Latest Fieldnotes

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

The Santa Cristina complex is right longside the SS131, just south of Paulilitino. Entry costs 5 euros for adults, and there’s a cafe and bar, and souvenirs on sale, clean toilets and ample parking.

It’s open from 08:30 to 22:30 (or 21:00 in the winter).

There are 3 main elements:

The centre is a Christian village, with families living in the long low buildings and a quaint church on the village square.

The most important elements though, are the holy well to the north, and the nuraghic village to the south.

There are two menhirs alongside the path to the village, and an impressive hut at a short distance from the main part of the village which is grouped around the base of the nuraghe. One of the huts here is a massive 14m long, and its interior shows the same construction style as a tomba di gigante.

This tomba is situated just to the north of a walled enclosure for farm buildings, almost opposite Nuraghe Oppianu. The track towards the enclosure was gated and padlocked, and the undergrowth looked substantial, so knowing from our research notes that the site has yet to be excavated and the stele is missing, and that it would be difficult to see, we left this one for another time.

Had a  few searches in the past but no rock art was forthcoming in Glen Lednock despite it being a likely area but found three “new ” marked rocks a couple of weeks ago . This is the funniest , a bit of simulacra although I doubt if it was intentional . The rocks are within a mile of the “stone circle ” stone setting may be more appropriate as one certailny looks like it was erected with a few lying around in a shape even Thom couldn’t describe .

From Borore, head towards the SS131. At the big junction and flyover, take the first left, signposted to Flor Mirko (nursery / garden centre) and head south on the old main road.

The tomba is signposted from this road and its turn is directly opposite Flor Mirko – as you turn, there’s a farmyard infront, and the track you want goes to the left.

We drove cautiously on for about 300m, and then spotted the stele in the corner of a field on a S bend ahead. There’s a track to pull into / turn round in just before the first corner, and a similar space opposite the second.

And what a stele! Broken vertically. Has it been intact, it would probably be among the largest on the island. It’s 3.8m high, and the remaining part is 1.9m wide – originally about 4m wide.

The tomba is right up against the field/road boundary, and the left hand side of the esedra is almost non-existant because of this.

The body of the tomba runs parallel to the boundary and there are 9 of the original 12 side stones still in place, half buried in the long grass, forming a corridor 8.8m x 1.2m.

As we visited, the local farmer appeared to clear the field of sheep and gave us a friendly wave.

Imbertighe tomba di gigante has an impressive curved esedra made of small blocks, and a relief carved stele standing 3.6m high.

The body of the tomb was originally 11.5m long, but there’s very little to see of it on site. The info board says it’s been destroyed; my research notes say it’s still buried.

In a farmyard only metres east of Imbertighe tomba.

Just to the east of Borore, on the road which takes you to Santu Bainzu and Nuraghe Toscono is Nuraghe Bighinzones.

It’s a quadrilobate structure, similar to Nuraghe Porcarzos but with symmetrically arranged side towers ... not that you can tell, as it’s buried to beyond the height of the side towers and only the central one is visible. Climbing to the top, you can look down through the collapsed tholos roof to the interior of the tower, and some of the entrances to the side chambers can be seen.

I set a reminder in my phone to check out this cairn at sunset around Bealtaine as Martin Brennan suggested it has an early May alignment. Well, I since switched phones so it was only while looking for a drawing of something else (the stone at Killin in Co. Louth, which he seems to have confused with Carrickrobin) that it hit me. As luck would have it, the weather then wasn’t great but tonight it was perfect.

The sunset does indeed stream down the left hand side of the passage (as looking out) and forms a rectangle of light on right side of the backstone which slowly decreases in size as the sun reaches the horizon. It may have even entered the now-destroyed right hand chamber before dipping below the horizon.

This is a large quite impressive barrow around 45m in diameter and around 2m in height, with maybe traces of a wide ditch.
Just off the A515, although not visible from it, access is by way of one of two paths close to Boars Low, one being to the north and another to the east.

Bateman dug here in the 1840’s finding Bronze Age flints and pottery sherds.

Approaching this nuraghe from the road, there’s a path with drystone walls on both sides – and the view doesn’t inspire. But as I approached, I could make out some impressive walls and a path round what we worked out is the back of the nuraghe. Round the front, it becomes clearer – a long walled approach and then access to the main chamber from the first floor level only, with two side towers both with collapsed tholos roofs. The actual entrance was propped with scaffolding poles so we decided to err on the side of caution and not enter, instead climbing up to the highest point – using a flight of steps above the left hand side collapse – and peering down into the chambers.

