Latest Fieldnotes

Oh la la, it’s big. Very big. They say the tallest still standing menhir in the world. And I can believe it. It’s 9.5ms, for goodness sake! That’s 31 feet in old money. And it used to be taller still! A lightning strike a couple of centuries ago knocked 2ms off the top apparently. Quite apart from its sheer dizzying height, it is a curious shape; not even and slender like most of the menhirs, but wider than it is thick.

It has two curious sticky-outy hemispherical lumps carved on either side, each about the size of half a football. Each is at about belly height. I could well imagine superstitious people wanting to increase their fecundity coming to the menhir to rub their abdomens on the lumps in the hope of getting babies. They’d have been better off just having sex…

Kergadiou menhirs are a pair: the standing one (or should I say towering?) is 8.75ms tall and an utter beast! Some books say it’s the second tallest menhir in Brittany.

Eighty metres away in the same field, its partially fallen twin is no less impressive. Lying like a beached whale at perhaps 25 degrees, like a giant sundial, it is an unbelievable 11ms long – 11ms! It is less of a menhir and more of a runway on an aircraft carrier. It simply invites you to run up its flat surface and stand on the summit from where there’s a good 4m drop to the ground.

After having seen what was beginning to feel like a million menhirs in a matter of minutes (such is their frequency) the sight of a dolmen was too good to miss. It wasn’t clear where the dolmen was; all we had was the sign by the field edge and we couldn’t see it at all. Moth stomped off down the field anyway – surely we’d bump into it. But we didn’t.

The maize in the next field was tall and ready for harvest. Moth stood on a rock to gain height and survey the landscape. It was only by getting this extra height that Moth could see Poulyot’s capstone. I was standing only metres away from the dolmen but couldn’t see it for the crop. We scrambled over the brambly field boundary. The farmer had helpfully left an uncropped section so we could reach it this dreamy dolmen easily.

And four large granite slabs of picture perfect proportions sparkled in the September sun.

This is a very nice pair of menhirs standing 60ms apart in the same field. One measures 4ms and the second 3.9ms. Slender, finely and evenly shaped all the way to the top, like most of the menhirs here, each one seems to have four distinct sides.

The pair of menhirs at a fork in the road near St Denec are each individually relatively small for round here. One measures 3.2m, and the second 3.1m, but add that up and you have a total befitting of Finsterian menhirs! Small and pointy, they reminded us strongly of The Pipers. There’s also a fallen one of a measly 2.7ms, so once this was almost certainly an alignment.

The menhir of Kerhouezel has many names. I’ve also seen it called Kerdelvas, and in our 1984 edition of ‘Megalithic Brittany’ Aubrey Burl calls it Kerreneur. Well, whatever it’s called it’s another six and half metre whopper, very slim with four rounded sides and a gracefully tapering top.

As we were driving through the village of St Gonvel near Landunvez I spotted a ‘dolmen’ road sign. The monument wasn’t marked on our map, but as it was there on a plate, we got out to walk the 20 metres or so down a little track between gardens to have a shufti, stopping to admire a large chirping grasshopper en route. And what a sweet little dolmen it is, crouching low into the ground with a capstone like a Tintin quiff and of the same blondeness as the young Belgian adventurer. Very dinky and charming.

This huge and impressive cairn was built on what is now a rocky promentary and is only accessible at low tide. When we arrived we were unlucky and although the tide was going out, the channel of water about five metres wide was too deep with too strong a current for us to cross. However, we scrambled over the rocks, leaping over rockpools to get as close as we could.

It was built in the same way as Barnenez 50 miles or so further east; a massive step-pyramidal cairn of stones featuring, in Ile Carn’s case, three chambers. The central chamber has a tall corbelled roof. From where we were standing it looked a bit of a muddle and we longed to leap across the water and have a good poke around. Alas! Alas! If you visit, check out the tides.

At six and half metres tall with a rounded profile this monster stands proud on a little rise of land surrounded by huge fields, which today are inhabited by a nervous flock of partridges which exploded noisily out of the field next to it.

You can drive right up to it, the lane runs right past it.

Just returned from Pembrokeshire; this was the first ancient burial site I encountered and I went back to Manorbier twice. King’s Quoit is built from red sandstone and sits in a sheltered spot just before the brow of the cliff. Directly behind it there were five or six large sandstones set into the bracken covered cliff. The other interesting thing is that apart from the path up from the beach there is a second cliff path that runs from the quoit directly to the village’s Norman Church of St James – the leaflet about the church says “The foundation date of the church is unknown. However, the oval shape of the churchyard suggests a religious site of great antiquity”.
It is not hard to imagine that in times when people believed we are spirit as well as flesh, this was a place to set the spirit free – into the wind, sky and sea.

