Latest Fieldnotes

It’s a very minor pair of bits of rock art, but worthy of mention for a couple of points.

One is the dumbbell motif, unusual, especially on a portable. Similar to the one on outcrop at Fowberry cairn.

Also, the old boundary earthwork (linear, definitely a post roman feature) appears to run right through the remains of a bronze Age cairn. There’s a lot more stone in the earthwork the closer to the RA you get, sort of implying that the cairn was stripped to provide building material.

Thus, it’s reasonable to assume that the marked rocks came from the cairn, as is quite common. So maybe there were/are more still in hiding?

On top of a hill in the middle of no-where is this stone circle so it’s a given that it’s not dead easy to get to, but it doesn’t have to be too hard. Presuming that you’ve got an OS map and can see the circle on it, firstly the narrow rough and bumpy track is navigable a good distance, when the track makes a 90 degree left turn park by the gate and footpath stile and head east making for the trig point on a barrow, go down hill avoiding marshy area then back up and its away to the left through the gate. A good circle with one heck of a view, eight stones stand mostly on the western edge of a circle twenty metres across. Not far to the east on the highest point is a barrow with a trig point on it. On the way back to the car I found what looked like another circle, more ruined, with smaller stones, Aubrey Burl doesn’t mention it and niether does coflein (though the latter does mention a fallen menhir close to this suspect circle).
A good circle and relatively easy to get to for those with a care free attitude to their cars underside.

There was no good parking place so I carelessly blocked a gate to the field and we dashed over, disturbing a flock of geese on the pond , it only takes five minutes to walk to it so we didnt get in anyones way. It’s a good stone, I liked it a lot, sure it’s waist high to a six year old but it seemed perfectly formed, like it had been born to be a menhir, and the view is superb even on a damp misty morning like today.

I read the two misc notes and became determined to find this stone at all costs, Shropshire traveller was miles away it’s not in any field, I think he really did see a tree trunk, Kammer was so close that I had to smile to myself as I stood next to the stone. He guessed it was in someones garden but it’s actually right on the edge of the road. Almost ironically the place both Kammer and the shroppy traveller parked is right next to the stone, so close but so far.

It still took me longer to find the stone than it should have, I had the map, looked on Coflein, but the size of the stone and it’s unexpected nearness to the road didnt help much. Both me and Eric felt the stone was sunk further in the ground than it used to be, maybe for road safety, or perhaps it’s just a little one, either way a good one to find.

As the four stones are only down the road why not come see these two standing stones. True they’re not huge stones this one is the taller of the two and the easiest to find,

rdavymed was a little too dissmissive if you ask me, theres one chamber left, it’s not dead impressive but niether is it completley destroyed.
The farmer has left a wide area unploughed and the chamber is at one end at the other is a few small boulders possibly remnants of another chamber. located amid a maze of small lanes, when the lane forks around a nice house the chamber is behind the house, I parked on the left fork mostly on a grass verge, the farmer pulled up and shouted over I called back “I’m just checking out the stones if thats alright “....it was.

Amongst the cairnfields and field systems of Birchen Edge is this low burial cairn with several remaining stones of a cist.
SK2846 7226 about 600m east-ish from the ring cairn of Birchen Edge South.

A long walk with wet feet finds this little complex of ruined stone circle numerous cairns and a cist...Tryfan.!. About fifty metres up a gentle slope from the stone and cairn on the edge of dry and wet ground...Tryfan !.!The four side stones are evident with the roof slab resting on a side slab, the two long stones are aligned on the tall sharp mountain whose name escapes me at the moment....Tryyyfaaaan!!!

A very long wet walk from the road with great potential for not finding owt. Fortunately I had plenty of time to wander about a bit. The footpath goes steadily uphill past a house and behind one till it gets to an attractive megalithic bridge. You can see where the standing stone is from here, look up to the mountain and come back down to a large brown bit and its there. Not much help, maybe, just follow the river with it on your left about thirty metres away or so and it’ll take you straight there.
The stone is waist high with a rock pool on one side, the cairn is very close to it, and with some furtling about two or three fallen stones can be picked out. I’m inclined to beleive it was a circle, with awsome Tryfan as it’s focus, perhaps when complete looking very similar to Hafodty stone circle some miles to the north east. A great place to enjoy Snowdonia, though maybe in a drought next time ‘cause Welsh mountains are 50% water.

