Latest Fieldnotes

Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) page 168, but as Jane has explained in her fieldnote, the place poor Julian describes is not Kong Humble’s Grav.

Access: Park at nearest farm which has an honesty box. Walk around 300 metres across field on path that was marked when we were there.

Kong Humble’s Grav is just north of Humble, on Langeland. From the 9, at the eastern edge of Rudkøbbing take the 305 south for about 12km.

Not far after passing through Lindelse, the road distinctly zig-zags through a small village, probably Bogetofte or the outskirts of Kædeby. About 0.75km further south, take a left turn (east) towards Brandsby, by a large white church.

The langdysse is in the field behind the church, but continue past the church maybe 200 metres and turn left up an open drive into a farmyard, where you can park. And – please – donate to the honesty box!

Visited 5 April 2006
A very cool but largely denuded langdysse, a massive 55 metres long with a fine kerb of 77 large stones. The exposed single chamber is a beauty and all its main stones are pretty hefty!

In contrast to the strange place on the hill opposite the church that Julian describes and photographs in TME, Kong Humble’s Grav lies on open undulating (farm) land, with huge views all round and a very big sky!

Long/lat coordinates are probably right but it was difficult to be 100% sure from aerial photo on the inline map. From the street names and memory, it seems right and I couldn’t see where else it could be!

Access: Right next to residential street, just a few metres into trees. There is a small parking placeSuldrup is around 20km SSW of Aalborg. Travelling north on the E45 I left at junction 33, turning west onto the 535 past Haverslev, heading for Sønderup.

Just under 5km from the motorway, I turned right at a roundabout, still heading for Sønderup. After just over 1km, I took a left into and through Sønderup. Towards the far end of the village, the road bends gently right – keep on this road for just over 5 km and you will be in Suldrup.

Almost as soon as you enter the village, take the 2nd left onto Vikingevej and then first right onto Jættestuevej. When you reach the end, the monument is opposite you, slightly to your left.

Visited 6 April 2006
Right in the centre of the village or small town of Suldrup stands this very nice little passage grave. A little neglected and abused by (I suspect) kids on mountainbikes (a narrow track over the top) its mound is still in place and its chamber quite impressive.

Unfortunately, due to its ‘urban survivor’ position, there is a metal gate which at the time of my visit was locked and I couldn’t find any information on whether it’s at all possible to get access.

This was a shame, as it is one of the Danish passage graves that has an obscure 2nd chamber behind the main one. Frustratingly, I could see its tiny entrance, but couldn’t get to it or get any idea of how big it is etc.

Not one to write home about, but well worth visiting if it’s not too far out of your way!

Access: There is a grassed area between the road and the trees surrounding the site where I parked – it seems to be the intention, but I can’t guarantee it! A path leads north through the trees into a clearing, where you will find the site.

Just outside Frederikshavn on the 585. Turn off the E45 onto the 585 west towards Kilden, Gærum, Øster Vrå and Brønderlev. Just over 1.5km along the 585 there is a right turn north, with traffic islands.

Immediately after the traffic islands, trees appear on both sides of the 585, just at this point on the right (north) there is a small entrance – drive in! I parked on the grassy area to the left.

Visited 6 April 2006
Hmmm. This is a strange site! These are some iron-age ‘cellars’ thought to be the only remains of a settlement and thought to have been used for ‘storage’. As you can probably guess, I had trouble finding any more information! (I came across the place on the Visit Denmark website.)

The fact that on my visit, the strange stone settings were mostly so flooded that they looked like ornamental ponds just added to the oddness.

Access: You can park very close to the west end of the langdysse. A walk of only a few metres across a field, but the langdysse itself stands on a steepish moundlike ridge (presumably at least partly formed by ploughing each side....)

In the north of Jutland, off the west side of the 585 between Frederikshavn and Brønderlev. Just south of Gærum there are a set of 3 højs more-or-less right next to the 585 – one to the west of the road and 2 to the east.

If you stop here and look to the WNW of the western barrow, you will see a ‘suspicious-looking’ ridge with scrubby growth. This is in fact the langdysse.

Visited 6 April 2006
I spotted this langdysse while taking a quick look at some nearby højs on the 585, on my way to Jættestuen Blakshøj. To the WNW I could see a ‘mound-cum-ridge’ which I thought for the sake of 5 minutes needed closer inspection.

My suspicions were confirmed by an information board which gave the name of this langdysse. From my quick look, it doesn’t seem terribly well-preserved and so I decided not to spend any time here, as I had so much to see....

