The thing that struck me today about this site, is that it forms a point in a straight line across from Fowberry Mains to Coldmartin Lough. Also on the same line, to within a few metres, are Whitsunbank 3 and Fowberry cairn.
I’ve never been a great believer in Watkinsesque straight line stuff, but sometimes I do wonder. 4 points on a straight line. Would this be enough to discount random chance? Hmmm.
Who the heck found this one?!?!
It’s underneath a boulder, with only about 2 inches clearance, so you can just see it.
You have to admire the thouroughness with which this area has been surveyed.
There is another carving here, but I was in a bit of a rush, so missed it this time. Pictures can be seen on the BRAC link below.
There’s also what looks like a standing stone between the carved boulder and the trees.
Its a good time to visit at the moment, as the very invasive gorse has been burnt back. The circle is indeed the area which is “cordoned ” off and is much more obvious now. The Giants Grave is the ring cairn further North – the OS map is pretty useless/meaningless really. Look out for Dartford Warblers in the thick gorse between the circle and the cairn !
Tremendous views all the way round. There’s room for one car on the lane by the footpath, which doesn’t go to the top it can only be reached by jumping a fence. The defences are mostly to the west the eastern side is steep enough to repel any invaders.
It rained for ten minutes on the way up but then cleared beautifully, tremendous views all around, I know Iv’e said it twice but it really is
located a little uphill behind a cafe type place named after one of the caves ( Ffynnon Bueno ). A footpath goes by the caves but for access you’ll have to ask at the cafe/house. The interior is blocked off by thick bars but you can see inside well enough. Cae Gwyn cave is covered with bushes and was on the other side of a fence which I was reluctant to climb with two small children.
Grey and rainy all morning, but the sunshine came through by the afternoon. I did visit Perborough many years ago, so I knew where to go and how to get there.
The site is comprised of a hillfort and a lot of lumps and bumps on one side. Approaching the site you pass a barn and a huge pile of shit (not a good omen). The banks on the flatter land to the right are very distinct, and very angular. They stretch across the whole field which has a few clumps of trees scattered in it.
Crossing one of these banks you head up a steep slope and up towards the actually hillfort itself. The wind was a blowin’ and I was glad I’d had a large lunch to keep me attached to the ground. The entrance was open and the bank of the hillfort has fencing atop it (all the way around).
The soil here is extremely flinty and very red in colour. A few sarsens are dotted around (although if they are contemporary with the hillfort or just ones moved out of the field to the edge by the farmer is anyone’s guess) and strangely some old broken asbestos sheets (def not contemporary).
The ditch and bank doesn’t seem to extend all the way around. It is more defined on half the site. The other side doesn’t have much of a ditch or bank at all, and it would be easier to just walk into it from that side. If that was how it was originally, then maybe it only defends from attack from one general direction.
Part of the interior has been ploughed – it looks like someone’s been practising for a ploughing championship.
The interior of the hillfort is not really flat, it seems to rise at the middle and slope down to the edge sharply on one side. The size of the interior seems like Uffington to me, but it must be smaller. The views are certainly stunning, you are surrounded by the ‘downs’ in the truest sense, with lots of wooded hills and valleys.
Walking back around to the entrance, you can really see the ditches below you in the field and there’s lots of ‘em.
Walking back to the motor with the wind blowing, I was glad I’d come here. It’s less busy than Uffington (OK much less impressive), but it’s nice to visit a hillfort and be on your own – you kinda get the place to yerself.
Very little seems to be written/known about the place and it wasn’t included in the ‘Hillforts of the Ridgeway’ project by Oxford Uni in the 1990’s. An enigma, but a pleasant one.
It was hard to tell what this is due to the livestock time limitations I had here. The large capstone says a portal tomb, but this stone could be a roofstone from a wedge tomb. As the tomb is in court-cairn country, it just might be so, but there’s no evidence of a court.
The mound that the burial chamber is in is completely overgrown. It stretches back from the chamber by about 20 metres and contains cairn material at the flatter back end. There are kerb-like stones on its eastern side, so are we talking a passage grave?
Situated in the church at St Just.
This stone is situated on a track between Carn Kenidjack and Woon Gumpas Common.Formerly known as Crowze East. The inscription reads JAC-T-VENA but is now barely visible.
