Latest Fieldnotes

Passing by through Killarney on my way home I thought I would pop by and see if it was possible to visit the circle. The farmer was walking up the lane so I was delighted to be given permission to go and see it.

My, my, my oh my... The area around the circle looks like its in the middle of a nuclear winter again, not a blade of grass left standing. Most of the tree cover around about half the henge has been cut down and thinned out, one tree has fallen directly onto one of the stones of the circle (though this may have been due to the storms) and to top it all off a large orange fibreglass ‘roof’ of something has been dumped inside the enclosure. I doubt things have ever been worse for this little circle. With some creativity I was able to get some nice shots of it, also some of the general state of the site.

Finding this place is a labour of love.

I intended to go for a poddle about on Garth Hill today but instead found myself carrying on up past Ponty towards this site, curiosity aroused since reading RedBrickDream’s post on it from almost five years ago.

If you haven’t got a tomtom, take a mate who’s a decent navigator. I went up the wrong side of the valley and ended up going ‘round in circles in some god-awful new road system they were building in Porth, I went back and forth between Ynyshire (ermn, I’m sorry, it’s that an island in Ireland? ;) ), Wattstown and Tonypandy for about an hour....don’t ask. Oh, and watch out, they like their speed camera vans around those parts.

Aaaanyway, eventually I made it to Gelli.

There are no signs for the landfill site anymore as the landfill site caused so much local unrest that they’ve now closed it down for good. The best thing you can do is follow the signs for the Industrial Estate. When you enter it the road forks in two – take the right-hand high road. Get to the end, turn right then right again onto a main road heading up the hill. Carry on past a speed camera on your right and it’s just ‘round the corner on your left with a sign for the ‘recycling plant’.

I found this by asking directions from two local gents, one of whom recounted fond memories of going up to the stones as a young man but had no idea whether they were still there or not. He assumed thay had fallen into the landfill.

On your left you will indeed see a small recycling centre. You need to pull in there, go to the booth and tell the person behind the counter that you’d like to go up and have a nose around. I didn’t have any problems getting entry and you follow the road up and park in a lay-by just outside the gates to the main landfill site.

Just before the gates there are two stiles (or ‘kissing gates’) on either side of the road. Facing the main gates of the landfill, the stile to your left leads into a field with a huge hill. The hill is an old part of the landfill but if you don’t mind climbing about on it, there’s some pretty impressive views of the Rhondda valley from up there. Gives you a good appreciation of the lay of the land. Standing atop it, looking down on the town, look up and to your right and you’ll see two prominent pointy hills. I’ve not had a chance to go investigate but it might be one to nose about on if you have the time. The problem with Welsh valleys is that you never know whether it’s something significant or a slag heap ;)

I was under a bit of pressure as the main gates close at five and, although I arrived in plenty of time, a guy from the landfill wanted to go home at three and, although not out-rightly asking me to hurry things along, seemed to be anxious to head off.

I spent quite a bit of time looking out at the other hills around. On my way in to Gelli I passed through Penrhys. Just off a roundabout leaving Penrhys is a car park and ‘St. Mary’s Well’. It’s worth stopping off here if you find it. The well no longer seems to be there but there is a giant statue of the Madonna with child looking out across the valley. It appears to be a renovation of one that was put there in the 1500s. The interesting thing is that this is on the opposite side of the valley to Mynydd Y Gelli. Standing on top of the rubbish heap with a wide view of the valley, looking to your right (in the rough direction of Penrhys and the well) is the aforementioned twin peaks. Another reason it might be worth checking out.

I have seen pictures online of the face stone and the main rings but I didn’t make it that far due to the time pressures. I would very much like to go back again with someone else who’s interested in this, to have another nose about. It’s not an easy site to distinguish as there’s the remains of a large stone wall and possibly a cottage, so the ground is littered with bits of rock. There is a definite difference between the large, old boulders in my pictures and all the wall debris, but that combined with the undergrowth makes the site well camouflaged.

Breathtaking view though. You can’t help but think that if the local council had treasured the site instead of turning it into a dump for dungy nappies, it could have a similar pull as Castlerigg just for the scenery.

I took a couple of quick picks (including St. Mary’s Well) here. Not the most impressive, but a start.

Fantastic views, particularly in the snow.

From Magic: The monument is a bowl barrow located at the summit of Kinderlow in the western gritstone moorlands of Derbyshire. It includes a steep-sided sub-circular mound measuring 17.5m by 15m and standing c.2m high. A gritstone kerb is visible in the edges of the mound and there is a modern walker’s cairn on the summit. The monument has not been excavated and so cannot be precisely dated, but its form and hilltop location assign it to the Bronze Age.

