Latest Fieldnotes

Catto Long Barrow is an extensive prehistoric stone structure with remnants of seven stone tombs. The site has yielded archaeological recovery of stone axes and its vicinity is replete with tumuli, hoards of worked flint and ancient battleground remains. Situated on locally high open ground, the site offers expansive views in all directions. The site has been suggested in the literature as a likely location of a major battle with invading Danes.

GEOMETRY. I measured the length of this ancient monument at 49 metres, one metre longer than published on the Aberdeen Council website. (Aberdeenshire, 2006) The stones are of considerable size ranging to characteristic length of greater than two metres, but more commonly having typical dimensions closer to 40 centimetres. There are seven sizable pit depressions within the stonework, others having suggested the pits are results of modern disturbance; however, based upon the considerable build-up of mosses on the surface of pit rocks, if the pits are of modern formation, I would judge the disturbance to be at least a century into the past. Ferguson (1875) witnessed the opening of some of the series of cists or stone tombs within the Catto Cairn. Subsequently archaeological publications (Society, 1904) noted that the Catto monument would have been of much greater original height, and states clearly that the pits are remnants of cist structures. The earliest literature reference I found of Catto Cairn is in Sinclair’s 1795 account indicating an elliptically shaped monument of circumference 120 metres. (Sinclair, 1795)

Aside from the pits noted above and the necessarily uneven texture necessitated by the stone sizes themselves, the top of the cairn is a remarkably large expanse of relatively level surface, contrasted with the more conical or mounded shapes of many other large cairns of this region. The orientation of the cairn axis is approximately west northwest to east southeast, very similar to the Longman Hill orientation (Hogan, 2008) somewhat farther to the northwest from Catto.

AREA ARCHAEOLOGY. There are numerous archaeological sites in the local area of the southern extremity of the historic parish of Longside, especially on the eastern side of Laeca Burn. Among the notable local sites are Silver Cairn and .Dun-na-chaich, a large oblong mound. Somewhat to the west are the Skelmuir Hill standing stones. The vicinity has been documented as historically rich in surface finds including sizeable nodules rich in flint tools.

Immediately to the east of Catto there were hundreds of mounds which survived to the mid 1800s; the diameters of these structures varied from about three to six and one half metres. Furthermore, there were over 17 of these to the southwest that were exceptionally well defined circular features.with very flat tops; each of these finely crafted mounds were approximately 2.5 metres in diameter.

BATTLEFIELD. This region is portrayed by several early writers as a site of significant battles with invading Danes. (Smith, 1875) Sinclair (1875) also notes that the immediate local area of Catto is rich with archaeological features including many tumuli with square inner chambers. !8th century legends link the Catto site with history of the Moray Firth and with some type of ancient foreign invasion. The military connection is underscored by the fact that the plain to the immediate west is called “Battle-fauld"on older maps..

J.B. Pratt is the first author I found who suggested Catto Cairn as a battlefield, noting that the cairn itself, by its high ground position, was a likely point for the point d’appui, where troops would have marshalled. To the west the steeply ravined Laeca Burn forms a natural impediment to attack, whereas an historic morass lies to the north. In the 19th century there were many more tumuli, Pictish house sites, graves and circular stone campfire sites throughout the vicinity of Catto; however, aggressive local farming has destroyed most of these features in the last two centuries.

NATURAL FEATURES. The surrounding grain fields suggest that this locale would have been an agriculturally attractive area to Neolithic farmers. In addition to the nearby Leuca Burn, there is recorded 18th century evidence of prolific springs (historically termed “Kemp-Wells” or “Morris Wells”), whose prominence has subsequently been masked by agricultural drains installed as early as the late 18th century; however, as late as the last quarter of the 19th century, the Morris Wells supply potable water to Peterhead. The name “Leuca” undoubtably derives from the granite boulder exceeding 60 tons, which lies in the Leuca Burn streambed west of Catto .Based upon the large tree trunks found in the Leuca ravine, it is likely that most of the early Holocene landscape (even indeed the Medieval landscape!) would have featured a majority of the land forested with large deciduous trees along with Scots Pine. Presently dense gorse patches envelope much of Catto’s perimeter, a common circumstance since gorse is a plant that thrives on stony soils, typical at the verge of ruined ancient stone monuments in Scotland.

