Latest Fieldnotes

This is a late prehistoric small enclosure. It is about 100 metres south of Sheep Down long barrow. On the western and eastern sides it consists of a single bank and outer ditch. The northern and southern ends are double banks with a ditch between them.
The site measures 45 metres along the east/west sides and 25 mtres along the north/south ends. The banks are 3.5 metres across 0.5 metres high. The surrounding ditch is ditch is 4 metres wide and 0.5 metres deep.
This was once thought to be roman, but as it does not conform in shape and size to known roman fortlets or signal stations, finds have now been found which show it’s earliest origins to be late bronze age.
The site was in use for many hundreds of years, if the pottery evidence from the enclosure are taken as evidence. These sites are usually associated with field systems and several exist within a short distance.

Another visit to this site to find three more barrows. These are all to the west of the two in my original posting. The central pair are about 50 feet apart, the eastern one has been savagely “excavated”, probably in the 19th century. The second of the pair is in much better condition. Both are covered in low scrub, but appear to have been cleared of thick vegetation recently, I suspect I have walked straight by them in the past.
The next two in the group are a bell type about 100m west of the central pair. The next barrow is a bowl type with an outer ditch and bank, difficult to see as it is covered in dense foliage.
The fifth barrow is the most westerly of the group and is just inside the heathland / forested area of the ridge on which the cemetery is sited. It is covered in youngish beech trees and does not appears to have been dug up in the past.
Athough most of the site is now tree and gorse covered these barrows would have been in clear sight from barrows to the north. These are Double barrow and a pair at Tolpuddle ball which are hidden in dense undergrowth.
There are at least another 3 barrows to be found in this group, inclubing a bell type and a bowl with an outer bank.
All these barrows are now surrounded by a ring of posts with chamfered tops with a carved M on the angle, these appear to be placed by the forestry commission to protect the monuments. I have also seen this at the nearby Yon barrow in Wareham forest.

Shethin Stone Circle can be found to the east of the farm with the same name within the Fountain Hill field. (north east of Tarves) This is a wonderful setting of smallish stones ranging from 2 to 4 feet in height. Some suggest that this might be a version of a Four Poster similar to Riach. The present farmer looks after the circle and leaves it sitting within a patch of grass. A stone at the northern entrance to the farm and a stone a further 1/2 mile east are said to have been moved from their original positions. Some maps have this marked as a cairn.

Visited May 08.

This site consists of a saucer barrow and three bowl barrows.

Be warned, you will enter the field and get all excited when you think the old dew pond is the saucer barrow – it isn’t.

The edge of the saucer barrow almost touches the dewpond bank and is located just to the south of it.

This is the first time I’ve seen a saucer barrow and it is basically a henge like circular bank with some humps and bumps in the center. It has obviously been very truncated by the plough. It has a much larger circumference than your average Sussex Bronze Age barrow.

The 3 bowl barrows are so faint as to almost be invisible, but are just about discernible.

A lone sarsen sits by the style at the southern entrance to the field.

The Cock Crowing Stone (not ‘Growing’ as some people have misread it) stands near the roadside, below West Nab on Meltham Moor. It’s impossible to miss due to having it’s name painted on in large white letters!

I’ve got no real further information regarding it’s provenance, folklore or otherwise. I’d only heard of it before, as when I found it quite by accident, I thought, “ah, there it is!“.

It’s name would suggest some kind of sunrise significance. It wouldn’t relate to any alignment on West Nab, so something else must be afoot.

If anyone has any further info, I’d love to see it. Maybe Mr Bennett can help on this one?

Leave the village of Maud using the B9106 heading north towards the A950. The B road ends here, directly opposite is signposted the road to Cryla farm. Stop at the forst corner and woodland walks are indicated. Proceed to the top of the hill, about 1/2 mile. On the right is Auchmachar Stone Circle, the recumbent is used as part of the fence, to the left is the cairn about 1/4 from the fence. The Bronze Age cairn is about 50 meters in length, 4 feet in height and approx 2-4 meters wide (depending on position) and with aerial photography resembles a fish. Burned stone can be seen scattered on the ground.

Visited June 08.

Beside the A90, at Dundee, the other comments are all spot on. The scheduled site is now surrounded by a very strong fence. Therefore apart from the weather and aging, vandalism should hopefully be reduced. More information can be found on the notice board at the circle.

Visited 24/4/09

Although not spectacular in itself it is a small triumph for conservation. A few years ago, Roy Canham, the then County Archaeologist for Wilts ,was concerned that a track used by the army was damaging the end of the barrow. After consultation with the MOD the protecting posts were moved further E and the track diverted.
(The other mounds are modern army constructions)

This is a convenient place to park for Old Ditch Longbarrow and White Barrow but read the warning on the first site.

