Latest Fieldnotes

From Lacra B the terrier and I walked west for a 100 or so metres to Lacra C. In the past these three stones have been interpreted as the ruins of a stone circle. Aubrey Burl is of the opinion that this is a fallen three, possibly four, stone row, which when you see the stones makes a lot more sense and besides that if anyone knows the difference between a circle and a row it’s Mr Burl.

The stones themselves are quite low but of a decent size, they are aligned roughly north east-south west and are graded in size, the largest being the most northerly.
The largest stone also makes a handy seat to once again sit down and admire the views.

From the village I followed the footpath that crosses the railway and then follows a sunken trackway uphill. As I walked up through the rough pastures I was aware of Black Combe, this hill is huge but in my opinion its presence is almost benign. This massive, soft, whale-back of a hill has to compete with two other even larger presences, the sea in front of it and the central fells behind it. Never the less Black Combe looked marvellous and reminded me of Benarty in Fife, part of the landscape but not domineering.

What drew my eye from the hill was the gentle curve of the coast, the estuaries and of course, the sea. As I reached the top of the hill I was able to look along the coast over Millom, the Duddon estuary, Barrow, Walney Island, and across Morecambe Bay into Lancashire and on to North Wales, and as my eyes got used to the haze I was able to make out the faint profile of the Isle of Man on the horizon.

Once at the top of the hill the terrier and I made our way over to Lacra B. We found the circle quite easily. The circle is sat in knoll on the hillside, all around the circle are large outcrops of bedrock jutting out through the turf at forty five degrees almost as if they are defending the stone ring.
The circle is composed of low stones and has definitely seen better days. The largest stone is just over a metre tall. It’s possible to make out the slight rise of the central cairn but the thing that gives this circle its charm is the views, again it’s the Duddon estuary, the coast and the coastal plain that draw the eye with Black Combe still visible over the brow of the hill.

I sat down in the circle and thought about how the land was used in the past, the estuaries and coast would have been an attractive place to live, Early man would have found this a rich place to forage and hunt. Wildfowl, shellfish, fish and animals would have lived here in abundance. Later, the pastoralists and farmers would have found the fertile Cumbrian plain ideal for raising stock; the surrounding hills would have provided summer pastures, much as they do today. The fertile soils of the coastal plain would also be an ideal place to plant and raise crops, the rivers running off the hills would have ensured an abundance of clean, fresh water, the wooded slopes providing an almost endless supply of timber for building and fuel.

The coast would have also provided the opportunity for contact with others. Archaeological evidence shows us that people have been navigating these coasts since at least the Neolithic, this part of Cumbria would have been an ideal stopping-off point for those early navigators steering a course to and from Wales, the Isle of Man, Southern Scotland or Ireland and they may well have used Black Combe as a guide.

This is possibly a new un-recorded or reported site, Avril Purcell described four panels in the townland, each on ‘unobtrusive’ flat, low lying boulders, these markings are in a large heavy boulder over 1.5m high and 2m broad. Two faces were found to have been carved, the top has weathered basins with rings and what look like cup and ring remains, the opposing face has two cup and rings very closely spaced.

The menhir of “Cian da Munega” (Nun’s Field) standing on top of a hill dominating the Ligurian Sea, could be a good introduction to the sacred mountain Beigua, on the north of the menhir. This mountain was a very important sacred mountain for the ancient Ligurians. It stands right in the center of Ligurian Gulf.

This barrow is immediately north of the Poor Lot barrow cemetery. Magic says it is 23m across and just under a metre high. It is dwarfed by the horrible pylon behind it and was not easy to photograph, I had to stand in the boot of my car to see over the hedge!

I have known about this for some time and have not posted it until I actually saw it for myself. I’m not suggesting for one minute that this is some sort of megalithic chair, but the large rear stone is intriguing. I know this must go in the dodgy category of postings and have e-mailed the Evershot village website to see if anyone knows how long this has been there in its current form, as yet I’ve had no reply.
Only the two side stones are slotted to take the concrete seat base, the rear stone is undamaged. The large stone is over a metre in height a must weigh several tons. The stone looks much the same from behind and has no obvious signs of modern tooling.
This site appears in Peter Knights “Ancient stones of Dorset”, a book of which I am quite wary, it’s emphasis on leylines doesn’t appear very sound historically.
I’d be interested in the opinion of anyone else who’s seen this or knows anything about it.