Access: Walk of a few metres from small layby next to farm buildings.

In the north of Jutland, off the west side of the 585 between Frederikshavn and Brønderlev. Just south of Gærum there are a set of 3 højs more-or-less right next to the 585 – one to the west of the road and 2 to the east, see Stenstuen.

South of here, the next road off to the west goes to a large industrial-looking farm. Take this and drive to the small layby next to the farm buildings.

Visited 6 April 2006
A beauty!!! At 4.5 metres high, apparently one of the largest burial mounds in Denmark. Huge chamber from a short and low passage.

The passage is set in a curious section of the mound which is ‘scooped away’. I would assume that this is from a rather insensitive excavation, not part of the original form of the monument.

I noticed another ‘ancient monument’ symbol on the map, not far from where we were at Treguier, but I had no instructions as to how to get there or indeed what was there. But we took the chance and went anyway. Happily, we picked up a signpost. As we parked, the heavens opened, but after the deluge we had suffered for most of the day this failed to move us; our shoes and trousers were already soaked to the thigh.

After walking through the dunes and the gorse out towards the sea we finally stumble across this allée couverte. It’s a bit trashed but its location is simply lovely overlooking the wide expanse of the estuary. Had it not been so wet, I could sat here for the rest of the day.

It had bigger, thicker stones than all the other allée couvertes we’d seen today further to the west.

This one

In the very beautiful mediaeval town of Treguier, just by where the bridge crosses the Jaudy river estuary you’ll find this cromlech opposite a hotel.

It now has its own little parkland to inhabit, but it wasn’t always so. This entire cromlech (or stone circle/horseshoe thingy) was relocated to its current position in 1963 for a reason I failed to discover. It used to have carved stones within it but these have been moved to protect them.

Access: Walk of around 300 metres across fields from carpark.

Tornby is in the far north of Jutland about 7km south of Hirtshals. The simplest route from the south (not the way I went!) is to take the E39 between Aalborg and Hirtshals, leaving at junction 3 onto the 35 west through Hjørring.

Just outside Hjørring, the 35 meets the 55 at a roundabout. Turn right onto the 55 (north), which will take you to Tornby. Continue through Tornby and a short distance out the other (north) side.

On the right (east), you will soon see some large factories or warehouses. Opposite these there is a line of trees next to the road and behind them is a carpark, partly for a restaurant-type place (I think that’s what it was) and partly for the monument.

Walk to the southern end of the carpark and follow a path SSW. You should almost immediately be able to see the dolmen a few hundred yards in front of you towards the town.

Visited 6 April 2006
A classic late neoloithic dolmen, standing in the almost ploughed out remanants of its mound. Three chamber stones and a chunky littlle capstone.

Another stone stands in front of the ‘open’ end of the dolmen, which I guess could be a moved chamber stone or kerbstone. I suppose it could possibly be a passage stone – if it had a passage – but it seems to be orientated wrongly for that.

Would be a great place to hang out if it wasn’t raining, but on the day I visited it just didn’t stop all day....

Access: Right next to road, I think I pulled a couple of wheels onto the verge so that vehicles could get past.

In the far north of Jutland, near the north edge of Limforden, close to Fjerritslev and Gundestup, fairly near Aalbog. Take the 11/29 between Aalborg in the east and Thisted in the west, heading for Fjerritslev.

About 10km east of Fjerritslev, at Skovsgård take the turning south towards Attrup. After around 2km, at Torsley, turn right and after just under 3km, take a left just before a large barrow on the right. This will take you to the monument which will be on you right after a few hundred metres.

Visited 6 April 2006
Excellent! A smallish but fascinating multi-chambered passage grave. I’d seen a few that I’d not been able to get into that had at least one chamber ‘behind’ the main chamber, but none that I could get into. (See Suldrup for example.)

It’s a shame that the restoration of the barrow hasn’t been more ‘sympathetic’, as it contains a lot of incredibly intrusive modern metal supports. Mind you, at least it means the thing’s still standing and you can even get in – with a bit of a squeeze, and once in it’s a crouched waddle around....!

As well as this one, there are tons of barrows in this area. There are few in the fields to the NE & NW, and a couple by the road immediately to the north.

There is a particularly striking one on high ground to the south, which you can see clearly from Hvisselhøj. It may even be within sight of Limfjord, a little further to the south. Gunderstrup is also very close.