Access
Park opposite the prominent water tower on the Tilshead to Chitterne road. The barrow is right next door.

A fine barrow (protected by the NT) with well preserved ditches. The slightly swollen E end is thought to be due to a later round barrow constructed on top. MAGIC suggests that there was also a forecourt at this end.
The IA ditch and banks which approach from the NW are better preserved here within the fenced off area.

Access
By footpath from Tilshead or the A360 or from Old Ditch Longbarrow but read the warning on that site.

An extraordinarily large and fine barrow which seems to have survived the ravages of time (and the MOD) rather well. A great whaleback prominent on the horizon and framed by lines of trees. The crest is straight and unblemished and the large flanking ditches are equally well preserved.
Roy Canham (The ex County Archaeologist of Wilts) suggested the name as the later IA boundary bank and ditches are named as such on early maps. He also mentioned that a limited Victorian excavation at the NE end found a charcoal layer which could suggest a previous wooden mortuary enclosure perhaps similar to Fussell’s Lodge.

The SW/NE tending IA bank and ditch does a dogleg around the NE end and the continuation NE is easily visible in the avenue of trees (less well defined SW). It is then ploughed out but is visible as cropmarks as it approaches White Barrow where it is better preserved.

The somewhat park-like setting is due to the fact that this was part of the estate of Tilshead Lodge, a minor stately home, demolished in the 1950s.

Access
Park opposite the prominent redbrick water tower on the Tilshead to Chitterne road.

Warning
Although this barrow is outside the restricted MOD area, there is still a lot of military activity in the area so it is wise to keep to the paths, be alert and don’t pick up any large shiny objects you might find lying around!

Field Notes

Castle Combe Hillfort – July 16th 2008

Rhiannon writes “An Iron Age promontory fort which later became a Norman motte and bailey castle”.

Well one things for sure, this site has been re-used for many purposes over many time periods.
Right now it’s part of the Manor House Hotel & Golf Club. Their web site proudly boasts
“The history of the grounds of Manor House date back to the Doomsday Book, second only to Stonehenge in terms of archaeological significance in Wiltshire.”
manorhousegolf.co.uk/EXCLUSIVE_HOTELS/the_club/history.aspx

I remember visiting this site back in 1985, prior to it being re-landscaped into the golf course. It lies very close to Lugbury long barrow and the Roman Fosse Way. It was very overgrown and difficult to work out. In size the area of the hillfort/castle is comparable with Oliver’s Castle on Roundway Hill but the trees and undergrowth camouflage it very well. It felt and looked ancient and the By Brooke, with it’s stepping stones and medieval looking bridge gave it an atmosphere of long lost England.
Maybe that’s why it was chosen as a film set for Robin Hood (the 80’s TV version) for a mock village had been created on the opposite bank of the By Brooke. Scenes from the 1967 film Dr.Dolittle were also shot in and around Castle Combe.

When I visited it in July 08, I came in via the foot path from Nettleton Mill, which is now path of the Macmillan Way. Most of the golfers had retired to the club house for their G+T’s and I was able to get onto the private track which runs along side and up the hill of the monument. The remaining area which is most likely to be Iron Age is still covered in dense overgrowth and difficult to explore. I have posted some of the pictures taken that day but it is hard to gauge what are ancient mounds and the modern landscaped bunkers of the golf course.

The site has never been properly excavated although there have been several “investigations” made at various points by Chippenham College under the supervision of Ron Wilcox. Various pillow mounds are present both behind the monument and within what was the Italianate garden of Castle Combe park. Again sketchy notes based upon OS field visits which list “Possible round barrow or ornamental feature”. Mesolithic tools have been found to the East, along with Neolithic scrapers and axe heads during excavations at the Shrine of Apollo at Nettleton Shrub (SMR Number ST87NW302). Finds from the area itself include iron arrowheads, spurs, buckle heads and the odd coin or two. A circular stone wall deep underneath the North Western corner of the driving range was detected and Romano-British pottery fragments which were uncovered near the Clubhouse.

An interesting site to explore, if for nothing more than a walk in a beautiful landscape.
Bear in mind that the monument is on a private section of the golf course though and those low flying golf balls can kill.

Chance – July 2008

La Petite Pérotte and La Grosse Pérotte are placed a mere 45m apart and should be grouped together.
They have been built into a natural ridge a few kilometres SW of the village of Fontenille.

Easily spotted from the D.61, the stones are marked with the usual brown historic monument sign, “Dolmens”.
Parking is easy from the track which runs along the ridge and although this would had led to them being well known, it might have also lead to their apparent vandalism.
La Petite Pérotte lies about 800m SW of the D.61 and is the first monument reached.