I finally found the time to visit this site. I spent three hours here and barely scratched the surface. This is a massive place covering about one hundred acres. There is a lot to see, but like many similar sites it’s difficult to photograph, espescially when the grass is high.
Preserved in small woodland areas are several round barrows, two of which I managed to find. The most southerly is in fine condition with no obvious signs of damage. The second, near Jackman’s cross is very overgrown and difficult to get close to.
To the south across the valley of the Frome is the Penn hill / Seven barrow plantation, while to the north is Smacam down.
There is a good path up a gently sloping hill and stunning views for 360 degrees, well worth a visit for them alone.

I parked once more by the scout hut, and started walking that way, when the gate is reached almost double back across the dryest part of the moor, then follow the wall with it on your left, when you can see the farm buildings, head towards Sheepstor (the hill) and the stones are obvious. dry feet at a dartmoor circle how unlikely was that.
All four circles were covered in poo, from several different sources, but the scenery and the lovely little circles more than make up for it.
The central circle is damn near perfect the next two outer circles are made from tiny stones and the outer ring has the biggest stones of all especially on the southern side.
A very photgenic place, but what you really need is to see it from above.
On the way back when the wall stopped, I tried to take the direct route back to the car instead of retracing my steps back to the scout hut, big mistake, I was wet once more. The best route is definatley the right hand route, it is longer but is also drier .

This was my second attempt to witness the summer solstice sunrise at Down Tor, last year my daughter and I camped on a Tor half way between carpark and stone circle/row, but it was raining windy and cloudy so we left it for another time...this time!
Well well well what do you know, despite last nights awsome sunset, I awoke this time to clouds and fog, at least it wasn’t raining, so I gave it another go.
The walk to the stones is long and arduous up and down over three rocky tors the last one not so rocky, in good weather a delight to trek over. But this time on the second hill the fog came in really badly and I got turned around and ended up very lost. five in the morning in fog on the moors alone isn’t the most happy feeling Iv’e embraced. It wasn’t till I stumbled across the cuckoo stone that I realised where I was and with a view to the resrvoir through the fog, I knew which way to go.
Before long the tallest stone could be seen peeping over the low hill, then another and then more, untill my relief must have been obvious even to the small bird that was drawing me on.
Even in the fog this place is cool, the perfect little circle with internal cairn and the stone row, starting of with a whopper of a stone( reset deeper than the original stone hole) but quickly dwindles to knee high stones. I followed the row up to the other cairn, the terminal stone is about 5 ft tall but doesn’t go all the way to the cairn, it stops about 50 m away. The pound is still quite well preserved several stones sticking up maybe entrances to huts.
Now it was time to go and find Yellowmead after a long soggy walk back to the car

After a five hour drive down motorway and across the moors I almost yelped with joy to finally get to these stones, the sunshine was glorious and the stones tall, well, three of them were. I parked near the scout hut, walked straight to Wittenknowles settlement on the low hilltop and back down the other side, all in all, a fifteen minute walk.
The tallest menhir in Devon is here about 14 feet tall I think, and so much more, cairns with rings of stones, a beautiful cist (you’ll know which one) long lines of stones sometimes double rows, and the large barrow(giants basin) overlooking it all. Throw in the sound of running water, some birdsong and a lovely sunset and your in a megalithic paradise, plus I had the whole place to myself. Although the stone rows are more likely to be roughly aligned towards the winter sunset
A good couple of hours are needed to appreciate it fully.

The owner of the house with this piece of rock art forming part of a wall asked that I did not give out the exact location of the stone as he doesn’t want visitors.

