Latest Fieldnotes

My map though waterproof and extra durable didnt mention the zoo, which got me a bit sidetracked and I missed the Naveta altogether even though they practicaly occupy the same space. Park by the gate and the now getting familiar rustic gate and bin, and follow the path.
A different one this, with its front made of smaller stones and it’s Newgrangey roofbox, taller than the other Argentina. That zoo is so weird its all around we were watched by emus and monkeys and the dawn chorus of a dozen exotic species of bird. Menorca is really growing on me.

Very easy to find, just look for the sign on the main road and 60 yards along is the Naveta, go through rustic looking gate.
This one is very easy to access either through the well carved entrance stone or anywhere from above as it’s got no roof. the bottom courses of megaliths are real bigguns. built on rocky outcrop as are its 3 near neighbours.
Didn’t see any lizards but did see lots of little black beetles but then it was before breakfast and wasn’t warm enough yet.
Nice juxtapose to last nights damp squib at Es Tudons. no bars, no trouble .

We arrived in time for the sunset and payed the girl in the shed, the kids were free and 2 euros for adults (I think). The path to the Naveta isnt long, first we pass a burial cave on our left, it had bars on so I didnt go over, then pass some cart ruts like those on Malta. Then from behind some bushes rises this huge burial chamber, I made a bee line for the entrance but, boy were those bars dissapointing. You fly god knows how far to see these magnificent places, you pay the lady on the way in and it’s goddam closed, not since the Carnac rows have i been this annoyed.
That said what a place, and what a burial chamber its very well put together not like the Gallarus oratory is, but very similar . I was really looking forward to going in, (burial chambers being the most interactive of ancient places) with it being my first double decker and all, so all I could do was walk round, and wander on to the rocky hill a hundred yards away then it was sitting and staring at those bars.
I was going to ask the lady in the shad if it is ever open, but she had gone, it was nearly 9.00pm. Being able to see it from the road I always looked to see if I could see anyone on hands and knees, but to no avail.
Even if it was locked i’m still glad to have seen it
despite not entering.

In Copes TME he warns us about the potholed road down to the necropolis but it has since been tarmac’d and is now a nice smooth drive.
I tried to get the kids interested by saying who’s up for a picnic at the city of the dead, but it didn’t go down as well as I’d hoped so I dragged them along anyway. After the strop had ended they got into the spirit of exploration, and I was just amazed by the place and the more we explored the more amazed I became. Perhaps it was because it was my first actual necropolis, perhaps it was that holiday feeling but this place was just another world. We saw our first wild Tortoise here, the obligatory wall lizards which interested me and the kids as much as the caves did. On the southern side of the gorge are some weird caves with rock cut pools on their porch, one of which was dry the other full of water and some ‘orrible green slime, are they for some ritual purpose or just a status symbol, rock cut water gullies around the place indicate that water was a big deal, due to the lack of no doubt.
Before you reach the ravine with the majority of the caves, back up the road, are what I called the king and queens chamber two big caves with windowed patitions, with a great view down to the beach, maybe it’s because i’m
British but the bay and the seashore looked like another planet, not like anything I’d seen before. Inbetween all the big posh caves are smaller caves big enough for 2 or 3 people to curl up in, what could these have been for?
This is one must see place!

I used the Menorca Tour and Trail 1:40,000 map and found it perfectly adequate to find all the sites I wanted to see.
This Talaiot is the tallest on all Menorca so I could see the tower from many different places as I approached. Parking is ample down the road but nearer the tower the road thins severely, but if you tuck into the side of the road there’s just enough room for 1 or 2 cars.
Dont be tempted to climb the wall even where there is pokey out stones stepping over the wall, go towards the house and theres a gate. The Talaiot is in a modern walled area with several deep rock pits for water storage, and remains of buildings at the towers feet and an access ramp winding round the tower, but it doesn’t go all the way round and in through the doorway at the top, go round the other side it’s much easier to get up. There is an ugly concrete thing on top with an arial of some kind poking out the top, something to do with the airport I think.

Taken from..Archaeological Itinerary around Menorca

“...Those boulders in the large Talayot of Torello...measure 2 metres in length by 1 in width and are 0.40 thick, representing an approximate weight of two thousand kilograms.”

