Latest Fieldnotes

The best way to visit this tomb is from the west, drive north passing by Lough Mallon and take the next left, then turn left again and follow the road down to the very end, the tomb can be seen in the field to your left, go through the gate and up the field, very easy, no cows, no bog, no Bullshit.

Take the road to Priddy from the Wells Road, and as you drive through this stonewalled landscape remember that you are entering a truly prehistoric landscape that goes way back into the past. Barrows, swallet holes, Priddy Circles and of course caves and rock shelters.
If you drive into the village of Priddy, stop for a moment and admire the large village green with an old fashioned farm on the other side. Drive up the hill to the church, and there is a barrow sitting in the field next to it. But to find the lane to Ebbor Gorge, you must take the first lane sharply left just as you enter the village, drive past the picnic place on the highest point of the hill, and descend down for a few hundred yards till on the left there is a car park for the Gorge.
The “scramble” walk is well indicated, you descend into the wooded depths of the gorge, high trees, dark green luscious growth and ferns on old fallen trees, patches of open ground gleaming pale in the sunlight, the white perfumed meadowsweet that loves boggy ground is on show. Then the scramble, you enter the narrow defile of the gorge where the shelters are situated, and begin to climb sharply over great natural stone steps with the sheer rock faces on either side, where there is sun the blue flowers of the nettle leaved bellflower cluster at the path’s edge and a small stream trickles down the steps, at one point the path becomes so narrow between the rocks that it looks impassable.
The shelters are dark and gloomy places, Victorian grottoes comes to mind, Neolithic and Bronze age finds have been found, perhaps they were more burial place that living quarters. Upwards to the viewpoint over the gorge itself, steep, steep cliff like faces of rock covered with vegetation and tall trees in the gorge below, gives it a rainforest look and of course there is also a  misty view to Glastonbury Tor with Wearyall Hills’ long length blending into the landscape.
If you drive back to Priddy you should see some of the Nine Barrows on the horizon, turning left from the carpark takes you to Wookey Hole, and not too far away is Westbury Sub Mendip, where I believe half million year old bones were found…..
Its a middling demanding walk, steep paths and a bit of rock climbing.

This was the last stone I saw today but by no means the least , it has an almost human shape to it, kind of like someone turning in mid stride. You really need a map to find it I’d been stone hunting all morning and my brain was slightly dizzy, now I can’t remember how to get to it except keep the trees to your right and follow the telegraph poles. The stone is 6-7 feet tall with a large rocky outcrop just yards away with a suspect stone half buried just feet away . If it wasn’t for the mist Mynnyd Carngwch would be large and beautiful.

This was the tallest stone I saw on this day (friday 13th worked out OK for me) and was a welcome barrier to the wind and rain. From Betws Fawr farm head east and watch for a gate on the right , park near here (there’s nowhere good) and go through gate and along the path but beware it was well muddy when I came and the cows use it regular if you know what I mean. At the end of the track the 2.6m tall standing stone is on the right through a gate in the middle of the field. Although the horizon is obscured 180 degrees I feel certain that Mynnyd Carngwch would be visible on a clear day with no trees.

Permission should be sought at Tir Gwyn farm/house from there the south stone is about 50 yds away. 174 metres away in the other corner of the field is Tir Gwyn I . They should be together as one site I think but Coflein has them as two seperate stones , they remind me greatly of the Piper stones in Cornwall .
As ever Mynnyd Carngwch stands out proud on the near horizon.

A good tall stone about 8ft tall with a kind of twisted appearance. If this was Avebury we’d be calling this stone male but all the stones round here are male, perhaps trying to balance out the obviously female Mynnyd Carngwch. Ask for permission at Tir Gwyn house/farm or a long walk down the lane and round the corner is necessary.

These stones were just off the map that I had with me so I ended up wandering round and blundered into the large flat stone by the fence, which must be a significant stone, from there down hill and nearly in the fence is the menhir, just slightly bigger than myself (about 6ft then) it has two large boulders at it’s foot making it look like the male parts. It was comfy to sit on one of them too and watch the clouds scooting by. Across the field and again near the fence is another stone.
All these stones looking across to the mother hill of Mynnyd Carngwch are beginning to give me a funny feeling.

Location: Exactly where OS map shows it! To E of walled track. A gate gives access to the field a short distance N of the circle. All the stones are pink granite (erratics from Shap?) apart from one which is limestone.