Craig Weatherhill in his book “Belerion” thinks that the inscription is probably Hic Jacit Vena (here lies Vena).
Right on the main Kyle road . Cille Fhearchair is Farquhar’s cell or church and was a burial ground .
This stone is in an odd situation , far from the terraces above Loch Tay and close to the loch shore shore , among trees with a very limited prospect to the north even if the trees were cleared and a hillock to the south . It is 1.5m high and aligned 340 degrees .Access could be difficult as it is a steep drop from the road and there is no convenient parking place . Tir Artair means Arthur land or domain .
Lost and forlorn in a hedge and ditch are these sad remains of a wedge tomb. I was brought up here by the farmer who owns the land and who has a keen interest in all the historic and pre-historic features of his area.
There’s not much left to see. Two stones are set into the ground with the remainder tossed about in a jumble. The whole structure measures just 6.5 metres by about a metre and a half.
The site is on an an undulating ridge, aligned south-east to north-west, north-west of Rath Lugh. The cleared area is roughly 120 metres wide by 600 metres long. This whole area has had its topsoil removed down by about half a metre, revealing a sandy layer.
At the north-west end, at the highest point of the area, there is what looks like a mound, containing rough cairn-like stone. It’s one of three smaller areas that are co-ordoned off and under excavation. South-east of this is a massive plastic-covered rectangle where the ‘woodhenge’/timber circle has been found. Just east of this is a long line of test trenches, presumably part of the promised exploratory trenches that were dug ‘every 20 metres’ all along the 59kms of the motorway.
Slightly north of east of here, and about 150 metres towards Rath Lugh, is what the Sunday papers are calling ‘a high status burial chamber’. It’s circular, with an inner trench/ditch of about 2 metres. I guess there’s still quite a bit of work to be done in and around this site and the ditch may not really be that deep when the remaining covering sandy soil is removed.
Continuing up the Dounby road past the Howe crossroads, the Appiehouse Stone is at the top of the mound that can be seen behind the farm on your left. I have never found it before as coming from this direction it is basically invisible – the first sighting is when you look carefully as you come level with the summit. Coming from the Dounby direction it is much easier to see. Only it looks rather unlike the photo on the site record, being equally irregular in shape but nearer a rectangle than a triangle, unless it manages to look drastically different on the other face. Alas the presence of sheep in such a relatively small space meant I couldn’t check inside the field to confirm or deny the apparent further reduction in height. On the northern side there is a big dip with a steep rise, but this is not regarded as a connected bank/ditch as there are more similar behind it.
On the southern side there are a few projecting stones distant from one another, but the mound is believed to be natural. However, in 2004 in the course of building works part of a stone structure came to light and they had to re-route the pipe around the mound. Unfortunately where this structure stood vis-a-vis the mound itself is not noted. On the southern side between the mound and the farm I spotted two very small very shallow circular mounds a few inches high, of which the more obvious one looks to have at least one stone projecting either close by or at the edge. Something to do with the structure or relating to the pipe, or simply natural ?
Walking from the Kirkwall-Stromness road towards Dounby on the left before reaching Springfield [which is before you reach the top of the Stoneyhill road] I saw a disused farmtrack and pursued it for a possible fresh view of the Grimeston district. Along the way I passed an broad raised track heading off left. Shortly thereafter on the other side I saw a ploughed field littered with stones and with a rise of a strange pinkish-red hue where the map showed nothing. Fortunately I took photos, because this is the spot where the Dale earthhouse is buried – the raised track goes to Dale. Nothing definite to look at, just sus
The road to Stembister passes over a carefully built milldam. From here take the curving road left and the standing stone is behind the building on the left near the cliff. ‘Ware the goose ! On the day I went this kept me at bay and the haar ruled out photography at a distance. Alternatively take the track that goes right and the mound is at the top of the hill as seen from the junction. Once there you realise the burn in the valley below is really is quite some distance away for water-carrying activities to take place. If you are lucky there is only one gate to cross.
Proceeding about the mound weodorshins I felt it to be more square than circle, but didn’t think to take measurements. There are stones of various sizes dotted here and there over it, however none with any kind of burnt appearance. As to shape, it looks like a giant has taken an icecream scoop to the eastern half of it, giving the appearance of a broad ditch with the rim of mound still left intact. My opinion is that someone dug deep down to excavate summat, whether successfully or no, rather than for quarrying stone (though I am reminded just the weensiest of the Knowe of Geoso).
