Latest Fieldnotes

This was meant to be in a graveyard. However many of the slabs have been used to build up a low wall as part of the remains of the church here. There is no sign of the bullaun however I think if it still remains on site this maybe where it is.

This is a nice tomb in good condition on low ground. To the south the ground begins to rise and there is a lot of exposed rock. There is a record of rock-art on some of this rock but i wasnt able to find it.
The tomb must be about a 1m high by approx 3m long.

Unfortunately I couldnt find this panel of rock-art. I spoke to an english guy that owns a cottage just at the end of the lane that leads up here. He told me he had lived there 5 years and had been unable to find either of the panels of rock-art. He said that the old woman who owned the house before him used to know where one of them was. She used to take the kids from the local school to see it when she was a young woman. However at the time he met her she claimed that she could no longer remember where it was.
So I guess in the last say 60 years at least one of these panels were visible. www.archaeology.ie has the panel at this rough grid ref as Rock-Art and the other grid ref as Rock Scribing. Im not sure what the difference is.

The cup marked stone (Greenlee Lough a) is 16m S of the southern entrance to a Roman Camp midway between the current field walls where the land slopes up to the N to crags overlooking Greenlee Lough. This area does not have free access to the public (which ends at the E side just beyond the Ridley Common stone circle) and permission must be sought at West Hotbank.
An area of cord rig (which was shown by excavation to predate the camp) is visible as parallel bands of vegetation (mainly rushes) from the S side of the stream in an area just below the cup-marked rock. This makes up part of the field system of a farmstead which is located in a field 200m to the west, on a protected site just above a steep gorge where the Jenkins Burn flows N to join Greenlee Lough. Although it has been described as Romano-British, it is circular in shape, and may be earlier. The Ridley Common stone circle is approximately 400m NE of the cup-marked rock and has been interpreted as a Bronze Age cairn as many of its 15 stones are small.
Flash Earth shows all these features well, including a hollow-way extending from the E side of the farmstead and another defended settlement, attributed to the Iron Age, situated on the top of the crags, immediately N of the stone circle. Shielings were constructed in its enclosure and in the Roman Camp in the Medieval period showing that this area has had a long history of settlement.

Greenlee Lough panel b is located at NY 78060 69988, 6m NW of corner in the boundary wall of the group of ruined shielings at Cragend just W of the Pennine Way footpath where it crosses the track, 400m NE of the Ridley Common stone circle. The outcrop is at the E end of the crag line which is the location of the Iron Age settlement and is at the top of a steep slope overlooking marshy ground lying to the E of Greenlee Lough. There are two basins (clearly man-made) connected by a shallow, curved groove. A 10p coin found (and left) in the bottom of the larger water-filled basin perhaps indicates a local tradition. The basins may have had a prehistoric origin as suggested by Beckensall but this can’t be certain. The larger of the two is little eroded and maybe of fairly recent origin, possibly connected with the shielings which are very close. Its likely purpose will probably remain a mystery.

Another visit to this substantial long barrow, I had hoped autumn would make it easier to see. The under growth is less now but a fallen tree still obscures much of it. Its a real fight through thick hawthorn and brambles to take some not very clear photos, however the barrow itself is worth a look as it is very big. Shorn of the brush and trees this would be an impressive monument in an area thick with barrows of all kinds and conditions.

This bullaun stone is pretty close to the road just a few kms outside of Tipp Town.
It is marked on the OS map by a Cross. Its a cool bullaun stone with a turning (cursing?) stone. There is a pond very close by to the stone.
The cross seems to have come out of the socket it was in and now lies up against the bullaun stone.

Ah! So this is what it’s called!

Marked on the OS map only as “Stone Circle”.

Visited one bright, sunny but VERY cold day last weekend, this was a very pleasant surprise! After a very short walk on a high ridge with panoramic views, the circle appears in front of you, behind a wooden fence urging people to not walk on the monument. The fence is in no way intrusive, and does not block access to the circle, but obviously it’s better to stay on the outside of it for preservation reasons.

My first reaction is that it’s a lot bigger than I expected! The stones that are still standing are broader and higher, and the diameter greater than I imagined.

It’s very exposed up there, so is very cold when that wind blows! The gorse was being burned when we were there, and the sound of a chainsaw permeated the air, but despite that, it felt like a very peaceful location.