North of Catto lay another dense historic forest, but due to deforestation by aggressive farming practises, by the 19th century the land was transformed to a barren wasteland known as the Moss of Savoch of Longside; this outcome provides an example of the failed attempt to cultivate an area not best suited for crops. This northern area yielded large numbers of spearheads and arrow points as reminders of the earlier great battle fought here.

To the southwest is the drainage of Leuca Burn with the Hill of Aldie beyond, where further prehistoric native forestation would have been found, now replaced by a monoculture coniferous plantation, virtually devoid of native understory or wildlife.

REFERENCES
* Aberdeenshire Council (2006) “Catto Long Barrow”
* William Ferguson (1881) ‘’The Great North of Scotland Railway: A Guide’’, Published by D. Douglas, 1881, 174 pages
* Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1904) ‘’Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland’’, pp 256-262, published by Neill and Company, Edinburgh, Scotland
* C. Michael Hogan (2007) ‘’Longman Hill fieldnotes’’, The Modern Antiquarian
* Alexander Smith (1875) ‘’A new history of Aberdeenshire’’, published by Lewis Smith
* Sir John Sinclair and William Creech (1795) ‘’The Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn Up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes. By
Published by William Creech
* William Ferguson (1881) ‘’The Great North of Scotland Railway: A Guide’’, Published by D. Douglas, 1881, 174 pages
* Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1904) ‘’Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland’’, pp 256-262, published by Neill and Company, Edinburgh, Scotland

Found this whilst trying to get to Goodaver Stone Circle..see fieldnotes...it sits on the summit of a hill known as Smiths Moor (Smiths farm was once just to the east). Because of the long grass it was not easy to see but there was a large round raised platform about 30ft across that would have been visable from a good distance before the conifer plantations were planted and the area abandoned by grazing animals. It is alo on the high point of the ridge running south to Goodaver.
Can find no archaeological records for it.

This featureless bit of moorland has not seen much archaeological research carried out according to the latest Bodmin Moor book published by English Heritage. Which is why i thought I would take a look...
To be honest there ain’t much to look at, I approached via the large conifer plantations that sit just south of the A30 east of Jamaica Inn. You could come via the Nine Stones but its a long walk across some pretty soggy ground.
Anyway i didn’t expect to find much but did spot these two upright stones, both surrounded by water. One is roughly at SX214777, the other at SX217771. They stand no more than 3 ft tall but like the East Moor menhir posted by Martin Bull do look the part.
Perhaps one day someone in the know will get up there and have a look?

Spent all afternoon yesterday trying to get to this circle via open access land...without success. Barbed wire, conifer plantations and knee high grass and gorse plus quite a lot of marshland were all put in my way.
Phil’s suggestion back in 2001 may still be possible but you would need to ask permission at the farm.

A new motif , uncovered a week ago and two new marked rocks ,found yesterday brings the total to thirty for this area .

If Serth means steep or obscene then it could refer to its proximity to the steep sided cliffs, or as I beleive obscene refering to that old obscene religion and just to confound them they carved there own religous symbol on it. So Maen Serth could be “Big stone of the old obscene religion”
The stone is soooo obviously a way marker, People making there way over the hills wouldn’t immediately head down through the pass, which in ancient days was probably covered in trees, they would follow the stones up and along the ridge. Any way the stone looks prehistoric,
and even Coflein states it as Bronze age as if there was never any doubt, not even mentioning it’s so called disputed antiquity.
If you ever go to this stone for gods sake go the long way round dont go up the cliffs, its exciting but a bit dangerous.

Just a five minute drive from Henriw standing stone and so close to the road that to not say hi to the stone is considered a crime in these parts.
You would have to go a long way to find a more beautiful part of Wales and the stones are very well placed, on the valley floor at the base of a hill and near a river, Has excavation proved that this is a pair of standing stones, to me it seemed like maybe the two were once one.
Even if your not into stones anyone would have to admire this places natural beauty, on a lovely day with butterflies and swallows the big but thin stone is just a good excuse to tarry awhile.

I do value my anonimity and always try to get in and out of anywhere without drawing attention to myself. So we elected to wander of the recognised footpath, only one problem , the river, which was in full spate. We eventually found a narrow enough place to jump and bob was my uncle. The menhir is square in section about eight foot tall and has a nicely sloping top into one corner. It’s a very bulky stone, a nice change to some of the tiddelers we’d seen at Y Capel and Kerry hill stone circles.
We tried to find the proper path on the way back hoping there would be a bridge, there wasn’t, not that we could find anyway, we shimmied along a tree branch that crossed the 6ft wide fast flowing river.
A really nice stone this one, good texture, ace place, a barrow in the next field, and for those with a spirit of adventure try the river crossing.

