Latest Fieldnotes

My, this is a great site. It really is...... Guess I should have done more homework, but to say the designation ‘cairn’ on the 1:25 map hardly does this justice would be an understatement of megalithic proportions.

Needless to say I start off heading up the main track in true Gladman fashion, only to find two farm lads searching for their missing car keys in a muddy field. OK...... is that the sound of dueling banjos in the wind I hear?

Anyway, out comes the map and – after confirming with the farmer, who’s arrived on-site to rescue the aforementioned – I retreat and cut through the un-signposted field gate to the right, whereby a stile leads in a short while to the stone circle. C’mon, it has to be called one, surely?

The field is a churned mass of mud, courtesy of an assembled throng of bovines thankfully held at bay in an enclosure made of those motorway central reservation barrier things. The circle stones/kerb stones/whatever are substantial, the magical Y Preselau, raising a misty head above and beyond to my right, well, magical. Water streams down the Rosebush Reservoir Dam, its source soon replenished by a vicious weather front moving in to give me a fearful hammering. But hey, tucked up in my waterproofs this is a marvellously evocative place, a place to sit and wonder why is it so little known?

I arrived at Whitesands bay carpark at gone 3 am and got a few hours tossing and turning in. (god cars are crap for sleeping in )
I started the walk over to the chamber at about 6.45 am the sun wasn’t putting in an appearance today but was seen to the stoneless east of the country.
What a fantastic place for a burial chamber, just imagine if theyd’e built Stonehenge here or even just Carreg Samson, makes me quiver to think it.
The wind that had been blowing hard all night now brought in the mist off the sea, turning it into stingy face rain, Carn llidi disappeared completely which is a neat trick if you know how big it is and nature doesn’t use mirrors.
I hid from the elements, no I didnt, I got closer to my ancestors and got in the chamber, using my thick hat as a cusion I sat still for a while, only noise was the wind, I closed my eyes and began to drift off.
This was the first time I ever fell asleep at a place like this, I almost remember a dream sequence, just one as I was only out for five minutes.
From here I can see a big rock just feet away, it has straight lines on it, ha nature abhors straight lines my arse, is it art or more probably fossilised sea slug tracks.
I dont think the capstone has fallen, there is a long stone on the chambers northern side that would have effectively blocked that side and the other stones here would have blocked the other gaps, also if the capstone were to be in any other position the visual impact from the south would be less and the interplay between capstone and mountain would also be lost.
Well worth the drive down and walk up, but you might not want to do it on an empty stomach with no sleep, god knows what the spirits were up to whilst I slept.

Oh what joy. (sorry just wanted to balance Dominics fieldnotes)
I came from Coetan Arthur and it was a wide and easy to follow path so theres no reason to see one without the other. On the way I saw what could have been a three stone row, probably not though. But hey why not ?
The only good thing about the gun platforms and the road to it is it makes the chambers impossible to miss.
Poor Dominic must have been on a real downer when he was here, the place was a real buzz for me, the mist had cleared somewhat revealing the fantastic views, the idea that these were childrens tombs looking over to their fathers sounds rediculous to me. More probable is the older tomb of Coetan Arthur took its focus as Carn Llidi so subsequent generations went one better and got as close to the rock as they could whilst keepking their focus on the illustrious ancestor.
Follow the track back down to the road and your just a couple hundred yards from the carpark, a brilliant and beautiful coastal ring walk.

There is some dispute over the authenticity of this standing stone. But It takes your breath away when you see it standing in the grave yard. The stone is over 8 feet high. It seems to be aligned with Carn Fadryn – your eye goes straight to the hill over the valley.
The hole near the top was apparently when the stone was used to hold a lantern, which leads you to believe it is an true relic, as a christian object wouldn’t be used in such a flippant way.
Oh be careful parking outside the church, as I was nearly hit by a white van speeding along!

I parked on the road by Gilfach farm entrance and walked up the drive, its also the course of the footpath so I waved at the farmer in his kitchen with the air of someone who’s aloud to be there.
Through a gate is the half overgrown path straight as an arrow up the hillside, a helpful signpost points further on and tells us Cromlech 150m....Awsome
But very very wet and you havent seen this many slugs anywhere I promise you.
I had no idea what the cromlech would look like but the word cromlech always conjures pictures of Maen y Bard on Tal y Fan for me which was very unhelpful as it looks nothing like what I found.
Beneath the first rock outcrop you come to is a large flat stone, this is it.
On such a misty morning there was no view at all so there was no choice but to get in and have a look round. The capstone is completely elavated from the earth, held up by orthostats 18” high and smaller chock stones. Inside was two feet high, quite dry and comfy but my squirming for pictures of the orthostats got me filthy, angry wife filthy.
The capstone if you can call it that, is immense, on its upper surface are two triangular depressions and a straight line. I thought nature abhors straight lines, but its not the first Ive seen today.
On a beautiful summers evening this would be a  perfect place to be, but wet cold and dirty with slugs on top isnt the perfect equinox.

