Latest Fieldnotes

From the car park walk north and follow the thin path through the trees, quite a long but pleasant walk with what would have been spectacular views to the west had it not been so hazy, as you approach the hillfort turn around and take a look at Moel Arthur the next fort south along the range.
Penycloddiau is the biggest and most impressive hillfort in the Clwyddian mountains at 430m the views are extensive to say the least. The strong cold wind coming from the east pretty much prevented us from having a good look along those ramparts (the wind whipped the lens cap right in my eye, ouch)but the other side was well preserved double ditches at the north east end and to the north triple. There may have been two entrances to the east, at least that’s what Coflein says, we didn’t go up the wind torn eastern side.
I do not know why I put off coming here so long it’s just awesome even the kids (My hill fort groupies)loved it only two or three Clwyd mountains hill forts to go now.

This stone row was tricky enough to find in the middle of a pine plantation which thankfully is cut down at the moment. It is just off the road and probably best found with an OS Map.
The row itself is fenced off but a tree has kinda fallen in front of it and so its hard to spot coming in from the road. The stones are all between 1-1.5m high and the row seems to be orientated north-east, south-west.

This stone near the small village of bartlemy in a field with horses in it. There is a nearby (1km) holy well dedicated to the St Bartholomew’s. Im not sure what cures he is associated with.
It is about 1m high and looks out to the mountains to the north.

This standing stone is about 1.5m high and tilted to one side. It is about 0.5km away from the roadside behind a farm, I visited it by walking along the side of a field that had been freshly ploughed and then thru another two fields. The farmer seems to keep horses so watch out for that. There is a fulacht fia which I didnt visit about 400m away.

The OS map has changed a good bit with the new house in the first picture destroying the lane that appears to run up close to it. The barrow itself is about 300mm high by a diameter of maybe 10-15m. There a few stones protruding from it, may be field clearance.
More than likely I would say the barrow is looking along the false horzon to the north-east where the hills are, may be part of the Knockmealdowns, will have to check.

These 2 bullaun stones are recorded by Price and he gives them separate letters in his recording system. They’re about 60 metres up-river from the caretaker’s house. You can’t really miss the larger one of the 2 which is in the middle of the river (actually, if you’re like me, you might). Why the stone is in the river is a great puzzle to me. My companion today seemed less confounded. The stone screams ‘Christian’ to me and, theorising only, might have had some sort of baptismal function and probably once stood with its bowl on the topside. The bullaun on the bank is much smaller and is more typical of the single basin bullauns that are found in abundance in Wicklow.

In the base of the wall about 10 metres from the gate of Glendalough Cottage, I’d been here before and totally missed this one. As stated, it’s a bit away from the gate and that’s how I didn’t see it (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it). Price records another one just inside the gate but we didn’t find it. It could be that it’s covered up or has been removed up to the house.

“Our previous excavations have produced a wealth of information, which we are now starting to piece together. In prehistoric times, the site at Ringlemere must have been one of considerable importance. The story really begins around 2600 BC when a large circular ditched enclosure was constructed on the site, for reasons which still remain unclear to us. This enclosure was probably used for ceremonial purposes. We understand little of the detail but there had been a small rectangular timber building at the centre of the monument at one time, perhaps a shrine. This timber structure was surrounded by pits, holes for wooden posts and several hearths, all of which implies that there had once been considerable activity within the enclosed area.

Years later, perhaps around 2000 BC, a mound of turf and soil was heaped up in the middle of the old enclosure, burying all the earlier features. The mound seems to have created a platform to support a new timber structure, close to the site of the earlier shrine. A large pit dug into the top of the mound nearby may have originally contained the gold cup. By the time the gold cup came to be buried, however, the monument had perhaps already been in use (possibly intermittently) for well over 500 years. Yet, not long after, the site seems to have been abandoned, leaving the mound with its encircling ditch as a monument to the Ancestors, largely ignored by later inhabitants of the region. The Romans came and went without leaving much of a mark on the site. But to generations of local rabbits, foxes and badgers this ancient mound provided an ideal place to dig their burrows – we have excavated numerous examples of them.