Some nice pictures and further info at: visitcumbria.com/pen/gamelands.htm and stone-circles.org.uk/stone/gamelands.htm

The central recumbent stone of this three stone row has a cup mark , evident from a distance but not recorded . Despite lots of likely hills surrounding the stones the most likely astro alignment is to the NW , Cat Law , the summit of which would outline the major lunar standstill .

Ive been looking forward to visiting this one as its a bit of a curiosity.
A large ‘horshoeshaped hengytype thingy’ monument.
Its very well defined and has another smaller henge alligned with this one about 15 metres away.
Lots of lumps and bumps in this field along with some rather scary horny (not in the lusty way!) cows.

[visted 08/07/07] Another failed site, this time through not wanting to turn up unanounced at a Nuclear Power Station and asking to see their barrow. I did get to the gates and could see the barrow just inside the gates in a fenced off tree covered enclosure, but it was the other side of some (open) security gates and a large barbed wire fence. Call me overly cautious but in the current climate I figured discretion really was the better part of valour. There is a number for them on the British Energy website so I might give them a ring next time I’m heading that way.

Access is after sundown wearing ninja suits and night goggles.

[visted 08/07/07] I have been a sucker for any rock art in wessexish ever since I saw a lot up north a few years back. It is however very rare about these parts and so I headed over to see this without high hopes. Sadly I completely failed to find a cup on this otherwise purty little stone. There are a couple of small depressions, but nothing I could positively say had been created by man.

Moving on, this somewhat misnamed stone comes up to about waist height nowadays and reminded me of the West Anstey Longstone. It is an absolute peach of a location overlooking the Bristol Chanel, Wales clearly visible in the distance. Also clearly visible is Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station, or as we like to think, the Pixies Mound. Can’t really say about the orientation though as it was re-erected in the 60s.

Access is for the fitish but is all footpaths and would be doable in a wheelchair that could handle reasonably rough ground and steep slopes. Feeling energetic I made it up there in 25 mins, about a third at a slow run, and back down in 15mins, running mostly. Walking would prolly take 30 mins mostly all up hill. The effort to reward ratio is quite high on this one!

I was able to park really close and went through just one gate, but still went the wrong way and then saw it on the way back to the car, d’oh.
Not enough room under the capstone for a person but enough for a camera .The capstone is maybe three metres long and propped up on smaller boulders at one end whilst the other end creeps under the grass. The whole thing sits at the eastern end of a mound about thirty feet long.

A truly beautiful place indeed. Try to resist parking right next to the monument as there’s a much better place 50 yards down the lane.
Though there’s not loads left of Branas Uchaf it’s still quite impressive, the largest stone is over four feet and the whole thing sits on a mound that on the eastern side is five feet tall.
Try to combine a visit with Tyfos, Moel ty Uchaf and Tan y coed and maybe Coed y Bedo.

Ledcharrie in Glen Dochart is midway between Killin and Crianlarich but is also where an important track goes south over the hill to Balquhidder . The area has no recorded cup marks or anything prehistoric. Until today . One of the rocks has what looks like a rosette which includes a dumbell surrounding two cups .

I dithered for a bit over this one, there was no easy access so I bit the bullet and asked for permission, glad I did so too.
I think the farm house was called Tir Bach aswell and the gates were tall and a bit hard to open, I walked amongst the curious chickens and knocked on the door, and again and again, hmm what to do ? In the near distance I could hear a tractor so I headed for that and bingo, I found the farmer and his wife digging a big hole in the corner of the field and there was the stone in the other corner. With them were two terrier type dogs which were now barking at me. The farmer saw me and came over so I asked if I could see their stone.
I think they were quite surprised that someone wanted to photograph their stone and they relayed this to me about it, Three boffins from CADW came over to inspect the stone after the farmer had told them of other boulders unearthed nearby, they said they were unrelated to the stone but then the boffins argued a bit about the stone and this was the gist, the menhir was in upside down but had been so for millenia on the western face of the stone was two small lumps of quartz with rings carved round them, and on the north face is an inordinate amount of recentish carved graffitti initials and dates mostly. One thing I noticed is the north face is really flat and precisly aligned east-west. It was about 6.5 ft tall and the western view is not visible due to high river bank

I approached from the north from the village of YFfor itself as a footpath goes more or less right past it . I think the stone is almost recumbent , but somehow it seems to be placed like that because it aligns perfectly on Mynnyd Carngwch the breast shaped mini mountain with its summit cairn. Half way between the sacred hill and the sea I quite liked this stone.

