Latest Fieldnotes

From the dolmen, follow the wide path away from the farm. There’s a single tree, and then a clump of trees to the right – just before the clump, veer to the right (up a slope heading NNWish), and on the right after 50 metres, the menhir can be found fallen behind some bushes.

can not find any evidence to support the fact that this is a cairn but...sitting on the eastern slope of Tolborough Tor is what looks like a natural rock formation. I only went over to it because I had seen a fox emerge from within it. Standing on top I noticed three stones running around the back of it that looked like ones I have seen at other cairns. (see photo)
Seeing that the cairn on top of the tor is built into a natural feature this could possibly be the same..but smaller.

Tolborough Tor sits high overlooking the A30 and Jamaica Inn. Bit of a climb from the road (see my directions for Tolborough Menhir) but the views north to Brown Willy are superb.
It is a cairn built into the natural rock of the tor and it is difficult to make out what is natural and what is man-made. Simmerly I can not decide if the cairn was at one time much higher or if it just had a covering. A ‘ramp’ enters the central plateau from the south east and then you have the large flat slabs sitting on the surface, were they originally covered? and was the ramp the entrance Sabine Gould talked about in his novel ?(see Rhiannons Folklore posting).

Catshole Tor is one of those bits of Bodmin Moor that very few people visit...which is a shame. The hillside is littered with rocks and the views cross to Brown Willy are superb.
I had not expected to find anything man made up there so was only snapping pictures of the landscape. However when I got home and started reading up on Tolborough Tor I came across a piece in ‘Romance of the Stones’ talking about a chambered tomb on Catshole Tor.
Looking through the photos I realised I had taken several shots of it whilst trying to get some foreground into my Brown Willy photos.
Looks like I will have to go back up there and take a closer look...

Described by EH as a bowl barrow, I though it was just a barrow that had been dug into. It measures about 35 metres across at its widest but is not that high. Although it now has a hedge behind it and a row of trees a little down slope of it I would guess that when it was built it had a commanding view down the valley to the Truro River.

Access is by a footpath from St Clement village or from Malpas village (where there is a very nice pub).

Just to the east of St. Catherine’s Hill (SU 492277 and surroundings) are what remains of the Dongas, the ancient trackways leading down off the South Downs into the valley of the River Itchen and either to ford the river at what became Winchester or to the main entrance to the hillfort on St Catherine’s Hill. I’ve posted a few photos of that area on this site, though they could deserve one of their own. Thankfully a strip of nature reserve is preserving this landscape, though the western end of them was chopped off in the infamous Twyford Down motorway cutting. Easily found (he says – I only recently discovered the main part of them after walking past them oblivious for many years). At the top of Plague Pits Valley, cross the footbridge over the motorway, pausing to make out the faded 1990s Donga Tribe graffiti. The noise pollution here is terrible! You can also come up a path from Garnier Road opposite the St. Catherine’s park & ride car park, which is more direct but less interesting. On the other side of the M3 chasm, go through a gate on your right and then look out for gaps in the bushes to your left, before you reach the top of the slope and another gate. The dongas are waiting for you through there! You get a real sense of the land opening up into a dry plateau, real Thomas Hardy stuff, with a big sky where you can get caught by rain clouds sweeping in off the Channel. Whenever walking about here with my mother, she often commiserates with the ancient folk who did their daily grind up here “without any Long Johns”!

This long barrow is all but invisible at the moment, being as it is in woodland, and heavily covered in undergrowth. I could make it out with some difficulty, and it is surprisingly substsantial. It is about 150 feet long and 40 feet wide, at the moment the ditches are too full of nettles and brambles to see well, but they are still in existance.
I will definitely re-visit this site in the winter when it will be much easier to see and photograph.

Easter Monday 2006

The last time I drove to Hagar Qim was three years ago and I found myself driving through a labyrinth of narrow, dusty, potholed lanes that ran between a series of small firework factories, this time I was determined stay focused and not get lost. Guess what? I managed to get myself to Qrendi, the nearest town to the temples, and then ended up in the self same maze of farm tracks and firework factories. What the hell, I knew I was only a couple of miles from the temples and traveling in the right direction.