The nuraghe has 4 side towers, sited asymetrically, though we were unable to access the rear two. Despite another scaff pole being visible through the floor of the right side tower, I climbed down – it’s at second floor level – to admire the flights of stairs up the the roof, and a double set leading back down to the forecourt of the main chamber.

About half way between the church and the road junction is a gate giving easy access to the nuraghe, through a field of tall grasses and flowers, with the occasional thistle.

The entrance to this simple monotower nuraghe faces the road – I climbed up and in, noticing a collapsed roof (or possibly the original entrance on further reading) to the left. To the right, and much lower down, there was another shaft of light but with a black void between it and me. Cursing the lack of foresight to pack a torch, I felt my way carefully down the uneven ‘staircase’ to an anti-chamber which opened onto the main chamber with 3 side chambers and a collapsed tholos roof.

The tomba of Santu Bainzu has an impressive stele, or central stone, standing 3.2 metres tall and just over 2m wide. It’s relief carved, as we’d seen at Coddu Vecchju and Li Lolghi, but this time with the addition of a large cupmark above the portal (the portal being approx 30cm tall by 50cm wide).

Not much remains of the esedra, and the low lying stones were partically hidden in the long grass and wild flowers.

The funerary space can be clearly identified at the rear of the stele; of the cist, about 6m x 1m remains, though the origial construction is thought to have been almost 14m long.

This site is on a hill to the north of the village of Winterbourne Abbas. I saw`and photographed 2 bowl barrows, M.A.G.I.C. shows another bowl and a long barrow neither of which I could see. The long barrow was disputed by L.V.Grinsell when he visited the site, he thought it was twin bowl barrows whose definition had been reduced by ploughing. I wasn’t looking for this today and it may well still exist, I’ll have another look soon.
Both the bowl barrows appeared in reasonable condition and were to the west of the public footpath.

A solution to the long walk is too drive up the little lane up to the church ( there’s a small parking area for the church so park thoughtfully) then walk along up the farm track beneath the hill it rises though. keep on it till the fort appears on the right about a half a mile away. There is a house platform to the left, but little can be seen.

Liddington Warren Farm Long Barrow – May 11th 2008

This long barrow sits on top of a ridge over looking the B4192 from Liddington to Aldbourne.
The road shows the precision of a Roman hand and I get the impression that this was the territory prized for it’s fertility. This whole area of the Ridgeway was rich agricultural land long before any Roman marched here.
The Aldbourne Circular Route, a bridleway/ride, follows the ridge and runs next to the barrow.
The way this route follows the top of this ridge, from the old Ridgeway at Liddington Castle down to the Aldbourne Four Barrows and on into the church at Aldbourne, is very processional. This whole area must had been the height of pre-roman achievement. Once the Romans came, it would had mushroomed into a major agricultural complex.

To visit this Barrow, I would suggest you park at SU 21822 80419, where the other cars pull up when visiting Liddington Castle, at the top of the hill. The traffic is slower here and you can see what’s coming. This road is an accident black spot, as the signs proclaim. If you park here, there is a stile leading into the field and a straight track directly up to the barrow. If you want to get nearer, park at SU 22035 80044 and get under the wire. The road past this point is tree lined with Horse Chestnut trees and can get very dark. It is very wide too, with well dug side ditches and numerous pieces of sarsen half buried. I could imagine it being a drover’s road, long before any car thundered along it.
It would have been the main road out to Cirencester, the second largest city in Roman Britian.

Walking up to the barrow you can see the fence line cutting the Eastern flank. This fence is the border. The parish was marked out on known landmarks and you don’t get much older a Neolithic Long Barrow. The barrow has been mutilated by man and beast. The black and whites are resident here and they have made quite a mess. When the fence was erected in 1890, three skeletons were dug from the barrow with a fourth, that of an adult male, was found later. The bones of at least one of these were forwarded to St Thomas’s Hospital. All are now lost.

The barrow mound is ovoid in plan and orientated WNW-ESE.. It survives to 42m in length, is 30m wide and stands 1.5m high. Although no longer visible at ground level, flanking ditches, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, run parallel to the north and south sides of the mound. These have become in filled over the years but survive as buried features 3m wide.

The barrow was first recorded by A.D. Passmore in 1922, who recorded a mound 165 feet long, 42 feet wide and up to 5 feet high, oriented SE-NW. Any sign of the side-ditches had been obliterated by ploughing. L.V. Grinsell was quoted as believing twelve sarsens protruding from the mound, although I could only see two. As it has never been properly excavated, these may be in situ from the original burial chamber. The hollow in the central area of the barrow mound represents only partial excavation by antiquarians, probably in the 19th century.

There might not be a lot to see at this barrow, but it does date from the same period of the ancient Ridgeway. It survived for 5000 years, but has only fallen into a ruin in the last 100 years.