Latest Fieldnotes

Visited 11/5/08

The track to the left of Tigh Chromain climbs steeply up hill (who’d have thought it, eh?) until – upon approaching the farmhouse – I see, or more accurately ‘hear’, the farmer working the fields in his tractor. Waving him down, he readily agrees to me taking a look at the site. Excellent.

The monolith is a beauty, the coastal views towards Gigha and Cara (like a sea monster making its way up the Sound) exceptional.

The chambered cairn has been badly dealt with, but a few stones still remain in situ... and of course there’s that view! Incidentally the fence is currently ‘step-over-able’, so to speak, so no need to descend/re-ascend.

The icing on the cake is the remains of a dun at the southern end of the ridge (beyond the monolith, that is). Great stuff.

Visited May 08 in blazing sunshine...... the farm track entrance is difficult to spot – I went racing past (well, as much as you can in an old Rover 45 – Right on!) before it dawned on me that the barn with the red roof was ‘the one’.

Parked up the road in a beach lay by (of sorts) opposite Taigh Sona and walked back along the A83 to the site. Three superbly-proportioned monoliths and a perfect, diminutive little chamber stand on the side of a hill overlooking the Sound of Gigha.

The farmer arrives, I assume to check me out, and tells me that after 30 years or so he finally checked out the Mid-summmer sunset to Cara Island last year. Great bloke and a reminder not to succumb to belief in stereotypes..... hopefully he left with the same impression.

The swifts dart in and out of the nearby barn, the lambs do what lambs do and the ferry to Ghiga slowly crawls across the horizon. Not much happens at Ballochroy. Isn’t that great?

Sister peak to Pen-y-Fan – and only a little lower at 2,863ft – Corn Du was also graced by the presence of cairn builders in prehistory. A visit here will leave the tired traveller in no doubt as to why....

These peaks have always provoked a mixture of fascination and awe in human beings, alternately beguiling and life threatening, sometimes within a very short time frame indeed. Not for nothing are the Brecon Beacons the main training selection ground of the SAS.

Unfortunately there’s not much to ‘see’ of the cairn these days, what there is being a modern reconstruction designed to protect the internal construction of the monument from erosion by the many visitors who climb the mountain. However, judging by the photos taken during the excavation of 1978 [see link], the originial cairn covered a pretty complex cist. Oh, to have seen it exposed! Nice.

Nevertheless in many respects the summit – the landscape itself – IS the monument, the views exceptional on a clear day. A natural temple..... why, even the col leading to Pen-y-Fan is known as ‘Arthur’s Chair’. And I’m guessing this wasn’t a reference to Arthur from ‘On the Buses’...A visit to Corn Du should naturally include a visit to its nearby neighbour, itself blessed by an excavated cairn.

Corn Du is most ‘easily’ (relatively speaking) approached via the A470 at Storey Arms. However the more adventurous traveller, in search of a more intimate approach, may wish to try an ascent from the north (via magical Cwm Llwch), or the south (starting near the Neuadd Reservoirs, an islet within the larger of which boasts a couple of probable prehistoric cairns).

Finally, note that if it’s hard enough for the SAS, it’s certainly hard enough for mortals such as you or I. So pity the trainer-clad muppets, equip yourself properly, take care and accord the mountain due respect.... for this is truly the realm of the ancestors.

Note: the cairn itself is actually at SO00752133 upon the summit plateau.

Pen-y-Fan and its companion, Corn Du, are the summit peaks of the Brecon Beacons at 2,907ft and 2,863ft respectively.

By far the most recognisable mountains in South Wales because of their enigmatic ‘flat tops’ – the result of a layer of hard ‘plateau bed’ rock upon the soft Old Red Sandstone – it’s hardly surprising these high places were venerated by the ancient cairn builders.