As with nearby Fan Gyhirych, it took me near on 14 years to actually confirm the prehistoric ancestry of this cairn... but... well.... perhaps it wasn’t really needed after all because the great 2,176ft high lump of rock and (usually) sodden earth and grass it’s perched upon – known to us as ‘Fan Nedd’ – just sort of feels ‘right’ anyway. So I guess I already knew. Hard to explain, but come here and I’m confident you’ll know what I mean. The Fforest Fawr is far quieter and – dare I say it – less fashionable than the nearby Brecon Beacons, whose highest decapitated summits are clearly visible on a clear day beyond Fan Fawr.

Somewhat unusually for such a cairn, it is NOT located at or near the summit and therefore not to be confused with the prominent – if rather odd – walker’s cairn on the northern apex of the summit plateau (not to mention an equally odd horseshoe shaped shelter). The site is most directly reached via a ladder stile not far from Maen Llia and a subsequent climb up the eastern flank of the mountain.

Hmm. Maen Llia...... I’d actually suggest first time visitors to the area save a foray to this fabulous Bronze Age monolith until later (betcha can’t, however) since the physical cairn remains will inevitably be a disappointment following on from such a beauty. The views, however, will not be, particularly if you carry on to the summit itself. If you indeed choose to do so you may be tempted to ponder the fact that almost every visible mountain possesses a Bronze Age burial cairn, from Fan Llia across the valley, Fan Gyhirych, Waun Leuci and Mynydd Du itself to the west... not forgetting the aforementioned Beacons. Can’t really ask for more, can you? And all the while Maen Llia guards Sarn Helen down below as it has for millennia.....

Oh, as for Coflein:
“Located on the edge of a level shelf on ground falling to the E is a circular mound 4.9m in diameter and .45m high. A few stones are visible, possibly kerb stones.”

So, not the greatest cairn, granted..... but in just about the best location there is, in my opinion.

Canmore’s description is short and to the point, “Fragments of an urn found in a small tumulus on a muir at Burnside Of Delgaty, were donated to the National Museum Of Antiquities of Scotland, by J. Stuart in 1853.”

The tumulus is small and somehow still exists overlooking the Delgaty Burn. Made from small boulders there appears to be a very small kerb ring on top. Another part of the Delgaty mystery falls into place!

Leave Turriff heading east on the Ardin road and stop immediately after the first bridge. The barrow is a good 300 meters south thru sometimes boggy ground.

Visited 9/10/09.

I don’t like to disagree with the OS people but surely some of their results for this site are misleading. Set on top of a hill, just outside Maud, this kerb cairn and it’s two smaller pals must have been massive, it’s appropriate it’s nickname is “The Giant’s Cairn”. Sadly only some of the kerbs remain but enough remain to give a fair picture. Massive boulders that might have surrounded the site have been pulled and piled into two massive heaps. Some explosive work, ah the local apprentices again fresh from Gaval no doubt, has happened here as quite a lot of boulders have drill marks in them.

Canmore say four, I say five near each other plus at least another six stones are earthfast of the biggest kerb cairn which has been hollowed out. This is quite easily the biggest area for a kerb cairn I’ve ever seen. I’ll put the Canmore link up for comparison.

More interestingly the OS says there are no trace of the two smaller kerb cairns slightly to the north. I have to say they are wrong. Both cairns have several small kerbs surviving and both have been hollowed out. Also both have little straight lines of stones heading north for a short distance. Perhaps an entrance of some sort.

To the south of the cairn there is some erosion. This gives an indication of how the cairn was build, loads of small boulders and earth.

Like Broomend and Pitglassie there is a lot going on here. To the north there is Auchmachar Cairn (visible) and RSC, Louden Wood, White Cow Wood, to the east Aikey Brae, West Crichie, Skelmuir, to the south Auchmaliddie, Old Maud and to the west Culsh (destroyed) and the removed cairns at Atherb. Maybe it’s just my mind doing overtime and running riot, which is nothing unusual, but this is a worthwhile visit. Good all round views of the rural area. Looked for ages amongst the boulders for any rock art but no joy!

Follow the B9106, Victoria Road, going north out of Maud crossing the South Ugie at the Old Maud Bridge. Follow the road until the first severe corner and follow the track up the hill, if coming south the Cairndale signpost will be seen. This is dead straight, stop at the first corner, the cairn(s) are on top of the hill in front. I intended to stay for a few minutes but did a Gladman and remained for about three hours! Right on!, as he would say.

Visited 7/10/09.

This rock art is on a huge outlier of an impressive stone row.
The inventory mentions that it has “a cup and 2 circles centrally positioned on the face; below this are 2 cup and circles and grouped together at the base of the stone are 2 cup and circles with radial lines and a cup and incomplete cirlce. In addition there are 7 plain cup-marks and a series of linear grooves”.
I visited this rock art at 12 noon when this side of the stone was in shadow and so could not get a great picture of the art. Even inspecting visually I could only make out the main cup and ring that I pointed out. I would think that someone with better photography skills would be able to make much more out of this panel.