The Temples open at nine o’clock, I arrived at the Heritage parks car park at about ten to nine which was just enough time to grab my kit and give the ancient tatty capped car park custodian a ‘voluntary contribution’ to look after my car. My plan was simple and selfish. I wanted to be the first person of the morning at either Hagar Qim or Mnajdra or both. I was having a Verruca Salt moment ‘I want a temple to myself and I want it now!’ As it turned out I ended up having both sites to myself, the first guided tour did not turn up at Hagar Qim until I was out of the gates.

You approach the temple from roughly the south east and the façade is stunning, its asymmetry is puzzling but very appealing. The beautifully quarried orthostats that surround the entrance seem to degenerate into large irregular rotting monoliths looking for all the world like a gobful of rotten teeth. It makes you wonder what was going through the architects mind here. These large blocks draw the eye away from the temple entrance and towards the sea where your gaze finally settles on the beautiful rocky isle of Filfla in the distance. The huge irregular orthostats appear almost like temple guardians looking out to sea and protecting the faithful from what? The primitive folk who lived beyond the horizon? As the temple is located on the top of a hill it would be interesting to see it from the sea. Would these megaliths appear like giants looking out over the sea? Their wild weathered nature also contrasts with the regular smooth blocks of the entrance. Perhaps the architects and stone masons knew that the blocks that faced seaward would eventually become gnarly and weathered and erected them as a gesture to whatever deity controlled the elements. All the winds still have names in Malta.

There are a corresponding set of huge irregular monoliths on the opposite corner of the temple and it is the largest of these that you can see looming over the temple as you approach it, another guardian perhaps. One of the unusual things about Hagar Qim is its’ hilltop location, the large orthostats are visible from all around the monument including the nearby Mnajdra temples. I have read so much about these temples that walking into Hagar Qim is a very comfortable feeling for me. I feel warm and happy and I have the place to myself.

The temples can be quite confusing in their layout, there is some debate as to whether this temple is a four or five apsed structure, it’s nice to know that there are some things that we still cannot define or label. I’m not here to study the floor plans, I’ve done plenty of that at home, I’m here to be happy and spend some time amongst these big old stones and I’m getting that in spades.

A few of the carved stones are replicas but don’t let this spoil your appreciation of their beauty. I have seen the originals in the Museum in Valletta are there is no difference.

A few yards north of the temple is a second five apsed temple which if anywhere else would get a great deal of attention, unfortunately here it is totally eclipsed by it’s beautiful exotic neighbour. I wandered over to this substantial but forgotten neighbour and sat a while within its walls and tried to soak up a little of it’s flavour. It almost felt like an act of condolence. Between this temple and the large temple is another structure which again is quite substantial but formless. No one is quite sure as to what the purpose of this building was. It is sometimes called ‘the priests quarters’. A prehistoric parochial house, that notion really appeals to me.

It was now time to move on. I walked the few yards to the perimeter fence and the path that leads down the hillside and look out upon one of my favourite views in the world, the Mnajdra temples nestled in a hollow in the cliff below.

Visited the site in May 07 and found it quite easily between the flat sandy beach and a rocky outcrop behind the stones. There is a little cave at the foot of the hill, off to one side, and when both stones were standing they would have been side by side when facing inland. They could have appeared as a gateway to the hill, or to the sea.

Access to this wonderful site is by prior arrangement only, please contact Furness house for details: furness-house.com/index.htm

This wonderful bit of rock art was found buried in a field that had been ploughed many times, the bottom edge of the remaining stone is heavily scarred with plough marks.

Apparently it had become a bit of a nuisance so it was dug up in the early 1970’s and much to their surprise these wonderful carvings came to light. The owner of the land at that time was a Mr. Synnott who was also a member of the local archaeological society, he immediately recognised this was an important find and it was moved to the gable end of the medieval church where it still rests. It was described and illustrated by Elizabeth Shee Twohig in 1975 or 1976 in the Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society Vol. 15 No. 5.
JKAS 1975-76.

The top part of the stone seems to have been shattered off as there is half a circular motif filled with small cup marks. The other markings bear resemblance to the Kilwarden stone also found in Kildare but now located in the National Museum in Dublin.