A huge capstone about 5m in length, 3m wide and 2m thick, rests on several supporting stones.
This all sits on top of a small earthen mound, which when viewed from the East, seems to contain a sunken chamber.
The supporting stones had either been chosen or shaped to form a purposefully square chamber below the capstone.

These supporting stones have clearly been disturbed in recent times, either in the course of archaeological investigation or as I would suspect, archaeological treasure hunters. A concrete plinth stands by La Grosse Pérotte, but it’s bronze information plaque has been ripped off and any details relating to the either chambers’ Neolithic carvings, obscured from the causal tourist or sight seer. I counted at least three areas an industrial stone cutter had been employed. It would be nice to think that whatever had been removed had found it’s way into a local museum, but cultural vandalism seems more likely. Maybe Egyptians getting their own back on the children of Napoleon.

The Dolmens may have lost part of their magic and mystery, but the planting of Oak trees around their confines has imparted an air of tranquillity and peace to a much disturbed site.

Chance – Sep 2008

La Grosse Pérotte and La Petite Pérotte are placed a mere 45m apart and should be grouped together.
They have been built into a natural ridge a few kilometres SW of the village of Fontenille.

Easily spotted from the D.61, the stones are marked with the usual brown historic monument sign, “Dolmens”.
Parking is easy from the track which runs along the ridge. See the La Petite Pérotte site for more on access.

La Grosse Pérotte, which not surprising is the largest of the two, has a huge capstone, 5m square and 2.5m thick.
This capstone covers a rectangular chamber of approximately 3m by 4m which is lined with well chosen or dressed stone slabs.

Although both dolmans are in a ruinous state, La Grosse Pérotte seems to have been pushed to one side by a giant hand.
All the supporting stone slabs lean in the same direction and appears to be the result of seismic disturbance or subsidence.Perhaps the dolman was built above another, subterranean chamber or void, which has since collapsed in on itself.
The area around the mound is littered with half buried stones and it is difficult to tell where they would have originally fitted. Maybe there was an entrance passage or galleries of the main chamber which were covered by the mound.

A concrete plinth stands directly in front of La Grosse Pérotte, but it’s bronze information plaque has been ripped off and any details relating to the either chambers’ Neolithic carvings, obscured from the causal tourist or sight seer.

The area surrounding the ridge, were these dolmans sit, is covered with prehistoric mounds and it would be interesting to work out their interconnections. Traditionally the area was marsh and bog, making this ridge a natural island. Perhaps the draining of the land has caused or contributed to the subsidence. This region of France is know as the land of 1000 barrows and many of it’s modern descendants migrated to similar marshy, boggy lands, the Cajun of Louisiana for example, originated here.

Chance – Sep 2008

Almost opposite the Viewpoint grounds on the right-hand side of the road the footpath is better marked now – though the sign is smaller it now looks to go all the way. So up in front of the house and turn the corner it is the second field from the road. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me but the fence is indeed ‘missing’ a lower half, and as the ground was virtually dry one not so low roll and I was in (maybe you will find the proper way in further along the track). Not much marshy now. Stands out a little better closer to. A mound like a jelly mould with two tiers, the official record a mound with platform [as with Howe Harper] but they are of about equal depth so I hae my doots. Perhaps the upper part once stood as high as Howe Harper and a covering cairn has been robbed. But what looks to be an excavation on the top indicates it has always been about this height [unless the livestock are responsible]. Like that cairn exposed areas show an earth matrix with some small irregular stones (fragments?) and other stoney material. With the surrounding shallow ditch and encircling low bank it now presents a certain Henge-like appearance. The latest official record castigates the earlier report but I think the conflict arises from confusion about what exactly the dimensions recorded now and then include or exclude [perhaps this is why Hillhead outside Kirkwall has been seen as two banks and a ditch or v.v depending on what area the eye takes in – and ? over time ditches fill in as banks erode]. What looks to be what’s left of the standing stone, a split orthostat with one side above the other as if thumped, is now certainly behind the present bank. One end of this comes up against a (aligned?) short low ‘bank’ with a few middling stones showing and a few more of these in this general area too. Further back there are loose collections of well-sized stones. They don’t look right for a demolished drystane wall but they are over towards the other mounds which have bigger stones yet, some about the ‘burn’. A busy few fields and rather ‘messy’ for a ritual site [on the other hand it doesn’t overlook anywhere itself].

Visited this site whilst on trip to Quarley hill. I found 5 Bowl Barrows in total but there are 12. They vary in Height from about 0.5 to 3 meters. Most are covered in scrub but are near to the Cholderton Road or the footpath to the Lodge so are easy to access. There are 2 more to be found in the garden of a private house one of which looks like a disc barrow in the aerial photos. A nice site in an area full of prehistory on the edge of Salisbury Plain

Quarley is a univallate iron age hill-fort with well defined entrances at north-east and south-west.
Lovely site commanding great views all around. Lots of prehistoric activity in area including large ditches radiating from the hillfort believed to be part of a bronze age farming settlement and a barrow cemetery about a mile away to the north. The best view of the site is as you drive past on the A303 going west but alas not ideal for stopping to take a piccie.