Longman Hill is a Bronze Age long barrow situated atop a prominent rounded landform near the north coast of Aberdeenshire. An almost 360 degree panorama is available from the barrow top, including views over the North Sea. A salient feature at this archaeological site is a massive pit on the northwest flank of the barrow, which was used in modern times as an excavation for road base material; however, the pit may have been the source of some of the rock and earth used in the barrow construction. Judging from the massive barrow size as well as the existence of extensive subsurface shaly sides of this pit, it is likely that the barrow has a somewhat higher percentage of stone in its interior than suggested by the Aberdeenshire Council website.

ASPECT. Based upon the commanding view afforded by the Longman Hill, this location would have been attractive to early man of this region not only for ceremonial purposes, but also for the strategic reason of being able to see hostile forces by land and sea for considerable distances. Views to the south extend to the Bennachie Range and even the Grampians on the distant horizon. To the northwest is the coastal plain along the North Sea including Banff Bay. To the west are views of the Moray Firth and Foudland Hills. Other distant features easily seen are Ben Rinnes, Bin Hill near Cullen and the Buck of Cabrach. The best lookout post is afforded by the northwestern apex, which is termed a circular mound by the Aberdeenshire Council. In reality, this feature is rather ovoid in shape, but clearly commands the most extensive views, largely because its height of approximately 4.4 metres exceeds the lesser height of the eastern end of the barrow. The only defect in an otherwise full panoramic view is a small topographic rise to the northeast, which occludes a small slice of the otherwise full 360 degrees. Pictish peoples clearly favoured such sites having an expansive coastal view for ceremonial and intensive use, with Kempstone Hill providing a parallel siting opportunity further south in Aberdeenshire. (Hogan, 2007)

BARROW GEOMETRY. The barrow length approximates 66 metres by my measurement, one metre less than the Aberdeenshire Council estimate, (Aberdeenshire, 2006) but about ten percent higher than the value set by Callander. (Callander, 1924) The barrow axis is approximately northwest to southeast, with the higher elevation end being at the northwest. Callander’s original photograph illustrates a western cairn face which is more clearly circular with evidence of more regular stonework than is now extant, suggesting that raiding of some of the surface stones likely occurred when the modern quarry was used to extract road construction material. The quarry pit is approximately six metres in depth.

At the monument’s northern end, there is a nearly circular cairn or mound I measured to be 21 metres in diameter and 4.3 metres in height (consistent with the 1924 report of Callendar). My measurement of the total monument length is 67 metres, also consistent with Callendar’s original recording and the more recent Aberdeenshire Council website. I also measured the elevation of the lower eastern end of the barrow, which earlier authors had not reported; that elevation is approximately 2.5 metres above grade level.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECOVERY. On September 18, 1886 a finely made urn 30 centimetres in height was recovered from the barrow’s west end. (Transactions, 1897) This vessel contained calcined bones and is deemed a secondary burial. Seventeen months later a second urn was found approximately 20 centimetres in height; this specimen was decorated with a zigzag ornamentation but contained no obvious human remains, although the discoverers opined it had a funerary purpose, possibly due to the black mould-like residues on the interior. The second urn was found with its mouth within a second saucer-like ceramic. Both urns had been exposed by recent rain erosion and were not found at the base of the cairn. A nearby ancient monument is Cairn Lee, situated approximately 1.5 kilometres to the northeast.

ECOLOGY AND HYDROLOGY. Soils on the flanks of Longman Hill are very fertile and produce robust crops of barley and other grains in current times. With the mild climate afforded by proximity of the North Sea combined with such soil richness, this locale would have presented the Neolithic farmer with an productive environment. While there is a paucity of larger rocks in the general area, the barrow itself has some sizeable rocks, especially at the base of the western edge, re-enforcing my earlier suggestion that this specific area may be a locally rich rock source. The Burn of Myrehouse, which drains to Banff Bay, is an important source of surface water, lying approximately one kilometre west of Longman Hill barrow. Furthermore the headwaters of one branch of the Burn of Melrose are situated as a spring about 1.2 kilometres to the northeast. Surface water would have likely been abundant to early man here, as suggested by the presence of the Bogs of Melrose approximately 1.3 kilometres to the northwest, in addition to the flow of the Burn of Myrehouse. It is also likely that the Burn of Myrehouse formed a more extensive prehistoric bog before the advent of field drains that generally appeared in this region in the Late Middle Ages; in fact the word root “myres” is associated with boggy areas within Scotland. Finally, the immediate local area abounds with place names such as “Boghead”, “Bloodymire” and “Burnside”, all suggesting an early local abundance of water.

