Latest Fieldnotes

This stone is tricky to find, I walked right by it because its so close to the tree beside it. It is to the rear of the village of Herbertstown and you have to cross a small river to get to it.
The stone itself is about 0.4m high and seems to be highly polished in the top right hand corner or maybe there is a clunk of metal in it. Im not sure really.

Not marked on the OS map this standing stone is near the bridge in Rossadrehid. The stone itself is about 0.5m high.

This barrow is visible on the closest horizon when approaching Minninglow by way of the High Peak Trail from the NW. The roman road, The Street, passes within a few metres of the barrow.

The carvings are set in within the grounds of a special place. The setting of the carvings looking back towards the ruins of Poltalloch House, makes it one of the most impressive settings for any rock art carvings i have visited.
The carvings are still covered in thick moss, hopefully protecting them. A nearby part of the same hillock has had its turf lifted by someone looking for the carvings, and because the main carvings still have their moss covering them, i would assume they didn’t manage to find what there were looking for.
The grid refs are almost spot on, easily found, and also has the added benefits of the ruined house and nearby church to visit.

Two unusual large disc type conjoined barrows. These are a rarity anywhere, but espescially in the New Forest. They sit atop a low plateau on the north west side of Setley plain. The northern is the smaller of the two and is overlapped by the larger southern barrow. They are of a similar size to the disc barrows on Oakley Down in Dorset. These barrows have larger mounds in the centre than most disc barrows, M.A.G.I.C. calls them “fancy barrows”. There is a single example south of the pair.

The jewel in the crown of this area. Not only is this a wondeful example of a cist but the wall of stones around it just make it all perfect...and all this with the backdrop of Kilmar Tor.

It can be found on the south (left) side of the track leading to the farm. Head upslope just before reaching the farm gate, the cairn is about level with the change of direction with the field wall.

I did not test how deep the cist was as it was full of water but it is fair to say it is compact in size.

Not a true quoit as in those at Trethevy, Zennor, Lanyon or Chun but more in keeping with the one at Leskernick.

The cap stone sits balanced on one boulder and one very large rock. From the wetern end it looks as if the base has been cut away to allow space...or was it chosen because of this feature?

I will endevour to find out more about this stone setting.

Found upslope of the Twelve Men’s cairn this wonderful lump sits proud on its base just as if someone had sited it there.

Easily found on the left beside the track to the farm shortly after leaving the wall on the right. The cairn itself is in a ruinous state but the lovely little cist sits snuggled under a low earth bank.

In theory Twelve Men’s Moor covers a large area to the north of Minions from Sharp Tor to Hawk’s Tor. Its name supposedly came about when the land, owned by the Priory of Launceston, was divided up between 12 tenants in 1284. As several sites in this large area are already posted then I will use this site to feature those that lie to the north of Kilmar Tor and south of Trewortha and Hawk’s Tor.
The easiest way to reach this area is by taking the minor road off the B3254 at Berriobridge.
Be careful on this minor raod as there are several large humps.
A parking space can be found at the top of the road where a gate leads onto the track to Trewortha farm.

visited pikestones last month. no more visible damage. somone had built an enclosed stone altar close by, inside of which was a sheep skull

Kilmogue is a fabulous portal tomb and should be on anyones list if they are in the South-East.
Access is easy although you will need a map to find the place because unless your very close there are no sign-posts. It really is surprising how big it is, much bigger than it looks in the pictures.
Also you really have to ask yourself why and how they got that capstone up there.

Mount Wood Fieldnotes – Sunday 13-04-08

Seeing site listed on TMA web site, decided to visit while cycling around Cherhill / Oldbury area. I Know some of the bridleways of Yatesbury and Compton Bassett as they lead out towards Avebury. Leaving the A4, opposite track to the White Horse, go down Park Lane to the farm by triangle wood. Up the bridleway and the mount is on the left, just over the fence, as the ground levels off.

I’ve seen many barrows before but this one is truly different. 8 Feet high and 25 feet in diameter, it looks like a mini Silbury Hill. It’s conical shape and steep sides seem to have never been dug by man or beast. As a consequence, it is undated, but is thought to be Romano-British. (Looks like it slipped through TMA Roman net!). As you can see from the pictures, it has a number of beeches and sycamore trees growing on and around it, but is still in perfect condition. Maybe, and this is a wild guess, it is a bowl-barrow with another burial on it’s top. LVG didn’t seem to know what to make of it either as it’s marked down as Ba, Roman or later. It is Scheduled Monument No.SM12338. It must had always been known for being different. Why else would it be called Mount wood rather than Barrow wood or Barrow copse? I have included a picture looking towards Oldbury Castle from the site to illustrate it’s prospect.

On leaving, I travelled down the rest of the bridleway and on towards Nolands farm and Jugglers Lane. I was struck by the width and straightness of the later track. It screamed Roman to me with the area towards the end may be a ruined building of some sort. Needs more investigation, me thinks.

I know that the site of Cherhill Church is built over a Roman villa or shrine. I also know that a major Lay-line passes through this same site, as it does the church in Calne, Stanley Abbey, Lanhill and the temple of Apollo at Nettleton. In the other direction, the Lay-line travels through Silbaby and the Sanctuary before going through Savernake forest and the middle of Tottenham house.

Chance – April 2008

This stone is now in storage in Collins Barracks in Dublin with the decorated face facing the wall.

*Important*
The landowner of this site can be very hostile to unannounced visitors, please do not attempt to visit this site without securing proper permission. Please be warned.