Not a great deal remains of Pen-y-Fan’s summit cairn nowadays – the monument having been reconstructed, following excavation in 1991 – but what does exist only adds to the ‘other worldliness’ of this magnificent viewpoint. To be buried here must have been the Bronze Age equivalent of a spot in Westminster Abbey.... only many times more relevant being ‘up here’.

The summit of Pen-y-Fan is not a quiet spot by any means, the eroded footpath scars testament to the many thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage, for one reason or another, every year, a high percentage from the Storey Arms to the west. But find yourself a perch upon the crags a little below the summit to the north, gaze down into beautiful Cwm Llwch with its circular tarn, a cwm resplendent with ancient tales, and Pen-y-Fan remains an awesome place to be indeed. Just make sure you don’t forget the sandwiches the Mam Cymru had lovingly prepared. Doh!

The way to this is on the Cauldhame road (whose marked end lies on the Stromness-Skaill road whilst the other end can be found following the road north from the Co-op and around the Loons), and it is downstream of Una where a fieldfence stops near the burn’s southern edge. In the flesh it presents more the appearance of an islet in the stream, a small water-carved eyot. An urgent bladder deterred me taking a closer look. This is a shame as the burnt material is on the one unseen slope, everywhere else exposing bare yellow earth au naturel. The burn runs around its northern side but doesn’t show on the photos. On the opposite side I saw a ?curving plateau between it and a more or less straight much higher ‘bank’ lying outwith an uphill fence (whose eastern end’s stone post shows continuing erosion by its exposed base, just about visible on one shot) – did the burn once course here too, which would then rule it out as a burnt mound. Adding to my suspicion of once higher waters are the ‘terraces’ around the streamward side. Perhaps the natural has been co-opted and the real archaeology had been on top. I am minded that Langa Dae [Linga Dee] in this parish had cinerary mounds and “the burn or water courses have been conducted in a meandering manner about each mound”

This can be seen from the petrol station at Port Elphinstone. Two stones are original, the third, furthest right, has Pictish markings and was moved there during the construction of the railway. A long time ago there was an avenue of stones leading to a RSC. Two of these stones remain, one beside the henge, the other in the garden at the paper mill end towards Kintore.

Seen every week, as like others I often sit and have some lunch!

A classic site....... I make it about a seven and a half mile round walk from the Loch Brittle campsite, but the loch-side walk – with The Cuillin towering above and numerous streams discharging into the loch as waterfalls – is well worth doing for itself, never mind with the prize of megaliths at the end. Think of it as a lay pilgrimage, or something like that.

The route is pretty straightforward until the final section, near Creag Mhor, where the path veers inland towards a drystone wall. I, er, sort of lost it here, neglecting to take a bearing on Loch na h-Airde until it was too late. Anyway, persevere, passing an abandoned croft which may well bring a lump to your throat (it did mine) and find the loch best you can.

The chamber sits above the northern shore of this loch and, although roofless, still has a facade and well preserved entrance passage. To be honest, although gloriously unkempt with the facade stones leaning this way and that, it’s virtually intact – save the roof.

And yes, there is a lot of litter around, which does detract somewhat from such a truly isolated spot..... but closer inspection revealed this to be of the marine variety, whether chucked overboard or washed in on a storm, I couldn’t say.

Visited on 15/5/08

A great little site away from the more popular Maen-y-Bardd, with superb views over the Conwy Valley and the great mass of The Carneddau looming to the right.

Much better than I thought it would be, to be honest and I couldn’t believe I’d missed this little gem on my first visit to its much more famous neighbour (in 2001, if I remember correctly)

Not the most spacious of chambers, but I guess that makes it all the more appealing.... and a great spot to drift off for a few hours or so, avoiding the almost obligatory wind and rain of a Welsh hillside inside in the dry. So long as you don’t mind sharing with the odd creepy-crawlie creature with the same idea, that is. They live here, after all, while we’re just a ‘passing through.

