Latest Fieldnotes

We were staying in Insch for the night, so after a long drive up from Lancashire, stopping en-route to pick Vicky up in Glasgow, we finally saw Dunnideer around 7pm.

As we drove by this most beautiful of sites, a herd of red deer came running down the hill, following a huge stag. We pulled the car over and just watched, amazed by it all. There was just the railway track between us and them. The stag looked across at us, sniffed majestically into the wind and set off again, followed by the hinds. The most Scottish of moments I have ever witnessed!!

The B&B was pretty ropey but the setting was amazing – our room had a wee bench and table outside and we sat and watched the sunset and dusk fall over the hill. It was still light enough to read our maps at 11pm, with a bottle of wine and some bread and cheese to finish it off – just perfect.....

I was back up at the Beeld today and have a couple more observations to add to my original fieldnotes.
Temple Beeld Hill hardly lives up to its title however, it is slightly higher that the surrounding area and is surrounded by bogs to the west, north and east. The land to the south is very wet, the Beeld effectively forms an island, a dry refuge for the few hardy sheep that roam this part of the moor.
That said, the ‘hill’ is within a basin therefore the views, though extensive across the flat moors to the west and east, are limited as compared to the view from the nearby rising ground to the south of the Beeld.
Unusually for an area so rich in prehistoric remains, this site does not appear to share intervisibility with any of the nearby monuments. I was unable to spot any of the local barrows from the Beeld.

Regarding the possible cup marks on the central stone, I’d say almost definitely natural weathering processes at work here as opposed to the hand of man.

Orientation of the stones;
340-160 degrees.
60-240 degrees.

The GPS stuff is
NZ 75725 10141 (accuracy 5m)
Elevation 214m

We visited this site on September 15, 2008, in the early evening, and were enchanted by the pastoral site as well as the majesty of the stone. It’s huge. Down the hill toward the cliffs and the ocean there’s a mound that can be seen from the stone (and is located on the OS maps), but it was difficult to get into that field – lots of mud and vegetation and haphazardly tied fencing and gates that made us nervous; too much to traverse for us – so we didn’t visit the mound.

This site is well-worth the visit. It’s one of the most beautiful, moss and lichen-covered standing stones I’ve witnessed. The stone was easily accessible, and the location was beautiful. We lingered.

Several initials and names are carved into the stone from centuries back.

The directions left by wideford are solid and accurate.

I got a prompt reply from Douglas Speirs at Fife Council, enclosing a very informative update note which he had prepared, of which the following is a slightly edited version.

“The Bogleys Stone was a standing stone of Bronze Age date (c. 4,000 years old) that formerly stood in a field (NT 2950 9504) to the west of the A921 Kirkcaldy to Glenrothes road. It was the only upstanding element of what was believed was once a probable Bronze Age megalithic site. This standing stone is also known locally as the Sleeping Warrior, the Warrior’s Grave, and the Dysart Standing Stone. For management purposes and to avoid the confusion caused through the use of different names, the site is identified in the Fife Sites and Monuments Record (FSMR) by the unique monument reference number: FF2948, but for ease, it is referred to as the Bogleys Stone because after its proximity to Bogleys Farm.

In 1998, a proposal to extract coal on the site occupied by the stone was submitted. This was a complex application and involved the extraction of coal over a four year period followed by the subsequent restoration and re-development of the entire area. Prior to the determination of the application, the Council required the applicant, GM Mining, to submit an Environmental Assessment. As part of this Environmental Assessment, a desk-based archaeological assessment and field survey was conducted. Of eleven archaeological sites identified within the study area (Data Structure Report: Bogleys Farm, Kirkcaldy: Kirkcaldy and Dysart Parish, Desk-based Assessment and Field Survey, McGill, C. CFA Ltd, 1998), only the Bogleys Standing Stone was deemed by Fife Council to merit detailed examination and recording by means of archaeological investigation. Consequently, when consent to extract coal was granted, an archaeological condition was attached to the grant of consent which required the developer to engage the services of a professional archaeological contractor to expose, fully excavate and to record the archaeological deposits around and below the standing stone.