The stone was built into a shed or house that was being demolished, the farmer decided to save it and cemented it into his wall, right outside his front door. It’s unclear where exactly it was originally found. The whole panel is just over a foot high.

The carvings are on the very southernmost chunk of the ridge of outcrop. It’s pretty easy to find, just off to the left of the path from the road. The trees have been thinned so it’s not too difficult to get there, though it’s steep when you get to the actual utcrop, so not suitable for anything with wheels, or those unsteady on the feet.

I got the distinct impression that the people who added the runes may have slightly enhanced the cup and ring, as the inner parts of the grooves look to have traces of metal tooling. I think they may have added the hotizontal line bistecting the motif, as it’s very thin, doesn’t look picked out, and seems to be an enhancement of a natural features on the surface of the rock. It’s also unlike anything in any other RA in this part of the world.

It was nice to bump into the landowner who chatted for a couple of minutes explaining his awareness an interest in the carving, and he seemed quite chuffed to hear that it’s the only one with runes next to it. Not quite a rosetta stone, but as close as we get.

In their article ‘Rock Carvings in the Garlieston Area’ (TDGNHAS-3-LXII,1987, p. 33-9), Morris & van Hoek wrote:
“In 1986 and 1987 rock art was reported in the area just north of Garlieston for the first time. Some of it is of special interest and unusual type for the British Isles.
In all, eight sites have been located, six on the farm of Eggerness, and two on the adjoining farm of Penkiln. All are on outcrop greywacke rock. The carvings include a very big number of spirals and on two sites most of the carvings are zoömorphic. Such zoömorphic carvings are rare in Prehistoric Rock Art in Brtain. Most of the sites have been covered up completely in order to preserve the engravings.” Followed by the description of the Penkiln 1-2 and Eggerness 1-4 panels.
For the panels Eggerness 5 and 6, the text continues:
“Also situated on Eggerness are the following two sites with zoömorphic carvings. For security and agricultural reasons their locations is not given but further details, and color photographs by Mrs Wendy Ronan, have been lodged with the National Monuments Record. The sites have been re-covered with turf and neither they nor any of the sites on Eggerness should be searched for or visited without prior arrangements.”
We visited the site in September 2000 but could not locate a single carving. Not only were they soundly covered, but the given gridrefs were (a bit?) out of the way also.
In May 2008, after making proper arrangements with the land- and farmowner, Suzanne Forster, Ank Brouwer, Brian Kerr and I were allowed to uncover and photograph panel 4 and 5. The friendly farmer pointed out the location of the (domino) panel-3, which is on a vertical rock wall but unreachable now due to nettles and gorse vegetation. Furthermore we located the (spirals) panel-1 but the topsoil was solidly “glued” to the very fragmented rock so we left it to avoid any damage.
As an unexpected bonus, the farmer drove us to panel-6 with the horses. Soon we stood eye-to-eye with probably most unique carvings in the whole of the UK.
These carvings were last seen by Ronald Morris, Maarten van Hoek and Kaledon Naddair in 1986-7 and 1989.
In 1989, Kaledon Naddair discovered another horse. He wrote: “Due to temporarily removing more turf another pocked ‘horse’ at the top of the rock-slope was found. It holds the same posture as the other three main ‘horses’ (D&ES, 1989a)“.
We regarded it a great privilege to record these carvings, except Kaledon’s one, with the currently available technology; digital camera and the side-flash.
The visit was highlighted by the find of yet another horse, laying on its side in the hoof motif like a veal in its mothers uterus; a really moving design!

This robbed out cairn is about five mins walk south of the Soussons circle and is just off the Two Moors way. A nice low ring of stones encircle the messy centre which is over grown with gorse. There is quite a lot of quartz scattered around the cairn...perhaps it was originally topped with a shining white layer?

A nice little sanitised ‘circle’, easily accessible from the main Mortonhampsted to Twobridges rd.
The other name I have for it is Runnage Circle. The central kist was badly damaged by campers lighting a fire within it in 1993 and has since been in filled with turf to prevent any similar incidents.