The Cryla Wood walks are the most direct route to the circle. These can be found by heading down the road opposite the end of the B9106 at its junction with the A950. Climb to the top of the hill. Cairn to the left, the circle to the right beside a tree and a pile of field clearance/circle stones. Two stones remain one in the field, one beside the tree of an original nine. Once again excellent views and feeling of what if!

Visited 16/6/09.

Just down the road from Aubrey Burl’s Berrybrae – needless to say combine a visit – this fine RSC stands neglected in a circular-walled copse of trees behind the farm buildings of Netherton of Logie.

An elderly woman readily gave permission to visit, the farmer, clad in ubiquitous overalls directing me through a gate to the right with nae bother.

Sure the circle is uncared for, with sundry bits of bottle, wire etc scattered around. Yet the myriad bird boxes attached to the trees reassure you these are decent people.....

The recumbent and flankers are intact, together with a good many circle stones [sorry, I gave up counting years ago – we used a calculator at school, fat lot of good that was]. This RSC has a ‘rough and ready’ feel light years away from Cullerlie, but arguably is all the better for that.

Well worth the visit. Incidentally the farm has a shop so you may stock up on milk etc before you go. Probably straight from the cow!

A favourite monolith and one of the first I came across as a ‘stone-illiterate’ walking Fan Nedd and Fan Llia during the mid-Nineties. Remember them?

Completely dominates the valley, guiding travellers along the nearby ancient track – later bastardised by the Romans to become Sarn Helen – and perhaps serving as a place to stop and offer up a few, er, offerings......

Daubed in graffiti by mindless fools several years back, a few Welsh Winters – not to mention Summers (!) – have made light work of that. Maen Llia will still be guarding its mountain pass when they are long gone and forgotten.

To view the site of the timber structure, walk north east along the embankment road from the southern end of Vauxhall bridge past the MI5 building. This is easy to spot as it looks exactly like a secret services building. Between Mi5 and the adjacent office building is a short road which leads to a ramp down into the river. This is the route used by the amphibious London ‘Duck’ tours.

You will need to go at very low tide. Tide times can be found here:

pla.co.uk/display_fixedpage.cfm/id/11/

(Add an hour or so onto the Tower Pier times).

Turn left at the bottom and walk under the bridge. On either side of the bridge in the embankment wall you will pass the outfalls of the river Effra. (Opposite further upstream on the north bank you will see an arched opening which is one of the outfalls of the river Tyburn). The structure is visible as a collection of timber stumps in the river just beyond the huge green glass St George’s apartment development which is above you on your left.

The timbers can also be seen from above – again only at very low tide – from the raised embankment path to the south west of the bridge at the end of the St George’s development – not where the information board claims.

The eastern prow of Waun Rydd, a vast moorland plateau rising to a very healthy 2,522ft, is currently adorned by a recently restored (see photo) cairn of a magnitude way in excess of that required for a mere ‘walker’s cairn’. Perhaps the most likely explanation for this apparent eccentricity is that its original incarnation superseded – for whatever reason, now lost in the mists of time – a Bronze Age burial cairn which once stood here upon this exposed mountain top.

Indeed, according to a ‘Field Monuments in the National Park’ pamphlet, published by the Brecon Beacons National Park Committee in 1983, “... a few paces to the west... [of the existing cairn]... are the mutilated remains of a probable prehistoric burial cairn, much of it having been destroyed by generations of passing walkers” (suffice to say that ‘walkers’ is not a term I’d use!) This assertion is supported by the local Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, not to mention the name ‘Carn Pica’ itself. Seems pretty solid reasoning to me.

It has to be said that very little of the original cairn remains, but – by all accounts – the site is authentic, the views sublime, the vibe likewise. Well worth a visit.

If the thought appeals, Carn Pica is perhaps best reached by a somewhat arduous walk/climb from Tal y Bont Reservoir, via the Twyn Du ridge. Map, compass and waterproofs essential.

Wolfscote Hill is a fine little 388m high hill near the village of Biggin, in The Peak District’s ‘White Peak’ area.