Unfortunately, I had a few more things I really wanted to see (including Gunderstrup) and a long way to drive back to Fyn, so no time left to investigate ‘possibles’.

Access: Carpark right next to road. The graves are immediately next to the carpark. Walk of 100 hundred metres or so across heathland.

In far north of Jutland on road between Tømmerby and the 29/11 between Thisted and Fjerritslev.

From the east, soon after a section of the 29/11 follows the edge of the Limfjorden fjord, there is a right towards Tømmerby at Øslos. I took this but it was more complicated than it looks! So I’d recommend keeping on the main road until Vesløs and turning right (north) there – I cam back that way and it was far simpler.

This is actually the road that the cemetery is on. Follow it north for about 3km and keep an eye out on the right (east) for the the stones of the cemetery and its little carpark.

Visited 6 April 2006
Hmm. Lindholm Høje it ain’t! It’s far less extensive and far harder to work out what’s going on.

I wasn’t able to explore terribly well due to weather, time-constraints and, frankly, fatigue. This was the last site on a very long and very wet day with a lot of mileage, so I feel my visit probably didn’t do it justice!

It didn’t help that commendably, the info board is a fair bit away from the graves – meaning I found it difficult to relate the plan of the site to what I could see on the ground.

This was important because, at least when I visited, the site was quite overgrown with scrub – which is as different as you can get from Lindholm Høje – more natural, but much harder to navigate.

It’s also different from Lindholm Høje in that many of the memorials are single stones, as well as a lot of more distinctly Viking longboat settings and small barrows.

Definitely worth a visit though if you are in this part of Denmark or if you can’t make it to Lindholm Høje.

Approximate long/lat coordinates, as I couldn’t be sure I could see the dolmen in the fieldborder on the aerial photomap. Shouldn’t be too far out though and, if anything may be a few metres closer to the farm.

Access: Walk of something like 300 metres along reasonably even field edge. (First few metres were across ploughed field when we visited.)

Very near Kong Humble’s Grav. From the 9, at the eastern edge of Rudkøbbing take the 305 south for about 11km. Not far after passing through Lindelse, the road distinctly zig-zags through a small village, probably Bogetofte or the outskirts of Kædeby. Just after the zig-zag, there is a turning on the right (west) into Kædeby village.

Take this turn and continue on this road for about 0.5km. Look out for a farm entrance on the left (south) with a (telecoms?) tower. Park here and walk around left (east) side of buildings. It may be worth asking at the farm first, but there seemed nobody about for our visit.

You will find a tiny paddocklike field with a tree-ed area to the west. Go to the corner of this diagonally opposite and you will reach a very far large field.

From here you should just about be able to make out the dolmen in the field boundary to the SW, quite far ahead on your right. Cross to this field boundary (there was a slight path when we visited) and walk along to the dolmen.

Visited 7 April 2006
Wow! A spectacular dolmen in the mould of Cornish examples like Mulfra or even Trethevy.

Unfortunately this is another one I’ve not been able to find any info on. And because it just sits in a narrow overgrown bit of field boundary between well-cultivated fields, it’s very difficult to make anything out on the ground.

Lovely big chamber though, with a huge allegedly cupmarked capstone. Not sure about the the authenticity of the cups, but enjoyed our bonus deer! (See photos.)

The Dolmen de Kergavat has a large chamber and some sizeable stones, but like so much stuff hereabouts is unceremoniously ignored. But here it is – a huge and beautiful dolmen – virtually playing chicken with passing traffic, parked at the roadside.

I do like urban monuments, so the Dolmens de Rondossec were always likely to appeal to me. Whoosh in the middle of the village of Plouharnel are a lovely pair of funnel-type passage tombs, still quite buried under their mounds. They both have low passages which widen to a larger end. In a garden just opposite we noticed a menhir which looked suspiciously original to us.

Julian calls it the Roh-an-Aod dolmen in TME, but the roadsigns point you to dolmen du Roch.

This very large dolmen occupies an entire plot in a small village setting, tightly squeezed on all sides by cottages and houses. We liked this one a lot as it so clearly refuses to be taken over by the human development around it. Defiant and wonderful.

Access: Short walk of less than 50 metres gently uphill over grass. Park at edge of road.

Kong Renes høj, as it is also known, is very near other monuments in the woods near Frellesvig on Langeland. For full directions see Ringlehøj i Snave Skov.

From Ringlehøj i Snave Skov, head east, back out of the woods and take the first left turn, north along Pæregårdsvej. As you enter the woods, you may glimpse a barrow on your left through the trees. (Actually, I seem to remember that it’s on a bend and is initially right in front of you.)