The barrow is a pretty prominent feature above a rocky outcrop. Up close however the barrow stands in rough ground is disturbed by a lime kiln, hence the name, and all its debris.
Situated on a local high spot the barrow has good views all round...well not quite...the insanely massive Ballidon quarry interferes a little with the southern horizon.
This ruined barrow with its equally ruined cist lies about 100m from the Roystone Grange Trail. Although the NMR reckons the barrow is largely undisturbed apart from in the NW.
Named after the stone shed that stands nearby which was once used as an explosives store the barrow has good views out over the Roystone Valley.
Battered but possibly the most interesting of the half dozen or so barrows along the valleys eastern edge.
This barrow is surrounded by a fence that has been placed right up to the bank. It’s circular and roughly 30 metres in diameter. The stone and earth bank and the inner ditch are quite well preserved though partially destroyed in the north-east quadrant. The top of the mound, on which has been placed an official fógra, rises to about a metre and a half. The monument can be reached from the track to the north of Rhode village.
The chambers are still there and I just visited tham. 2 are roofed and one you can get inside. Not easly to find but persistence pays. It’s great they have survived their travels.
DrMike
The eastern ‘end’ of the mound looks less steep then the ‘west’ end, so perhaps the orthostat’s E/W orientation represents that of the tumulus itself. Its central concavity is about 6.8m by 5 and is a combination of stones and slabs like that in the general matrix. At the seaward side of this is the orthostat, which projects 67cm at the east end by 60cm at the west, and is 70cm long by 17 thick. It sits in a kind of pocket of flaky rocks – the RCAMS Inventory’s “slaty material” – which extends for 2.2m to the west of the stone’s east end and 1.6m north. All in all this would seem to confirm an E/W orientation for the whole.
Amongst the flakes and rock fragments I found a solitary 4cm fragment of semi-burnt bone (despite distinct carination I’m fairly certain it isn’t pot, not with all those tiny bubbles) presumably extracted by mammals as my eyes found nothing further there.
At the base to the N/NE is what looks like a test pit 1 x 0.7 x 0.3 metres, but I am not sure if the contents are indicative of the mound’s basal material or the old ground surface it was built upon. In front of them a stone 0.5 x 0.25m projects 7-18cm from the ground. Towards the sea, 8m from the east side of the base is a mound, approximately 5 by 4.2m and less than 0.3m high at the perimeter, containing several stones similar to those in the main mound.
This is a small group of round barrows of varying sizes.It is about half a mile south the seven barrows at Penn hill. Access to these barrows is quite easy as Rew lane can be driven or walked down at any time , it is however quite steep and rough. Rew itself is now just a small collection of houses running down a gravel track , but was once a village in its own right , it is now classed as a lost village.
The site lies between the present steading and the sea, the main structure being the excavated chapel. The published souterrain can be seen below its floor level emerging from the back at your right and coming ‘out’ from under the wall at a slight angle. It has been filled in with stones, as have two passages in the cliff face far to the E of the main site (I do not know their date) – presumably all by the excavators. It could be me, but I did not see the ‘tunnel’ exiting the cliff.
This long barrow and the associated round barrows are less than 1km. away from the Valley of stones. I didn’t realise that there were five round barrows quite so close to the long barrow , the rape crop shows them up well. These monuments are part of the south Dorset ridgeway chain of sites , to the east is Blackdown for instance. The long barrow itself looks to be in good condition , although it’s hard to see any signs of excavation or ploughing.
Cnoc Greine is the third fairy hill of North Munster linking in with Cnoc Firinne to the east and Cnoc Aine to the south west. Im curious how and why these particular hills along with Lough Gur/ Knockadoon became so important and what being a fairy hill signifies?
It is just off the main road between Pallas Green and Oola on the Limerick – Tipperary Road. Pallas Green comes from the Irish for Sun.
I have heard that a Cork Historical Society Journel from the 1880s makes reference to the fact there was a “temple of the sun” on its summit. I have not walked the hill yet but the OS map indicates that there are two ringforts/circular enclosures on it.
Perhaps the structure was wooden similar to Dun Ailline in Kildare?