This is an extended group of barrows of various sizes within and on the edges of woodland. Most of them are in dense, mixed forest and are hard to find, I know, I’ve looked. Some of them may only be accessible when the trees are felled, as with the nearby Rain Barrows.
Parking is easy and the footpaths are good, the forest is about four miles from Dorchester.

This is a surprising place of peace and quiet, slap in the middle of military firing ranges. It is a nature reserve and when I visited the only sound I could hear was birdsong.
It is a mixed barrow cemetery containing about ten barrows, two of which are bell types. Six bowl barrows are on a low hill called Coombe Beacon. The two bells are on the low part of the heath, both have a visible berm and the northern still has traces of a ditch and bank.
The southern barrow has a small, low bowl barrow attached to the northeast edge.
One very small barrow is now fenced off, presumably to protect it.

The last time I visited here, it was a very short visit, as it’s tantalisingly close to a very picturesque parking spot on the road from Alnwick to Edlingham, and the short hop up to the outcrop only takes a minute or two, up the trackway past the remains of bell pits. It’s not the best track in the world, a pushbike could make it, or a 3-wheeled buggy, but not a wheelchair. The incline isn’t steep, but there is a need for hitching through or over a low wire fence, as the gate between the track and the outcrop seemed to be fixed shut.

The rock art is rather sub-standard, but the rock shelter and the outcrop itself are quite nice. The position in the landscape is unarguably the best aspect of the site. The view is very good.

I’m not sure what to make of the line pecked into the floor of the shelter. It’s definitely pecked out, and looks very much like the kind of thing you’d see emerging from a cup and ring. Stan Beckensall has it as emerging from a ‘shallow basin’. I’m not 100% with the basin idea. The presence of iron tool marks in the basin, combined with the fact that it’s not convex, and is on a slope would make it a poor basin. It’d not hold water. There is a chance that the basin like area is the remains of a patch where the original surface has been removed. This raises the possibility that there was once a more cup and ring like motif here, removed in later years by whoever carved the rudimentary chair and the post slots under the overhang.

Between the shelter and the lovely view of Cheviot, is the standing stone. At first glance, I was a bit dismissive, as it’s not overlarge, and there are larger boulderrs nearby that are just as upright. But closer inspection shows that it’s out of place, and has a much higher than usual amount of quartz in it, making it look to me as it it could have been chosen as a suitably snazzy stone, then lugged here to mark the site as somewhere special.

The thing on the top of the outcrop does look like rock art, being one of those ‘enhanced natural features’ that can be so perplexing. But it must be an artificial groove around the basin. I did wonder why this basin was chosen for enhancement, when there are a couple of others that look like they’d do the job (whatever that is...) just as well. Maybe it’s because of the direction of the natural groove, pointing down into the valley below. This valley looks intriguing. It’s a bit reminiscent of the rockforms at Ketley Crag, full of jaggedy anthropomorphic outcrops, festooned with tumbled boulders, with many nooks and crannies that could easily be gateways to the underworld.

Personally, having had my first home within 20m of the hillfort’s base, then excavating on it as a boy from 1966-70 and finally founding and running the South Cadbury Environs Project, I’m in agreement with the writer who thinks Cadbury is the best of all hillforts! For a more considered justification read the book!
Hillforts were massive engineering undertakings and from their inceptions have implications for the population of a wider landscape. Two surveys of southern British hillforts have been published in popular and academic form (Danebury, Hampshire; Maiden Castle) but a book for general readership of the most detailed survey, that around Cadbury Castle, is about to appear in August 2008.
The book covers work by the South Cadbury Environs Project from 1992-2007 and is by its then director, Dr Richard Tabor (“Cadbury Castle: The hillfort and landscapes”). An academic report is in preparation. The project is continuing its work under the leadership of Clare Randall and those interested, either generally or with a view to doing voluntary work, shopuld visit the newly relaunched website from 21st June 2008 (www.southcadbury.org.uk).