This is Gravhøje i Pæregård Skov, which we didn’t stop at – it seems as though it’s probably ‘just’ a mound – of course I now wish we’d had a quick look!

Continue through the woods, and after just over 0.5km you will emerge into fields. The road winds along to the monument just under 1.5km ahead, on the left (north) of the road just before re-entering trees.

Visited 7 April 2006
In a pretty rolling area of cultivated land in the middle of woodland stand 2 chambers on a large mound, along with a couple of trees.

The southern one is a passage grave (jættestue) dating from 3,500-3,100bc and the other a (very ruined) passageless chamber added around 3,000bc.

The latter has been brutally butchered – its capstone has big chunks cut from it. The edges of these cuts are so straight that they speak of (at least relatively) recent damage. And as if to emphasise the damage, at least one piece cut from the largest piece is still right beside it.

Despite the frankly shocking state of this northern chamber, the monument retains an impressive majesty – certainly living up to its billing as “King Rene’s hill”.

Blimey! There’re some big buggers here. And according to the books, it’s not very long ago since the fields at St Barbe were littered with some pretty complete alignments. But 19th and 20th century activities felled many of them. Despite the driving rain, I had to get out of the car and walk right up to these stones. And I’m glad I did, because sometimes it’s not until you actually stand next to something you realise just how massive it is. The biggest stone of St Barbe is seriously whopping – have a look at TME and see just how teeny weeny Spaceship Mark* looks standing next to it.

*and he’s no short-arse!

I was looking forward to the sites in and around the village of Crucuno. The Crucuno dolmen is bang slap in the middle of the village, now looking more like an extension to a farm building these days, but no less impressive for it.

I made a little sketch of it while I sat in the car out of the rain while Moth went off exploring.

Julian’s instructions in TME to find this lovely horseshoe cromlech are unnecessarily complicated! Simply follow the path at the back of the Moulin de St Pierre alignments past the tennis court and turn left at the top. About 50 metres in front of you, under the massive pine trees is the monument.

Thirty seven stones form an incredibly graceful arc maybe 50 metres wide, which cannot be photographed adequately. The arc now embraces a nice middle class tennis court. Fortunately, the land immediately in front of the cromlech is clear of development, so you can stand well back and contemplate the whole thing. I loved this. I loved that there were so many stones still up and that this quiet part of town had grown up around it without encroaching on it.

“Where now, Spaceship Mark?” I asked. The last monument of the day was to be what I wrote down as Dolmen de Kermané (I wrote down ‘Kerangoff’ for some reason I now can’t remember?) At the end of a lane in a tiny little hamlet this is yet another of those corking local dolmens that is overlooked by visitors to the area in favour of the larger “Hollywood” monuments. If this was in the UK people would drive miles to see it. This one’s capstone had to be supported by an iron girder, but hey, at least it meant someone cared!

I loved it here and made a really quick sketch while Moth set up the tripod.

Approximate long/lat coordinates, as I couldn’t see the site among the trees on the aerial photomap. Shouldn’t be too far out though.

Access: Walk is about 0.5km south to wood down a track, then on forestry path and finally by small vague paths into the SE corner of the wood. There are good paths most of the way, but keeping on course is quite tricky and there are deep gullies (sometimes with water in) to navigate past or to cross.

Not far from monuments near Frellesvig on Langeland. From the 305 heading north, pass Frellesvig and continue on through Tranekær and out the other side, past the park and its castle.

Just over 2km past the castle, you need a left (west) towards Helletofte. At the next junction (a road heads off north, to the right) park. There is plenty of room.

Just east of the junction, on the south side of the road you have just come along, you will see a track heading south towards the woods. Follow this and enter the woods on a good foresters’ track.

On the west of this path, there are lines of trees as you head south. Before long, you will reach the south east corner of the regimented lines, at which point you need to try to follow paths into the SE of the main part of the wood.

From here it gets difficult to give directions and you may need patience and persistence! You should be able to see a steep hill in the woods to the SE. Generally head for the SE side of that hill, avoiding or crossing the gullies mentioned above as seems best in your quest!

The monument is near the SE corner of the woods – sufficiently close to be able to see the fields beyond, but not right at the edge and right among trees – not in a clearing to speak of. Look out for a slight raise in the ground with a few largish – but not really properly megalithic (!) moss-covered stones, just visible through the trees. Good luck!