The Excavation
The need for this site to be excavated was prompted by the recognition of three facts: that the Bogleys standing stone potentially represented a larger, and possibly nationally important, prehistoric site; that the site would be completely destroyed by open-cast mining; and that there was no possibility of in-situ preservation. A programme of open area excavation incorporating an area of more than 400m2 around the standing stone was duly implemented in August, 2004. The excavation revealed that the stone stood within socket, 0.7 x 0.6m, which has been cut into the underlying solid sandstone bedrock to a depth of 0.9m. A pit containing cremated human bone was uncovered immediately adjacent to the stone whilst four further truncated (damaged) cremation pits were found c.20m to the NE of the stone, each containing burnt human bone and charcoal. Two further smaller pits were excavated and may represent the footings for an A-frame or similar engineering structure used to erect the stone. Ploughing had damaged the site but the excavation revealed that the stone had not previously been moved as had been suggested. Indeed, the stone had previously been rejected by Historic Scotland for scheduling as local accounts suggested that 19th century antiquarian investigations had excavated and possibly moved the stone, thus comprising the archaeological integrity of the site. Excavation proved that this had not happened and the site, although damaged by ploughing, was intact.

A full account of the excavation of this site will be published in the Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal later this year but suffice to say the excavations revealed that the Bogleys Stone is Bronze Age in date and based on revolutionary new radiocarbon dating techniques, was erected about 4,000 years ago (dates derived from cremated human bone samples dated by accelerator mass spectroscopy radiocarbon dating at The Center for Isotope Research in Gronningen, Netherlands).

The stone is the last visible vestige of what must have been a highly charged area of ritual landscape that was a centre of prehistoric ritual activity in central Fife for over 1,000 years. The stone is massive, standing some 2m above ground and weighing more than 5 tons. Clearly the extraordinary degree of effort that went into moving and erecting this stone demonstrates the intensity of meaning that this site had to the Bronze inhabitants of central Fife. Exactly how the stone was used is not entirely clear, but archaeological excavations have shown that complex religious ceremonies, including the symbolic ritual burial of cremated human remains around the stone, were practised.

The excavation process involved the complete removal of the stone. It was lifted and has been stored on pallets within a secure area within the development site since its excavation. However, as GM Mining is now in the final phases of site restoration and is due to leave the site for good in the next few months, the Council’s Archaeological Unit is in the process of arranging to have the stone uplifted and removed to for safe storage at the Council’s Roads Depot in Thornton. Moves are afoot to ensure that the redevelopment of the Kingslaw site is accompanied by planning conditions that will ensure that the stone is re-erected as close to its original position as is practicable. However, as the master plan for the site is not yet complete, it is not currently possible to say exactly where the stone will be re-erected and how it will relate to the new built environment around it. But it will be sensitively re-erected in a setting that will enable easy public access and interpretation.”

Apparently around 19 examples of rock art have been recorded in this townsland alone, with two more in the adjacent townsland of Letter West and the large group at Coomasaharn near the lake.

Because many were almost entirely covered in peat they have been amazingly well preserved, to compare the weathered carvings with the protected ones is like night and day. This area also has some unique cross or cruciform carvings with cups and pennanular rings at the end of each arm and sometimes inside the remaining ‘slices’ of the axis.

The numbers assigned to the panels here are the entry numbers for the Archaeological Survey of the Iveragh Peninsula.

The stone has still not been returned to its site. The open-cast area has been restored to rough grazing (two deer there on my visit), but the industrial estate has not been developed. I will ask the council archaeologist for an update and will post again if I learn anything new.

Please stick to the footpaths where possible when you visit this stone. There are ground nesting birds in the field and because of the exposed position the flora and fauna are very delicate – it takes a long time for them to recover.

Tread lightly and take your time please!