This stone row is marked as 2 Gallains on the OS map. The row is situated within 1km of Lispole and once you negogiate a maze of roads access is pretty reasonable. There is a track on the map that actually exists and its a short walk along this track from the road.
The row is very impressive with amazing views all around. The inventory says that the stone heights are 3m, 2.2 and 1.65m high.
What is very interesting is that it says “The alignment is oriented on the setting sun at the Winter Solstice (Lynch 1981b, 26)” so this may make a very nice spot for watching the sun go down on the Winter Solstice.
There is a huge outlier 2.9m high to the north east of the main row. What makes this outlier particulary special is that there are cup and rings on it.

Set high upon the 2,379ft South Walian summit plateau of Fan Gyhirych sits the remains of a large diameter round cairn.

As with other examples in the area, it is not conspicuous due to relative lack of height. Nevertheless it remains, a fact we should be grateful for in this day and age, to continue to provide a precious, if tenuous link with the people who once lived and worshipped here millennia ago....... and what a location, too.

The Fforest Fawr – literally ‘big forest’, as representing the medieval term for wild hunting country which didn’t necessarily include trees – has been one of my favourite walking areas for many years, being just one side of a C90 tape’s length drive – usually featuring a certain Mr Cope, it has to be said – from the Mam Cymru’s house. Ah, audio tapes... remember them? Ha! Still got ‘em. But I digress... Needless to say I’ve only recently – through our friends at Coflein – identified the cairn for what it really is. Yeah, not exactly quick off the mark, but you live and learn. And it’s a discovery which is very welcome indeed.

Coflein:- “A partly grassed-over round cairn located on the north end of a flat summit measures 11m (N-S) by 9m and 0.9m high. Composed of small stones there is no sign of a kerb or cist. A heap of stones 4m across and 0.4m high has been dumped on top of the cairn.”

Fan Gyhirych is perhaps best approached starting near the fabulous monolith Maen Llia – why not combine visits if you decide to come? From here you have the option of climbing Fan Nedd (and visiting another Coflein-certified cairn) or taking a good path across the mountain’s northern shoulder. Fan Gyhirych is the decapitated summit on the skyline straight ahead to the west.

Alternatively a well maintained track can be cycled from the minor road west of Penwaindwr (on the minor road which leaves the A4067 above Cray Reservoir). It’s not as bad as it sounds, honest! Either way make sure you’re prepared, that’s all.

In the archaeological inventory for the area published in 1986 there is no mention of this piece of rock-art being in a museum. It does however say that is in possession of Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhe.
It is described as thus “These 2 stones found in close proximity to one another on the SE slope of Knocknakilton, overlooking the Emlagh river valley. The smaller stone has been removed from the field fence and is now in the possession of Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhe.
(1) The measures 1.2m x .8m x .07m to .15m thick. The markings are dominated by a large cup and 3 circles with a radial line running from the central cup through a gap in the inner circle and across the outer circles. A possible cup mark; badly eroded lies between the 2 outer circles. The remainder of the motifs comprise at least 6 cup-marks which, though gapped, may once have been complete as the surface of the stone is spalled where the gap occures”
It appears a cup marked slab still lies at the OS coordinates listed.

Here is a link to some info about the museum in Ballyferriter where it can now be viewed.

kerrytourist.com/details/corca_dhuibhne_regional_museum.shtml

This fine standing stone is over 2.85m high and went looking at it when I was trying to find the rock art in this townland which I have since discovered is on the other side of the road!

At 3,490ft the burial cairn upon this, the sentinel peak of The Carneddau, must be the highest surviving Bronze Age site in England and Wales, with those upon nearby Carnedd Dafydd coming in a close second..... seeing as the cairn which apparently once crowned the summit of Yr Wyddfa, Snowdon (presumably also Bronze Age in origin) has been obliterated by the tourist railway.

A major trek from any point of the compass, to be honest the cairn does not take centre-stage upon arrival at this brutal, rocky plateau, unlike some of Wales’ ‘lesser’ so endowed peaks. Of course this is not to do such a sacred monument an injustice – simply a recognition that no man-made structure could possibly compete with the soaring buttresses and rocky chasms of this most dramatic of dramatic landscapes in terms of visual drama.

In short, I believe the simple fact that the cairn is here at all was sufficient comment at the time of internment, like the dominant wolf manoeuvring to claim the high ground overlooking the pack. The people knew the score.

It is tempting to view the great northern ridge approaching Carnedd Llewelyn – via numerous burial cairn-topped subsidiary peaks, including Drum and Foel Grach – as a great processional way, but perhaps this is unrealistic in view of the terrain. The Stonehenge Avenue it is not.

