Latest Fieldnotes

In the north east of Malta, the easiest way to find this temple is to follow signs near Bugibba and Bur Marrad and Naxxar to Plant Supplier Ltd as it’s directly opposite.

The temple is not signposted or labelled, and is supposedly closed, but there was nothing blocking my way, so I walked up the track beside a modern building.

To the left were huge stone blocks, and then an archway – described as dolmen-like elsewhere – which I used to enter the temple. Being winter, the ground was covered with a plant like giant clover, and I used the paved blocks to pick my way cautiously across the soggy site. It was hard to make out the four apse plan (excavations here in 1927 by Zammit) but the (more modern?) steps at the original entrance to the temple stood out.

It’s thought to be the only temple orientated east-west on the island and its most precious find was a decorated limestone slab – see link – which is on display at the National Museum of Archaeology though I missed it – pah!

Originally excavated by Vasallo circa 1840, this site was badly damaged by bombing in the 2nd World War and has now disappeared under modern development.

Great place to visit, well maintained, the capstone is an incredible size and tonnage – new info boards here guessing how they did it. Just down the lane from llugwy is the ancient iron age village (4th century settlement), follow the road up and it’s on the left, follow the field across past the ruin of a 13c church.

The museum is on the main street in Valletta, Triq Ir-Repubblika, it’s identified by flags outside, and is only a few minutes walk from the crazy bus terminus. Open daily 09:00 – 19:00 (last admission 18:30) and costs 2.33 euros (seniors and students 1.16, children 0.58, 5 and under free). There are currently guided tours in English every day at 10:00 and 15:00 at no extra charge. There’s a well stocked shop and visitor toilets. Officially there’s no photography inside, but no one seemed to mind me taking pictures without flash.

I had arrived a little later than planned due to a long wait for a glorious 1960s Bedford bus and some crazy traffic, but tacked onto the 10am tour less than half way round and was very glad I did – a very well informed guide explained the temples and their finds with a fair amount of humour too.

The first part of the museum (nb only the ground floor is open – but seeing as it’s this floor which covers the prehistory I wasn’t bothered that the planned expansion upstairs and galleries on Phoenician and Roman culture, through 1800 CE, were still unfinished) explains the cronology of the period covered (5200 to 2500 BCE) and the possible construction techniques used, before moving on to look at most of the main sites in order and in detail, with fabulous scales models to see.

Some information about the finds:
there are loads of headless bodies, with sockets where the neck should be, to insert a choice of heads (from Hagar Qim); a green stone cylinder with gold inlay (unique to the islands) and red stones inset (from Tarxien); a sherd with a solar wheel decoration (from Hagar Qim); the Venus of Malta; a clay statuettte of a pregnant woman and a whole display case of stone carved and clay phalluses (maybe the temple builders were indeed part of a fertility cult); and most importantly, the “Sleeping Lady” found at the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum.

The largest room is devoted to the Tarxien temples, and has many of the original spiral carved stones, moved to the museum to prevent damage from weathering – replicas are now in situ there. Many of the stones are shown alongside photos of their excavation.

The museum building is the Auberge of Provence, and the guide explained its history with the Knights of St John in the 16th century.

An essential visit!

This site is not open to the public and is enclosed behind a high brick wall. However, it’s only a few minutes walk from the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum and the Tarxien temples, so it seemed rude not to try to visit.

From the main square where the buses stop, head north north east along a road that bends to the right, until you reach a roundabout. Follow the footpath round to the first exit and cross the road immediately opposite church with a huge purple cross to its left.

There are signs to the temple but ignore these and go up the steps towards the church and in front of it, turn to your left. There’s a gate in the wall facing you, and the wall that runs from here down the the building adjoining the church hides the temple.

The site is under the care of Wirt Artna and is open by appointment. I didn’t have one, so had to content myself with standing on tip toes to balance my camera on the wall, and then walked round the block to find the back gate (which is beyond another gate, which fortunately was opened for me – sadly that gate keeper didn’t have the set of keys to let me into the temple itself).