Pedro Riudavets y Tudury
History of the Island of Menorca (1891)

Field notes

Draycott Hill – Barrow Cemetery – May 14th 2008

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 157 – Scale 1:25000
Marlborough and Savernake Forest Avebury and Devizes
ISBN 978-0-319-23611-6

A fine group of barrows over looking the hamlet of Huish. Not easily accessible. A single track road runs up from Manor Farm and the church of Huish. I’m told that this area is owned by the Rothschild’s and is fiercely protected. My visit was via the bridleway from West Woods which seemed like an ancient path, very flat with small half buried sarsen stones, appearing to be placed along its route. The path opened out beside what looked like a dried up, tree lined pond. (SU 14243 64535)
At this point several bridleways and footpaths go off in different directions. If you came up the track from Huish in a car, this would be as far as you could drive. The path leading east, up the hill, passes some medieval earthworks.
The easiest path to the barrows at this point, is the northern bridleway which skirts the edge of Gopher wood. I choose to travel along the muddy path which goes through the middle of the wood. It was cool in the hot afternoon sun and the bluebells looked very pretty. The whole wood seemed magical and was populated with Sessile Oaks, ash and service trees. The majority of trees seemed to be 100 or so years old. I have not encountered another wood like this along the Pewsey Vale. Most trees are beech arranged in clumps, but this wood seemed unmanaged and natural. It was obviously a favourite with the horse riders of the area.
Reaching the gate at the end of the wood, a “access land” sign proclaims you have reached the strip of land that runs along the top of the ridge, designated access land under the Countryside and Rights of way act 2000. See www.countrysideaccess.go.uk for all the details of these rights. This designation continues from here, past Golden Ball hill and onto Knapp Hill. A bridleway runs along the top of the ridge, so gates are available to get a bike through.
The barrows lie just over the crest of the hill. I got the impression that the large disc barrow (SU16SW608) was the original resident, and the others were constructed soon afterwards. The disc barrow probably filled the tip of the spur and its ditch would had originally followed the 240m contour exactly. The later bowl barrows all seem to fight for space. They were probably constructed by the same tribe or group over several generations. I would guess that following the disc barrow, the most northern bowl was built (604), and then slightly east (607). The smaller bowl barrows of 609 and 605 were then
constructed and cut into the ditches of the existing barrows. The remaining three barrows which merge to form the elongated 606, where the final additions before the whole of the spur was filled up. Each barrow merges with its predecessor as if to reinforce the continuity of the separate generations. Whether this was due to religious belief or a visual symbol of the tribes ancestral right to the land is unknown, maybe it was a bit of both. The different type of barrows may indicate different cultures or tribes where colonizing the same area over different time periods. Golden ball hill next to Draycott hill, had evidence of Mesolithic activity which would had been thousands of years before any barrows, disc, bowl or even long, where used.
A very beautiful area with more than a hint of mystery about it. The wood itself is well worth a visit just for the oak trees. As I travel by bicycle, I usually go in only one direction. If you travel here by car, consider parking at the Knap hill car park (SU 11588 63758) and making the effort to walk out to this hill. Once past the climb behind Knap hill, the ridge is flat and level making walking easy. Many TMA sites can be seen from up here and different perspectives gained on a truly spectacular landscape.

Chance

I visited this site some years ago, and had great trouble finding it, mainly because the heather was so high that most of the stones were invisible until I was right upon them.

Returning yesterday was much easier- the heather’s been burnt relatively recently (right into the circle!), and the stones are currently clearly visible from the path to the north.

I was a bit suspicious of the grid ref on my first visit- the circle was slightly further east than I expected. GPS confirmed this yesterday- the centre of the circle was at NZ 63778 10848 (+/- 7m); nearer to NZ638108.

Signposted from nearby Macomer, this is a complex site. The grid reference given is for the car park / ticket hut; each of the main elements is being listed as a subsite.

Ticket hut, tardis-style portaloo, list of prices (5 euros / 3½ euros), but no opening times and no one in sight. The posters did warn that anyone entering outside the opening times did so at their own risk and if found there, would be liable to pay the entrance fee. Fair enough! We climbed the gate and followed the track up the (gentle) hill.

Nuraghe Losa is just south of Abbasanta, alongside, and signposted from, the SS131, though on a convoluted junction.

As you pull off the slip road, there’s a building 50m or so to the right; this is the ticket hut, but also shop, bar etc. It’s managed by Cooperativa Paleotur, and costs 3½euros to enter (reductions available). Open 09:00 – 19:00 (17:00 in winter). For once, my attempt at Italian was answered in English, and tickets and info leaflets in hand, we walked back to the turning and up the track to the main gate, about 200m in total.