It is currently being restored by NT/Peak District National Park Authority to repair erosion damage.

Cherhill Down is a place close to my heart -might even get my ashes scattered up here one day – as a landscape its totally weird, those folds of the hills that seem to draw you down into a vortex. The hillfort when visited last November was full of sheep and the day was misty, its part of the Avebury landscape that is thankfully untouchable because of the terrain.
I can see the monument from the downs round Bath, a good 30 kms away, and it is always a reminder of the nearness of the prehistoric settlements round here, Avebury, the Mendips, Cotswolds, Stonehenge and Salisbury Plain. The movement of people through the high lands with the marshy ground below, visiting each other at certain times through the year,, generations of people living in a landscape that provided for them. They melded the land into a place of permanent homestead, from the early beginnings of the causewayed enclosures of Windmill Hill and Nash Hill down to these large defensive iron age hillforts.
Practical facts; 25 acres defended by two banks and ditches, with an inturned entrance on the East. Area enclosed is divided across by a small bank and ditch running N/S (probably not contemporary) Pottery of 2nd/3rd century bc has been found in rubbish pits inside.

This fine Menhir has sadly fallen over. It would have stood over 3m when erect. Looks like it toppled only in recent years. It’s shameful to see our national monuments suffering such neglect...

This stone is obviously leaning heavily towards the east. Looks like someone has placed packing stones around the base to help prevent it from toppling over. Hope their efforts were not in vain as this is a huge stone over 4m high. I fear that it’s sheer weight and gravity may cause it to topple like it’s neighbouring stone in Shanballynakill. Hope I’m wrong!

This is a craggy old rock, very eroded with loose pieces crumbling away, but still quite stable – didn’t want to poke at it too much though. It’s pretty large; well over 3m tall. There is another fallen rock beside it, can only assume that it was another standing stone.

From Barbrook I, find a track a few yards beyond the cairn to the NE and then follow it approx NNW for just over 200 metres.

Don’t be thrown as I was by the funny symbol (5 dots in a pentagon) which appears just to the right of the words “Stone Circle” on the OS Explorer map. I assumed it was an obscure symbol for a stone circle but in fact the circle is somewhat further south and I haven’t got a clue what the symbol really means!

The circle can be found by walking 200m on a bearing of 230 degrees from the path junction. Don’t try looking for the reservoir for help – it has been drained and will not be refilled.

after going through Rainow and Gincluogh take second right and at the highest point on the road Pike low is over the wall .The barrow is very battered with many big scoops taken out of it much like Musden low, and like that low there isnt much to see apart from the stone about 7ft tall, the squarish hole when looked through lets you see Big low ( but may not be ancient)
Like most Peak barrows there are extensive views,Shutlingsloe can be seen just peeping over the hills

Just to the north of the B4396 inbetween Llangedwyn and the smaller Pentrefelin is this impresive hill fort perched way up in the air on what must be an extinct volcanoe. Walk from the west or the east, but climb it from the east through the natural entrance otherwise it’s a really steep climb as we found out.

The bank runs around the entire hilltop reaching a height of about 5/6 feet, the back door is well defined but less so at the eastern entrance. What magnificent views from up here if your in the area the climb is well worth it.

A 3 basin bullaun that’s not marked on Sheet 56. Take the road south from Oldbridge to Laragh. After about a mile the road dips where Keocha’s Brook passes under the road. 10 metres before this on the right-hand side is a gate into a large, sloping field. Walk west through here just above the brook for approx. 500 metres. The stone is there in the corner of the field.
It’s a large lump of a rock that may have been previously earthfast. It reminds me of Clonmore bullaun stone: themodernantiquarian.com/site/935
Two of the basins are over a foot in diameter and quite deep. The other is very shallow, maybe the beginnings of a forgotten project.
For more on this see miscellaneous post below.

A fine setting , view is of Carn Liath .The cairn was found to contain the two side slabs of a cist .

If you’re heading for this panel, whatever you do, don’t rely on the OSmap (like we did), the explorer map shows a track leading from Slockaullin to Tayness, heading south, then doubling back after a mile or so. This track turns into a total bog (we slogged through it). Not worth the bother. Instead, follow Greywether’s directions, and use the newer track heading uphill to your right as you walk up from the road to Slockavullin, it’s not on the map, but it’ll get you right up there to where you want to go, we used it to get back down, much better.

Tidily mown inside the fence, completely wild and woolly outside. The panel itself is nice. A frequently made observation seems to be regarding how the motifs are clustered together on the rock surface, with a big gap around the edge. No-one knows if this was a deliberate choice or simply because the carvings are on the part that was exposed back when the carvings were pecked.