Castle Ring is situated adjacent to the small villiage of Cannock Wood in Staffordshire (not to be confused with the larger town of Cannock). Only living a 10 minute drive away I’m up there at least once a month. It’s not obvious to the casual observer what it actually is, and I’m sure that many dog walkers gopast it or over it without giving it a second thought.

From the top of the structure, being the highest point on Cannock Chase you can see right across the forest that covers most of the chase and which is steeped in mystery and folklore (see Nick Redfern’s books “3 men seeking monsters” and “Man Monkey” for detail about that).

I find Castle Ring confounding since the information provided at the site at the local tourist information says that there is evidence of agriculture inside the ring but no settlements as such which really makes you wonder. Why would a community fortify a field? what was it they were growing that needed to be protected? Was this a religious site of some kind, for open air rituals on the point closest to the heavens?

To me, Cannock Chase is a very special, Castle Ring one of my favourite spots there.

I walked here from Boat Howe following the ridge down from the Howe to Bulatt Bridge and then taking the left hand path towards Wasdale Head.
To find the cairn, once you have passed some broken down enclosure walls keep following the path up a sharp incline walk on a few more yards and then head east towards Hard Rigg, you should be able to see the cairn after a few yards.

The cairn sits on a col between Wasdale and Eskdale moor and as such may mark some form of territorial boundary, a liminal space. The setting couldn’t be any better with the drama of the southern fells laid out before it.

The SMR states that this is a round cairn topped with a tumbled drystone wall of a circular sheepfold. It also states that local tradition has it that this was once a beacon, one of a chain between Millom and Cockermouth.

Whatever it was, it is now a very special place and is well worth a visit if only to sit within it’s walls and watch the shadows of clouds move across the fells.

To return to the path, I would advise that you retrace your steps, the area south of the cairn is very marshy, as I found out to my cost. On the plus side, I picked a large bagful of wild thyme from this area and encountered a huge dragonfly.

Local photographer and regular TMP contributor, Nicola Didsbury told me about this site, she had been told that there was once a stone circle there which had been destroyed and all but two of its stones had been thrown into the River Eden.
See Nicolas notes here
megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=11486.

Access to the stones is via the approach road to Winderwath gardens. The entrance to Winderwath was until recently on the A66 however since the recently completed by-pass has been built you need to leave the A66 at the junction for Temple Sowerby.

There are two stones here; the first stone is a large upright block of porphyritic stone which stands beside the road. The second stone appears to be similar in composition and lays prostrate behind it, hidden by the fence and dense hedge. There are also a number of small stones which have the appearance of a field clearance.

I have been unable to find any reference in both the antiquarian and the modern literature to a stone circle or standing stones in this area; however this does not mean that this is not a genuine prehistoric site. Eleven kilometers to the west of this stone is the massive standing stone of Holme Head which was until recently unrecognized, which just goes to show that even in areas where extensive surveys have been performed it is still possible to find new sites.

I took the short walk here from Kirksanton.
This pair of beautiful stones on the edge of a stoney field appear to point to the Whicham valley and a possible route into the central fells via the Duddon valley and the Wrynose pass.

More importantly, they should also be seen as part of group of coastal monuments that include the nearby lost circles of Kirkstones, Hall Foss and Annaside. Beckensall in Prehistoric Rock Art of Cumbria quotes J. Ecclestone (1872) as reporting ‘six stone circles, a Giants Grave, and a huge cairn south of the Esk.‘

In his recent book Prehistoric Monuments of the Lake District, Tom Clare reports a buried landscape around these stones including what appears to be a ring of pits around the stones and other cropmarks which include ‘timber henges or roughly circular palisaded enclosures with internal and concentric pits.‘

I find it rather sad that these stones are all that’s left of this once magnificent landscape, but then again at least they are still there and have not been destroyed, unlike many of our lowland prehistoric monuments.

Access is very good. It’s possible to park at the field gate beside the level crossing and then it’s just a short walk down a bumpy field margin footpath.