Excavations were carried out here in 1909 (Ashby and Peet) and a further survey in 1971 (Evans). There is a curved facade which is paved, and from the front of the structure, the upright megaliths left of centre lead through to the corridor of the trefoil building to the apses of the temple. Noteable features are to the left – niches in the wall, and the stone quern (sometimes described as a dugout canoe) across the threshold to one of the rooms. To the north, and visible on my photo taken from the back gate, is another structure, not at all well preserved, but thought to be another trefoil temple.

I tried to get there in December 2007 but the road is now shut (access only). I spoke to Cadw about the work in the area immediately around the site, and they inform me in is totally within the law but does worry them. Me too. Shame.

Alternative route to Tre’r Ceiri, carry on the road to Llithfaen, in the village take a right as if going to the welsh language school, after a few old cottages on your right you can park on the left, in a nice car park with picnic tables. Facing out of the car park you here take off across to Tre’r Ceiri, it’s a good approach to this fantastic example, keeping left form the bridle way, then cross a stile over a fence and then another over a wall near a farmers trailer and head up to it across the heather.
There’s stunning views from this location. With over 150 huts, and in places 15 foot high walls it’s well worth the walk up. We stayed for two hours and had it to ourselves. You can then come back on yourself and go up Yr Eifl with its ancient cairn, this pre-dates Tre’r Ceiri ( although there is a bronze age cairn on Ceiri-pre-dating the hill fort) the top of the cairn takes up most of the summit but has been disrupted, it’s worth the climb if you have the energy left.

Cydonia is one of the five great cities of Minoan Crete, although exact location of the ancient city was not even resolved until the latter half of the 20th century. The most powerful center of western Crete, Cydonia produced Bronze Age pottery and Linear B writings circa 1700 to 1500 BC, and was one of the first cities of Europe to mint coinage. A temple of Britomartis was erected on Mount Tityros near the city.

HISTORY Cydonia was likely established as a Neolithic settlement in the fourth millennium BC. Archaeological excavations in the old town of present day Chania have revealed the remains of Middle Minoan Period Cydonia. These explorations are difficult, since the entire Venetian city of Chania was developed over Cydonia, with virtually no recorded medieval or modern mention of the ancient city specifics until the first finds in 1965. (Andreadaki,) Ancient mention of the civilization in Cydonia is also made by Polybius, Strabo, Scylax and by Hanno in the ‘’Periplus’’. (Smith, 1878) Interestingly Pashley was able to work out rather accurately the location of ancient Cydonia without any archaeological data; he deduced the location near the port and Old Town from passages in the classical literature. (Pashley, 1837)

The Minoan culture likely peaked in Cydonia at a similar time to that of Knossos, (Hogan, 2007) around 1800 to 1500 BC. After the Minoan Period, the Dorians from mainland Greece colonized Cydonia, possibly as early as 1100 BC. By about the sixth century BC the Aegina peoples established control of Cydonia, although contact with Aegina has been verified to much earlier Bronze Age times; in particular, the Minoan goddess Britomartis was adopted by people of Aegina within the Bronze Age, and was one of the first images used in Aeginean coinage. During the maritime expansion of Aegina in the Archaic Period Cydonia would have been an ideal naval stop for the Aegina fleet on its way to other ports known to have been controlled or visited by that emerging power.

In 429 BC, the Athenians laid waste to Cydonia to assist the neighboring city of Polychna. In 343, BC, Phalaikos, leader of the Phokaians, unsucessfully laid siege to Cydonia. In the third century BC Cydonia was in war with Phalasarna, Elyros, Aptera and Polyrrenia. At 219 BC, the Cydonia joined the Aitolian and thence the Achaian Federation. As the Romans conquered other Cretan cities, Cydonia fell to Roman forces led by by Caicilius Metellus in 69 BC.. Panares, one general of the city, signed a truce, while Lasthenes, the other general, fled to Knossos.