A bronze age univallate hillfort. Visited the site today and not a lot left apart from a raised bump in the field on the south west corner about a meter high. But still quite visible if you know what your looking for. Originally triangular in shape much has been destroyed by the A303 and housing

Earthwork remains of an Iron Age univallate hill fort. Greatly worn down now The banks are now covered in woods and shrubs and are best preserved on the southern side. The original entrance still exist on the south east corner.

Easily visible from Pudding Bag Wood Bowl Barrow

Iron Age defended settlement with double bank and ditch. Approx 55m across.

Visible from the road to the South of Hinding Lane just before it joins the B6346 north of Alnwick, almost direct access to the first ditch from the side of the road.

In trees so original views etc somewhat obscured.

Half way down the restored West Kennet Avenue, The inner (eastern) face of Stone 19b of the West Kennet Avenue bears near the base a group of small but typical marks of the kind thought to have been produced by the grinding and sharpening of flint or stone axes.

A few simple notes, on how to find this stone.

From the Red Lion pub, cross over the road to the Southern or Sun circle.
Walk up to the portal stones and follow the path to the right, close to the wire fence and the trees.
Take care on this stretch as the tree roots can be tricky under foot.
Look carefully and you will find the broken stump of Avenue Stone no.3. Go through the gate and watch for traffic as you cross the road.

Go through the gate and pass of Avenue stone No.4, The Bison.
Walk further down the Avenue, through the concrete plinths. You won’t reach any more sarsens until you get to Stones 13A and B. Count down the stones, 14A, 15 A and B. At number 16, the Avenue jumps into the road and 16A is buried beneath the asphalt, leaving 16B alone. Stones No.17A and B are gone for good but 18A sites right next to the fence, with the stump of 18B on the other side of the road. The Stone in front of you is now 19B. The inner face nearest the fence shows the polissoir marks, a hollowed out flat surface and several grooves.

Other items of intersest include part of a polished patch on Avenue Stone 32a, above the broken part on the damaged face and more diffuse smoothed areas also occur on Stones 24 and 31 of Avebury’s Outer Circle.

Smith, I. F., Windmill Hill and Avebury: Excavations by Alexander Keiller 1925-1939, London, OUP, 1965.
Section 5. ARTIFICIAL MARKINGS ON STONES – Page 223

Far more easy to find than the Polisher but lacking the ambience of the downs.

Chance

Nice spot this, and always unusual to visit barrows and cross dykes that have had woodland planted around them (this site would have originally been on open downland)

Look South West to the Pudding Bag Wood Prehistoric Linear Boundary

I have developed a bit of a fascination with Mother Cap recently!

Considering the history of Hathersage Moor and it’s conspicuous positioning, I thought that a bit of research may be called for. I came across a piece of information (probably StuBob’s notes) that suggests that Mother Cap may have been used as a marker for much of the prehistoric activity in the surrounding hills and was possibly illuminated by fire at night.

This caught my imagination and I thought it may be fun to try to recreate how the massive outcrop may have looked by firelight (of course not wanting to set half of the moor on fire, I used a 5 million candle power torch). So on Tuesday night, I found myself trudging up the lower slopes of Over Owler Tor by the light of a brilliant full moon. Over Owler is an odd place at the best of times, a bit of a geologist’s playground with rocks worn into all manner of strange shapes. But by moonlight it is amazing!

The exposures were about two and a half minutes at f8 to catch the colours in the sky, with short blasts from the torch to fill areas of the rock in. Some shots look as if the light is coming from within the rock. The moon is dropped in from a different exposure as the long exposures blew it out to a non-descript glare.

This is an amazing and exceptionally rare example of a near complete court tomb, just one roofstone appears to be missing. The court and cairn are still underneath the bog, the top of the cairn reaches just a little higher than the uncut surrounding bog. One of the most important features of this particular site is the untouched corbelled walls and roofing which shows how the many court tombs with only low walls remaining would originally have been built up into substantial chambers.
To find this site you need either a GPS unit or guidance from a local.

A return visit in lovely spring sunshine (19.4.2009), this time walking from Cranham and through the woods to the south. From this direction the barrow is harder to find, but as I crested a rise it became visible through the trees.

I arrived as a mountain biker rode over the spine of the barrow, but after he’d gone I was left alone with the green-clothed form, birdsong and solitude. I love this spot, and the sun filtering through the trees took me away from the modern world for a while.