Five for the price of one, how cool is that, I’d have stopped even if there was just one, infact Iv’e climbed mountains for much less.
Rediculously I couldnt find it, a bit of brain freeze maybe but I was definately in the wrong field, back to the road and start again.
There isnt anywhere good to park nearby i parked two hundred yards east and walked back down the road.
The bracken was high but is now beginning to wilt
so I helped it on it’s way by trampling as much as I could. Watchful cows feigned ignorance from the corner of the field, but I’m awake enough to know when I’m being watched.
I tend to think the whole shabang was built into a single cairn with five cists pentagonaly arranged throughout.
Were the occupants of each cist a single person, or a whole family, or a whole family line. I couldnt help thinking of family, lineage and things like that. Then on to my own family, my own mortality then I got quite depressed and had to leave, perhaps the cup marked rock i’m going to next can cheer me up.

A visit with a couple of differences.
As I approached the field that contains this cup marked stone I was slowed down by a funeral prosession walking slowly up the road, they eventually passed into the field next door to the one I wanted and I passed them by, parking at the end of Cwmgloyne farm lane.
I walked back down the road to the gate, I could see the stone at the other end of the field near another gate but I could also see a herd of young cows, as soon as I was in the field with the gate closed behind me they all rushed over far too quickly I got out sharpish.
I walked down the road a bit more and found the stile into the field, once over the stile they saw me and came over to resume the meet and greet
another sharp exit.
What to do ? I wasnt going to let Mcdonalds wannabes get the better of me.
I walked into the field the funeral procession had entered in the hope of making it to the other gate that the stone was next to, the funaraleers had congregated in the next field over and were obviously doing the deed.
I tried my best to melt into the scenery and two fences later I was in the field with the gate, Harry Secombe was doing his level best to be heard in heaven and was doing really well. I slowly and silently approached the gate, the cupmarked stone was about 10metres away and the stoopid cows were way over there.
I swallowed heavily and entered the arena camera at the ready, they wouldnt give me long with my metamorphic friend.
Three speedy pictures and they were on to me, god cows can move quick, as I locked the gate I felt hot breath on my cheek. Hah, I beat you,
would a cow feel an empty pop bottle hit upon its head, I liked to think so. All this accompanied by loud Welsh funeral music made it a really bizzare stone hunt, but very enjoyable.

I parked at the bottom of the uphill driveway, mostly because I was going to have to ask permission for a visit and it always pays not to blunder around peoples farms in your car, if the farm was called Cerrig Llwydion it is no more, cant quite remember the new name, Nant something or other.

The farmer was very Welsh and had no problem
with me inspecting the chambers he pointed the way and off I went, this was the last port of call and I was frankly crapped up to the eyeballs, so god knows what he thought of this crazy Englishman.
I knew this chambered long cairn was incorperated in a field boundary but was still dissapointed to find the place barely recognisable as such, the rear chamber has collapsed, two stones in the middle look like another ex chamber but the front chamber still hangs on to its dignity and one can still peer inside under its capstone,
The cows all but ignored me.

This was another of those ‘how has it taken me so long to get here’ sites.........

I recall cycling past on the return from Pont Scethin in 1998 and thinking ‘that’s nice’. 11 years later I finally decide to take a closer look on foot and it blows me away. Much better than I remembered, with a fantastic, substantial capstone and great location below the southern Rhinogydd – the ridge beyond teeming with other sites.......

Several nerdy walkers gawp at the individual hanging out inside the chamber, the postie speeds past no doubt oblivious. Of much more interest, a local comes across and introduces himself as a ‘dowser’. Apparently the vicinity is a ‘hotspot’ of activity in this respect and he’s well chuffed. So am I.

A Gladman, you might say.

This rock art panel is only a few kms from the village of Lispole, in Co, Kerry. A OS map would be needed.
Its shown on the map as being right next to a T junction. This T junction has a little townland sign for Aghacaribbe (I think), however the rock it is located on is about one field up from this and can be accessed over a gate.
Access to it isnt far from gate, you can see it easily from the gate it is pretty much in the middle of a field with a path going right by it.
Seemingly a field boundary once cut the stone into two parts but this boundary seems to be long gone.
As a newcomer to rock-art I really loved this panel.

This passage grave lies on a mound, which is about 20 x 19 metres and 1.6 metres high.
The chamber is a rectangle, 9 x 2.6 metres.

this passage grave, together with Klövagårdens gånggrift ,Ragnvalds grav and Logårds kulle is north of the road, while the farms is on the south. It has been accepted that this configuration has been the sami since the stone age, which makes the road Sweden’s oldest that is still in use.