Then, in about AD 450 new Anglo-Saxon settlers arrived in the region. To them, the ancient mound showed that this was a place of great importance, which would be very suitable for the burial of their dead. They established a cemetery here which contained over 50 individuals, some cremated. The cemetery went out of use around AD 550 and the area eventually became the farmland that it continues to be today.”

canterburytrust.co.uk/ringlem3.html

From an excellent up-to-date resource on the ongoing excavations at Ringlemere. Recent aerial photographs have turned up more than 20 barrows marked in the immediate vicinity.

There are five barrows in this group , which is part of the Dorset ridgeway chain, including Bronkham hill, Bincombe and Came. These barrows overlook Maiden Castle. I am keeping a close eye on the three middle round barrows in this group as they have been ploughed at least once in the last 5 years. According to magic they are scheduled ancient monuments, but I’m not sure who to inform about deliberate damage. They are very easy to see as they are on a “b” road from Weymouth, with a layby right next to them. I have counted the barrows from west to east , the first being the most westerly.The first of this group is a large disc barrow with pronounced outer bank and ditch, the eastern part of the ditch is now only apparent as a crop mark, having long been ploughed out.

During 1978 and 1979 I was in the RAF based at the nearby camp at Winterbourne Gunner. Often I would walk up to Figsbury Rings at the weekend, or a summers evening and just sit on one of the branches of the tree there. The place was so tranquil that it was easy to just sit there and enjoy the peace and quiet by yourself.

This round barrow stands in a clearing, at the highest point in Ashenbank Wood. It stands around 2m tall, with the ditch buried under the spread of the mound, and is around 22m across. It was partially excavated back in 1895 but work was restricted by a growing tree. As usual they failed to fill the hole completely leaving a hollow in the top on the mound.

Thankfully this barrow is protected and kept clear, with the trees downhill to the south almost thin enough to see through. To the north there is a covered reservoir, and all around the woods are the remains of a WW2 camp used to house those stationed at Gravesend airfield, so it’s probably lucky to have survived.

Apart from the fact that this is not on chalk, being a much more gravelly mix, this reminded me a lot of the barrow in Shoulder of Mutton Wood, both in shape, size and positioning in the landscape. When on grassland the view to the south would have been awesome, with probable views of the Thames to the north.

Access best from the carpark in Halfpence Lane, then a gentle 10-minute uphill stroll through mature oak woodland dotted with brick walls and other camp remains.

This is quite a large hillfort even by Dorset standards and is practically unknown, probably because there is no public access, it is private property. It consists of a single ditch and bank with what appears to be a single southern entrance, it is roughly an elongated oval in shape. It is orientated on a north / south axis. The interior has apparently been excavated in the past, finds inluded “antique bones”, blades, axes and Roman coins. About half way down the east and west ramparts there are brick archways built into the banks, oh those wonderful Victorians. Because of the lack of public access it is in pristine condition, covered in mature native trees.

Although there is only one barrow marked on o.s. maps I saw three in a mile long stretch of the valley , driving south. I managed to walk to the mapped one , it is on a footpath a short walk uphill.
The second one I managed to photograph from a passing place on the narrow road , unfortunately I was unable to take a picture of a third as it wasn’t safe to stop. I’m not sure about the trees planted on the first barrow , it is quite low and may well have been ploughed in the past , so at least the trees make that impossible at the moment.

The fallen stone is just by the roadside near to the village of ballinacurra. The two stones are described as “standing stones” but are not within sight of each other as a ditch separates the two.
The taller stone is a fine stone about 2.2m high by about a 1m across and commands some good views. The other stone has fallen and is close to a ditch which doesnt allow any views from it. Both are in rolling countryside.