Possibly due to the uneven water table, we found that sunset at Ballygowan to be a very midge infested time.

Visited August 2006

I feel a bit embarrassed about posting this site as rock art, as I feel it’s more of a settlement. It’s the lumpy outcroppy bit to the north of the village of Slockavullin. It’s got traces of circular structures, one of which was described to me by a local grockle as a ‘banked stone circle’. It might have been, it is an earthen bank, and it has stones in it, but it’s not very likely to be honest. I think they are more likely to have been grounding stones of a building, only one of them was standing, and then only to a height of about 80cms. I couldn’t help but wonder if the 18thC buildings which constitute the current village was built on top of a much older site, mostly for the same reasons, it’s flat, but no good for farming, but it has a good water source and is close to the good farming bits. If trees weren’t there, it would be a 20m walk to a point where you’d be able to see all of the monuments from Ballymeanoch to Glebe Cairn, and from the outcrop, you could easily throw a stone into the centre of Templewood.

Quite frankly, the rock art is a bit rubbish. In retrospect, I wasted far too much time here (probably in excess of 15 hours over the space of a week) that could have been much better spent further uphill around Loch Michean.

Visited August 2006

The scanty details on RCAHMS can be found here .

We visited these two as part of an abortive attempt to see if we could get to Ormaigwith the kids in tow. Didn’t get to Ormaig, but it was still worth the walk, goodly sized, stately stones, and a nice view.

From the look of things, it could be a bit of a faff to get here from the castle car park. The ‘pasture’ field that you have to cross is no longer pasture, and I couldn’t see a gate anywhere. The path that leads up from the south was no bother at all.

Visited August 2006

Quite overgrown in summer. Some of the stones were hard to spot. However, as this is due to the fence protecting it from cattle, It’d be churlish to complain too vociferously.

One of the stones (the westernmost one I think) has a peculiar feature that at first I was tempted to see as part of an artificial chevron pattern similar to that once found at Carn Bàn in Kilmartin. Upon reflection, I concluded that it’s natural, though of course I’d like to think I’m wrong.

This circle seems to have once been the focal monument in the area, being on the natural route across the island, and hence from Southern Scotland over to Kintyre and the isles. The single stone at East Colmac allegedly forms the central point between this circle and the point at which the sun rises on the summer solstice. There’s an enigmatic earthwork, of prehistoric origin, but uncertain nature, as well as the numerous cup marked stones in the area. Ettrick Burn alone boasts 12 separate marked stones.

Visited August 2006

Passed this small stone without getting a decent photo, but it looked like the thing described by RCAHMS as 1.6M tall, leaning over. Apparently older maps showed a second stone at the same spot. Given it’s proximity to the circle at Ettrick Bay, it’s tempting to wonder if this stone has some sort of alignment to the circle in the same way as the nearby stone at East Colmac

Almost visited August 2006

This single stone can be considered an outlier for Ettrick Bay circle, as apparently in conjunction with the circle, it forms an alignment for Summer Solstice sunrise. It was once thought to be part of a circle of its very own, but this idea seems to have fallen out of favour as there is no evidence for other stones.

I didn’t tromp through the crop, and had to content myself to a view through a zoom lens from the edge of the field.

Visited August 2006

I can confirm Merrick’s observation about wheelchair access, the right hand fork also has a better surface.

I’d also agree with the comments below about the strange ambience induced by the cairn’s peculiar combination of ruinous state and Heritage manicure.

The largest stone has some interesting natural features, reminiscent of cup marks, but also hinting at fossilised mussel shells. I’d like to think these marks had something to do with this particular stone being chosen for inclusion into the body of the cairn.

A nocturnal visit produced no evidence of the ‘shadowy phantoms’ mentioned below.

Visited August 2006

It’s a lucky stone to have survived the building of the Castle, as we were told that in creating the castle grounds, the Laird in those days destroyed a whole village that was in the way. Presumably megaliths were considered to be fashionable for statey homes at the time, I’ve seen ones elsewhere get physically lifted to act as posh garden ornaments.

Nowadays, it sits as a spectator to the footy played on the pitch it’s only a couple of feet away from. The proximity to the goalposts and a picnic table makes it seem more than a tad incongruous. But kinda nice at the same time.