Access to this stone is only by prior arrangement with Furness house. furness-house.com/index.htm

Another visit to this site this time with a bit more information on the barrow itself. Deverel barrow is not as I thought last time the large, low round barrow easily visible from the footpath. It is in fact a clump of trees to the west of it with a circular flint wall surrounding what is left of the barrow.
Apologies to juamei, who I should never have doubted, the remains of the barrow is covered in sarsens. I counted 24, more could be hidden in the undergrowth. Most of the stones are about 18 inches across, the biggest is about 3 feet long and 2 feet high.
A group of the stones lay in a circle in the centre of the site, while the largest stone, which looks to be part of a cist is at the northwest corner of the barrow.
Incidently the information which lead to the correct site came from Peter Stanier’s excellent book Dorset’s Archaeology.

Tucked in beside the road, this cairn is in a sad and sorry state. Many trees are now growing on the mound and a lot of the structure has been robbed/quarried away. There is evidence of some kerbing in the south-west quadrant. The area is such a mess that it’s hard to tell which are original stones and which may be field clearance.

What a beautiful place. I sat on a kerbstone at the south-west of the monument while the sun burned away the morning mist. I’d driven up along the rutted track from the east of the hill and got to the gate with the sign. I’d called the number 5 times without any joy before deciding to head over to the tomb anyway.
I stayed for about half an hour, almost forgetting the intrusive noise from the farm machinery and barking dogs – somebody had unleashed the hounds of hell and they marauded all over the heather-covered hillock at the north end of Harristown.
The small undifferentiated passage tomb is in reasonably fine condition. The kerb remains around much of the monument. Two roofstones remain, one over the chamber and one near the beginning of the passage. There is a sill-stone at the beginning of the passage. The stone reminded me of the stone found in other monuments in the south-east. What seems to be a thrown down roofstone rest between the kerb and passage just behind the chamber.
This was a beautiful place to pass the time. The only let-down was that the sun didn’t burn the mist away quickly enough and I couldn’t take in the full breadth of the expansive views.

Easy to spot in a field beside the road from jamaica Inn to Codda. Parking is a bit of a problem if you want to be away from the car for a while and I would advise either driving along to the end of the road or parking on the side of the road when it turns to Bolventor Church.
Field is open access so no problems there and you can carry on up onto top of tor from stone.
Stone is about 7ft high and it has been suggested that it is a modern erection...looks pukka to me!

In the large garden of a large house on the south-eastern outskirts of Waterford city. There was so much growth on the stones that it was hard to make out what was what. One large capstone (?) rests on a metrre-high upright. Resting beside these was a large block of reddish conglomerate stone. Maybe with the forthcoming book about the area the owners might clean up the site.

The mound is roughly 3 metres high and fenced in by the farmer. It’s cut on the north side by the hedge and road. To the south the field slopes down to a small strteam. There were some large stones thrown onto it in the western quadrant – these could be field clearance but looked distinctly structure-like.
It’s marked on the OS map but not mentioned in the Carlow Inventory. Like a lot of the sites I saw this weekend, it could do with a clean-up. To the north-east is Moylisha wedge tomb and the cairn on Aghowle Upper.

One of Somerville’s five stone circles of West Cork (JCHAS 35, 1930; 79), Maulatanvally can suffer when placed in comparison with its more intact brethren. Lacking the more monumental construction and solar event alignments of Drombeg and Bohonagh, the beauty and seclusion of Reenascreena and the mystery of the lost world at Carrigagrenane SW, it could almost be the odd child of large local sites.

Situated on a platform, with the ground falling swiftly to the south and west, the circle is pushed fairly tightly against the eastern field boundary. The gap and deeply rutted track from the next field are right beside it and just on the rise to the north is a chicken factory. After the drop to the west the ground rises steeply again, over the Dunmanway-Rosscarbery road, to reach a hill summit that gives the townland its name. Beyond this lies the omnipresent Carrigfadda.

The rise of ground to the west pulls an axial azimuth of 256.5 back to a declination of -5.4 (Ruggles, Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland, 1999; 217), offering no obvious solar or lunar event to a modern observer. What might be significant however is its direct line to the peak on the northern section of Carrigfadda, the imposing centre of the source forks of the Argideen river, a flow whose silver is mirrored in the quartz components of many of these monuments.

According to O’Nuallain (PRIA 84C, 1984; 21) there would have been originally 11 stones in the perimeter of a circle with a common local diameter of about 9.5 metres. Seven stones remain, with four in an arc at the western side and three in a group to the east. The entire northern side is missing, including what should have been the northern portal. Placed slightly off centre is the squarish, box-like quartz block, smaller than that at Lettergorman SW and Carrigagrenane NE but still dazzlingly white.