The rock art national park is about 15 minutes walk from Capo di Ponte – I couldn’t find it exactly on the map, so have put in the latitude/longitude for the town itself – hope this helps (it’s well sign-posted on the roads as you drive up to Capo di Ponte from the south). The following website has extra visitor info: rupestre.net/alps/valca_naquane_visita.html

Our guidebook said that the rock art at Valcamonica was scattered through a light industrial area – gave a really gloomy impression. But although the overall valley is a bit industrial, the area where you view the rock art is much nicer, tucked away in a wood. There’s an info/ticket point where they give you a map, good accessibility, info boards, and (if you care about such things) excellent loos.

Most of the rock art is on huge, embedded rocks. The images date over thousands of years – prehistoric to medieval, but the majority are iron age. Images of hunting, fighting, farming, riding, dancing, houses on stilts with long ladders trailing up, a giant human figure wearing antlers, axes and wild animals. Feels like a gift to have such direct communication from a prehistoric society.

[visited 18/10/08] Spang! I found these littleuns whilst looking for a spot to perch and watch the hills. On the edge of a hill covered in heather, peat bog and old mine workings, two massive boulders look out towards Fallinge Edge and Raven Tor Triple Cairn. The one further up the hill has 3 cups on the top of it.

Not sure whether these are recorded or genuine but I have seen ‘a few’ certified grade Aaa ones before and they stand proud beside them.

Access is for the intrepid via Hob Hurst’s house. The paths are barely sheep tracks between ankle to thigh high heather and come and go as they please. “Watch every step” is the best advice I can give. Oh and watch out for the random small boulders, the bog pools and mine pits.

Five new finds from yesterday , (the most interesting one in the pics ), in an area that has produced nine marked rocks in the past four years or so .Weather was heavy showers then brilliant sunshine ,among the sights and sounds were the “belling” of rutting stags and inquisitive red kites .

Mired in the remnants of a junction of field fences, on a low rise above a by-road and about 1km ENE of the four-poster at Lettergorman N, this is the only wedge-tomb in the Argideen/Rosscarbery area. It is located a considerable distance south and east of the general concentrations of its class, at the northern edge of the circle/row/boulder-burial ‘complex’ that dominates the land east of Carrigfadda. Views from this position are long to the east, north and west, but bounded to the south by the rise to Knockawaddra. The tomb itself opens out (roughly) WSW, towards a point north of Kippagh.

Only three standing slabs, of the four mentioned in the Inventory, are visible. One to the north of the gallery and two, of the recorded three, at the southern side. These two stones form the shade of what must have been a substantial double-wall. At least a couple of small boulders, one ended in quartz, are wedged tightly between them, but it’s unclear whether or not these were original fill. All three side-stones lean over to the north and a large block props the southernmost slab at its base.

A stout quartz-ended boulder at the eastern tip of the monument is surely too low to be the ‘displaced backstone’ and there is no sign of the prostrate ‘displaced sidestone or roofstone’ in the heavy surrounding growth.

Beyond the north-eastern corner of the field, on the other side of an old track that leads east from the by-road, is an enigmatic, blade-like standing stone; 2.25m high and aligned NNE-SSW, called ‘The Pillar’. If the intervening hedges were removed the two monuments would occupy, but at a polite distance, the same space; a juxtaposition similar to the circle/row and wedge-tomb at Glantane N.

Given Dr. William O’Brien’s discovery of a prolonged use-history at Altar wedge-tomb, it may be worth considering the possibility that this pillar was a Late Bronze Age attempt to share what must have been judged an important, unique location. Or, perhaps, to link it with the ritual-centres on the other side of the hill. A line projected SSW from its main axis cuts east of the Knockawaddra rows, across the Glashagloragh valley towards Glanbrack.

Archaeological Inventory of Cork, 1992; No.34, 18 (wedge-tomb); No.452, 63 (standing stone).

This bowl barrow sits on the floor of the river valley to the south west of Cold Kitchen hill. The barrow is 20 metres in diameter by 3.4 metres in height. The river Wylye flows past the site.

A rare saucer type round barrow to the east of the long barrow. These low barrows are very susceptible to any kind of agricultural activities especially ploughing and they don’t survive well.