ARCHITECTURE AND ART Recent excavations indicate a palace building at Cydonia dating to the beginning of the Neo-palatial Period (Middle Minoan III). Numerous elements of pottery, coinage and Linear B writing have been recovered in subsurface excavations, and considerable numbers of coins and ceramic objects have been found at other Aegean centers with whom Cydonia traded. For example, Cydonian inscribed stirrup jars for transporting perfumed olive oil or wine have been found at many sites in the rest of Crete and the Greek Mainland, while fine ceramic products of Cydonia have been recognized in many of the Aegean centers, including Cyprus and Sardinia. Many of the Minoan, Hellenistic and Roman finds are housed in the Khania Archaeological Museum.

COINAGE As one of the first European cities to mint coins, Cydonia first began this activity by overstriking coins of Aegina, with whom a close relation was maintained in the mid first millennium BC. One silver coin struck in Cydonia was that of a stater featuring the Minoan goddess Britomartis. Many of these early specimens were actually overstrikes of coins of Aegina. Britomartis exhibits the early custom of grape cultivation in this region with grapevines enwreathing her hair.

ENVIRONMENT Cydonia is characterized in ancient literature as having a highly protected harbor, which circumstance can be witnessed today. In addition to the sizable city developed by this natural harbor there was a considerable agricultural adjunct territory governed by Cydonia.

From its center at Kastelli Hill, Cydonia controlled an expansive area: the Khania Plain to its south towards Malaxa Mountain (Verekynthos) and Aptera; the Akrotiri peninsula to the east; and towards Polyrrhenia at the west. An an area of roughly 100,000 square meters has been deduced for the Minoan settlement of Cydonia, excluding the extended farms and outlying peasant communities. For example, the hilly countryside near the city was known to have been used for growing grapes, as attested by a third century BC stone inscription found at Cydonia. (Chaniotis, 1999)

REFERENCES
* Maria Andreadaki-Vlasiki, “Discoveries at Khania in Western Crete” with Metaxia Tsipopoulou, Athena Review, vol.3, no.3,, pp 41-52
* William Smith (1878) ‘’A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography’’, J. Murray Publisher
* Robert Pashley (1837) ‘’Travels in Crete’‘
* C. Michael Hogan (2007) ‘’Knossos’’, The Modern Antiquarian
* Angelos Chaniotis (1999) ‘’From Minoan Farmers to Roman Traders: Sidelights on the Economy of Ancient Crete’’, Franz Steiner Verlag, 391 pages ISBN 3515076212

These barrows are fairly easy to get to from a national trust car park at South Down. Public footpaths lead across Chaldon Down, but it was particularly wet and filthy when I went there. The easiest three barrows to see here consist of three and a single round barrow further to the east.
The three barrows are a medium and a small bowl type and a very small low type. Both have large clefts in their tops from old diggings.
The eastern barrow is on the crest of a hill and has an O.S. concrete trig point on it and overlooks Durdle Door and West Lulworth. A stone is marked on some maps, it is a memorial stone to Llewellyn Powys a local writer.

I had noticed a large round barrow in Came Wood while driving past. This is not visible during the summer months, the foliage is too dense. The barrow turned out to be a large bell type up close, this is very similar to Culliford Tree barrow which is only about 100 yards away to the east. If anything this barrow is in better condition as it lacks the large excavation cleft in its crown.
An added bonus while in the wood was a large ring or disc barrow about 50 yards east of the bell. It is about 15 yards across and has a bank about 3 feet high. It has an outer ditch about 3 feet deep and about 3 yards across. This has no visible burial mound inside the bank and could be a ring barrow or a possible pond type like the one adjacent to Culliford tree.

There are smaller cairns all over this area. Beyond the hill near the stones, on rough ground can be found the sight of a WW2 plane crash (the Bachelor Baby).

The collection of stones can be found just a short step away form the main circle, if you’re setting off to walk across the moor on a small track in the direction on Tal y fan, in just a minute you will go through these stones.

