Latest Fieldnotes

Although not only lower, but far less shapely than the Sugar Loaf (Mynydd Pen-y-fal), its elegant neighbour across the valley, the sprawling South Walian mountain known as Blorenge nevertheless possesses something of great value that its illustrious rival does not – a stonking great Bronze Age burial cairn at its summit!

Despite being sited at an altitude not that far short of 2000ft, it’s also pretty easy to visit, the B4246 from Govilon crossing the western shoulder of the peak before descending towards Blaenavon, one of the cradles of Welsh industry, or so I’m told. A short diversion towards prominent radio aerials brings the traveller to The ‘Foxhunter’ carpark, so named since the eponymous racehorse is apparently buried nearby.

But is a burial site of a different type that the Mam Cymru and I have come to see today – that of what must surely have been a Bronze Age chieftain or other ‘Big Man’. The conditions are appalling, the wind so powerful it takes all of my strength just to open the car door, the rain coming in correspondingly violent bursts. Nevertheless the path (to the approx NE) is clear and easy, if more resembling a flowing stream today. So, after helping a bloke with no shoes bump-start his van (kicked out by his wife, perhaps?) we follow said path-cum-stream to the summit.

Reaching the summit we are blown away.... not only by the massive monument and superb views, but also in a quite literal sense. Duh, it’s windy! The cairn is a full 15m by 2m high according to Coflein, although it would appear its crafty builders utilised the shape of the mountain’s summit to cut down on the volume of stones required to achieve the desired effect. There’s also the remnants of a possible cist within, which is always good to see. Bonus! Having said that, a head first close-up view, courtesy of the wind, is probably best avoided, come to think of it.

As previously mentioned, Sugar Loaf sits across the valley, acting as appropriately ‘rainbow-ed’ foreground for the sweeping be-cairned summits and ridges of The Black Mountains, the little hillfort of Crug Hywell clearly visible above Crickhowell. Several Neolithic tombs grace the landscape, out of sight but not out of mind, as they say, not to mention Norman castles, reminders of a more war-like age. Hell, I like Wales.........

Much more difficult to find than I first thought it would be (a look on Google Earth before setting out would save a lot of time! – the clearing can be quite clearly seen).

Set in a steep elevated forest clearing on the slopes of Bearn a Chlaidheimh, this Scheduled site has an awe- inspiring panoramic vista – from the mountains west of Dingwall to Burghead on the east Coast. How this would have looked a few thousand years ago gives food for thought.

I hiked through Forestry plantation from the cairn at Scotsburn wood West almost diagonally NE across the steep hill slope for approx 750m. through/over/under timber thinnings. With hindsite, a much less demanding route would have been to use the numerous forestry tracks which originate about 2 miles east on the Scotsburn road.

The effort in getting here was definately worth it.
Much of the cairn remains, although the central chamber has long since collapsed, the main portal stones are still visible.
There are a large number of flat, regular sized stones and a number of depressions visible within the cairn. There is also a huge amount of smaller stones throughout the site.

There is a smaller cairn about 250m SE(Unscheduled). This is much smaller and has been damaged by a forestry track which intersects the southern section of the Cairn. Again, there are a few large regular sized stones within an area of much smaller stone.

There are at least 6 known Chambered cairns within Scotsburn Wood (2 Scheduled).I am sure there are more – at least one is cut through by the Drove Rd skirting the southern edge of the forestry plantation.

Great exercise !! Bit Baltic though!!

Visited 3rd Dec 09

Visited this site on my way to Scotsburn Wood East and felt a wee bit disappointed. The entire site has gained a good covering of ferns and heather since Greyweathers visit in 2004 and individual stones are difficult to see. Virtually all the remaining stones are hidden by ferns and this gives the main (and only) indication as to the stones’ positions.
Visited 3rd Dec09

Set upon a minor, outlying ridge of Cadair Idris, above the wondrous Llynnau Cregennen, this defended enclosure – presumably of Iron Age origin – is probably not the finest example of the type you’ll ever encounter....if the only criteria considered are archaeological.

Landscape context, however, is always of major importance when visiting any monument – not to mention a bit of a fixation of mine – this particularly being so with regards hillforts. In Pared-y-Cefn-Hir’s case the siting is second to none, both militarily and aesthetically speaking. Some location! Truly, the scenery is absolutely first rate.

Nevertheless there’s more. The enclosure, perched upon its rocky eminence, overlooks the nearby ancient Ffordd Ddu trackway (flanked by numerous standing stones) and is in turn overlooked by mountain top burial cairns upon Tyrrau Mawr and Craig-y-Llyn, western sentinels of Cadair Idris. There are also the Arthog stones within a short radius......