Field Notes

Yarnbury Castle – SU 035404 – Aug 2007

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 130 – Scale 1:25000
Salisbury & Stonehenge inc. Wilton & Market Lavington.
ISBN 978-0-319-23599-7

I visited this site last Lammas as part of my tour of the Stonehenge area. It was the last site on my hit list and I’d planned to spend the afternoon there. My transport was, as usual, my bike. It meant cycling down a dual carriageway to get there, but it was the most practical route for me to take. Having read the other field notes, or lack of them, it looks like I was the only one to make it.

The site lies just off the A303. At this point, the road is a dual carriageway with a central reservation. I would suggest you try to get to SU 04104 40144. This point is a farm track, just off the South bound A303. You should be able to turn a sharp right off the A303 to get there, but I haven’t tried this. If you miss the turn, and there’s no signpost, you will have to travel down to Deptford or Wylye to turn round. There is a farm track running alongside the North bound side of the A303, but I couldn’t tell you how to get on this, let alone get off it.

If your travelling on the North bound side of the A303, you could try a sharp left turn on the other side of the farm track, just past the site, otherwise you should travel up to the B3083 and turn off towards Berwick St. James. Turn round here and travel back along the A303 South bound.
The other alternative is to travel on to Berwick St. James, and travel or walk along the Langford Waie. This track leads to the summit of a hill with a water tower on top. Turn right here and travel up until you reach the A303. There is a milestone at this point indicating that it was once the roman road from Old Sarum to Bath. The milestone is actually listed as scheduled monument AM419 (SMR No. SU04SW525). Once you get to this point, the last obstacle is the A303 itself. You must wait for a gap in the traffic and sprint across to the central reservation. Do this again over the Northbound lane and the delights of Yarnbury Castle can be sampled. Bit of a game all that, but that’s it’s not up a mountain.

I have no idea if this is private land or on MOD land or anything. I did get buzzed by a MOD helicopter while there, but thought nothing of it as they were flying around all the time. I cycled down the track till it drew parallel with the fort and stashed the bike well off the track. There was a section of wire fence down and a path though it, so I took that.

I walked up the side of the earthworks until I got to the original, eastern entrance. This is a strong interned entrance, 9 metres wide, with elaborate outworks including a kidney-shaped enclosure, which forces the entrance passage south and east.
Once inside the circular earthwork, the ground is level and encloses over 10 hectares. The fort is surrounded by two banks 7.5 metres high and deep ditches, with traces of a third, slighter outer defence. An OS trig station sits on one bank, indicating that you stand on the highest point for miles.

Inside the fort are traces of an earlier 3.6 hectare enclosure. When this was excavated by Maud Cunnington in June 1932, pottery fragments and human burials were recovered. This area has been dated to 300BC. A geophysical survey was carried out in 1987, and another year earlier, by the RCHME. This revealed the remains of at least 120 circular structures and associated pits within the hillfort defences.

While the outer ditch has been dated to 100BC, a small triangular enclosure of Roman date was added to the outside of the fort on the west. This has been shown by excavation to have a V-shaped ditch 2.7 metres deep, together with an entrance that had been closed by a wooden gate.

The entrance on the south side is modern and probably dates from the eighteenth century. As Rhiannon says, an annual sheep fair was held inside the fort. This ended in 1916, maybe due to the military demands on the area, or maybe through the gradual demise of the old ways. This pattern was repeated throughout countless communities up and down the country, let alone the county. The sheep-pens have left rectangular ridge-traces on the eastern side of the central enclosure.

I really enjoyed visiting Yarnbury. It had a true atmosphere of the past, even though the busy A303 gave out a constant hum of traffic. The parking is the major problem, but once you overcome that, you get a place the size of Avebury to yourself. The banks and ditches reminded me of Avebury too, they were probably bigger. It felt a little like Old Sarum too.

My exit strategy was simple. Leave by the way I came in and retrieve the bike. I then cycled out, over Madington Down to Shrewton.

Black Head juts out into St Austell bay on its west side. Very little remains of any antiquity except two high banks and one deep ditch on the east side of the istmus.
The headland can be reached via the SWCP from a car park at Trenarren, but it is still at least half a mile away...great views on a good day!