It’s a real long walk from the road with wet feet a given, trying to stay on the path was impossible, and after a long detour around the weir I eventually spotted the standing stone .....and the cairn, whilst definatly smaller than it’s discription, is identifiable. Magnificent views of Tryfan and surrounding mountains.

On private land belonging to the Chatsworth Estate, so it’s best to get permission.
This rock shelter is well hidden amongst the thick trees of the plantation and difficult to spot from the track.
SK2844 6903 gets you to the spot.

This is a lovely little outcrop, in a small clearing and beside a small pool that looks like it is regularly used by deer.

The panel consists of 2 main motifs one roughly oval and one rectangular. There is a third, small motif which we were unable to locate
The panels were uncovered, cleaned and recorded.

I was particularly struck by the rectangular panel with it’s concentric grooves. Rectangular panels enclosing cups are not a common motif in British rock art. However there are three such motifs, this one, Dod Law and Chatton all within a relatively small geographical area. Not sure what it all means but they are lovely things to see and feel.

This site is a lovely clearing in the forest. The site is raised and roughly circular and has signs of quarrying on its edges. To one side of the raised area is a substantial upright stone, judging from the fluting on the stone it has been stood upright for a long time. Upon lifting some of the turf I found a simple eroded cup and ring, on further investigation we also found another very weathered cup with a possible ring.
There was some debate as to whether these carvings represent the site recorded as Amerside Law 2.

Amerside Law Panel 1
This panel is located in a small clearing within a densely packed conifer plantation. When Andy and Hob rediscovered this panel it was covered in a thick, dense mat of woodland crud which they spent a considerable amount of time clearing.

The panel is located on a rock outcrop; views from the panel are currently non-existent. If the plantation was removed, the main viewshed would be across the Till Valley to the distant Cheviot and surrounding hills.

The carvings themselves are much worn and were described by Stan Beckensall in the 1970’s. It was not possible to locate all of the features included in Stan Beckensall’s drawing of the panel. It appears that during the intervening years, a section of the carvings have disappeared completely, possibly due to damaged by forestry vehicles during the planting of the conifers.

Initially the carvings were quite difficult to make out, tracing their outlines with water helped bring the panel to life revealing a complex set of motifs. For me, one of the striking features of this and other panels is the asymmetrical nature of a number of the motifs. By this I mean that you have a large channel or double channel enclosing a number of cups, however, the cups are not evenly distributed but occur in one sector of the enclosed area or may even lay across the enclosing channel. This has always interested me, it is obviously a deliberate act and my personal opinion is that this strengthens the case for attaching a specific meaning to the motifs as opposed to purely an abstract design.

This cave can be tricky (and not the safest of things) to find amongst the old spoil heaps and mine shafts, the whole pasture is full of them. The cave is located on a local high spot near rocky ground on Carsington Pastures’ southern edge overlooking Carsington Water. The two entrances, one in a hollow the other on a small knoll directly above it, are both locked.

It’s no very big (about 3 ft tall, tops), but there are a good few smaller things in Northumberland that have been recorded quite firmly, and even scheduled.

I reckon the fluted grooves are much what you’d see on a BA orthostat in these parts, so I’m claiming it to be the genuine I-am.

(But if the TMA Eds should decide otherwise, please do slap a Dubious Antiquity tag on it. I’ll not get too upset...)

Another possible fact in it’s favour is the presence, about 3m away, of some definite Cup and Ring carvings, and it’s in what used to be a cairnfield, fitting a general pattern of Northumbrian sites.

This rock shelter is about 220m NW of the footbridge at the bottom of Cales Dale as it joins Lathkill Dale. Tricky climb onto the ledge and shelter.

Excavated by TA Harris in 1928. Finds included Upper Palaeolithic flints plus some reindeer bones. Neolithic flints were also recovered and included a discoidal knife, a leaf-shaped arrowhead and flakes. A possible human burial of a Neolithic date was also found.

I visited Chee Tor a coupla years ago after I came across a reference to a stone circle there in the SMR/NMR records. I now note that Pastscape also mention the site as an uncertain stone circle Short arc of bank with four upright stones within it, possibly a Bronze Age embanked stone circle. So I thought I’d post some pictures...see what folk thought.

Chee Tor is a high spur of land overlooking the River Wye in the valley below. It’s a pretty spectacular location for a circle located as it is right on the edge of the near vertical slope into Chee Dale.

I’m not sure what to think....other parts of the tor are noted for their Romano-British settlement remains and it’s this that bugs me about the site...’taint a million miles away from them...although there’s nothing like this structure amongst them.
Spectacular area and worth a visit for the views of Chee Dale alone.