I have a special place in my heart for scutchamer.. I join the ridgeway at east ilsley where it crosses the A34, so this is the first antiquity I reach. Only another 45 or so miles to Avebury!!
It’s definitely a mysterious place, the first time I did the ridgeway there was a gigantic bonfire burning there. Shame about the rubbish though and as for those trees.. too many knobs at scutchamer I reckon!!

December 07. Very windy, stormy day, as I went up the side of the Dinas I was nearly blown over! I thought the top would be an anticlimax to all the effort, but it wasn’t. It’s an excellent example. The unfortunate thing is the front of the hill fort has eroded into the sea, about a third is missing. The defensive bank is still very visible and the original entrance is clear. There are great views across the mountains too.
NOTE: the front of the hill is badly eroded and still falling into the sea, so be careful.

A place I’ve visited loads throughout my life – back in the 70’s when there were trees growing in the middle, and the stones really were difficult to count – up to current times.

In the early 1990’s one of the large stones was taken from the site – on the left side as you face the stones when entering – you can see the scratched and grazed mark on the remaining stone where it used to rest. I know this as it happened during a time when I visited the site regularly. One week it was there, the next it was gone, along with a large portion of the circular fence (which was eventually replaced) and heavy JCB type track marks running from the stones to the exit on the Aylesford side of the field.

I wrote letters of concern to Kent County Council, English Heritage, Maidstone Borough Council – but got no reply.

In the late 90’s, I happened to be driving past the stones and noticed a large sarsen stone with a house name freshly carved into it had been erected in a driveway on the opposite side of the road a little way down towards Aylesford – strange that. Of course this couldnt be the same stone now ... could it?

Small lane, very quiet, very small painted green metal railing around it, a tad to close to it though. It does have a great shape to it, almost childlike, toadstool like. In a beautiful area with views across
to the Carneddau.

Visited it in 2005, went across the muddy field too find it hunched in the corner, a strange sorry spectacle, with its huge concrete/brick crutch helping it to basically stay up. Be amazed at its resilience to time and man’s indignity to it. Be astounded at the fact this structure has survived all this. It is for this reason it is always worth a visit.

Seems to be getting a lot of attention from the general P now. Every time I go I follow groups of families on “outings” I think a lot are disappointed as the chamber is locked, but the key can obtained from the wayside stores.
Nice new informative signs there now.
I suppose it’s good to see people showing an interest.

Castle Bloody is a substantial souterrain mound prominently situated on the highest topographic point of southeastern Shapinsay on the island’s sole remaining heather moorland. (Fraser, 1983) The structure has been described as a Pictish fort or earthen house, and likely predates the Burroughston Broch located somewhat further to the north along Shapinsay’s east coast. Earlier records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) classify this site as a chambered cairn, although more detailed analysis place the structure in the category of a souterrain.(RCAHMS, 1981) The interior geometry is comprised by a principal subterranean cell with multiple other cells or recesses branching from that central structure. There are two passages leading to the principal cell. Other nearby prehistoric monuments are the Mor Stein standing stone (about 1.3 kilometres northwest) and several cairns (about 0.8 kilometres north-northwest). The findings herein are based upon review of extant literature and my field visit in July, 2007.

EXPLORATION HISTORY. Since the site has only been examined in an elementary manner, the overall structure remains mysterious and has yielded an incomplete understanding of its architecture and function. Earliest noting of the site was in the 1880 Name Book and on the 1900 six inch Ordinance Survey map at HY 5358 1644 (OS, 1900). Sometime prior to 1928, M. Work of Newfield Cottage removed some of the massive upper slabs, which subsequently was determined to be roofing for the principal chamber. (RCAHMS, 1946)

ARCHITECTURE. The overall geometry is that of a turf covered stony mound approximately 13 metres in diameter. The mound height has been variously reported in the literature at 1.2 to 1.8 metres, which outcome is not surprising given the unexcavated nature of the monument and its position on undulating terrain. The mound classification can be likened to Ham, Caithness (ND27SW 1) and Midgarth (HY32SE 6). The principal chamber is offset somewhat east of the mound midpoint, with a north/south axis. The chamber’s a roof is capped with of large flattish stones; thie approximate chamber dimensions are 1.5 by 0.9 metres. This main chamber has drystone sides with corbelling in evidence. There are apparently other cells or recesses on each side of the principal chamber.