REFERENCES
* Aberdeenshire Council (2006) “Longman Hill”
* C. Michael Hogan (2007) ‘’Kempstone Hill fieldnotes’’, The Modern Antiquarian
* J.Graham Callander (Dec. 24, 1924) ‘’Long cairns and other prehistoric monuments in Aberdeenshire and Banffshire and a short cist at Bruceton, Alyth, Perthshire’’, Proceedings of the Society
* Transactions of the Banffshire Field Club (1897-8) p. 38

I recently received correspondence from local author Ian Cooke about a scheme proposed by Natural England’s HEATH project to fence off parts of the Penwith Moors in West Cornwall in readiness to graze cattle. In imminent danger is Nine Maidens Common. I visited the site today, and here is my humble opinion on the sorry saga!

Save Nine Maidens Common
a report by Alex Langstone

Nine Maidens Common and other areas of significant archaeological importance are under threat from the Natural England HEATH project. The project has plans to manage the wild moorland of Penwith in West Cornwall. Whilst I have absolutely no objection to the management of the moors (they do need managing, otherwise they will become bracken and gorse thickets!) I am concerned that by putting up fencing and allowing cattle to graze areas such as the Nine Maidens common will be detrimental to the sensitive nature of the landscape. Cattle cannot eat much bracken, and as bracken is the main problem on the moors, I do not really understand why we need any more grazing than we already have? Land management by bracken clearing is one of the things that the HEATH project are already successfully implementing through education and the need to clear with traditional methods using hand tools and people. The Land’s End peninsula is world famous for its archaeology and beauty, and whilst it is and should remain a working landscape, we need to strike a balance between the needs to the land, the needs of farmers and the needs of tourism. The HEATH project is a well meant project, and in some areas cattle grazing is a good idea. But, cattle around ancient sites of significant cultural importance can create muddy quagmires on open moorland. Damage to the stones and the fabric of these ancient monuments can be substantial when cattle are allowed to graze amongst them. Erecting fences with points of access through gates, will create damage and erosion to the landscape by funnelling people into small areas of entry. Cattle also congregate at these entry points, which can only make the problem worse. Nine maidens common does not need any grazing. I visited the site today, and it is well managed enough already. It is one of the most popular areas of open moorland in Penwith, with acess to such famous sites as the Men an Tol, Nine Maidens stone circle, Men Scryfa and Carn Galva. Plus loads of other bronze age barrows and standing stones, not well known, but equally important. Other areas such as Mulfra Common and Lanyon are also being considered for grazing. It is important to note that the Nine Maidens Common is a registered common, and as such, needs the permission of the Secretary of State for Environment before any changes can occur.

Most importantly, Nine Maidens Common contains some of the finest and most interesting prehistoric sites in Southern Britain. Boskednan stone circle (marked on OS map as Nine Maidens) is partly ruinous, but retains enough to be a dominating presence on the moor. When first viewed from the footpath, it stands out prominently almost on the top of the highest ridge. Eleven stones remain of the original twenty-two, one of which is remarkably tall for the stone circles of the region, standing at 2 metres. Other stones range from 1 to 1.3 metres in height. A slightly later round barrow touches the south side and can be clearly seen. About 40 metres north- north-west of the circle can be seen the remaining stump of an outlying menhir, and further to the north are the remains of three round barrows, one of which still has its large retaining stones, though the earthen mound has long since departed the scene! All in all this is a superb Bronze Age archaeological landscape, which needs to be protected and preserved.

In conclusion land management is vital to the conservation of our moors and heaths, but not by cattle grazing at the more sensitive archaeological sites please!

A dedicated website has been set up by local author Ian Cooke, please visit and sign the petition, write to local MP, Andrew George, write to the Secretary of State for Environment, The Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn MP, and above all, tell people about this. It is vital we all have our viewpoint put forward before it is too late.

savepenwithmoors.com

You can also contact the HEATH project and visit their website

theheathproject.org.uk

Point of contact; Joe Oliver, partnership manager.
Email: [email protected].