A fine viewpoint – as you would expect – it has the added bonus of being crowned by a fine round cairn, too. Needless to say it’s not the only hill in the area to have this privledge since, according to the map, many of the summits either side of Wolfscote Dale are similarly blessed. If only there was more time.........

I parked near Wolfscote Grange, carrying on a little further down the minor road before the short, steep ascent to the cairn at the summit – unfortunately surmounted by a OS trig point, but there you are.... National Trust.

Despite a few violent showers the views were superb, especially in that uniquely clear, fresh light just after a dowwnpour. Exquisite.

A 1,850ft outlier of Pen-Pumlumon-Fawr and to its north-east, Carn Hyddgen is as remote a mountain as you could wish for, standing guard above the trackway through Cwm Hyddgen – surely a prehistoric route?

If I remember my history correctly it was here that Owain Glyndwyr ambushed and annihilated an English army during the rebellion – or War of Liberation, depending on your point of view. Despite – or perhaps because of that – this is an ethereal, haunting location......

Needless to say the two cairns which grace the summit are peace personified – not many people come to walk Pumlumon, even less come here. In fact I only did due to a map reading error! But it was a fortuitous mistake, you might say.

Insch is found on the B992 which goes thru the centre of the small Garioch town. Dunnydeer is signposted, the road goes past the chip shop, with the car park about 1 mile away. Two paths reach the circle but one walk, for the fit, can cover both the hill fort and the circle. The climb up to the fort is quite short but also very steep with stunning views at the top. Across the valley is the Hill Of Christ’s Kirk another former fort. Bennachie and Tap O Noth, as always it seems, can also be seen.

Follow the path to the tall wooden gates, the circle is another 500 yards. Only the recumbent and the two “shoogily” flankers remain. Follow the path down the tree line to the road. Move east towards Insch back to car park. Obviously this would be easy route to the circle as it is only a gentle slope. A signpost marked Standing Stones shows the way. It is about another mile back to the car park. Total walk 3 miles and there are plenty of nearby RSCs so plenty of leg work to be done.

Visited July 08.

Tarland is situated on the B9119 and in its centre is Meglum Road. Follow this road out of the village and take the farm track to the left. The standing stone is the sole survivor of a RSC and can be found about a 1/4 mile up the track next to the road. Slightly further along is a cairn and the remnants at Meglum.

Visited 11/10/08.

I really have Tiompan to thank for these directions because I’d walked past it several times and didn’t use my eyes properly.

The village of Ythabank is on the B9005, from here take the Schivas road north and if in a car park at the disused quarry. Continue walking north until the trees stop entering the wood on the left side. Climb the gate and about sixty meters further on a single tree can be spotted. The cup marked boulder is literally next to the tree. Underfoot conditions are treacherous. This is ankle breaking country as cattle have churned the ground up leaving hidden holes. Add to this the burned bracken and ferns, it makes the stone hard to find.

There are four cup marks on the stone. If you walk further on underfoot conditions become easier and more sites can be found. A hut circle and Fedderat cairn are close at hand as well as plenty of rocky outcrops. I wouldn’t think this is the best example of rock art but the views over the River Ythan make it all worth while. Good boots definitely required.

Visited 8/6/09.

Head north from Logie Coldstone on the A97 and turn left at Loanhead Farm. Parking can be found at the end of the tarred section of this road. Taking advantage of a rather pleasant day I walked from here taking the first right past Ladieswell Cottage. The circle is short walk from here. A small path, to the left, leads to the site which consists of a remarkable recumbent stone, inner cairn, circle stones and a dyked pen. (I’m not really sure what this is) At one time this had been fenced but time had taken its toll. The Ladies Well spring is a short distance to the south.

From here I continued my walk in a circular fashion, no pun intended, arriving at Balgrennie. The residents here explained that several visits had been made by Historic Scotland people with a view to restoration. Nothing has happened yet which is maybe a good thing as at this site history and nature seem to be at ease with each other. The forest and ferns giving the place a real sense of time.