The complex is enclosed by a wall, ovoid in shape and approximately 300m x 200m. Just past the gate, there’s an exhibition of funery urns to the left, gathered from all over the site; Beardy found loads more of these in the long grass behind the museum huts. The track takes you through the south east entrance; there are 3 more – one opposite, and two with oval towers at the apices of the ramparts. A village within the enclosure, thought to be late Bronze Age, has only been partially excavated.

But the main attraction is the nuraghe itself. It’s a trilobate structure, with huts and a curtain wall surrounding it. The upper floor has collapsed, but it’s still an impressive 13m high.

The main entrance is almost hidden by a round hut (Cap 1 on the plan) with several niches and recesses in its wall. In the actual nuraghe, there’s no central courtyard at we’d seen at Santu Antine, instead there’s chamber C to the right and chamber B to the left. Going straight ahead, there’s a niche to the right with a flight of steps opposite it, then on through to the main tholos chamber with 3 wall niches, one opposite the entrance and the others on the opposite sides, forming a cross shape.

The third smaller tower can only be reached from the small northerly entrance. It as a (gated and locked) stairway that connects back over the summit of the nuraghe.

The stairs are worn to more of a sandy uphill track, clockwise round the main tower. The smaller towers, E and F on the plan, and their connecting wall, are thought to be a later addition.

There’s a modern hut in the south of the enclosure with an exhibition of finds from here and other local sites.

The site has been dated to as early as 1400 BCE; it was investigated in 1898 and again in 1915, but the main excavation and restoration works were carried out between 1970 and 1976.

So, this is it for Garryglass – deserted, destroyed and now grown over. Like a frontier fort reduced to a limp point of rubble it left the last century with just one stone, presumably the central monolith – having entered it with eleven others. Meanwhile the ‘rough pasture’ mentioned in O’Nuallain’s 1984 survey has become a dense plantation of trees and the clearing left around the stone has filled with a head-high and almost impenetrable thickness of furze and bramble. When finally I fought my way through I was almost tempted to kiss it so it could wake up and make me its prince.

Don’t visit unless:
(1) You really like quartz
(2) You have a GPS and follow these coordinates. Even then there’s a probable reading difference and...
(3) You don’t mind a bit of discomfort and the probability of ripped clothing.

Something about nothing maybe... On the top of the knoll in the field to the west there’s a prostrate ‘orthostat-sized’ slab with one level end. A doorway for the little men or one of the missing stones...?

As you enter the field from the gate, the tomba is hidden – the back of it is in the nearby clump of trees, slightly to the right. It’s very overgrown!

The stele is only half the size of many we’d seen, but has the relief carving around it. The corridor is long, and unusual in that it curves slightly. There’s one capstone left, currently about 3/4 of the way along the corridor, though that may not be its original place.

Having turned off the old main road, it’s about 900m up the winding track to the level crossing, with very handy spot to park. Now, in TME, JC suggests “turn right and walk along railway line 355 paces”.

No! The line is in use; two trains went past while we were there!

Instead, go over the level crossing and follow the continuation of the track for 400 paces (OK, my paces are probably somewhat shorter than his!) to a gate with a crude wooden sign. Go into the field and turn to the right. Climb up towards the railway line, and the tomba will become visible, right up against the line and slightly to the right of your position.

Most of the tomba that we’d seen so far had a stele, or central stone, with a portal carved in it, flanked with orthostats making the curved facade, or esedra, of the tomb. But here, the construction is coursed masonry.

It’s in a good state, considering its proximity to the railway line, though a little overgrown. The tomb is over 10m long, and the width of the esedra is similar. Beardy climbed right inside – the chamber is long and narrow, but tall enough to stand up in.

A coachload of school children were at the well itself, so we wandered over to look at the hut beyond – a meeting hut due to the stone seat round the inside – and waited until they had gone to be able to fully appreciate the site.

Wow!

An elliptical wall 26m x 20m, from the late Bronze Age, encloses the well temple. It’s in 3 parts – a foyer, the steps, and then the well chamber itself.

The 24 steps are perfect. Smooth basalt, narrowing, creating a trapezoidal shape, echoed by the graduated ceiling, leading down to the well chamber.

The chamber itself has a bottle-like cross section, with the centre circular opening being about 50cm deep. The whole chamber is over 7m high and about 2.5m in diameter, again with perfectly smooth basalt blocks making a tholos style ceiling.

The water level was quite high, covering the step round the edge of the chamber.

Finds here have included a bronze ship figure, dated to 7th century BCE; the site is thought to be around 1000 BCE.

What an incredible place!