Or write to: The HEATH Project, Natural England, Pydar House, Pydar Street, Truro, TR1 1XU, tel 01872 245045

Pleas see following link for original article:

alexlangstone.blogspot.com/2008/08/save-nine-maidens-common.html

About 150 yards from Kerry hill stone circle, the barrow occupies the very highest point of the hill and is only half a metre high but is defined by a shallow ditch around it. Mega view.

You won’t find this one without a map, it’s a long walk unless your a 4x4 owner. We parked by two barny type farm buildings and trudged off into the misty drizzle. Keep your eye out for two mounds of glacial deposit one of which has a suspicously perfectly placed stone on top, the circle is directly behind them, at the summit of the small hill.
The stones on the eastern side are about 1 to 2 feet tall, and the western stones are barely above the surface, I had to scrape grass off the smallest stone to see it. The sun actually came out for a minute or two and we smiled broadly. Why dont they use bigger stones ? Its an ideal location with an awsome feel to the place, if I were making this circle I’d have bollocked the bloke that brought that tiny stone, but it doesn’t matter, we are here and the sun doth shine .

Head east out of Newtown on the A489, after passing through the village of Kerry turn right/south on to the B4368. Two miles on and there should be trees on both sides of the road, when trees have cleared on both sides, the circle is on the hill to your left, find a safe place to park and head up the hill. As we walked up the grassy slope we noticed that we were heading for a Buzzard perched on the fence, the stone circle was right behind him, the bird soon left. Nine stones remain of this ring with a four foot long prostrate stone in the middle, which is aligned east-west. The sandstone mix of stones straddles a mild hilltop and the stones on the other side of the circle are almost out of view when standing on the other side. The view west is tremendous, and though it rained nearly all the way here we stayed relatively unmolested by the weather .
An easy one to find with a map and some stamina.

We parked to the south west of the hillfort by a farm and followed the path through the trees, it skirts around the bottom of the hill and works it’s way up slowly untill in the end a rocky scramble was needed to get to the top.
By now it was raining lightly, the kids and myself lead Arnie the jack russell from tree to tree trying to stay as dry as we could, on a welsh hill in the rain we did quite well. The earthworks with its very impressive entrance stand on the northern edge of the flat hilltop. By the time we got to the entrance our feet were soaked, and there was a perfect tree to hide under from yet more rain, from here we saw a fox doing pretty much the same as us, trying not to get wet.
There are three lots of banks either side of the entrance, which has long banks at ninety degree angles to the walls leading into the fort, an inturned entrance maybe, Castle cawr a mile away or so has a different type of entrance but is similarly impressive .

A mere seven hours after coming back from Scotland and my son and I were on the road again, a promise is a promise and we do like a good hillfort. We parked beneath the northern slopes and started up the path. There were a lot of small paths criss crossing all over the place but eventually we found the southern rampart which is about 5-6 ft tall. We followed it along till it turned east and was really surprised to find the scrub free massive entrance, there are a lot of hillforts in N.Wales but this was the most impressive entrance of them all so far, at least 10ft tall, I wondered how I managed to avoid it on the way up. With three lots of ramparts I was really taken with the place .
Slightly to the east of the entrance is more defences, of the natural variety, a very deep gorge that just dissapears into blackness, a wooden bridge crosses it .
This part of wales is crammed with hillforts,they are nearly all intervisible and i would deerly love to know more about them, who built em who lived there which were more important than others

Grim’s Ditch (Dyke) East and West Hendred SU: 423845 to 542833

Field Notes – 25-08-07

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 170 – Scale 1:25000
Abingdon,Wantage and the Vale of the White Horse
ISBN 978-0-319-23611-6

Although this earthwork was probably once more or less continuous, it is now broken into a number of sections, largely as a result of agriculture. Its antiquity is demonstrated by the fact that a number of parish boundaries run along it. Its date is not known, but such earthworks are generally considered to be of the iron age, often defining boundaries rather than defences. The greatest height of the earthwork from the crest of the bank to the ditch bottom is 1.8 m.

The pictures posted here are from the section at the bottom of the Lord Wantage monument at SU 423845.

Not the easiest site to get to but I really liked this one. I parked at the same layby at SK281751 that gives access to Barbrook I and II, but took the track that leads east uphill to the ruined building of Ramsley Lodge. From here a decent track leads north then you need to cut across to the northeast towards the ring cairn. A word of warning though, parts of the moor are very marshy and I had to backtrack a couple of times to find a safer route. The site sits on a slightly raised area above this wet ground with views across it to the west towards Big Moor while just to the east the land slopes down to the stream that stands at the bottom of Hewetts Bank. The ring of rubble stones looked pretty well defined to my eyes, particularly to the south. On the way back I took a route towards the other entrance to the moor at SK283757 but this also proved quite waterlogged in places too.