Those who may wish to make the pilgrimage to the summit will find the route via the access road to Ffynnon Llugwy the most straightforward. Note that this is no place to be in mist, however, as I can well testify.... Take the right precautions and it will be a day no pilgrim will ever forget.

Y Garn stands at the northern apex of the wonderfully undulating Nantlle Ridge, separated from the great bulk of the adjacent Mynydd Mawr by the Drws-y-Coed pass and with fabulous views eastwards to the Snowdon Massif – Yr Eryri itself.

This is a special place to come and hang out with just the wind for company. Evidently our Bronze Age ancestors shared the same opinion, since the 2,077ft summit plateau is crowned by two large burial cairns..... whoever was interred here hanging out for eternity upon this windswept mountain top.

According to our friends at Coflein:

“Two large cairns, probably dating to the Bronze Age and situated within open moorland on the summit of Y Garn. The stone built cairns are circular on plan and measure about 10m in diameter and up to about 2m in height. The cairns have both been disturbed in the past, with the construction of drystone shelters around hollows dug into the centres. Cairn A is the easternmost cairn (SH551526) and Cairn B is the westernmost of the pair.”

The most direct approach begins from the hamlet of Rhyd-ddu and is pretty obvious, to be honest – that is, straight up in an unremitting grind! The reward upon reaching the summit is not only one of the most expansive views in all Wales... but two large Bronze Age cairns to enjoy it from. It’s too much, it really is.

With a delivery van going miles astray I took advantage and went back to Woodside of Delgaty to look at the remains of another possible ring cairn. There are plenty of small quartzs and stones that look more like pebbles on a beach. The small cairn looks over towards Bennachie, 20 miles away. Although badly damaged by ploughing the width of cairn is approx 25 meters. Rumours of an excavation have yet to come to fruition.

From Woodside Farm, ask permission from Mrs. Shand, follow the tree line south until the gate. The cairn is clearly visible to the western side some 30 meters into a tattie field at present. Before looking at the cairn look amongst the trees to the left/east.

Near the fence could be a small but undamaged grass covered cairn. I posted an image to see if anybody could throw some light on the matter.

Visited 5/10/09.

Skene’s Wood, Greenlands, Balbithan and Larrick have many hut circles and cairns within them. Like Bellmuir, near Methlick, this must have been a close knit community living in the shadow of Bennachie. Larrick is the old Scots name for Larch, perhaps an indicator to local environs. Unlike the neighbouring villages these hut circles and cairns are to be found in a field only a few meters north of the house at Larrick.

Leave the B977 between Hatton Of Fintray and Kintore, taking the minor road to Inverurie. Larrick is the first track to the left. Parking is available at the house. Probably best to ask permission, as I did in a roundabout way.

The only reason for coming here was a conversation with my accountant who happens to be the accountant for the residents at Larrick. So cheers to John Smith.

Visited 3/10/09.

The community of Bourtie have a path that leads to the summit of the Hill Of Barra. I parked beside the old kirk and made my way thru various stiles and fields to reach the the summit. A walk of about 800 meters. This walk isn’t so popular as the Oldmeldrum (the Blankets) side, but I would advise it’s use, the stone circles at Bourtie and Shieldon are close by as well as the ring cairn on the Hill Of Selbie.

This was a well positioned fort with truly tremendous views over the Garioch area of Grampian. This path approaches from a south easterly direction, the first views being the three ramparts and the entrance. Nature did it’s job for the northern defences. Within the fort is Wallaces Stone. Robert the Bruce used it as a base to subjue the Earl of Buchan. Check the 1308 site. Why don’t they teach this stuff in schools?

As is usual up here the weather changed instantly and the customary drenching happened on the way down. Don’t let that stop you from coming here as this is the heart of rural Aberdeenshire. So a good starting point for anybody’s adventures!

Visted 3/10/09.

Visited 5.9.2009 from Farmington round barrow. Wins Barrow has been in the wars somewhat (see Miscellaneous post) but is still there – the road actually runs a few yards to the east. It has a fence/gate right on top of it, and sits unloved by the side of a driveway.

Visited 5.9.2009 after having a look at Norbury and Farmington long barrow. Leaving Farmington village by the road going NE from the village green, past a stone lined spring/sheep wash giving the nearby wood the name of Washpool Wood, the barrow is just off the road on the right hand side.

Someone in the area obviously has a trespass phobia and virtually every gate I passed between the village and here had a “no right of way” sign on it. The one next to the barrow was no different. Still, the barrow is clearly visible from the road, and is crowned with a mature sycamore tree. It’s a reasonable size, a metre tall (after Farmington and Hampnett barrows this constituted a major find!).

From here it’s off to Wins Barrow, further to the NE on Bourton Hill.