Latest Fieldnotes

Tumpless. I definately found the spot this barrow used to be, with grid refs and OS map, but it’s there no more. Pity it’s a great spot. A few (large) old stones hapahazardly scattered against the wall are all that the farmer has left to mark the end of 5 millenia. hey ho

To reach it take the road that runs through South Ronaldsay to Burwick pier, following the signs for the Tomb of The Eagles just before the latter. This is a private site but is included in the price for the tomb. They give a very good talk at the interpretation centre and their information on the various parts of the house make things clear when you arrive at the site. This is quite close to the farmhouse (a very short half kilometre) and is as well displayed as the Barnhouse settlement, though of course much smaller. The final length of track approaches from the north downhill with the site on the left. As you come down look to the field boundary beyond, and to the right where a fieldfence starts uphill is an unexcavated partner mound. I could see Liddle II, ND38SE 5, as a line of dry blonde grass when I went, although it seemed easier to see the slight rise itself as I came back from the tomb. Two orthostats were removed from here and supposed to be gravestones, which makes me think on Mussaquoy. At the north end, past the trough, is the “flag-lined gully leading to a floored [and presently flooded to boot] hollow”. Looking back uphill, the successive laters of stone in the ‘“face’ of the mound at your right are plain as day. Looking clockwise there are four wooden stakes exposed in the ground. Nothing to do with the archaeology, they are much much too close together for a fence and make me think of a fish-trap or simple weir – but why here ?

To reach this site go along the main Kirkwall-Stomness road until you reach the Harray junction, turn up towards Dounby and the follow the directions for Corrigall Farm Museum on the east side of the road. The farmroad is very long and windy. At the museum you can see the mound just a little behind the the farmyard itself, to the right of a broad steep track going up the ways. Unfortunately the persistent rain tipping down prevented my approach to any nearer than the fieldgate beween the museum and the farmhouse (and my brother that drove me is not even into mounds, never mind a brochaholic, so wouldn’t stay), but if you have transport it is well worth a visit if ruinous mounds are your thing. Best ask at Corrigall Farm Museum or the farmhouse for permission I think.

Commondale Stone Circle...Easer bank holliday Monday 090407...Found it... with O/S map, one look at the compas and a good knowledge of the area... Oh yes, and a three year old son, stroppy twelve year old daughter who loved it when she got there and a very cold, bewildered but understanding wife (she was ok supping whine in Tomms afterwards)...Watch this space for our wonderfull family account of the search for the Commondale Stone Circle........and we found it.

Boringdon Camp is situated around 4 km south of Dartmoor and is accessed from a car park on the edge of Cann Woods. This can be reached by driving north from Colebrook on the road which goes to Shaugh.
The camp was in use from around 350-150 BC which according to the information board was the B section of the Iron Age. It is 145 metres above sea level and would have had a comanding view over Plymouth Sound when in use , unfortunatly this is now obscured by the pine forest. It still has views north towards Dartmoor.

On the OS Map there is a cairn marked between the summits of Greenane and Greenane West. I made the difficult climb up to 800m and 5km from the road using the path that is shown on the OS map that stops short of the summit.
When I got up there I couldnt find anything that resembled a cairn the only thing up there is “O’Loughlins Castle” which I’ve added a photo of. I’ve been meaning to check out the old OS notes for South Tipp in the Local Studies area of Thurles library.
I’ll see if this cairn has been destroyed or what it referred to.

We gained access by climbing from the shore below, only possible at low tide. The approach via the gully on the northern side is somewhat easier but not as exciting. It is maybe possible to climb down from the cliffs above but we didn’t check this out. There is enough remaining of a substantial broch to make the visit worthwhile and is a beautiful place just to sit and consider the original builders (and the in-coming tide). It’s not the best work I’ve seen but pretty neat nonetheless. There are no door checks or guard cells but there is some remaining intra-mural staircase. So it’s a broch all right and quite rare for this part of Scotland.

After yet another visit to this intriguing site it seems clearer than ever that the entrance to the henge is aligned with a notch on the hill which is due east. This appears to be the point where the midwinter sun rises.

Whether I will ever be brave/foolhardy enough to trek over boggy fields to spend a few hours on this wind swept land in the middle of winter to check this out for myself remains to be seen!

First time back at the Upper WHS for a good few years, there’s some new-fangled train thing running past it now, quite a contrast between the old and the new.
Now it’s a mess. A distressed, neglected, over-visited mess. The smell of rotting flesh [two recently-deposited chunks of unidentifiable raw meat, complete with plastic bag, covered in flies], the remains of several fires, cans and general shit everywhere. Stones moved here and there, some even having had fresh holes dug for them and stuck in, wobbly and half-done...

No matter how I look at it, it still doesn’t look like part of a chamber. There is no mound as such, just what is left that hasn’t been cut away to make pathways on either side. The downhill slope could feasibly have washed away over the years as happened at Warren Farm 200m to the north, but it is steeper than I have seen at any other LB, especially with alternative flat land accessible all around. But it didn’t stand up on its own...

I am trusting the info board at this site for info on this stone. The stone can be found in the car park of Poldark Mine near Wendron , north of Helston.
I know no more about it .....see image for more info.