This mini-complex is set in a gradually-sloping, west-facing field with what would have been a long view, blocked now by the adjacent fence, towards the full Carrigfadda range. It comprises two boulder burials, the smaller of which is closely attended by a massive, horned monolith; 2.7m high and 1.9m wide. The larger, western boulder, tightly embraced by hawthorn, rests on three supports. The Inventory refers to one visible support under the eastern cap, but this is now concealed by overgrowth from the fence.

The line of this wall, running tangentially between the two monuments, also incorporates an interlink of two quartz blocks. These need not necessarily be original features, but the presence of similar stones at several Argideen river sites – Letter, Templebryan, Carrigagrenane N, Lettergorman S and both Maulatanvally groups – does offer strong support to the proposal.

It’s also tempting, though highly speculative, to zoomorphise the suggestively-shaped pillar using later, local, bull-reference place-names as evidence. Certainly, the two extreme peaks of the Carrigfadda range, to the southwest, present an uncannily similar, horn-like appearance to the top of the roughly aligned stone.

Permission to visit this remarkable site can be obtained from the new house on the side of the road, at the north side of the field.

Archaeological Inventory of Cork, 1992; No.105, 30; No.260, 47.

Visited on 03-08-08 and the sprials were clearly visible. We parked up on the opposte side of the road and headed over to the Stone. The spirals were near instantly visible – although I was working from previous notes suggested the spirals were located towards the bottom of the Stone. Still, heartening to find the spirals still visible following debate in earlier notes as to whether they had been eroded entirely.

I visited these large barrows whilst visiting the row of 5 to the north. They are much bigger than the northern set, the three still in exitence are sized as follows:
6- 36 yards by 8 feet high 7- 40 yards by 11 feet high
8- 36 yards by 71/2 feet high
9- destroyed.
9a- virtually destroyed.
Dimensions are taken from L.V.Grinsell – Somerset Barrows Part1 – South and West.

I visited these barrows today there are 5 in a row with a common bank surrounding them. The bank is probably not ancient, it is typical of the C.18. Norman Quinnell thinks they are confluent bell barrows.
They are sized from west to east as follows:
1- 24 yards by 5 feet high
2- 20 yards by 5 feet high
3- 24 yards by 61/2 feet high
4- 20 yards by 6 feet high
5- 30 yards by 7 feet high

This information is from L.V.Grinsell’s Somerset Barrows Part 1: West and South.

The two smaller stones are easy enough to spot when approached from the track but the large square boulder on the rise of the hill really draws the eye. If my map reading is correct then the alignment passes northnorthwest just below, and following the line of, Birchen Edge, across the top of Gardom’s Edge, shaves the western edge of Swine Sty and onto White Edge. Whether this alignment was deliberate, part of a field boundary, or just a coincidence and the two small stones formed part of some other structure seems open to question but the alignment theory seems wholly believable on site when standing behind the smaller stones.

This is a bugger to find even with a gps. Approached from the direction of the 4 poster it’s impossible to see this cist until you fall into it as it is beneath the level of the heather, approached from the north however the large boulder becomes evident from a few metres away. This boulder looks like it may be earthfast while the other stones look pretty rough and ready, this is no elegant slab lines tomb but it does have a charm of it’s own, Stu mentions 2 sides of the cist being visible but I could only see the stones of the eastern side, any others must have been buried under the heather.

A lovely little site set on a gentle northeast slope that leads down to Umberley Brook, there’s a real sense of seclusion and isolation about these stones probably enhanced by the trek across the moor to reach them. All three are just over half a metre tall, about a couple of metres apart and with the axis of presumed square being northnortheast – southsouthwest, assuming of course there was ever a fourth stone.

Fairly easy to find and a short walk across the heather from the track that runs along the western edge of the moor. In Stu’s photo from 2002 the area looks to have been recently burnt off and as of summer 2008 the area to the west hasn’t fully regenerated although the stones themselves are starting to become engulfed in heather and rush and the smaller stones that may have formed part of a kerb are already covered.
The suggestion that the natural stone to the west could have been a prominent feature seems very plausible as it sticks out like a sore thumb, looking like some kind of megalithic sun lounger.
Some nice views to the northwest round to the northeast. OS Ref SK28146973