These banks and ditches are linear boundaries on Biddcombe down and Whitepits down. The earthworks run for 2 km along the southern slopes of the hill on which Cold kitchen long barrow sits.
There is some speculation as to its purpose and it is possibly the political boundary between the Durotriges and the Belgae. They are not large enough to be of any military purpose, unlike Bokerley dyke which performs the same purpose in Hampshire. Also it is sited half way up a steep hill.
At its deepest it is 3 feet deep and 15 feet wide. There are gaps in the dyke where it crosses a valley and where modern tracks cross it.

This is a substantial monument, being 230 feet long, 72 feet wide and 12 feet in height. In addition the side ditches are still over 30 feet wide by 4 feet deep. It is situated just below the crest of Cold Kitchen hill facing north and overlooking the Wylye valley. The siting of the barrow is interesting as it sits in a fold of the hill and can,t be seen until you’re very close to it.
The barrow is orientated NW-SE and is rectangular in plan. It shows no signs of ever having been excavated which must be quite unusual.
It’s fairly easy to get to, but the hill is very steep and parking is limited in the village of Kingston Deverill.
It appears in an Anglo-Saxon charter as Lang Beorh and the name Cold Kitchen apparently alludes to a celtic name meaning hill of the wizard.

Field Notes

Round Hill Tump – ST 6900 5617 – Aug 2008

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 142 – Scale 1:25000
Shepton Mallet & Mendip Hills East inc. Frome & Midsomer Norton.
ISBN 978-0-319-46154-9

After looking at both references to this site on TMA database, I feel this one is the most appropiate in terms of name and grid reference, although Rhiannon’s Camerton Round Barrow site No.5698, is older.
Like a lot of ancient sites, it has become the boundary marker because it was here before anything else.

As to the name, I’m going for Round Hill Tump, as it lies in a field called the “Tump Ground”. Rhiannon’s name of “Camerton Round Barrow” is a little confusing. The village of Camerton lies 2 miles north of the site, on the other side of the Roman Road, the Fosse Way (the modern A367). The area was partially excavated by W.J. Wedlake and a report was published in 1958 entitled ‘Excavations at Camerton 1926-56’. The nearest village is Clandon. The whole hill is called Round Hill and the course of the Fosse Way makes straight for the top of it.

My route to the site was along the bottom of the valley from Stoney Littleton Long Barrow and the Sustrans cyclepath href=“https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/transportandstreets/walkingandcycling/cycling/NCN24.htm”>The Colliers Way – National Cycle Network Route 24.

From the middle of Radstock, I took the Bath Old Road, behind the museum and up the side of Round Hill. The road is very steep to begin with but once past the sports field, it levels off a bit.
The “Tump” is easily spotted from the road and a gate was conveniently placed for access.

As to the mound itself, it is unusual. It certainly isn’t your average bowl or bell type of round barrow and it didn’t seem to have any form of ditch or bank (although there probably was one formed to create the structure. Maybe it was such a bowl barrow to begin with and it was added to at a later date. Colt Hoare also noted such strange barrows and called them “Conical Barrows”. The only other one I have encountered like this is known as Mount Wood and lies on the Marlborough Downs near Yatesbury.

I think the TMA Eds will probably re-list it as a disputed antiquity after reading this, although I do hope they find the time to merge it with Rhiannon’s Camerton Round Barrow, site No.5698.

My first stone of the day and it couldn’t have been any better. I parked just over the bridge in Newbridge on Wye room for at least four cars. From here we can see the stone in the field skirt around the edge of the field by the river and cut across by the football pitch.
Leaning to the north across the path of the river the stone is 1.75 metres tall measured from the bottom of the hollow in which it stands. The stone was found at the turn of the last century when a hedge was removed.
The rising suns glow shone on the mist as it rolled up the hillsides, the cows and sheep were silent, the bequadbiked farmer didn’t seem to mind me and whats more feet stay dry in wellies
Who knew?

Twas a beautiful morning on the hilltops looking down into the mist enshrouded Wye valley. I parked close to Carregwiber farm, and walked through it to the hill, caged dogs barked at me but a good postman shrugs off such things and soon they gave up as I ascended this abode of the ancestors. The southern side of the hill is steep and undefended, the earthworks banana around the hilltop with possible entrances on the west and east. Coflein describes it as a Defended enclosure rather than a hillfort and the iron age tag has a ? after it.
The very peak of the hill has bare bedrock, if it were situated far to the north one might expect cupmarks or something, but no, here its just the view that captivates.