Thi is another of those sites in Cornwall that I have past many times but never bothered to explore.....and another that after you make the effort you ask yourself why you have never done it before.
Castle-an-Dinas is LARGE!
Easy to reach just off the A30...which will shortly be closer to it when the new road opens...there is a handy carpark so that even those who do not want to walk far can access the site.
The whole place is full of history, not just the Iron Age fortress but also the 20th century wolfram mine buildings that flank the car park.
But it is the prehistory that will entice those who read this...
Fingerposts now guide you around the castle to preserve banks that have been badly eroded over the years by those who head straight for the top. Follow the posts, its worth it, you get to see far more of the site...in fact I would reccommend walking around in circles until you have done them all....
Once in the centre of the fort you will notice at least two mounds, all that remain of earlier tumuli, and a pond and eveidence of excavation, from a later period. I am sure the views on a good day are fantastic, it was a little hazy when I was there....good excuse to return!
Was this THE Iron Age castle of Cornwall?, I think it’s the biggest...and being central between both coasts I think it must be. The hill fort at St Dennis is just across Goss Moor where evidence of Bronze Age tin streaming has been found. Beyond St Dennis the China Clay waste tips have obliterated any other prehistory many years ago but to the north the Nine maidens and Pawton Quoit are not far away....
But I waffle....make a detour when heading west..climb to the top and take in Cornwall...its worth it.

“A Standing Stone At Eynsford
This 1978 report says that a sarsen stone was recently recognised in a direct line between the ancient ford and the church. It is 29” high and set in concrete outside Bridge House, It’s shape suggests a possible fertility significance. The writer says ‘Ponder its enigmatic presence’”
Arch Cantiana Vol 9 p260-262

“A sarsen stone at Eynsford was “re-erected” in the 1970s. Located between the ford and the church, the stone had been lying “embedded in the ground” but was re-erected to “what was probably its original position”. However, there appears to be little evidence that it ever stood upright in the first place.”
ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/search/fr.cfm?rcn=NMR_NATINV-410176

The claim of a stone being on a line between a ford which is up to 30’ wide, and a church, less than 200m away, is utterly ridiculous. However, I spoke to an old chap years ago who reckons it used to stand until they built the wall, which disturbed it, and it ended up half-buried in the path until someone decided to put it back up again years later.

This can be found in a church alongside the road to Burwick pier where the short sea ferry crossings take place in the tourist season). It is now in a back room at the church, and the key can be had from the lady who runs the local P.O. As this is on the 1:25,000 but unsignposted it is probably best to enquire at the Tomb of the Eagles in order to avoid disappointment outside of its limited post office hours.

This grouping of barrows bridges the gap between Bronkham hill and Gould’s hill. Access is very easy as it’s on the south west coast path .The barrows themselves vary in size and condition , depending on how much they’ve been ploughed. Most of the barrows straddle the crown of the hill , however there is a very interesting set of three to the north , which are very close together and appear to share a common ditch. At the western end of this group are two very large bowl barrows , two pairs of bell barrows and several ploughed variants. The middle section contains an excavated large bowl barrow known as Ridgeway no.7 in which a bronze knife and a gold pommel were found. Unfortunately I think this barrow now has a hideous telecom aerial planted in the middle of it. Next to the barrow with the mast on it is a very large earthwork which is a modern covered reservoir.

We parked in the main carpark to the east ( there is another one to the south eastish)and took a gentle stroll up the hill in warm spring sunshine, the top of the path comes out half way along the ridge.The path along the top is really rocky and there’s been many a sprained ankle up here I bet.almost immediatly we come across two cairns which to me looked less like cairns than an effort to make the path less arduous. passing these on our way northish we come across a standing rock and large outcrop then we crest a hill and we can see the highest peak the manstone rock with its trig point, we resolved to climb it and stand above the rest but even this proved difficult not just the climb but we had to queue proving on a sunny weekend this is a popular place , from up here we can see the whole shebang up and down all the stiperstones, to the east the Long Mynnd with Caer Caradoc peeping over the top and to the west Corndon hill and just out of view Mitchels Fold but in view we could see the Hoar stones circle or at least it’s field.
Moving on we come to the big cairn with a raised scooped out bit bearing the bedrock underneath ,and further still three outcrops close together it wasn’t obvious which was the devils chair so we climbed them all, and settled on the highest part with the fallen stone making an arch, I climbed up but forbade the kids from coming up it was too scary (they wouldv’e though, fearless) knees a shaking I sat down the world didn’t end so I climbed down and we slowly started to pick our way back along the path to the car.