I must admit I’m not too keen on sites in private fields close by houses/roads requiring knocking on farm doors for access. Therefore, upon arriving early Saturday morning to find a thick hedge backed by barbed-wire between the road and the chamber, my thoughts were of the ‘oh well, let’s get this over with, then.......’ variety.

Needless to say this was misguided and not a little premature in this particular instance. Parking in the layby by the chapel – quite an old one, by the looks of it – I walked up the Newchurch (a newer one, I presume) road and knocked at the first house on the left. A very elderly lady with a zimmer frame eventually opened the door, understandably somewhat perturbed to have a Gladman on her doorstep. Nevertheless she was quite happy to grant access to the field in which the chamber resides, as long as I realised she had ponies. What, those three minature specimens grazing nearby? ‘Yeah, right’, I thought, trying to stop my knees knocking with fear.

In retrospect I can imagine her closing the door with an inward chuckle, saying to herself ‘ha! my pyscho attack ponies will soon sort that English idiot out good and proper!’ That they did, that they did, the little buggers pursuing me and headbutting me for close on the next two hours, the swines!

But what of the chamber? Despite the proximity to the road the hedge – if not the ponies – allows a decent morning’s hang. What’s more, it’s a pretty substantial structure, too, with a large, slipped capstone and several large orthostats combining to produce a curiously aesthetic whole. OK, we’re not talking a St Lythans or something similar, but nevertheless well worth the effort of seeking out.

Just don’t expect to be left in peace by the horseys!

After an aborted attempt to find this lovely little chamber back in September – I’ll blame an ancient OS map and not my own incompetence for once – we were more than happy to achieve success this time around. What a wonderful site!

Hidden away in sand dunes long since colonised by vegetation, the location is somewhat confusing to modern visitors. However I assume the ground topography has changed considerably in the intervening 5000 years or so, the monument originally having clear sight of the wonderful Three Cliffs Bay before the sand moved in? Perhaps.

The chamber, although lacking in elevation, is more extensive than I anticipated (see Coflein description posted under ‘miscellaneous’) and, no doubt thanks to the sand, pretty well preserved. And then there’s the location! Truly exquisite, it has to be said, with the haunting, shattered remnants of Pennard Castle perched across the bay (speaking of castles a short detour to the cliff edge is also recommended to visit a nearby Norman ringwork). If you can tear yourself away from all this prehistory and history, the beach is a real cracker as well.

Park as Jane suggests and follow the path past a gate until the concrete becomes a cinder track. Veer right here and....... well, the rest is up to you.

At the refuge stone today. To find, enter the path at the top of the disused mill site by the Westfield sign at the east of the village. The refuge stone is signed. Follow the path to the left through the trees. Climb upwards, you will see the stone by the perimeter of Westfield Farm.

Now I’ve been intrigued about what may lie upon this stretch of bleak, high moorland for some time now. Don’t get me wrong, even my pigeon Welsh – not to mention map reading skills (ahem) – made it plain that there were cairns here. But, as any seasoned TMA’er will know, there are ‘cairns’, and then there are proper, Bronze Age cairns worth seriously checking out.

Anyway, I’m down to spend a few days with the Mam Cymru during a period of atrocious weather.... even for South Wales, which is saying something. Torrential rain, swollen rivers threatening to burst their banks, and wind gusting in excess of 50-60mph. Nice. Needless to say the Mam wants to go walkabout, so Cefn Esgair Carnau is a name retrieved from the memory banks as a more or less safe option in the circumstances.

North of Penderyn – the distillery of which, incidentally, produces a very fine whisky (it’s true!) – the A4059 swings NE towards the distant flat summits of The Brecon Beacons. Park at the disused quarry entrance at approx 978131 and head NW (ish) across the road onto the moor, trying to avoid the bogs as you do so. Eventually the intrepid traveller arrives at an area of bleak upland defined by that peculiar ‘grass’ which favours – shall we say – rather wet locations. Four relatively large cairns are to be found here beyond a smaller outlier, with another some way to the NE. The ‘daddy’ – or should that be ‘mother’? – of them, however, lies out of sight to the north at SN97521375, a great pile of stone some 1.7m high overlooking the Afon Hepste.