I stopped and asked a farmer at Penfras-uchaf farm he pointed me back down the lane and said I could park in front of the gate that leads to the path that leads to the stone....Ideal.
down the tree lined path turn left into a field then right into another field and there it is in the corner. About 7ft tall and taking Mynydd Carngwch as it’s inspiration possibly dating to the same time as the giant hilltop cairn.

Fwoaaar look at the shape of that hill it even has a .......now that’s enough of that . This hill with it’s really conspicuous cairn on top is visible for miles all around .The walk up to the top is tiring to say the least but really worth while a great view of tre’r ceiri and most of the Lleyn aswell.
As you walk up to the cairn it reminded me of Loughcrew but there’s no passage and no chamber, pity. The cairn itself is actually built on a natural bump which pokes through in places and the top is hollowed out slightly to hide oneself from the wind.
I sat here for quite a while watching two buzzards showing off.

Once again I forgot to check out the church and yard, but then I was only here on default, waiting for cloud to lift off Tre’r Ceiri hillfort. But what a place to simply pass time, though the railings do nark me off a bit, but sitting under the capstone with eyes closed I could have been surrounded by marauding aliens for all I cared, the peace was super-calming, birds singing, the waves on the shore, wonderful.
I tried to count the cupmarks but stopped at about 30, how many are there? I don’t think I could see more than a hundred.

St Agnes Beacon is a landmark for anybody driving down the A30 towards the END. Surprisingly for such a large and conspicuous hill the barrows/cairns on the summit are just the opposite. My feelings are they have been robbed not only of any remains but also of stone over the years. What is left are a few scattered mounds, and even these can be mistaken for mining remains and vice versa. The hill is great for views..but don’t make a special trip for the archaeology.

Having taken three attempts at finding the somewhat overgrown path it was literally jaw-dropping to turn a corner and see Hoon Mount looming. It is huge: perhaps 30m in diameter and 5m or so in height. Certainly larger than Swarkestone and maybe a similar size to Round Hill (I’ve never been as close to the latter as I now have to this). The visibility of the mound on satellite maps underlines the size of the structure. There is some damage to the SW edge – I’m undecided if it’s from sheep or dickheads with detectors.

I sat on the summit and had swallows dance around me on a blustery July day. There is definitely a more pleasant air to this place than many others in South Derbyshire.

This embanked circle is very unusual. The outer ring is probably bigger than the Grange Lios and it also has a smaller inner circle.
The whole site is in a bad state and its very hard to photograph because its so overgrown.
It is marked as a mound on the OS map for some reason. It is marked on the information board at Lough Gur as a stone circle and also in O’Kellys works.

Daveyravey below appears to have been to it as well but I think the grid ref and the name he has given it is incorrect.
themodernantiquarian.com/site/8321/lough_gur_d.html

Iv’e heard that permission should be attained from the land owner, but the circle (or what ever it is) is passed on the way to the farmers house which is nigh on a mile further down a bumpy lane, and when asked for premission he seemed to think it strange that someone would want to see a block of stone about this big ( he uses his hands to show how big )
It’s a nice stone with good views, though it were a tad foggy when we got here the wind soon cleared it away a bit.

This is a really impressive site. I remember reading about it in the Discovery Programmes North Munster Project (I had a loan of it for a few days). I believe it is classified as a Bronze Age Barrow.
I would like to give the exact dims because it is huge and really the pictures don’t do it justice.
There are three rings around it as far as I could see. The inner one being about 1.5m high and the ditch in between is filled with water.
What really excited me was the views from it. To the east you have the many notches of the Galtys, south the Ballyhouras but even more importantly to the North you can clearly see the fairy mound of Cnoc Aine.
I think this mound/ barrow may be in some way related to the many monuments in the area.
The word rathanny is meant to come from Rath-eanaighe or the fort of the marsh. However I wonder is there any link to RathAine? With Anny being a corruption of this?
As for how to find it, I parked at the soccer field beside Hospital and walked thru the fields. It is about 1km from the soccer field.
There may be a track thru a farm but you will have to ask for permission etc. Basically you will need a GPS and to be honest I wouldnt fancy going down here in wet weather. I think it would live up to Rath of the marshes!