How to get there:
From the city of Falköping, take road 47 southeast for 4.3 kilometres, then turn left at the blue sign “Karleby”.
Drive for 1.5 kilometres and there is a parking spot on your left.
Walk northwards, pass Logärds kulle, and the next passage grave is the site.

This passage grave lies on a mound, which is about 27 x 11 metres and 2.0 metres high. The chamber is a rectangle, 11 x 2.5 metres, and the passage is 8 metres long. The grave was examined in 1874 by Montelius and Retxius and an arrowhead of flintstone, amber pearls, 3 bone needles, 2 teeth with a hole drilled through and burnt and unburnt human- and animal bones.

This passage grave, together with Klövagårdens gånggrift, Ragnvalds grav, and Haragårdens gånggrift is north of the road, while the farms is on the south. It has been accepted that this configuration has been the sami since the stone age, which makes the road Sweden’s oldest that is still in use.

How to get there:
From the city of Falköping, take road 47 southeast for 4.3 kilometres, then turn left at the blue sign “Karleby”. Drive for 1.5 kilometres and there is a parking spot on your left. Walk westwards towards Ragnvalds Grav, then follow the track north in the field to the site.

This passage grave is the biggest in Scandinavia, andthe chamber is 16 x 2.5 metres, and the passage is about 11 metres long. One of the wall stones in the chamber is over 6 metres long.

This passage grave, together with Klövagårdens gånggrift, Logårds kulle and Haragårdens gånggrift is north of the road, while the farms is on the south. It has been accepted that this configuration has been the same since the stone age, which makes the road Sweden’s oldest that is still in use.

Info board on site in Swedish and English, antoher one at the parking spot in Swedish, and some English and German.

How to get there:
From the city of Falköping, take road 47 southeast for 4.3 kilometres, then turn left at the blue sign “Karleby”. Drive for 1.5 kilometres and there is a parking spot on your left.

This passage grave lies on a mound, which is about 23 x 22 metres and 2.7 metres high.
The chamber is a rectangle, 6 x 2.5 metres, and the passage is 7 metres long.
The grave was examined in 1872 by Montelius and Retxius and a arrowhead and scrapes of flintstone, amber pearls, fragments of pottery and the skeletons from about 80 people and bones from pig, cow, fox and marten.

this passage grave, together with Ragnvalds grav, Logårds kulle and Haragårdens gånggrift is north of the road, while the farms is on the south. It has been accepted that this configuration has been the sami since the stone age, which makes the road Sweden’s oldest that is still in use.

How to get there:
From the city of Falköping, take road 47 southeast for 4.3 kilometres, then turn left at the blue sign “Karleby”.
Drive for 1.5 kilometres and there is a parking spot on your left.
Walk westwards towards Ragnvalds Grav, then follow the track south in the field to the site.

I must have wandered past this several times in the past and never noticed it, but because of a lot of recent clearance of thick gorse and dead yew trees it suddenly revealed itself and quite a find it is too. Possibly contemporary with the Devil’s Humps at Kingley Vale just a stones throw away, it’s described on the Pastscape section of the English Heritage site as ‘A rectangular earthwork of about an acre possibly as early as Late Bronze Age. Scheduled.’ It also says that it’s similar to enclosures in Germany from the last century BC. Most of the banks and ditches are in a reasonable state and the southerly bank extends beyond the enclosure further west as a cross dyke. There seems to be only one discernible entrance on the Eastern side next to the track.

First visited this wonderful site in February 2001.... perhaps not the best time, so I immediately put it on the ‘list to visit again one day’. As you do.

The opportunity arose in 2005, only for Moel Ysgyfarnogod to call me the louder during a supposed window in the weather – I actually had my lip cut by hailstones that day, but that’s another story. Anyway, finally made it back last week, actually managing to find the obscure left fork from the main track (see the link directions) and – to be honest – more than happy I’d taken this walk seriously and worn my Gortex boots, since this direct path possesses some SERIOUS bogs indeed. So much so that there is, in my opinion, a good case for heading straight to Llyn Eiddew Bach and cutting onto the direct track that way, particularly since this wonderful cairn-circle is clearly visible on the skyline at lakeside. This would mean missing out on the little Llyn Eiddew Bach ‘circle, however.... so perhaps doing the outward leg via the llyn – so easing any navigational problems – and squelching back via the direct path is the best compromise.

By whatever route you get to Bryn Cader Faner I guarantee a true stonehead will not be dissapointed. On a reasonably clear day the mountains of central Snowdonia rear up behind, while the northern Rhinogydd – arguably Wales’ roughest terrain – tower above in a manner that can only be described as brutal in the extreme.