A prominent cairn sits just in front of the circle, by the path, which is diverted around the outside of the circle. The other visitors, while we were there, also obeyed the polite notice to stay off it. Nice to see the effect a simple, gentle request has on people!

Access: Parking at approximately SX770872, follow the well-defined path for about 10 minutes up hill, and voila!

Weather permitting, I’d say this was pushchair and (just about) wheelchair friendly.

These three barrows are in the middle of Knowle hill, there is a fourth further east which I didn’t get to as the weather closed in. The biggest and most southerly is covered in gorse and has traces of a ditch around most of its circumference, the footpath is where it fades out. To the north west of it is a low bowl type also with a ditch and traces of an excavation on its crown.
The western barrow is also a low bowl shape on the ridge of the hill and has a cross dyke running next to it. The cross dyke cuts through the ditch of the barrow so must be later. These boundary ditches cross many hills like this locally, indeed the same hill has another set to the west, dating these ditches is difficult as not many have been properly investigated.

To the east of and above Llyn Brenig at the northern edge of Clocaenog forest. Park next to a wind turbine and walk 250m down a track the barrow is just visible through the trees.
Despite the almost overwhelming forest the barrow is still about 8ft tall and it felt good to find it in such good condition, a small scoop has been taken out of the top, and the entire site is covered in several inches of spongy moss. The trees even sheltered me from the rain letting me take some photos and sit for a while. Because of the trees I can’t tell whether it ever had a good view, but it sits on the edge of an eastward sloping hill so would have presumably been visible on the horizon from far off.

This is a top spot accessible from Wetton Mill (around a mile away) and the northern Manifold caves.Located on Ecton Hill which was mined for copper in the Bronze Age, several green stained bone and stone tools having been recovered from the area.
Mining took off in the 1700’s and the hill is full of reminders from this busy period in its history.
Although there are no paths to the cave, it is pretty easy to find below a limestone crag
Excellent views out across Archford Moor and to the hills of Wetton and Narrowdale in the east.

Having seen this marked on the OS map but read Dickie’s fieldnotes, I didn’t hold out much hope for it. But when I stumbled through into the copse it was a real jaw-dropping moment. It was late autumn and a bright day with sun coming through the golden leaves and there in front of me was a beauty of a long barrow, the entire width of the copse. MAGIC says 72 metres long, 22m wide at east end and 17m wide at west end, and 2m high. OK, it’s no West Kennet, there are trees growing out of it and rabbits living in it, but that’s not bad for 5000 or so years old. I think I must have a soft spot for antiquities overgrown by woodland, there is some extra tranquillity and mystery about it. Anyway, my top tip is to sneak up from the road further east from Dickie’s approach. There is a gate leading into woodland and from that you can turn right into a field. Look back down toward the road; if you are in the right field there should be a old fallen tree trunk down at the bottom. Walk away from the road and go straight ahead into the copse. No sign of who owns the land but it is easy to visit without damaging any crops, fences etc.

Also, the pin on the Google map is in the wrong copse... it’s the next one to the north.

Just north of Ballochroy village look for when the road is right next to the sea and there is a small turnung up to the farm buildings and the stones. The first time I came here I forgot my camera so I just had to come seeing as I was passing anyway. There are two farm buildings nearby but on both visits there isnt anyone round so we parked up and entered the field through the gate. the sheep here were of a different kind, usually you go in the field and they run off alerting the farmer that something is wrong, but these sheep were huge and unafraid they came right up to us so I flashed them (with my camera) and they backed off. These stones are great big bigger and biggest with a cist that is unusually large and all in a row, if your in the area these are a must

I’m not sure if this is the same place the site describes it as a stone row but there is only one stone and the grid ref is a bit off. I climbed the nearby hill hoping to see the stone . I looked right at it but still failed to see it . I asked at Skeroblin west farmhouse and a lady pointed the way. we parked at a ruined house and started across the field tip toeing on clumps of grass this was the muddiest field Iv’e ever seen the ground was mostly water and bubbled as I went .Eventually I got to the stone, unfortunately it was the least impressive stone on the peninsular, the only reason I tracked it down was ‘cause we couldnt get to Paul McCartneys stone due to padlocks (bloody scouses, sorry) time to head home.

Not a great deal to add to my misc post only that you can’t miss the stone it’s tall broad and thin by a very nice house that gives the stone its name, boy I could live here.