Visted 12/6/09.

After a day braving the elements........ and having just endured the mother of all thunderstorms on Iron Hill [not far from The Thunder Stone, of course] the sun came out and bathed this lovely little circle in light for the remainder of the day.

The gate is still padlocked and the farmer drove past while I was there.... paused... and then carried on. Using this field exclusively to feed a few motley beasts is sacrilege, it really is.

An hour or so here is a great way to end any day.

Wow........ an exquisite site. The fact that I couldn’t make out much of the promontory defences didn’t matter. To be here.... and taste and smell the salt air after a day seeking megaliths inland is everything.

Not sure that I could actually envisage people living on here, but then – of course – they were much harder than us 21st Century softies, weren’t they? Then again, perhaps this was just a place of refuge to run to when the look-outs gave warning?

The Cornish coast is something really special and on a day like today when the sun shines and the sea reflects the blue sky, is there a better place to be than here? Right on!

Rising to 2,103ft, Drygarn Fawr is an isolated mountain within the Cwmdeuddwr Hills, near Rhayader.

Crowning the summit ridge are two enormous beehive-shaped cairns, the western of which marks the actual summit. These are extraordinary structures for such an out of the way place, so full marks to those persons unkown who actually maintain them so the traveller may continue to appreciate what an ancient cairn (probably) looked like millennia ago. They are all the more remarkable bearing in mind that these hills feed the Elan Valley reservoirs, so bad weather is not exactly an infrequent occurrence here.

The majority of the Cwmdeuddwr summits – literally ‘Valley of The Two Waters’ – boast summit cairns of varying stature, so clearly this area was one of major significance to our ancestors. Although I haven’t returned since 1995, a recent visit to neighbouring Gorllwyn confirmed these Drygarn Fawr cairns remain prominent landmarks for miles around, as clearly they were always intended to be.

Best approached from Llanerch-yrfa in the Irfon Valley to the south-west. It goes without saying that waterproofs, map, compass etc are prerequisites for a visit.

Enford Bowl-barrow SU:129516

This bowl-barrow lies on the side of a hill, south west of the hamlet of Campion, Enford on the A342.

My visit came at the end of a day’s trek through the lower Pewsey valley. I had been out on manoeuvres, researching the Redhorn hill area. After travelling through the major sites of the area, along with the public houses, camp sites, village and farm shops, it signalled the final objective of that day’s mission. Having checked out the facilities around Urchfont, me and my bike were going up in the world, well trying to follow in the footsteps of the ancients, up the bridleway and onto Urchfont Hill. The game plan was to climb up onto the MOD impact area, cycling round the edge of the range, past Casterley Camp, and on towards Enford.

I was looking at a cycling route from stonehenge to Avebury. The route would involve travelling from the observation post at su 059554 over Chirton Gorse, via Ell Barrow at su 073574, to the outer observation post at su
077491. From here the choice is to travel right past the disused Greenlands camp army base and onto the the camp site at Orcheston. The left path leads past The Barge Inn, Rollestone Camp and into the Stonehenge World Heritage site via the haunted airmans corner and the Winterbourne Stoke or up the Packway’s hill and Fargo road, down the by-way to Stonehenge itself.

Riding along the track that sunny afternoon was great. The track itself was well maintained, and after the rutted Ridgeway, was a joy to me arse. The plain is a surreal place. When there are no exercises, it seems like a nature lovers Shangri-La. The army vecheles and personel seemed I encountered seemed pleased to find this guy crusing through their territory, on his way to who knows were. Twice buzzed by choppers, my primary objective was Casterley Camp, with it’s observation post and dog walker’s car park.

Casterley Camp turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. After the photo shoot, I was keen to move onto the Enford bowl-barrow. One final check of the map to see the direction the barrow was in and I weer gone. The top of the hill revealed the barrow to my left, high and proud. Standing out from the freshly cultivated soil, the green barrow signalled the continuing echo’s of our Bronze age ancestors.