The western section contains the axial stone, long but low at just over knee height, its two flankers and the continuing stone to the north. The top of the axial is rather weathered and it has a curious seam running across the middle of its inner face. The eastern side still has the radially set southern portal, now leaning somewhat to the north, with a rather sharp looking stump and a round topped circle stone to the south. Despite the wrecked guttery look to the remains this circle hasn’t deteriorated since at least as far back as 1930 and possibly much further (see plan below).

A slightly unusual aspect to the ring is the position of the axial stone with regard to the remaining stones. It would seem to be positioned to be perpindicular to a line running between the stump to the south of the portal and that stone, rather than facing a line to the north of it, between it and the presumed northern portal. This stump can’t be a portal here because it is set with its long axis along the perimeter and it is well off the centre line of the circle as deduced from the remaining stones.

The whole eastern section seems to be flattened and pushed slightly too far north to make a true circle. If a secondary alignment was intended it would be closer to an equinox event than the mid-portals-axial line, but this has never been surveyed.

This site is located in the second field to the east of the road from Dunmanway to Rosscarbery, just down from the rim of the hill after Kippagh bridge. There is a little lay-by as the second indentation in the ditch after the chicken factory. Look over the brambles here.

When I read the information board and it mentioned a spiral votive I was very excited. Especially with the amount of great rock-art that Cianmacliam and Fourwinds are photographing around Ireland.
Im not sure when this spiral is dated to but I presume it it Christain. However it is not a design that is used very often in Christain art.

It looked to me as if the lintels may have been “megalithic” when I did a search when I got home that evening I was happy to see that I had the same theory as Anthony Weir on his website.
He also mentions possible alignments with the Galtys which I have to be honest I didnt see. This is a lovely site and a place where you could bring anyone (non-megalithic) for a quick stop and I think they would be impressed. So I think I will drop in here at another stage.

There are three mounds marked as “Tumuli” and a host of ring-forts marked on the OS map.
There are also signs for the Cush Prehistoric Complex from the town of Kilfinnane.
There is a nice parking area for access. However access is not as straight forward as it sounds.
The parking area allows you to visit one of the ring-forts and that is about it. The “Tumuli” are on private property and require jumping over a number of fences and thru a few fields.
I also got the impression thru a number of signs restricting access that perhaps the landowners arent too happy about people being on there lands.
I could be wrong maybe they are just making sure they not liable.
The mounds themselves arent as impressive as I thought they might be, 2 of them are just about 1.5m high while the third is very low and hard to make out.
There is an impressive ringfort very close to the mounds but it doesnt photograph very well.
I believe that burials were found in the bottom of some of the ring-forts and this is really a multi-period site. The mounds date to the Bronze Age according to the info board, approx 2000-1600BC.

On my way back from the Rath I had another good snoop around for the standing stone. Especially since it is mentioned on the fairly recent looking information board at the Rath.
Still no sign so I decided to stop in at the farm nearby where I could hear so activity going on.
As I drove in there on my left beside the swing was the standing stone.
I talked to the farmer and he said he had moved it to his yard for safety.
It is a fine standing stone about 2m-2.3m.

I spotted a standing stone on the OS map near a short-cut Ive been taking on the road home from dublin. It is near the town of Ballyraggert in Kilkenny. On a whim I decided to have a look because it seemed so close to the road.
I hopped into the field where I thought it would be hoping to get a quick picture and be on my way again.
The field beside where it should be is the location of a piggery and the sounds or the smell out of it werent great but thats how we get bacon I guess.

I had a good look around for the standing stone marked but there was no sign of it. I decided to have a quick look at the church marked on the OS map.
To my surprise out of nowhere was this massive Rath.
How something like this isnt marked on the map or more well know is beyond me. However it does have an information board and is a national monument with sign and all.
The info board says that the inner diameter is 50m and the the ground inside the ring is 3m above the surrounding field. Parts of the ditch are up to 6m deep.
There is also a souterrain located within it but I didnt see this at the time. It may be closed in.

The stonework on the vertical shaft is not unlike the well structures at Broch of Gurness and Hillock of Burroghston sites, providing footing through laterally protruding flattish rocks It could be that some of these shafts served a double purpose for their constructors of water supply and a hiding place.

Climbing the eastern-most mound gives an excellent perspective on the entire site. It is basically an earthen path and will only take you a minute if you are a strong runner.