This can be found near the village of Ballinacurra which is close to Midleton in Cork. Basically use the OS map to get close to it. I found it without a GPS using the clump of trees show near it on the map. It is behind a farm-house and access is reasonable. If anyone is about it is worth asking for permission.
The height of the tomb is approx 1m-1.5m high, length about 4m.
To the south is a possible barrow or maybe the remains of a ring-fort and there is also a standing stone to the south-west.
There is also a funny looking mound to the west of it, however that could be natural but looks slightly out of place to me in the locality.

Before work, I managed to sneak in a quick stroll up to the site this morning. The mist was burning off and no other soul was about so I had the place to myself (excluding a few ponies).

The site is classified as a hillfort (gentle-rise-fort doesn’t exist yet!) and was investigated as part of the hillforts of the ridgeway project in the late 1990’s.

At the start of the track leading up to the site is a large pile of field cleared sarsens and the track has the remains of a low sarsen wall running parallel to it. The views of Ashdown house are stunning.

The site itself still has lots of sarsens scattered about (remains of a wall no doubt) and you can still make out the ‘bump’ in the middle of the fort, where the Romano-British farmhouse once stood. Erosion protection is still in place on parts of the banks (much as the last time I visited a few years ago).

The view to the ridge opposite, shows three bumps of round barrows on the skyline. There is also a ploughed out barrow site on the other side of the woods. I spent a few minutes enjoying the silence and then plodded back to the car and unfortunately, back to work.

If ever you visit for the day, a tour of Ashdown house (stunning views from the top) plus visiting this site (and the sarsen field in front of Ashdown house) and maybe a picnic, would, in my humble view, be a nice day out. It’s close enough to Waylands and WHH aswell.

The cairn on Sheegouna is to the north-east of Slievenamon and at a height of about 550m meaning from Slievenamon you have to climb down to it.
Jim O’Connor in the link on the folklore calls it “The fairy-fort of the magic cow”. He also mentions that there was another cairn on Knockahunna to the north. There is no mention of a passage-grave but this cairn to me seemed to be the more likely of the two to have one.
To the south of the cairn is a rock shelter which may be a megalithic tomb, its not recorded, have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.
The cairn is smaller than the cairn on Slievenamon so about 2m high by 20m diameter.

The cairn on top of Slievenamon or Mountain of the Woman is at a height of 721m. It is a good walk and there is a path all the way up to the cairn which makes access easy.
Coming from Dublin on the Cashel by-pass N8 take the sign for Fethard then the Kilsheelan road and follow the signs for Ballypatrick and Kilcash. There are signs for the walk in Kilcash.
It takes about an hour to climb up to it.
The cairn itself isnt as impressive as I hoped and the day I climbed it was pretty hazy so couldnt get an idea as to any significant features on the landscape around it. It is mentioned in the link I have that it is thought to be a passage grave, to me it didnt seem big enough but I would love to be proven wrong!. I would think it is approx 3-4m high by maybe a diameter of 20-25m.

This long barrow is adjacent to the LB7 bronze age group. The hill adjacent is called ‘Crog Hill’ (Meaning ‘hill of the dead’). What was once a mighty stone age tomb, is now no more than a bump in the ground.

I often come to this site, but this visit saddens me. It appears the local landowner has driven a fence right across the middle of it and removed the smaller sarsen stones from the site and piled them up. Two large pieces of sarsen still remain in situ (I guess they weren’t strong enough to move them too).

Isn’t this damaging a listed ancient monument site?

Angry of Wantage...