This is a strange place, I came down from the hillfort armed with map and compass confident that these two stones were going to be easy to find. Before I’d even found stone one the hill had somehow seperated me from my compass, even retracing my footsteps in the dewy grass failed to reunite us, oh well thought I worse things happen at sea, lets just have a good walk round and try with just a map, which I now held on to with an iron grip.
I found one likely looking stone next to a smaller similar shaped stone inbetween the two was a dead sheep, but this stone was next to a bridleway which my map completely fails to acknowledge, so maybe that stone is either not a menhir or it is and its not on the map, because Coflein says there are three stones up on this wide ridge but mappy says only two.
I carried on walking in ever wider circles ‘till I came upon a ruined house with two junked cars, that wasnt on the map either, on the other side of the house I finally found a standing stone a small one indeed but definatly a standing stone.
I packed up quickly and left the place before I too became lost.
Coflein says there are three stones the one by the house is the most obvious, down the bridleway is the other one with deadsheep. But if that isnt it then there is one thats a boulder in a hollow and its almost two metres tall so god knows how I missed that one.
A beautiful and mysterious place.

I parked by two gates one for farmland and one for golf course, taking the farmland one, cross the field and at the far end of the next one is the stone easily spotted sitting proudly on its hillock. But before you go down to it break of to the left and see the grass covered cairn (little hill cairn 3) which looks toward hills known only as Carneddau. The plump little stone is barely half my height but has great views up and down the Wye valley. Coflein says there are more stones nearby, one on the golf course 200m north but fallen and several hundred metres south a boulder one metre tall is a possible third.
On your way back to the car jump the fence and see little hill cairn 2, much bigger than no.3, though god knows where no.1 is

Very close to the road ample parking by the gate.
Nicely situated under a tree so even in heavy rain one could sit a while and appeciate this place. The stone is nearly two metres tall and distinctly triangular, a couple of smaller stones have been dumped at its feet but they make good seats for inspecting the stone right up close. The hills around the stones are perhaps its reason for being, Allt y Clych in particular whilst the stone in profile does resemble the hill a bit I cant say its deliberate, I put the hills name into a translater and the best fit was the “ringing hill ” which seems to go well to me.

I parked in the forestry commisions Coed Ciliau car park and made my way back up the road till I found an easy place to cross the fence. The tip of the stone can be seen from the road so its just a case of getting across the boggy ground between here and there but the bewellied of those amongst us can laugh it off.
This stone is nearly two metres tall and wears a mossy hat, together with two much smaller stones lost in the grass the place has been interpreted as a stone row by some. The tall thick grass that grows around many Welsh stones is here in abundance and doesn’t half get on my ....

I parked by the bridge 200m west of the stone, there is just room for one car for 10 minutes if you squeeze up to the hedge. Then follow the stream east through one gate and the stone is to your left next to a hedge. At just over two meters tall this was the last biggest and most impressive stone of todays adventure. Tradition has it that it marks the site of St Afans murder in the 6th century. (what he was doing at a bronze age menhir I dont know) There is a seat on the stone carved by nature I presume, whilst I occupied the seat I wondered if St Afan had sat here, either way it was good place to be.

This was my second visit to the triple cairn but it didn’t make it any easier to find . I parked in the quarry entrance by the T junction and made our way on to the moor. But Arnie my 11 yr old Jack Russell was finding it hard going and I had to carry him through some of the higher heather. Too far to the right had I taken us so we struggled through the unpathed moor along the edge of the small plattau that is Raven Tor. Eventaually we found the cairns and Arnie immediatly set to finding a rock to chew. It is a bit more overgrown than the last time I came but really overgrown compared to the other pictures. Come see the triple cairn now before it is lost forever (he says melodramaticly) and enjoy the ethereal beauty of the Peak District (he says earnestly).