The main entrance to the principal chamber is a slightly curved lintelled passage approaching from the southeast direction. A second and much lower passage, now blocked by debris, leads from the north end of the chamber, and thence turning northeast after the entrant reaches a short distance. (RCAHMS, 1987). The smaller north end passage is traceable for about one metre and appears to lead to a depression or cavity, filled with loose-packed rubble with voids, which may be another chamber.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS.. As in the case of Burroughston to the north the siting of Castle bloody served as a defensive lookout for sea marauders coming from other islands or nations. The structure is set back approximately 150 feet from the shoreline, sufficient to provide the Pictish inhabitants a buffer zone from the sea which pound the surrounding lands with salt spray driven by fierce Orcadian storm winds. Besides this buffer from surf and ocean noise, the situation of Castle Bloody is much more sheltered from high wave action than the cliff areas at the island’s north; for example, a site selected near the Geo of Ork would have similar cliff defences of the Castle bloody site, but would be subjected to much higher wave action, making fishing and seal hunting unpromising.

Significantly, Castle Bloody is near fertile lands that are even today producing grain crops, as they no doubt did for the Picts inclined to farming at the ancient settlement, even though the immediate locale is moorland. A further food resource at hand for the ancient picts was the abundant birdlife at the immediate coastline situated near Langavi Geo a scant 150 from the doorstep of Castle Bloody. A further factor favoring the selection of Castle Bloody by the Picts is the rich seafood resource on the western shores of Shapinsay. (Hogan, 2007). There are two brackish lochs, Lairo Water and Vasa Loch, respectively 40 minutes and 1.3 hours walk respectively from Castle Bloody; furthermore there is a biologically productive estuary, the Ouse, adjacent to Lairo Water.

REFERENCES.
* David Fraser (1983) ‘’Land and Society in Neolithic Orkney’’, B.A.R.
* RCAHMS (1981 ) Ordinance Survey visit (JLD) 18 May, 1981 (Confirmed by A S Henshall).
* Ordinance Survey of the United Kingdom {1900} 6"map, Orkney, 2nd ed.
* RCAHMS (1946) Original Name Books of the Ordnance Survey: Book No.18, 145, visited 1928
* RCAHMS (1987) ‘’The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Twelfth report with an inventory of the ancient monuments of Orkney and Shetland’’,
3v, Edinburgh, 277, No.786,
* C.Michael Hogan (2007) ‘’Burroughston Broch’’, The Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham

The last of todays barrow bagging and even though the weather reports says it’ll rain it didn’t and the sun was out. In the woods I think called Coed Cwm are these three barrows. Only one is really obvious and nearly three metres high, the other two, one was lost amongst closely planted trees and the other was either of two mounds I spotted one right next to the path the other a bit further back. When your fighting through the trees with brambles and bracken and the ground is wet and mulchy it’s really hard to remember it’s actually the 21st century and the barrows occupant has been dead for almost four thousand years

Directly east of Gop cairn, these two barrows have good views of mountains and the sea. One is about a metre high and the other slightly bigger at nearly two metres, about twenty metres apart. Pretty close to the road and next to a footpath.

Easily spotted next to the road against the hedge and houses of Bertengam. About one metre high.

Just twenty yards from the uppermost barrow, and completly covered in mud and horse doodoo, great views over to the mountains. About three metres high, I wonder where mounds one and three are?

The largest of the three barrows and presumably its prime position on the very top of the hill makes it the oldest and most important.
Fantastic views all round I can see the Wirral and over my shoulder is Snowdonia. Must be forty metres across and nearly four metres high.

Again, this barrow is right next to the road and part of a trio with the other two on the top of the hill. Forty metres across and nearly two metres high.