Visited August 2006

I spent a cold frosty morning in Goathland watching the Plough Stots perform their annual sword dance around the village, with half a day to kill I decided to follow my nose south into the Tabular Hills.
The Tabular Hills occupy the southern end of the North York Moors, geologically they are formed of layers of Jurrassic limestone. In prehistory, as today, these hills were rich farmland and a marked contrast to the wide open heather expanse and thin soils of the northern moors.
I travelled from Goathland south along the Pickering road. Once past the menacing structure of the Fylingdales military base the road climbs up through Saltergate and past it’s famous pub where the peat fire that has burned continuously since 1759 trapping the malevolent spirit of a murdered excise man. From Slatergate the road runs around the edge of the Hole of Horcum, a huge natural bowl that legend tells us was created by either the Devil or Wade the Giant. A few miles along this road is the Dalby Forest drive. This is a toll road operated by the Forestry Commission and is very popular with hikers, bikers and all sorts of outdoor pursuit types. The road leads you into the Dalby Forest, a huge area of managed woodland, rich in archaeology. Being a good yorkshireman I only ever drive along this road in the wintertime when access is free.
A couple of miles along the road brings you to the Bridestones car park. The path to the stones is signposted. Once through the gate I recommend you take the left hand of the three paths, this will take along the edge of the woods and then slowly up to the moor top. As you climb from the valley floor you can see the Bridestones standing like sentinels, lining the ridge to the east of you. The moor here has a primeval vibe about it and seeing the stones looking down on you gives you some idea as to how the people who first named these stones may have felt, the mysteriousness of this place would not have been lost on our ancestors. The stones outcrop on either side of a narrow valley, the eastern stones have a monumental vibe around them, the rock overhangs of the western stones may have provided plenty of opportunity for shelter and perhaps a place to observe game moving along Dovedale Griff below.
If you in the area it is well worth having a look at the Bridestones. The walk from the car park will take you about 15 minutes. The gated track is quite steep in places and there are quite a few steps on the way to and from the stones.
If you are feeling energetic you could park at the Hole of Horcum and make a day of it taking in the Old Wife’s Way, Blakey Topping and its standing stones and the Bridestones.

Waitby Castle sits on the brow of a hill overlooking the disused railway to the North East, and Waitby and Smardale to the West. The earthworks are hidden from view as you’re driving down the road below, and are only visible once you’ve ‘trespassed’ through three fields and ‘hopped’ over a few walls.

Once your there, the ‘castle’ is an oval hill top enclosure, with the distinct earthwork remains of up to five enclosures within the confines of the ditches and ramparts. I understand that the earthworks are a Romano-British settlement, and as such represent the remains of a medium size encampment. There are good views to be had from the summit of the hill....good defensive qualities!!!

My biggest gripe about this site, is that the farmer seems to have made a habit of driving some sort of vehicle through the middle of the earthworks, thus creating a permanent scar right through the middle. It’s a shame that more protection isn’t afforded to this type of earthwork!!!

Driving through the hills north of Kealkill, you could forget that your on the way to visit one fo the few excavated and restored stone rows in the south west, the scenery is incredible. Just as you pass a peacefull little lake in a natural amphitheatre you come to a small cross roads. Maughanasilly stone row is on the hillock to the right, overlooking the lake. The name mey be ridiculous but this is a seriously wonderful place. A small space just outside the gate is handy for parking and the site has a little, informative sign just inside the swinging gate. Visitors are welcome here and the site is very easy to access, though not for the disabled.

I arrived here just as the sun was re-appearing for a few minutes of glorious colour before sinking below the horizon, there are wide views across wild mountains to the north and west but no view to the east. To me, it looked like this row is very closely aligned to the sunset at midwinter, the sign suggests a lunar alignment.

The stones that remain standing are all similar but look bizarrely mismatched or arranged, they are all quite small, none above 1.5m. One lies prostrate on the south side but there doesn’t seem to be a gap for its socket, as if it had missed out on megalithic musical chairs.

I forgot to print off the directions below and made a complete yak of getting to the stones. I parked in a driveway and knocked on the door, there was noise inside but no-one answered. This is getting more common in the depths of rural Ireland. Anyway, I walked up a lane and then along the side of a small stream into another field. I then crossed a hedge and up in the corner I had to scale a wall at an open gate. At first glance over, there seemed to be no way in or out of the field but once you are near the stones you realise there are a  few gaps on the southern hedge.

The stones themselves? Wonderful! One massive, bulky hulk and two skinnier but still quite large accomplices. Like the big boss man and his two cronies. The setting is again spectacular, this is stunning countryside. The stones dont seem to have ever formed a rectangle, it must have been quite askew when complete (if there was a fourth stone) in much the same was as the comparable, but slightly less dramatic, arrangement at Lettergorman.

The weather continues to oscillate though many dramatic shifts, it rained quite a bit which meant constant wiping of the lens for the brief burst of sunshine that produced a magnificent rainbow.