Time flies here, my anticipated 2-3 hour visit turning into an extended 5 hour hang since I simply could not leave. Just the one mountain biker passed by in all that time.... needless to say he didn’t stop.

Incidentally when nearing the car on the return leg you have the most superb view of the Dwyryd Estuary laid out before you. An opportunity to divert a little to the left and ponder a while......

This is a great bullaun stone in the really great town of Dingle in Co. Kerry. I spent a week down there not too long along and had a wonderful time.
This bullaun stone is know locally as “the holy stone” and is situated in a parking space at the top of Goat Street in the town of Dingle.
There is not a lot made of it in the tourist brochures but its not every night you can come home from a few pints and eat your curry chips sitting on a bullaun stone.
Also the name “holy stone” can only get you thinking of Father Teds “Holy Stone of Clonrichert”.

From the Green Castle at Portknockie I walked the 11/2 miles westwards to Tronach Point along the well looked after coastal path. This is the same path that is a shambles further east at Cleaved Head, Macduff. I always find it strange that different reigons look after things in different ways, but that’s another matter!

Nothing much now remains of the Iron Age fort except that it’s defences where mostly natural sheer cliff face. Entrance from the coast depended on the tide being in or out, and even then landing would be some achievement considering the bay is full of dangerous rocks. Several dangerous paths track up and down steep grassy banks next to some severe drops. Not for the faint hearted.

Visited 21/9/09.

This is a promontory hillfort in the village of Milborne Wick in south Somerset. It sits on the south western end of Barrow Hill. The village surrounds the fort on three sides. In places the rampart stands up to 6 metres in height. It encloses an area of just over 19 acres.
Magic states that the main ramparts cross the hill at its northern neck and run down the eastern side. The western side and southern end are mostly natural hillslope, with some additional height added artificially. While no excavation has provided dating evidence, the form, shape and placing of this site are consisitent with an Iron Age date.
This not the most accesible hillfort around as it is bounded by housing and private farm land, there does not appear to be a footpath on or near it. Also it is not easy to photograph through various trees and bushes, I must see if there is a nearby hill from which it can be viewed with a long lens.

Portknockie, which means hilly port, is very pretty little village found on the Moray coast situated on the A942. The Iron Age fort is very easily found as it overlooks the harbour and village. Fortunately the locals have a good sense of history and have a marker board indicating the forts location.

A fairly steep climb leads into the forts interior. Look west and the fort at Tronach Point can be seen. Southern ramparts remain whilst the other three sides are protected by cliffs. Within the fort are the remains of a fairly substantial building and several large holes possibly for large wooden posts. Many caves are also in the area. The harbour is on the forts western side.

It’s good to see the local community actively take part in looking after ancient history. In fact the fishing industry is taken very seriously here as several monuments indicate. No bad thing!

Visited 21/9/09.

This group of three bowl barrows lay on a north facing hillslope to the south of the village of Winterbourne St Martin or Martinstown. The barrows are close to the buildings which are a dairy. The other barrows in the photo are further away on Ridge hill.

The cairn at Lilla Lycke is probably from the bronze age, 3500-2500 years old. It is 25 metres in diameter and 2.8 metres high. Around the cairn lies stones that farmers has cleared from the fields, varying from 3 to 11 metres wide (widest on north). The size of the stones from the clearing is much more irregular, and generally smaller than the ones in the cairn.
On the east side there is a hole in the cairn, with sides of dry masonry.

The stone ring once consisted of 9 stones, but now only 6 remains.
This ring also has a low center stone. Was restored in 1936 by Mr Sahlström.

Info board on site in Swedish, English and German.

The cairn and the stone ring can be seen in GE.

How to get there:
1 kilometre south of Amundtorp, on the west side of the road.

This is a very prominent hill, almost iconic in this part of Dorset. It can be seen from many places and the addition of the trees, during the first world war, makes it all the more visible.
Although the modern name is 19th century, after the reverend John Colmer the land owner. The original name was Sigismund’s Berg, which gives the name to the adjacent village of Symondsbury.
Cope thinks it the centre piece of a sacred river valley, the rivers Brit, Simene and Asker converge nearby.

This is an area of upland heath about a half mile from the Dorset coast, it is a single bowl barrow on a small hill. It overlooks Colmer’s hill to the north and lines up with the Thorncombe Beacon barrows to the south. From it can be seen Golden Cap and the barrow cemetery on Hardown Hill to the north west.

Whilst there is not much to see on the hill itself apart from a linear feature near the cliff edge, never the less it is at a point on the coast which is between other sites. Adjacent to it are the barrows on Thorncombe beacon, to the east and the settlement and barrows on Golden Cap to the west.