Latest Fieldnotes

A low lying, mainly univallate hillfort at a fork in the roads from Shaftesbury to the villages of Donhead St Mary and Semley. It appears to be on private property as no footpaths are shown on O.S. maps. At some points it appears to have an outer bank with an inner ditch enclosing a further bank inside. The outer rampart is tree lined and there were sheep within the ramparts. The only way to see it is to pull in to small farm entrances and look through gaps in the hedge.

This is an unspoilt univallate hillfort above the chalk cut first world war military badges, south of the village of Fovant. It is a simple circular enclosure consisting of a single outer ditch and inner rampart. The interior is an uncut flower meadow full of ground nesting birds.
There are long distance all round views and on the day I visited I was completely alone. It looks like quite a steep climb up to it, but the footpath crosses the hill at 45 degrees and is a gentle climb. Well worth a visit for it’s simplicity and the views of the surrounding country side.

Came here as part of the Half Life event.

blogged about it here.

This is a bit of a disapointment to visit, as the major northern pair of ditches and banks are fenced off on private property. Also it’s heavily wooded. However it is of significance in terms of it’s location on a prominence above a river, this is unusual in Dorset. It consists of two sets of ramparts and ditches on the north and west sides, the southern edge has only a small bank as the drop to the river Stour is very steep at this point. The interior of the hillfort now houses various buildings owned the girl guides, and used as a campsite.

Some boisterous bullocks prevented me getting further than the gate but the stones are wonderfully skylined from the crossroads.

A headstone commemorates three friars killed by Cromwellian soldiers in 1651 near this spot, the stones were regularly whitewashed like many stones but perhaps with more resonance here.

Lived around here for a number of years and never spotted this one!! Not actually marked on the ordnance survey but as you turn off the A391 out of St Austell, following the signs to the Recycling Depot up Menear Rd (bit of a give away I know!), there is a field entrance on the right just before gate to the depot. Overlooked by radio/booster mast on the opposite side.

Slightly overcast day, and tho’ the photo doesn’t show it, there seemed to be a fresh late crop starting so I was reluctant to trample too far into the field to get a better shot. Will try again when the harvest allows.

Stunning views over Prideaux woods and the hillfort there, down into the Eden Project and off as far as Caradon Hill and the Cheesewring way off on the horizon.

Situated in a truly beautiful place, after a long drive down a single lane road which goes higher and higher up into the corner of the valley, we left the car and walked through the field and over the small river and there it was by a gate in a field boundary, tall and broad but thin longwise. As we photographed the stone a lady farmer on a quad bike came over and told us we were on private property. We apologised and said we’d just come to see the stone, but then she proceeded to tell us it wasn’t ancient it was just some old farmers stone, but a minute later it was just a stone that had come down the mountain and just happened to land upright in the ground. She didn’t want people coming on her land. She seemed almost horrified that the stone was marked on the map where anyone could see it then she told us she would be talking to the mapping commision people to get it taken off the maps.
Probably not worth the journey up the small road, when if you ask for permission it’s not granted .

Best approached from the S.W but me and Day Vole came from the S.E and got soaked from the knees down. Not the tallest of stones, but it was very white and was noticeable from quite a distance from the south so was maybe a marker stone through the mountains. Probably not really worth the trip unless your hardcore and in the vacinity due to long walk out through squelchy marshy ground.

I noticed the large sarsens under the church – I had forgotten they were here, but they’re big enough to draw the eye. I had to feel they were useful foundations (the church is a real mismatch of materials and styles – interesting but locked). But at the end of the day, where did they come from? If they were from a circle, incorporating them was making a statement one way or the other. Maybe they weren’t and were just lying around – it’s not so far to the greywethers. But it’s all very interesting.

I assumed from afar that the ones in the boundary (mentioned below) were gravestones and did not look at them properly.

Well this is really very curious. The mound is much bigger than I expected. My imaginative instinct is to compare it with the huge Wiltshire mounds near water ie Silbury etc. The water’s even mentioned in the name of the place. But perhaps I should restrain myself – it’s not that big. But it is big, and it is in a direct line with the church. I didn’t see any ‘venomous vipers’ though I can believe they might frequent it. I did spot two (plastic) swords on the mound’s summit, so the local children can’t be that scared of them.

If I run down the road a bit from our house, there’s a super panoramic view. On a very fine day (or with binoculars), the furthest obvious thing you can see is a very distinctive group of three tree clumps. I’ve kept seeing them from all sorts of places – lots and lots of people must be familiar with them. There are two closeish together, and then another on the right, slightly further away. Today I was determined to find out where they were. So I jumped in the car and headed off in something like the right direction.

As you can imagine, my driving was a tad erratic, as I kept gawping at the landscape. But finally I arrived safely – and they were at Hackpen Hill, right on the Ridgeway.