This is a very eroded panel on a lozenge shaped outcrop. Eight cup and ring marks are reported in the Co. Louth survey but I noticed some parallel lines that look suspiciously artificial. The whole panel is about 1.5m long and on two levels.

Description from Co. Louth Survey:
“Lozenge-shaped tabular rock outcrop, with eight cup and ring motifs. These range from a triple-ringed example to simple cup and ring. There is a much-eroded single cup and ring mark on a nearby rock outcrop. (CLAJ 1981, 111)”

On our visit on 12/4/08, the whole site was very overgrown and required quite a bit of clearing and careful removal of dead foliage before the markings became apparent. Permission was not easy to obtain, only for the fact that he remembered Blaze from her previous visit did we finally get the ok. The landowner lives on the main road, not down the lane, look for the boarded up windows and bullet holed windows and do approach with caution. Do not park near the stones blocking the driveway as he does not like this.

La Hougue de Vinde is a cist-in-circle, a type of monument peculiar to the Channel Islands.

We liked this place – and it seemed to like us. It’s been robbed – the cist has long since gone; damaged, overgrown and neglected; not easy to find in the trees. Branches overhang and encroach into the inner space. A saw is needed here. There’s a geocache. Yet, despite all the setbacks, we were pleased to be there in its stillness to share its existence.

We kissed in a circle.

A pair of quite large barrows at the top of Compton Down, nicely preserved despite being in a thoroughly ploughed field that has covered up any ditch that they may have been. The GPO stuck a telephone pole in the middle of one too. I like telephone poles but there is a limit.

There is one barrow considerably larger than the other and they overlap a bit. They have been excavated in the past but no mention of any findings on the official record. MAGIC notes worked flints visible on the surface. Many barrows around these parts are conspicuously off to one side of a hilltop so they can be seen from down below (or indeed so they can see down there!) but these are right on top and invisible until you get fairly close.

Close-up access requires going across the field which is of course supposed to be rather naughty, though all the dog walkers of Oliver’s Battery seem to do it. I used to live very nearby and even my neighbours whose houses backed onto the field didn’t know what these mounds were! Approach on foot by Texas Drive or from the end of Old Kennels Lane; both involve reasonably flat and easy dirt tracks.

Within the Iron age hillfort at Denbury are two Bronze age round barrows, that pre date the hillfort by at least a 1000 yrs. They are situated to the N/E & S/W of the site . There is a small upright on top of the S/W barrow its unclear if its contemporary with the barrows.

I think this is definitely a hitherto unrecorded menhir – and a gurt beauty it is too! Noticed it on a meander around the lesser known paths of the northern Carnmenellis district just last week. Some 7 feet high and more than 4 feet broad, it nestles near the boundary of Stithians and Lanner parishes on an underused and occasionally thicketed footpath down from the nearby Carvannel Farm – thought it was only fair to name it so.

There is coal beneath this round barrow. It’s shown on the 1932 Geological Survey as the ‘Margery Band’ and it’s just a shallow seam. Trouble is that it’s thirty metres below ground level and that’s way beyond the depth of any bell pit. Other means of mining it would have left surface traces – which aren’t there – such as a road, a shed, a mineshaft etc. The stone that’s pictured on the barrow, with a carved ‘M’, is probably an ancient boundary stone – it was common to use tumuli as boundary markers – and the ‘M’ probably represents Margaret – Bolton’s patron saint.

Have just checked and when looking along the line of the cursus in the opposite direction to the Samhain ,Imbolc orientation , the sun will rise just to the south of the prominent Deuchary Hill on the Beltane (May 1 )and Lughnasadh August 1 ) . This is not necessarily expected as it is due to the the differing heights of the horizon . What it does is double the likelihood of intentionality .

One way to avoid the problems of parking on the A4 lay-by and risking your wordly belongings, is to walk to WKLB from the village of East Kennet.

If you walk past the church (and the groovy house with the amazing wood carvings) and follow the bridle path, it takes about 15-20 mins and affords fabulous views of both East Kennet Long Barrow (on your left hand side) and Silbury.

This way, you approach WKLB from the “front”, walking up the field directly opposite. Excellent.

When we visited last week, some idiot had chalked graffitti all over the stones. At least it was only chalk but it was still infuriating. Noticed the same thing at Woodhenge and was even more annoyed by the “peace and love” messages scrawled there.

Found a couple of weeks ago , previously unrecorded .The site is on the northern side of Loch Tummel . It is approx a mile west of the more ornate Craig Balnabodach .The most obvious hills in view are Schiehallion and Farragon .

Removal of whins from the cursus and trees either side have given an improved view of the monument and possible orientation on North Ballo Hill . The declination is -15.8 and indicates where the sun would rise on the cross quarter days of Imbolc and Samhain whether this was intentional or mattered to the builders is open to debate .Originally considered to be a Roman vallum . It extends 2.3 k although it may originally been even longer .
RC dates from 1993 confirmed it being pre Roman giving a date of 3600 BC.
The building of the monument began at the NW with a sub circular burial mound ,subsequently an 80 m –long barrow was added to the SE. a bank on the same alignment as the barrow followed by realignment to the S.The monument was then constructed in segments with gaps in the bank and ditches breaking the monument into five sections.

Thanks to TMA, I was able to track down the three other sites on Stanton Moor (North, Central and South). It took me a while to find the “T56” marker as it was quite overgrown with heather. Not sure whether its allowed, but I did take out my trusty Swiss Army knife and cleared back the heather from this marker in the hope that it will make it easier to identify for others (see photos I just posted).

After visiting this area quite a few times now, I am amazed that I had walked past it without realizing.