The siting above the river is, I believe, deliberate and significant. The mountains and hills form a more or less natural amphitheatre around the moor creating a vibe which is, if anything, heightened by the wind and horizontal, driving hail. In short this is some place and I feel stupid for having driven past so many times in ignorance. What’s more, the hillside beyond the Afon Hepste leading towards the great peak of Fan Fawr (Waun Tincer) would appear to be also graced with a myriad cairns..... whether these are field clearances, or bear greater ritual significance is another intruiging question left for another day.

All in all a visit is well worth the effort, but make sure you wear your boots!

I fully intended to walk this site today, but as you can see from the photo taken at midday it was not a good day to be out and about. There are 10 bowl barrows spread across an upland heath area now surrounded by houses. On the next day it isn’t peeing down with rain I will visit these barrows and take some proper photos.

I reached this site from Dalnaclach at the southern end of the Strathrory Drove road.
It takes about an hour and a half of fairly strenuous hiking through some very steep,wet and muddy track to find this desolate spot.
The Drove road is a Right of Way with waymarkers and is relatively easy to follow but strong waterproof footwear is an absolute must and I wouldnt recommend this in bad weather – its very isolated with no Mobile signal. There is no human habitation within sight or sound of this section of Strathrory – brilliant!!

The cairnfield lies just beyond the semi-derelict crofthouse of Coag in a relatively flat section of land punctuated by numerous low level ridges. The whole site surrounded by conifer clad hills.

Evidence of Ancient human occupation and land use is all around. There are cairns of all sizes, shape and description. Some are obvious, others less so. There are some unusually shaped and isolated single stones all over the higher ridges interspersed with small conifers.
The entire area has regular circular and straight lines of stone on both the higher and low lying areas all of which deserve a close look.
Unfortunately, my camera gave up the ghost after a couple of shots (memory card error). The weather was foul and the days are very short so I couldnt really hang about, but this site deserves a complete day (preferably in July)

My intention was to have a look at the incomplete Iron Age Fort of Cnoc an Duin which overlooks the western part of this site.
One look at the steepness of the slope, the sleet and the gale force wind were enough to deter me this day.

Site visited 1st Dec 09

Ledbergs kulle is the area’s largest burial mound, about 40-50 metres in diametre and 6-7 metres high. There are farms in the area with names that have to do with the centre of power that existed here during the iron age. No excavations have been made but sample tests indicate that the mound is from the later iron age (800-1000CE), and a merovingian gold ring, dating from 500-600CE has been found nearby. But since large burial mounds also were made during the bronze age, it could as well be from that time era.

Info board on site in Swedish and English

How to get there:
On highway E4, take the west exit to Linköping onto road 34. After about 800 metres, turn right. Continue on the new road for 4.1 kilometres, then turn right at the blue sign “Ledberg 2”. Continue for about 2.3 kilometres, and the barrow is on your right.

The cairn is about 10 metres in diametre.

The treudd (tri-radial cairn) is also special, it has 2 big standing stones as centre-stones. The length of the edges are about 12 metres, and they point in 72, 108 and 306 degrees respectively.

Fagertofta grave field is an impresive one. Of 42 visible graves, over half of them are stone rings. One of the rings is of a peculiar construction of which i have seen only in one place before: Torsa stenar. It consists of 6 ‘mini-dolmens’, with three stones and one capstone each.

The site was restored in 1941-42

The stone rings can be seen in GE

Info post on site in Swedish, English and German

How to get there:
On road 31, take the exit at Nässjö with ths signs “Nässjö C”, “Andersberg” and “Solberga” (all at the same exit) and drive northwards for 2.9 kilometres. When you see a white sign “Gravfält 1”, follow the sign and turn onto the gravel road.

The last part of the road is quite narrow, i don’t recommend to drive it if you have a caravan or a big ‘house-car’, but it’s only a 900 metre walk from the big road, and i really recommend a visit.

In the same area as Torsa Stenar, is one of Sweden’s largest treudd (tri-radial cairn). Its sides are 17 metres long, and it points in NNW, ENE and
SSW directions.

The main monuments on this site are a square stone setting, with ‘mini-dolmens’ in the corners. So far, I have only seen these in one other place, Fagertofta gravfält.

Then there are 3 stone circles, 3.5, 7 and 10 metres in diameter. Directly beside the biggest one are 4 other stones, forming a square, or a small ‘avenue’ into the stone circle.

The stone circle can be seen in GE.

Info post on site in Swedish, English and German.

How to get there
Take the road from Nässjö towards Grimstorp and Bodafors. After about 5 kilometres, you will see a white sign “Torsa Stenar” pointing to the right. Turn and follow the gravel road for 1.1 kilometres, and the site is to your right.