Down the gully and onto the farm track. approaching the site, I decided to drop the bike into the nearest cover. The plan was to follow the edge of the fields (the headland), over the wire and under the barrow. This of course, was illegal. As there was no crop in the fields, standing or drilled, I felt justified to carry out the study up close and personnel. I had attracted the attention of the Land Rover passing the lane below, but making it clear I was taking pictures and the barrow was my only purpose, I pushed on. Moving round the side of the barrow, I startled 3 young doe’s who ran off towards the top of the hill, only to stand a watch this strange intruder.

The barrow is geert, as any local will tell you. At 48 metres in diameter and 5 metres high, it remains one of the largest surviving bowl-barrows in England. Bowl-barrows of this type include the Aldbourne Four Barrows group and probably the most famous barrow in England, Bush barrow , excavated by Sir Richard Colt Hoare in 1808. Enford bowl-barrow lost out to the likes of Sir Richard Colt Hoare’s hand and the marked depression on its
summit, is not the penetration mark of Greenwell’s shaft. Alas the cavity extending from the centre towards the east is evidence the barrow has been had. When this took place, and by who’s hand is unknown. Who was resident, or what ‘treasure’ was found, is also unknown. L. V. Grinsell’s visit of 1950 (see below), may be the only account left to us.

Having got to the centre of the barrow I performed me little ritual. “Blessed be to the ancestors”, “Blessed be Green Tara” I pronounced in me mellow voice. Digging into the tiny jar of honey with a straw from the barrow, an offering was made. It would had been nice to meditate upon that lovely hillside but shadows were beginning to lengthen and I had to haul my ass back to the A342 and heavy traffic. That was, if there wasn’t some irate farmer waiting for me at Compton farm.

Back in the saddle, and building up speed for a quick exit, the farm and it’s current custodians of the land were soon replaced by the buzz of prime time traffic. Pushing on past Upavon to Pewsey, the burger bar was calling, and the canal towpath would then take me back to themodernantiquarian.com/facility/50 The Barge Inn and my humble one man tent. Travelling by bike is not the easiest way to go, but it gives you a relationship with the llandscape that remains supreme.

A beer or two later and I slept like a log. Felt good, like I’d done something worth while. Had two more objectives the next day, the Giant’s Grave, Milton Lilbourne (SU189583), above Pewsey on the Everleigh road, and the Everleigh barrows (SU184561), beside cart-track from Lower Everleigh to Pewsey Hill.

Had a great day that day. Kept records of the characters I met, the facilities I visited and the sights, smells, sounds and emotions that came my way. If I ever get it together to finish “Down and Out in Ancient Wiltshire”, it will contain great content.

Chance – Equinox Sep 2007

A large summit cairn just west of the Two Moors Way – although I approached via Shipley Bridge/Glasscombe Corner/Plies Hill to take in Corringdon Ball Long Barrow [the only known example upon Dartmoor] and several stone rows en-route. Quite a trek.

Sit here for a while and time seems to stand still. Just you, the sky and the murmurs of the past. Or is that the wind? Perhaps it’s all that fresh air...

Driving up from Banchory to the North Aberdeenshire coast – via Tomnagorn – I just had to stop off at Stonehead..... and Dunnideer sort of insists you pay a visit, too.

My first ‘vitrified’ hillfort, as it happens. This is apparently a process – intentional or otherwise – whereby the stone rampart is transformed into a very hard glass-like substance through intense heat.

Crowned by a large fragment of an early medieval tower, both Dunnydeer and – just – Stonehead RSCs are visible from the summit. To be honest it’s too much for the brain to take in all at once!

Note that it’s a sharp climb to the summit except if approaching from the direction of the Dunnydeer RSC. I’d therefore recommend parking at Dunnydeer Farm and ascending via the circle.......