“.....a group of distinctive earthworks in the north-east of the North York Moors that prior to investigation by the RCHME, had been categorised as double pit-alignments. The earthworks consist of two or three pairs of pits, with the spoil from the pits spread into parallel enclosing banks. The orientation of the segments is rarely consistent along an axis north-west to south-east ; in each case there seems to be a tengential alignment on burial mound, putatively Bronze Age in date, which may give a clue as to their age and function.”

LOFTHOUSE C. A
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
1993, vol. 59, pp. 383-392

Setting out for the day I had written down points of interest and had an idea where i was going, and to make things a little easier, foolishly forgot to pick up all my grid reference details from the kitchen table!

I hadn’t on this occasion read around the subject as fully as i could have done, and only when I returned home did i realise the whole area is Roulston Scar (I have always known it as Sutton Bank). We parked at the top, near the gliding club and headed roughly NEE to the fortification as marked on the OS map. Crossing a small valley we scrabbled up the sides and headed into the woods. I all honesty, an easier way would have been to park at the top of High Town Bank Road and walk down.

In any case the length and size of the fortification was quite impressive, and surrounded by woodland. Its termination point seems a little odd and I wonder if it maybe ran at some point to the top of Hell Hole SE523816. It certainly seems like this now wooded stretch is all that remains of the fortification. Walking along it’s ditch West to East with it’s Southerly side being easily 5 feet high in places, it wasn’t difficult to imagine what it once looked like, and when you look out over the flat land that Roulston Scar rises from, it isn’t difficult to imagine why fortifications where built there.

The thing that is a little tricky though, is that information about the Hillfort suggests that it’s perimeter terminates before the small valley we crossed. Maybe this was an additional fortification. The OS map shows a tumulus in the fields near by, although all signs of this are now gone.

There are 7 barrows in this group which is to the north of Sheep down long barrow and south of the Big wood group. The three largest are in the centre and include a rare double bowl barrow with a figure of eight ditch. The cemetary straddles the road to Weymouth and is part of the south Dorset ridgeway group of barrows.

You’ll probably need a gps to find this cist unless you have a few hours to spare. There is a large rock nearby that sorta becomes visible when you’re on top of it and so is something to look for in the thick heather....I think it is part of the boundary bank the cist is built into.
Two sides of the cist are clearly visible and constructed of fairly large stones.
If you have a gps then SK28157 71021 should get you to within a few metres of it.

Separated by the Umberley Sick from Gibbet Moor this cairn stands on Brampton East Moor proper, although it is directly related to the Gibbet Moor settlement and lies several hundred metres from Gibbet Moor North.
The cairn is enormous (close in size to Wet Withens’ barrow) even though it was robbed in medieval times to build an adjoining animal pen.

The NMR reckons that there is at least 2 cairns possibly 3 with some visible kerbstones but so interfered with is it, it’s difficult to work out any of it out.

Managed to find these elusive carvings last week. It was decided that the choice of Feb 29th was auspicious, as it proved to be.

A bit of research via Google Earth showed a patch that looked to be in shadow, implying the existence of a clearing. A bit of tricknology with a gps device converted the GE co-ordinates into a gps friendly point at which to leave the path and follow the furrows made when planting the trees.

The trees have recently been thinned slightly in the southern part of the plantation, so access wasn’t as much of a problem as it could have been. Working out where the carvings are was, and we initially walked right past the spot where the carvings later showed up. This led to an hour or so of hands-and-knees crawling through some dense and highly resistant coniferous gloom.

A combination of the satellite images, Stan Beckensall’s sketched map and a bit of tree-stump observation eventually led to the conclusion that they were buried under a 25 yr old annoyingly deep and tangled pile of pine branches and needles. (It took much effort to shift the heap).

It was still a very sludgy bit of rock art, as the decades of decomposition had left an unpleasant slime mixed with pine needles over the surface of the outcrop. Hence a return visit today, this time armed with a (soft) brush and some water.

The carvings are very worn, but quite complex in composition. I couldn’t help but think it looked like a panel that had been added to over time, possibly starting out as a set of simple cups, elaborated upon at a later date.

If you take the trees away, there’s a great view, showing significant hills such as Ros Castle, Simonside and the Cheviot.

This lovely stone circle is behind the “West Coast B&B” on the road to Dooncarton. The stones are enclosed within a fence on a sheep farmer’s property; be prepared to climb over the fence since the gates are locked. Outstanding views... even on a blustery winter day in February!