7 April 2006
Gah. Quite difficult to find and hardly worth it once you do, I’m afraid.

This is a pretty badly trashed passage grave. There is a fairly slight mound in which most of the small orthostats of the chamber survive. The chamber is actually relatively long for the size of the mound (which is obviously much reduced) and as the ortostats are small, the chamber must presumably have been low.

Astonishingly, the tiny passage on the ESE side has somehow managed to retain one of its capstones, but there are only a couple of stones left at the foot of the ‘mound’ that look as though they are (or were!) probably kerbstones.

Other than Jelling, this was the last site we visited in Denmark, and not a good way to say ‘goodbye’ to the wonders of Langeland. It was also one of the most badly mistreated and damaged sites we saw on the whole trip.

At last, fair enough weather to make an attempt on the fantastic hillfort of Tre’r Ceiri . City of the Giants, What a cool name.
Parking is available on the road to the south, a foopath winds it’s way up giving a good view of Mynnyd Carnguwch .Nearer the top, firstly an information board tells us precious little about the place, and then the little path takes us through the western entrance which is well preserved at a hieght of about 5ft. The Southern wall (which is about 7ft thick all the way round) hangs precariously above jagged rocky cliffs and has a rock outcrop incorperated into it, following the wall to the top of the hill it brings us to Carnedd Tre’r Ceiri a 20m wide cairn which was once like a step pyramid with three tiers. The wall loops around the cairn then takes care of the northern hillside, which also has a covered entrance incorparating six capstones . Inside the fort walls are supposedly the remains of 150 hutcircles. Some are very well preserved more so than the more often visited Holyhead hutcircles if it wasn’t left to nature and had a full time gardener it would be better than Chysauster in Cornwall. Some circle walls and entrances are 6ft tall, and the way the stones fit together is little short of magic, some are huge with natural basins and cupmarks. Back to the northern wall, and the main entrance, going out, the wall (8ft tall) sweeps the pedestrian to the right and down to another wall and entrance, here there is another info board and a virtual path over to cairn topped Yr Eifl which I climbed about two thirds the way up to get a higher up picture.

An absolute wonder this place I couldv’e stayed for hours, it’s long walk up ensures peace and solitude and so much of the city remains.

Directions – Great Urswick; the stone is built into the field wall on the opposite side of the road to the school.

Now broken and set into the base of the field wall, this stone once stood in the adjacent field. Named the Priapus Stone, it was village custom to decorate the stone at Midsummer in the hope that harvests would be fruitful.

There is no definite record of it being ancient but this custom apparently died out at the begining of the 19th century.

If it was complete it would be similar in size and shape to the Middle Barrow stone, less than half a mile from here. From this field you can see Great Urswick burial chamber.

A local woman showed it to us but said she believed it was medieval. I’d like to believe it predates this period by a few thousand years!!

Ooooh, this is a fab site! The first time I headed out here I was alone and it was bucketing it down – trying to drive through torrential rain whilst looking over hedges on a windy road isn’t my greatest skill, so what I didn’t realise is this; you can see it quite clearly from the road!!!

I can’t think of a similar site anywhere else in this area, it looked like it should be in Cornwall or Wales or Ireland.

Although somewhat destroyed, there is still a sense of how this would’ve stood in the landscape and if you scrabble between the fallen stones and the prickly old hawthorne you can look through the remaining stones towards an obvious dip in the hill opposite. I loved the fact that the natural stone surrounding this chamber made if feel like it was part of the landscape. Fab.

Hunter’s Burgh lies right on one of the major corners on the Downs, with views to east and west that disappear as soon as one travels either way. It has a clear shape from three sides, particularly approaching from the top of the hill. From the north, down the slope, the edge is very unclear and seems teardrop shaped.

To the East lies Eastbourne, and above it the Neolithic Combe Hill Causwayed Camp with its associated round barrows. to the west Firle Beacon, with its Long Barrow, and Mount Caburn, with its Iron Age hill fort and possible earlier use in the Bronze Age.

This is the largest barrow on Wilmington Hill. If I am right about the barrows on the summit they may only be smaller due to ploughing out, or similar activity, as they lie on level ground. Hunter’s Burgh’s saving grace may have been the slope it lies upon, suited only to grazing.

Or maybe it was always the largest, in which case why so far down the hill?

This cemetery is not marked on OS maps. It lies around the trig-station on the summit of Wilmington Hill, consisting of one definite round barrow to the west of it and two more possible barrows to the east.