It is, as Jane and Moth have said, fantastic up here (if a little chilly), and you can see a long way (the back of Cherhill Down is clear, and beyond that over to the edge of Salisbury Plain, and with binoculars, the mast near Priddy on the Mendip edge. There’s lots to the north, but I didn’t recognise much). Birds of prey were hovering over the slope, and the shadows of clouds made strange swirls with the patterns of chalk in the fields below.

I sat with the white horse, and on the far side of the road, a black horse stood admiring the view. Something was missing from my horse, so I collected some burnt wood from an old camp fire and made him a nice black eye. He’s quite a dainty animal. But he’s getting a bit green and may need a bit of a scour?

After walking up to the car park I thought I’d visit one of my tree clumps, so walked along the Ridgeway (serenaded by grasshoppers) to the first one, right by the track. It’s mostly beech trees, and you can walk a circular path through them. I spotted my initials carved on one of the trees. You probably would as well, as there are so many.

Forecast was good , had to be home to write out Machine Head’s “Imperium” for a student and then watch Celtic . So decided on a non archaeo day out on Ben Vrackie the wee hill that sits above Pitlochry ,time to nip up and down and get everything done , nothing archaeo except the two old goats that haunt the summit . Sadly /luckily on the the early part of the route there is a land rover track and I spotted a stone right next to it , uncovered it and there were some cup marks and even a ring , bit more scouting around and found another two , all unrecorded by this time Ben Vrackie was out of the picture so went over to Balnacraig found another then a further two later at Upper Ballachandy . I have only posted the most glamorous pair .

Went to Wet Withins again today (27th August 2007). It was easier to find this time, the paths seem more defined.
Well worth a visit. Main reason for posting is that we had GPS and tried to get a point but there was no signal anywhere near the stones.
Also, someone had been there quite recently and left lots of cigarette buts and remnants of a fire in the centre of the circle. Cheers.

A truly beautiful and magical place.

25/8/07
Leitrim bullan rests flush with the ground at the back of the cemetery, lost and ignored. There’s two massive army caterpillar diggers parked up about 200 metres away. These have been in action near the stone and you can see the track impressions on the stone. So, it’s only a small, single basin bullaun, less than a metre square. It’s probably not that important in the bigger scheme of things – who cares?

25/8/07
It’s hard not to stop by here when I’m in the vicinity. Late August is probably not the best time of year though, what with all the summer growth. The track to the main 2 bullauns is worn, but not hugely; somebody visits these powerful stones now and again. These 2 could easily get overgrown and ‘lost’.
Finding the double and the single in the forestry plantation to the east is a challenge. Head high heather blocks you. The fifth one, a double, broken through its larger basin, is moss-covered; there’s also grass coming up through the fracture.
If the little cottage beside this place ever came up for sale…

Although not as impressive or large as the nearby bank barrow on St. Martin’s down to the west, a pair of banks so close to each other is a rarity. The eastern most lies at the head of a small north facing valley and is orientated west/east parallel to the ridge of the hill. It shows itself as a low bank with a ditch either side of it.
The more westerly of the two is at a slight angle to the ridge and is much more visible, standing about two metres at it’s highest point, it too has a ditch on both sides of it.
Perhaps the most interesting barrow on the site is to the west of the banks. It is a medium sized bowl barrow with a large sarsen stone on top of it. The stone is a concretion of pebbles very much like the stones which make up the Hellstone cromlech a few miles to the south of this site.
There are various other barrows to the west and east of this site and it is of course directly north of the poor lot barrows.

We parked on the grass near two gates on the lane up to the hill . It was a long walk up but well worth it the views are awsome. Unlike the other forts round here (theres about 6)it isn’t on the highest ground but is on a hilltop surrounded by mountains .Entrances are on the west and east , west goes down onto the vale ,east goes up into the mountains.
There are three sets of ramparts, up here away from agriculture the defences are well preserved.
Two thousand years ago, on the valley floor these fortified mountains must have been far more than intimidating, I wonder if the palisades were painted, for that final scary touch
no-one could move a muscle round here without being seen from somewhere.

I have to agree with Scubi – the elder tree is getting huge and the right hand stone is completely inaccessible behind brambles. I feel like something ought to be done before the whole lot disappears under a mound of vegetation. Not that I want a pristine site devoid of plants, but this is starting to go too far. The big slab is still relatively clear and touchable though, with its lovely pinky colour and soft dips. The size of the stones makes this place really Monumental.

As I was walking up from Little Sodbury, I suddenly realised what a racket I was making – I came here for a bit of peace, right? – so I made more effort to move quietly. It turned out this was totally futile, as when I found myself in the fort’s ditches, all I could hear was the reverberation of shotguns. I snuck along the ditch wondering what would happen if I stuck my head above the banks. Actually it was only some people clay-pigeon shooting inside the fort. But it did made me think about the (prehistoric) advantages of sneaking up invisibly to a hillfort, but the disadvantages of being totally ignorant of what might be waiting inside.