This stone was a bit special, we followed a land rover down a rough farm track and spoke to its owner at his house. He was most accomodating letting us leave our car there, explained how to get there and even showed us a photo of himself and his mate at the stone so we know what to look for. the map and his photo had no trees on them but they were certainly there now. we headed off, turning left through a gate up hill and into the forest. a path led all the way to a north-south fence which we then climbed and wandered around for a bit untill we recalled his words “there is a clearing for the stone in the trees” we turned back reclimbed the fence and headed for the only clearing we could see turning the corner into the clearing we both clenched our fists and shouted “yes” for there it stood. The clearing was large and only there for the stone which was nice. Tall and triangular, quartzy, moss and lichen covered I loved this stone . On the way back we luaghed and sang “I would drive 500 miles, just to see a stone in a plantation” to the proclaimers tune, we were cold and wet but very happy this is the one i’ll remember most

You can park the car about 200m away but you must then trespass, over a gate up hill over an electric fence then its just 60m away. Like a dunce I looked at the sign that warned of electric fence then tested it, ouch, my arm ached for about 10 miutes . The stone has great views over Campbeltown and from the high street there one can look up at the hill and see the stone not many towns can do that i’ll bet. Unfortunately Ive only just read Rhiannons post so failed to note the cupmarks. We saw six stones in south kintyre and this was the tallest.

From Craigs standing stone head east following the wall and this stone come into view, the field almost won the award from me of Scotlands muddiest field but was later trounced by Skeroblin . A good stone with one hunched shoulder, strangely hidden from its neighbour. the stone is placed between two large rock outcrops .

This tall stone took more finding than I anticipated in the end my wife hayley saw it first. Tied down with wire as if to curb its wandering and guarded by a very big horse . Right next to two creepy and deserted houses. Its neighbour Glencraigs is just 200m away but is hidden by a slight rise in the land. Good views of the hills and the sea, wellies preferred.

I wasn’t able to visit sites on this visit due to my not having a car. The buses would have been too complicated so I didn’t even try. We had been to the family Summer House and I persuaded a stop here as there is a carpark. There are two Barrows and can be seen from most places around here.
The information notice tells us that the Barrows are 3000-3500 years old and that they have not been disturbed by excavation, the pictures show what they may contain from excavations at other sites.
There are quite a lot of sites in this area but persuading people who aren’t interested to stop isn’t easy.

The tombs at Xemxija are significant for a number of reasons. They were excavated by Evans in the 1950’s and yielded a whole host of material. The majority of the finds dated to the Ggantija phase but there were also some sherds of Tarxien pottery and some later Bronze Age burials were also found along with some axe amulets. Many animal bones many were also found here giving us a good idea of what animals existed on the islands during the Neolithic. Bones found included sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, horse, dog, cat, deer, rabbit and hedgehog.

The tombs themselves are not too difficult to find and you can drive to within a dozen yards of them. To reach the tombs you need to turn off the main road (route 1) at the roundabout at the top of the hill at Xemxija, there is also a church on this roundabout. Turn into Xemxija and drive past the derelict hotel complex to the top of the village. The tombs are beside Triq bil-Preistorja which is the last road at the top of the hill. Park on this road. The tombs are at the top of the small rise about half way along the road. When we visited we drove to the end of the road and then went mooching around the fields on the hillside until a very nice lady pointed us in the right direction.
A word of warning, You need to keep your wits about you in this area . It seems to be very popular with hunters. I used to drive past this hillside on a daily basis and there were always at least a couple of four by four vehicles parked on the hillside.

The tombs themselves are basically just holes in the ground. I stuck my head into most of them and was greeted by the hum of wasps or bees in three of them which kind of put me off going any further into the tombs. What I did find remarkable was that the tomb builders had picked a horizontal surface to tunnel into. The limestone here is very hard so excavating the tombs vertically in to the bedrock must have taken a considerable effort. It would have been far easier to cut horizontally into the strata a little lower down in the Mistra valley where there are cliffs and natural caves. Which leads to the question why all the effort? What was the significance of this particular hill?

The hill is not the highest in the area but it does have good view over St Paul’s Bay and the coast beyond or at least it would have if the village were not in the way. It is possible to pick out the location of the Buggibba temple in the distant sprawling resort.