The nuraghe is a simple monotower style, built of basalt blocks, and is 13m in diameter and 6m tall. The entrance is at the south east; there’s a niche to the right and a flight of steps to the left as you enter. The main tholos chamber beyond has a diameter of 3.5m with 3 niches off it. The stairs climb clockwise round the tower, the first floor level giving views across the whole village.

Pointing a touch further north than Bohonagh, in terms of declination, with a measurement of 1.22 degrees*, Knocks North provides a cruder alignment to the equinoxes, further hindered by the tree growth on the horizon. On the other hand the local historian that has witnessed it mentioned the sparkling of the falling sun on the big splash of quartz on the axial stone. Worth a visit, I think.

Permission can be obtained from the farm to the south, on the left hand side of the road.

* Patrick and Freeman, ‘Revised Surveys of Cork-Kerry Stone Circles’, Archaeoastronomy, no.5 (JHA, xiv (1983)); S51: Knocks/A.

This Large Talaiot was right beside the road on which I shouldnt have been on, it was my first day driving left hand on t’other side of the road. The talaiot was on what looked like very private land so I took a quick piccie over the wall

This Talaiot was even nearer to our apartment so we went here after the” bonus talaiot” . Not much parking room and really cloce to santa monica erm ..farm?. I jumped the wall at its lowest point and found a well worn path through another higher wall and straight to the talaiot. A chamber was built into its southern side, the top was a jumble of those large holed stones and awkward to walk on, I didnt stay long as this was just the stones I saw before breakfast.

I came looking for Sant Agusti vell and for some reason assumed this was it , untill now. Its not far from the small car park but it is rough going. I came here first because it was nearest to where we were staying ,Sant Thomas two miles south. The cave on the northern side of the Talaiot has an entrance that is made smaller by stone walling, a ramp leads to the top and through the entrance. From here you can see half of menorca, El Toro on the horizon and down into the gorge where a bit further south there is the Cova des Colums a really big cave with huge columns, (hence the name ) with prehistoric connections . A beautiful place and a beautiful morning, a good start to a weeks stone hunting.

Picked Hill – Field notes /blah blah blog

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 157 – Scale 1:25000
Marlborough and Savernake Forest Avebury and Devizes
ISBN 978-0-319-23611-6

I have only climbed this hill once. 2006 I think it was. My crazy Swiss artist friend, Patrick Mayland had decided to camp out on the top of Milk Hill and I had foolishly agreed to join him. He really wanted to be present when the aliens were making one of their crop circles. Arriving on top of this hugh flat hill after dark and looking for a tent was not easy. I came across half a dozen other people up there, moving around in the dark. Some ran away when I got near, some couldn’t speak English, and some thought I was a croppy called Ray.

We came down from the hills using the Workway Drove, an old track that leads from Knap Hill into the village of Wilcot. From here it was a walk down the Kennet and Avon canal towpath to Pewsey and the Co-op supermarket.

Check out this link for more info from Walking World

We came back along the towpath and thought it cool if we climbed up a hill to get a clearer view of the surrounding landscape. I choose Woodborough Hill as it seemed to have more features, trees, strip lynchets and a public foot path, while Patrick choose Pecked Hill. We tossed a coin and he won.

First let me state that this is private land and we had no right to be there.
We got under the wire fence at SU 12458 60636 and stashed the shopping. I remember there were young bullocks in the field but over towards the Western end. We climbed up the hill along the Eastern fence line and picked lovely fresh cherries from the trees along the lower slope. There was no human path, but seemed to be some form of track. It was a long haul in the hot sun and I remarked upon this when we reached the top and found no shade.

From this hight the whole valley is visible. I guess you could see over a dozen and a half TMA sites from here.

Looking West to East – Morgans Hill, Kitchen Barrow, Rybury, Tan Hill, Adam’s Grave, Little Eve, The Ridgeway, The Altons, Knap Hill, Golden Ball Hill, Draycott Hill, The Giant’s Grave and the Hill Fort at Martinsell. Over on the other side of the valley lies the other Giant’s Grave on Milton Hill, the Long Barrow and the later Everleigh Barrows. Then there are the standing stones like Alton Priors Standing Stone, The Hanging Stone and Woodborough Holed Stone. Of course the one missing from this list is Hatfield Barrow, which nestled in the ruins of Marden Henge.

The canal cuts around the base of this hill, but may well follow the same route that the Ridgeway did.
This area would had run with springs from the hills above, like the `laughing wells’ at Alton Priors (SU 10843 62201). Honey Street gets it’s name from the gluttonise mud track once found there, not because of bees. King Alfred swore an oath with all his remaining brothers, when they met up at Swanborough Tump. This was in 870 when the Vikings where using the Ridgeway to raid the towns along it’s route.