This whole hill is covered in barrows and holes in the ground. The barrows vary in size from tiny ( c.12 feet across) to the huge ( c.100 feet across). The biggest is a bell barrow with a robbed out middle, it appears to have been heightened by having the spoil from this hole piled upon the original mound. It has a ditch and bank surrounding most of it’s circumference, the only break is where the farm track cuts through it. Some of the holes directly mirror their adjacent barrows in size , some look like pond barrows. Many other barrows can be seen from this hill and there is a great sign which points you towards Hells bottom. The inland coast path on which it lays has plenty more barrows upon it. There is a curious shallow ditch and bank lined on one side with small upright slabs of Portland type stone, it could be a field division, but this looks unlikely due to its position.
The holes are solution holes, acid has eaten away the underlying chalk to form a depression. The ditch edged with stones is known to be an Anglo-Saxon boundary.

Adjacent to the road that passes close by and in a clump of beech trees, is a worn out barrow. A circular ditch can still be made out that surrounds the central (and much denuded) burial mound. I suspect that it is bronze age (its close to the lambourn seven barrows group and opposite a tumulus on the other side of the road).

The fence that now runs down the side of the road was added a few years ago. The other clumps of beech trees that occur along the road may also be barrows, but it is difficult to be sure. This one has a definate circular ditch around it.

Marked on the OS map as a burial chamber, this ruined chambered cairn is 700 metres southwest of Tan-y-Muriau, and 1.5km south of Rhiw axe factory.

By ruined, I mean it is a pile of stones, with rows of holes visible on the capstone where someone has tried to split it.

Four Crosses is a portal dolmen, with three uprights supporting its capstone. It was restored by the landowner in the 1930s, who seems to have accidentally restored one of the uprights as the capstone.

Don’t try to find the footpath marked on the OS map, as it is no longer there (it’s now under a nursery). Instead, park in the layby opposite the nursery, and walk down to the farm turning (named Cromlech, handily). Down the lane, and turn right through the gate opposite the farm buildings.

One of only two standing stones on the north terraces above Loch Tay. Judging by the amount of rockart and quality soil the area must have been well populated from at least the Late Neolithic. The stone is aligned 30 degrees and would have pointed to the summer major lunar standstill on the slopes of East Mealour. There is a cup marked rock, due east in the same field.

Paul Ashbee has expressed doubts over the length of the monument as it stands – the kerbstones could have been pulled together to free up more field space to the West. With that in mind, I walked the field today, and must say the distribution of stone chips and flint is more pronounced in a line between the kerbstones outside the fence. Following suggestions and after studying plans of the site I was able to look more closely at the slighting caused by removal of the end of the chamber and the capstone[s], and to recreate the site as was in my mind. The chamber ends are uneven, which with square slabs, is an anomaly – they are over 6” out of line, suggesting there were more stones and a longer chamber. The stones are there, identifiable as squarish slabs, at the foot of the slope. [But as Mr Ashbee says, they could have been brought from elsewhere!]

This makes the chamber at least another 7’ long – evidenced by the amount of deposits found in the spoil on the eastern slope – and, with a facade [there were two standing stones on the lower ground level in the right alignment to complete the edging on the north east corner, one still stands, the other is beneath the hedge] and, therefore, two levels of building – the facade being at least 12’ lower than the side kerbs.

Extending the chamber creates its own problem. The chamber would still be considerably higher than the ground level, and wet chalk to climb up does not makes sense with a monument aligned ESE [ie, winter solstice sunrise]. Therefore, at some stage, there would need to be steps to get to the high chamber. Of course, the chamber itself could have been on two levels, the ‘front’ chamber stones being 15’ tall to match the height of the rear stones when planted and buried in the soil.

Unfortunately the whole monument has been attacked at least twice over the years, with religious fervour responsible in the 13th C, and the demand for chalk [of all things] making the eastern and northern banks into a small quarry 300 years later. This has led to stones being buried or removed [though not so many as elsewhere] and unearthed, to be arbitrarily placed along the kerb. Some of the kerbstones look like they could have been a capstone, dragged back across the chamber rather than risking injury by tipping it off the edge. Thankfully, its isolated position in the landscape and its inaccessibility due to it being surrounded by springs and therefore mud, has protected it from being noticed for many years. Once overthrown and overgrown, nobody would know what was there.