This being “easter” weekend the range walks are open , so I took the trek up to the hillfort. Having only ever seen it from a distance it is surprisingly big up close. Today I can definitely see Woolsbarrow and Woodbury hillforts to the north. There is a nice set of three round barrows , known as the Water barrows locally , in the field below. Also another set known as the Ferny barrows can be seen at a lower level, I couldn’t easily stop to take a picture of them, but they are worth a look.
Both ends of this hillfort have three sets of ditches and banks which appear to mask the entrances as they appear now, although it’s difficult to know where the originals were. There is a lot of space between the outer and inner end banks , more so than many comparably sized Durotrigian hillforts in Dorset .The landslip which took the southern set of ditches and banks into the sea, appears to be slowly carrying on , the ground looks very unstable in places.
The long military use of this place doesn’t seem to have done it any lasting harm, it was taken from private ownership in 1943 c.e. with the promise that it would be given back, along with the two villages of Tyneham and Worbarrow which have been blown to smithreens in the intervening 60 odd years.The m.o.d. notice boards erroneously call this site a “roman” fort, the only post iron age structure on this site is a W.W.2 pill box on the cliff edge.

Visible as curving earthworks line to the east just past the field fence arcing for the sea. Splendid view from atop the cairn, then slide down the back of the mound. Whee !

I first came here six months ago but with sciatica (bad back) I couldn’t make the long walk. But now iv’e come prepared map and compass (essential) and mountain bikes.
Firstly the ride there was really good, above the lake with the trees the mountains and Red Kites aswell very pleasant.When I got to where I thought the stones were the trees thinned enough to walk about and take a look, success ,spectacular success I couldn’t beleive I found it so easily (I really think Iv’e got the stonefinding knack, with this gift who needs maps).
The first stone is not high but fat and heavy and leaning slightly, The trees here are so tightly packed that the only way to go through was to follow the clearing, thankfully this is where the other two stones are, but I nearly walked past them untill my daughter spotted them(which I strangely predicted to myself before we left).These two stones reminded me of the Maen Mawr and its two little followers, the little one here is almost unnoticable next to the biggun which is a very nice stone with a kind of face in it.
I tried to retell the folklore about the physicians to my children about how maybe the stones were doctors turned to stone at which point my youngest touched the big one pulled a strained face and said “yes I can feel the doctor in there”, Oh to be young again

This mound is in the grounds of an old gentry house in the village of Ballynacorra just outside midleton.
It must be about 6m high by about a diameter of 15m.
Its hard to know exactly what it is without further reseach.
For being ancient: it is very close to an early Church site and is not marked as a motte or such. On the against side: it is in the grounds of a gentry house and could possibly be a folly.
To back this up is the path leading to the top and the chair on top.

This is a little but very nice stone, should you wish to make the long walk uphill park to the south by the footpath sign theres plenty of room.
Walking up the hill just go straight up to the highest point this is the cairn which is slightly robbed on top from here the menhir is about 30 yards away. About half a metre tall and mostly gleaming white quartz the stone alone shouldn’t entice many folk up here but the views should....Glorious.
On our way down and slightly below us a Tornado fighter plane screamed past totally out of keeping with the ancient theme of the day but awsome all the same.

I’m afraid I was running low on time so decided to pass on the permission and ninja scurried along the fences and hedges instead. But it was worth it, I love a burial chamber still with a capstone on and what fantastic views nearly 360 degrees. However lack of permission to view the site meant an almost embaressment, as I scuttled round taking pictures and taking in the scenery I noticed a tractor in the field below
and sat back against the long stone when the tractor sound started to get louder and nearer and almost comically I crawled in the chamber and hid, whilst I was hiding I notced how comfy it was, looking through my feet to the wide open end I decided had someone wanted to be a hermit here he could do so easily, perhaps my bum was rubbing against the same stones as Illtyds.
The tractor passed and I came out of hiding one more look around and I beat a hasty retreat. A great place for a picnic but next time i’ll ask permission.

Access to this site has been greatly improved lately, it used to be a muddy scramble to get up to it. Park just down the hill from it in a long passing place. The views from the top of the hill are quite spectacular, nearby Woolsbarrow can be clearly seen to the southeast. Only part of the site can be walked upon as the rest is a working farm, there are houses and outbuildings here. At present only a single bank can be seen, the western and southern aspects are most accessible, apparently there was another ditch and bank which was quarried away for the gravel, which is still to be seen anywhere the ground is broken .

I visited this site again today, the more I look at it the less convinced I am about it being a hillfort. For one thing it’s not on much of a hill, I know that doesn’t rule it out, but it would be very unusual in Dorset. Also the banks look far too insubstantial for defensive use. I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t have been an enclosure for animals, this is an area of very good grazing for livestock. I’m more than happy to be wrong about this but, as Moss says it is unique in the Wessex area.

Im not really convinced about this being a cairn but it is marked as such. It seems to me to be a rock formation with possibly some cairn material piled up against it but I’m pretty dubious. Would be interesting to see the OS notes attached to this one.
Perhaps the cairn has been removed but I dont see who would go to the bother. Use moutainviews.ie for directions up.

I climbed up from the road, best to use mountainviews.ie for directions. The cairn isnt that obvious from the surrounding hill side when you are right beside it however it can be seen from far away. The north side of the cairn really isnt cairn like at all and it seems to be the east-south-west sides that are cairn like.
If it is a proper cairn then it is pretty huge, i couldnt really estimate because the north side flattens off.
You can see for miles up here and to a number of different hill-tops, some have cairns that are marked on the map, others that dont but have cairn-like features on top.