was a stone row and some circles nearby....
...anyway, this is a very handy antiquity, lying as it does only a few miles from the A30..and on a cold grey day when spending more than five mins out of the car is not recommended it is worth a visit.
Oh Dunnottar... the ‘slope fort’ (from the Gaelic ‘Dun’ [fort] and Fothair [slope]). At first sight the gaunt castle ruins, seeming almost to sprout from the living rock upon which they stand (between Castle Haven and Old Hall Bay, just to the south of Stonehaven), promise an interlude from the intensity of hunting the many RSC’s in the area. A few hours by the sea to regain some perspective, perhaps? But then the sheer importance of this site, not only to Scottish history, but to the prehistory of this magical land becomes apparent to the interested traveller.
First, the history – the castle was established in the 14th Century, the walls no doubt incorporating elements of the preceding Pictish fort which once stood on the site, and must have been pretty well impregnable before the advent of heavy artillery. Wallace invested it, ditto Cromwellian forces between September 1651 and May 1652. It was during the latter siege that a Mrs Grainger, wife of Kinneff’s minister, managed to blag herself an exit and spirit away the Scottish crown hidden in her dress. One assumes she was a somewhat hefty lass... as Private Fraser out of Dad’s Army would say, ‘wi’ nice, firm thighs...’. But I digress.
For me, however, it is the natural defences of Dunnottar, the great crag jutting out into the sea, which make a visit here a must to all those with a passion for the past, a past which, if understood, can perhaps guide the modern Scotland towards a more balanced and confident future. Much has been written about Scots gaelic culture... not all of it to the nation’s benefit, in my opinion (the ludicrous Braveheart, anyone?)... coinciding with devolution and the roaring success of the Tiger economy across the Irish Sea before the recent crash. Comparatively little has been written about the people who once inhabited Dunnottar in prehistory, a people who have arguably – to use a modern term – been retrospectively ‘photoshopped’ out of Scotland’s story. The Picts.
So who were the Picts, these people who apparently scared the living daylights out of many a Roman legionnary, yet carved exquisite stones? Theres’s apparently not an awful lot to go on. However legend has it Dunnottar was chosen by the Picts due to it’s association with ‘The Green Lady’, no doubt some reference to a Mother Goddess?. Climb upon its rock, with the seagulls a’wheeling around your head in a cacophony of noise and I’ve no doubt you’ll understand what they meant. Well, at least a little.....
Like Dunluce upon the Antrim coast, the castle here is almost an irrelevance compared with the rawness of nature at this site. If you’re after a starting point to gauge the spirit of the Picts I’d argue here is as good a place to start as any....
On the steep climb to the tomb you are grateful for a few flattish bits but don’t pay much attention. Yesterday, however, whilst taking shots from Wideford Hill it was evident that these result from a couple of very large ‘platforms’ (seen in outline on the north side of the images). First thought was that these are connected with the tomb, which they dwarf almost as much as Heddle Hill. Second thought is cultivation terraces related to the nearby Neolithic settlements.
Prepared to be shot down in flames.
From the Drum of Wartle crossroads, an excellent pub on the B9001, take the road west to Colpy, the A920. Turn south a couple of miles further on at Kirkton Of Rayne signpost. Keep going up the hill until the Smiddyhowe croft/farm the cairn is in the middle of the field to the west. Easily spotted thanks to the 4 ash trees.
To the south is Bennachie, to the north Rothmaise Hill and the Black Cairn. Further west is the similar cairn at Mellenside.
Nothing much remains of this cairn. It is enclosed by a dry stane dyke probably made from boulders from the cairn. It stands at a half meter in height. All in all rather sad, given it’s fantastic location. At least the farmer seems to leave it alone another faint memory of a once proud past.
Still the pub at the Drum is nearby and I’m no stranger so I’d better say hello.
Visited 8/2/2010.
Finally got around to taking some photos of the site, had to wait until winter as it’s obscured by undergrowth in summer. It is a slight hillfort and is best seen from the valley below, I have walked up it but didn’t today as it was far too muddy.