The area at the bottom of the hill also contains one of the most graceful parts of the canal. When the canal route was surveyed in 1793, the land was owned by Lady Susannah Wroughton, who would have nothing to do with it. She was finally appeased by 500 pounds, the building of a highly ornate bridge, No. 120 Lady’s Bridge, dated 1808 and the landscaping of the marshy area around it.

When John Rennie originally planned the canal, this area was to be the highest point and feed by the springs from the hills above. In effect he planned a ¬`top pond’, a 15 mile long reservoir to feed the canal as it fell towards Bath and Bristol in the West and Newbury and Reading in the East. This required a 4312 yard tunnel to be built and so a second opinion was sought by William Jessop. He suggested a shorter tunnel in conjunction with a steam pumping station at Crofton. This was chosen and saved the company 41,000 pounds. It still produced the 15 mile flat section or Pound from lock 50, Kennet Lock at the Devizes town bridge to lock 51, the Wootton Rivers Bottom Lock.

The Crofton pumping station is a heaven for Fred Dibnah types, and actually fires up the original coal feed boilers on special steam days. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crofton_Pumping_Station and their own site at https://www.croftonbeamengines.org/intro.html for more details. Be careful if you take kids here. It seem like a health and safety nightmare, but well worth seeing if you have the time.

Another high light of this valley is The Bedwyn Stone Museum, which is based on the mason’s yard.
Bedwyn Stone Museum, 91 Church Street Great Bedwyn, SN8 3PF – Tel: 01672 870234.
See https://www.kennet.gov.uk/great-bedwyn-1.pdf for more details of a walking route.

Chance – May 2008

I parked in the entrance to Lindsaig farm, and jumped the gate opposite, over the field down and up a deep wide stream gully and you can see the stone lurking behind the field wall .
As I approached the gate to get the other side of the wall I scared a deer and watched keenly as it bounded away turning to see if I was following. The stone is very Maen Llia like as in diamond shaped and about 8ft tall two barrows can be seen just 50 yds away to the N.W and N.E. A good looking stone with trees half obscuring the view of the Loch.

Travelling south on the B8000, turn right up steep lane towards Corr Mheall and Inveryne farm, then turn left at the old tennis court through one gate then round the back of some woods and park at a large muddy area. The gate was locked but a sort of stile reaches over the low fence, once over, the single standing stone turns in profile revealing the other two.
The stones are low, this is no Ballochroy but the stones are very beguiling , marred only by the giant digger parked just 10 ft away even so i wanted to stay a while. Unfortunatly I couldnt stay long, the impression that i was tresspassing played a bit on my mind and with other places to see I had to go.

Just north west of Low stillaig standing stone is this strange pair of stones, one large and leaning about 9ft tall and one tiny flat topped about 1.5ft tall, possibly broken but absurdly cleanly cut.. Fantastic views over loch fyne to the mountains beyond and the Tarbert ferry coming and going, and turning round the mountains of Arran loom large on the near horizon. I stayed here longer than i intended, the entire scene was breathtaking.

Starting in Millhouse head south east on thin lane after Stillaig farm turn left down rough track. after failing to see a chapel on your right the stone will appear on your right. About 6-7ft tall and unhappily next to an area used by cows. Good views over to Loch Fyne and across the small moor you can just see the tall standing stone of Stillaig.

Right at the southern extreme of Ardlamont point, next to the lane and past Point farm is this large boulder with brilliant views of the Arran mountains.
There isnt any where to park except on the lane or at the farm, so a short visit was necessary. I could see the cupmarks easy enough of which I counted 15 but only a few definate rings, with the mountains so near on the horizon a link with moon rise/setting could be suggested.

As you can see the stone is next to the village phone box and 3 meters from the Crown Inn. It has survived the water co., BT and the electric co. laying cables and digging trenches around it.

I have my doubts if this is the “Blowing Stone”. It fits the position for the description above, but as for the small deep hole at one end, it looks like this section has been broken off. The area were the grass is growing may had been where the small boys blew. Who knows. None of the locals I spoke to knew anything about it.

The stone lies opposite the village pond, which has half a dozen stones around it. Any one of these could be a “Blowing Stone” and some looked far more impressive.

The famous Blowing Stone at Uffington is much more of a man’s “Blowing Stone”, fit for a king.

Chance – May 2008