Another Avebury first for me today; a few hours to spare this morning so headed out to the downs on the 49 bus (fantastic views of layers of mist lifting). The morning still bright when I met up with a couple of friends – we headed out to Gunsight Lane near East Kennet village. From here they led the way up field-side tracks towards East Kennet Long Barrow. Like most of the less accessible sites within the Avebury WHS it is the walk to them that makes the experience so special. Today was no exception, en route there is a very different view of West Kennet Long Barrow across the sparse fields – no road, no cars, no visitors; just a view of an ancient long barrow as it must have looked for the past few millennia.

From the direction we were walking, East Kennet Long Barrow seemed to appear suddenly – too large to photograph in its entirety, the now leafless beech trees holding it fast. Apart from some badger damage it remains intact, we all all agreed that we hoped it would remain so. Long may it keep its secrets, its atmosphere and its sense of apartness.

[Once again acknowledgements to PeteG for his expertise on the Avebury landscape and for his willingness to share it]

I go here often as its relatively near to my home, last time I visited was on the 3rd of September 2009.
It was one of those stormy, rainy days, been home most of the day, week in fact as it was unbeleivably wet for this time of year. Going stir crazy, I decided to head off to the hills, camera gear in tow and the dog to keep me company.

On the way up I met two guys who’d been up, walked past it for some time before realising. Halfway up, a storm started, but soon cleared and skies started clearing by the time I reached the Stones.

The light was good, and found some good points to photograph from. The gods where with me that day, but I forgot my usual offering to leave behind at the stones, so when I reached back home that evening I found i’d “lost” a few things, a lens cap and a camera release cable. Serves me right for visiting empty handed, so let that be a lesson to you all, take an offering or bad luck will befall you!

Visited in May 2009, a very long time coming! Been trying to get to here for years, funny being in Wales, but sometimes you never look or visit some things nearer to you.

I found the site relatively easy to find considering I visited alone with no map reader. Parking is good for a few cars, and nice path with good gates down to the Monument itself. Seeing this in books over the years I had an image it was much bigger than it was, but the only gripe I have is that its fenced in, crap for us photographers not wanting posts and fence wire in the frame!

Do take the time to visit, I will be returning soon.

I visited this in march 2003 and was fortunate not to have to pay any entrance fee or parking for the site. What was dissapointing though, was the litter scatterred all over the car park and around the monument.
A big dissapointment too was that someone had taken a dump in the chamber itself. This is the first time I’ve ever encountered this anywhere and hope its not a regular occurrence.
Obviously in the out of season times the place had the look as if no-one looked after it, but dont let that stop you going.
Still, apart from a few human offerings, the site is set in a wonderfull area, great view and very prominent. Although obviously repaired, the main Fascia stone is still a magnificently carved example. I wondered wether that maybe the seperate panels were painted originally. Who knows, but a nice though.

I visited this in 2003. What fun it was looking for and driving up the dirt track to this great monument, set in one of the most picturesque parts of the Island.

Not huge compared to some others, but its setting more than make up for this. Well restored and cared for site, others on the island I found less so looked after.

Dont overlook it if your in the area.

I visited this in march 2003, arriving after dark initially, then returned next day to really see its splendour.
I found it quite a peacefull location, great setting and loads of parking with no fees to pay at that time of year.
I found it to be in very good condition and feel it does give you a sense of what it might look like complete.
With a few Nuraghi towers nearby you could also explore on foot. Combine this with lots of other antiquarian sites in the area a great part of the island to visit.

Across the road from the shipsetting there are a stonecircle (one altarstone in the middle and nine in the circle itself) diameter 36 m. Its called a dommarring in swedish, i.e. judges ring. The stones are massive blocks.

There are several burialmounds and two standing stones close by.

I have decided to update the field notes for this site as the last one I put up was inaccurate. There are in fact 8 barrows in this group. The road from Wareham to Bere Regis splits the cemetery in half. It is two groups of four and they are aligned from east to west in a line.
M.A.G.I.C says they were excavated by Shipp and Durden in 1844, the signs left by these amateur diggers are plain to see now.
These are all medium sized bowl barrows in reasonable condition. They overlook Poole harbour and the Purbeck hills to the south.

This is worth the walk from the Beacon car park as you get away from the crowds at the top of the hill.

Most people seem to be put off by the fence, although it has a stile, and don’t cross the final few yards to the Barrow.

Sit for a while and you might see a herd of deer in the field below or just listen to the birds.

Lovely.