If you only see this fort from the main road, you’d think there was no view at all – but actually the land drops away on the west side, and you can see for miles and miles, out into Wales. Because I’ve never understood this, I’ve always thought of it as a ‘little fort’ but seeing the double banks and ditch made me realise what a mammoth effort went into building this place. Like Moss, this, together with the violence of the guns, made me think about the nice and not so nice things that might have happened here. But (as I ate my crisps) my thoughts turned to more everyday arrangements, like what the inhabitants ate and drank, and what they might have carried their own packed lunch in.

I walked northwards through the camp centre and I wanted to walk back round along the east side – but I could not find the path round the back of the buildings. All signs were mysteriously missing (except the cotswold way ones) and even brandishing my map I didn’t fancy an earful from one of the posh house owners. So I gave it a miss – but it’s probably easier from other direction.

Visited here today on a gloriously sunny Bank Holiday weekend.

Access is fairly straighforward. On the road just sough of the camp, it’s possible to pull in by a marked bridleway. Follow the bridleway two fields north, then turn right. The camp is laid out in front of you, enclosed by a fence and gate.

Beware if sheep are in the enclosure (as they were today), as the gate does not meet properly, and it’s not possibile to secure it shut – remember the country code?

The camp itself is as JackSprat says, quite impressive in its size. The bank and ditch are still very well defined for the most part.

A most worthwhile stop on what was a pleasant BH drive.

My son Eric and me were given the opportunity to go to N.Wales again and jumped at the chance, as it was a nice day we headed for the Berwyn mountains and Carnedd Wen.
We parked on the B4391 and walked through a recently felled wood through 3 gates then turned right up the hill. It took a little time to find the round cairn mostly ‘cause I didn’t realise
it was right on top of the hill. The cairn is very strange, it appears to have a wall round it, at times 5-6 feet thick with entrances at the north and south, the south entrance has what looks like wind shelters built at the end of the wall. I pondered long to determine that this was really what I was looking for, it was in the right place and after rereading my misc post can safely say it was it, a strange cairn indeed, was the retaining wall a recent addition? or an original feature?, the blocks of stone on the bottom of the outside of the wall were really big. And so close to the outcrop/earthfast boulder with fantastic views of the mountains both near and far.
I was really glad we took the time to find this cairn, it was very different.

I went clomping through the heather and peat trying to find this, a “circular cairn of granite and some quartz (diam. 9m, H 0.5-1m)” but failed to find it.

The western cairn of a pair said to be 450m apart, follow the track all the way from the cul de sac at S947978. Ask permission at the farmhouse as the track, a right of way, crosses this farmers land. He’s very friendly!
The track follows the treeline for some way then cuts north into a high meadow studded with gleaming quartz. Keep going and the cairn appears around a few bends that lead you east.
The cairn has been robbed out but the rubble that remains shows quite a few flat slabs. It’s roughly circular and about 18 metres in diameter. The views onto Church mountain, Corriebracks, Sugarloaf, over to Keadeen at the south, and south-west into south Wicklow and Carlow are fantastic, probably the best reason for coming here!

This is a very important site in Dorset, being as it is a complete set of earthworks consisting of a farmstead and celtic field system. The most distinctive part of the site is a round enclosure not unlike a large disc barrow in form. This consists of a single bank and ditch. There is an entrance with a sunken trackway with a bank either side of it leading into the circular enclosure not unlike “banjo” type enclosures seen on Salisbury plain and elsewhere. These features are almost always referred to as farms, they often have excavated signs of a round house and other structures within their interiors.
The rest of the site is criss-crossed by the low banks of square shaped celtic fields. Also there are four deep depressions at various points around the site which appear to be ponds, indeed the most prominent appears to have a double ditched channel leading into it. This particular “pond” also has a bank at it’s lowest point.
At a place south of the circular feature is much larger bank and ditch than those marking the field edges, being about two metres in height.

The more we visit Gelli, the more it seems that this place is at the centre of a complete ancient ritual landscape. It’s very unusual in its riverside location – althoug it is possible that that uniqueness is a property of time rather than the tomb. Who knows what other burial sites have occupied places such as these but been eradiciated by the presence of people for millenia? It might be that more tombs survive in the uplands because the land is less obviously valuable but still, there is something strange and magical here which make you wonder whether the place itself was significant. It’s absolutely beautiful of course and well located in so many ways, but perhaps also it served as a focus for the communities around and that’s why it seems psychogeographically to be at the centre of a collection of sites including maen. hir, maen bach, cefn gwynnerd, Ty Newydd, crugiau merched etc.