All in all the Xemxija tombs don’t offer much in the way of spectacular remains but if you are wanting to build up a picture of Maltese Prehistory and maybe understand why certain locations were chosen then it’s worth coming here, sitting yourself down and having a good look around you. One feature of the tombs is that some of them are lobed which indicates that there may be a link between the lobed nature of the caves and the similar layout of the temples.

I would never describe Malta as a pretty place then again I would never describe the Maltese landscape as boring. I’ll take interesting over pretty any time. My lad would say that it’s worth visiting the site because there are lots of huge ant’s nests and you can spend time feeding dead insects to the ants.

If you are visiting Clapham Junction the caves are quite easy to find. Just walk a few couple of dozen yards uphill to the top of the limestone area and you’re there.

Back in geological time the caves were all underground but then as tends to happen with limestone, the roof of the largest cave or a series of caves collapsed leaving a large cavity in the ground with a number of caves many of which are interlinked, around the margins. It’s well worth scrambling down into the caves, they are lovely and cool and provide a bit of welcome shade from the Maltese sun.

The caves were occupied up until the nineteenth century and when you climb down into them you can see evidence of walls and entrances. Solid evidence of prehistoric occupation has yet to be found in the caves but considering that a set of cart ruts start on the margins of the caves I’m sure this site would not have gone unnoticed by the prehistoric Maltese.

I guess if you want to see prehistoric cart ruts then Misrah Ghar il-Kbir aka Clapham Junction is pretty much the place to go. However cart ruts are not just a Maltese phenomena, they can also be found in Sicily, Spain Sardinia Greece and France but I guess the reason why the Clapham Junction cart ruts have become so famous is that there are so many of them in such a small area.

The site can be a little tricky to find especially if you are coming at it from the Dingli cliffs. Your safest bet is to get on the Rabat to Busket gardens road and look for an area between two large modern quarries.

The cart ruts themselves are pretty remarkable when you consider their age. I should mention something here about the age of the ruts. There is a lot of debate on this subject. There are a number of rock-cut Punic tombs in this area and at least one of the tombs cuts through a set of cart ruts. The tombs have been reliably dated a have been dated to the later centuries BC. This means that at least some of the ruts are older than this date. Most of the experts seem to agree that most of the ruts are pre-Punic but opinions differ from this point onwards. Some argue that the ruts are from the temple period whilst others, including Trump favour a Bronze Age date.

The debate around the use of the ruts isn’t much clearer than the dating debate, however many experts seem to favour the idea that the ruts were made by some kind of vehicle but after this there seems to be all sorts of opinions. Trump states that ‘Wheeled vehicles do seem to attract the least serious objections’.*

As a visitor I guess you could probably spend the best part of an hour following the ruts around this limestone plain, they are fascinating but I’m going to contradict myself here and tell you that I found them to be are pretty unremarkable and felt quite under whelmed. However, what I really did enjoy about Clapham Junction was the Ghar il-Kbir caves and the rock cut Punic graves.

*Malta Prehistory and Temples
David H. Trump
Midsea Books
Pub 2002

Also see
Malta’s Ancient Temples and Ruts
R. Parker & M. Rubenstein
Institute for Cultural Research Monograph Series No. 26
1988

I’d just come straight from Cairnholy and sped here before it got too dark, but even in the dark it would still ooze perfection . I sat for too long almost forgetting my wife and dog in the car .(easily done) the sky was awesome, plenty of stones to sit and watch the sky looking pretty. If you like stone circles (and iv’e an inkling you do ) then you’ll have to come here .

We parked at the corner of the field and walked down the road to the stile, and were mildly surprised to see two sheep messing about on one of the stones, but after reading other notes here it seems they’re allways up to no good. Not been here for a few years so was pleased to see the grass was much shorter, I like this stone circle, big stones, big ring, just a shame there are’nt more stones, presumably it would have been more like long meg and her neighbours. A good place to start before heading west .

Although listed as a long barrow this is actually one of fewer than 50 oval barrows known to exist and is therefore much more of a rarity. It is sited on the Purbeck hills north of the village of Church Knowle. Its in good condition and is about 30 metres long by 20 wide and nearly 3 metres in height. It has ditches on either side which I would have liked to have seen, unfortunately the field had about 30 bullocks in it and I wimped out, having been chased by them in the past. I will definitely be visiting this site again hopefully minus the cattle.