Latest Fieldnotes

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.

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?

Finally!!!! After driving past this site lord only knows how many times and making a hundred promises to myself to visit, I finally made it on Saturday. Inspired by a certain Dr Burl, who we had just witnessed giving a rather humourous talk in Penrith about Cumbrian stone circles, we jumped in the car and headed out, mapless but determined. Fortunately, Dom has a great sense of direction and I had vague memories of having checked out the route when I had planned to visit previously and we found Gunnerwell Farm without too many u-turns!

We parked on the road and walked down to the farm – I don’t know whether the farm was ever sold but if it was, the new owners seem as friendly and welcoming as the previous ones. We did see the stone standing in the field outside the house but weren’t sure whether this was just one of those cheeky old glacial erratics which manage to get everyhere round this bit of Cumbria.

From the farm, you just go through the gate and follow the field straight down – access is easy and no longer do you need to take your life in your hands and climb over dangerous walls. Jane will be pleased!

The M6 wasn’t too busy and it was a stunningly beautiful day so we pottered around for some time – Dom mentioned the resemblance to Croft Moraig and I have to admit, it is equally as “messy” – it looks as if 2 groups of peope were trying to out-do each other and it just ended up as one big stone-fest! There are a couple of those lovely pink stones you find at Kemp Howe and Gamelands too which looked fab in the sunshine. Perversley, you actually get a better sense of this circle as you drive by on the M6 than when you are stood in the centre of it, so we climbed up to the top of the field to look down and see it is all of its glory.

A fabulous site to visit after being so inspired by Dr Burl and a good way to end the day. Bliss.

Visited on 28/4/07. Found 5 panels in total though I believe there are a couple of dozen more at least. The fields with all the outcrops are divided up and there were lambs in the largest so I didn’t venture in there.

If you are planning on visiting, please make it your business to ask first as the landowners are fed up with people wandering in. They have also put up a ‘Trespassers will be prosecuted’ sign. It was also the first time I’ve been asked about insurance but luckily I had my photographers insurance cert with me.

Apart from the three obvious panels on the high outcrop with bushes on it, I found two other panels, one had a cup and two half rings and what looked very like a scaled down ormaig-alike rosette. The other had a single cup with two rings. I’d love to see a plan of the panels so I could see which ones I missed.

I’ve been at Mount Venus twice before and both times have left feeling puzzled. The massive capstone lies against a single large upright and there has always been precious little else to see due to a riot of vegetation. Doubts persist in the literature as to whether the capstone was ever fully raised or if this was a project begun and then abandoned, a bridge too far so to speak.

I stopped by the tomb today to see if I could clear up some of this confusion for myself. I had hoped that the growth was not as bad as usual given the time of year. I was even optimistic that someone might have cleared around the tomb as the last time I was here somebody had cut the elder tree at the tomb’s north end. No such luck, but the new year’s growth was only just taking hold and I was able to get a much better view of the monument after a half hour’s toil. Brambles, hawthorn, nettles and holly; my unprotected hands are showing the signs.

One of the problems I have in describing this tomb is that I don’t know the front from the back, where the supposed portal was, was there ever a doorstone etc. I’ve always thought of the front of the tomb as being the sloping capstone, the east side/end. I’ll use that as a guide.

I had never seen the stone at the front of this image megalithomania.com/show/image/5326 before. I was able to uncover it today. It’s almost 4 metres long by a metre wide and looks to have been dressed. What it’s purpose was, what part of the structure it belonged to, is beyond me. At the south end of the tomb is a stone with similarities to the one that remains standing. Did this once prop up the south end? I didn’t get a good look at it as I had had my fill of bashing brambles back for today.

Right in the centre of the stones is a large hawthorn tree with a parasitic holly tree at its side. A modern pit has been dug around the tree and is filled with plastic and glass bottles. I wondered why this site doesn’t have an official fógra beside it. A little time and a chainsaw would expose more of the monument and aid us in knowing a little more about what went on here back in the neolithic. There is more to find out from a survey of the site. I was left feeling slightly less puzzled when I took my leave. I’ll be back... with a machete!

A really nice day to be here, I asked at the farm for permission and the lady let me park there too, a short 5 minute walk and there we have them two quite well preserved long cairns but they are being eaten away by trees and those damn sheep. The field was empty when I got there but the farmer soon showed up with a large flock of sheep, he came over and asked me what I thought of them (the cairns not the sheep)and we talked at legnth about the ancient world , evolution and the future of mankind, nice bloke for a farmer.
Both cairns have almost intact chambers they almost reminded me of Carneddau Hengwm in N. Wales, this place had me entranced, even with the sheep (do we really need sheep anymore how much mutton or lamb do you eat? do you wear many woolen clothes? get rid of ’ em all I say)

Above the B4348 looking down into the aptly named Golden valley is cross lodge, I parked half way up the hill and walked towards two houses but on arrival they turned out to be empty farm buildings but luckily the farmer turned up on his quad and was only too happy to let me go have a look he even gave me directions . Inbetween the buildings and barrow stop and have alook at the hollow old oak tree, well impressive.
The barrow sits comfortably in the corner of a field with two Ash trees growing out of its southern end, on top of the barrow are a few large stones but they don’t look insitu because they’re aren’t stuck in just resting on top from on top we can see the original extent of the barrow which has been badly ploughed.Looking at the map the barrow is part of an alignment with Arthurs stone and in the middle the line skims the western rampart of Dorstone hillfort, probably fotuitous because there are a few more sites looking down into the valley which aren’t in line.
I could have stayed here for ages but was getting plagued by loads of flying black bugs.
A really beautiful place.

It took ages to find this longcairn mostly because of the long pipe filled dirt track which i presume will soon become a gas line from some far off no where, but just for today it was quite and all was well with the world . The warmest April since records began it was a warm and clear day, the barrow when I found it was covered in bluebells and when i tried to sit on a log a rabbit shot out of hiding and I nearly had a baby.
There are quite a few stones protuding above ground but only one big one, the barrow isn’t on the hilltop which is only 80 yards away, if not for the big mature tree we would have splendid views to the mountains,
Mynydd Troed and Twmpa.

Easily seen from the A470 and room to park at the entrance to Llangbed hotel, two fields from the road in the warmest April for 300 years even at 7 am it was a pleasure to walk to.
Badly leaning to the west this stone could be 8-9 ft tall if stood upright
a very nice menhir guarded by hoards of sheep bleating too loudly (for a tresspasser anyway)

One of the most pleasant walks up hill to any stone I’ve been to, following a small stream in a bluebell carpeted wood I kept sitting down just to make the journey last longer.
Two fields above the lane overlooking the River Wye this stone is nigh on eight feet tall, a nice colour and has great views to the east

A search of Keys to the Past, the Northumberland & Durham archaeology site, for other rock art in the Ray-Sunniside area produced two possibilities. One of these looked quite interesting: ‘Iron Age defended settlement and Neolithic cup marked stone on Great Wanney Crag (Kirkwhelpington). The crag is certainly an impressive place, regularly used by climbers and a good viewpoint. Despite its view of the Simonside Hills to the NE, I couldn’t onvince myself that the cups and grooves on rocks at the crag edge were anything other than those produced by natural erosion. Perhaps there are some that started as artificial carving but it would be difficult to tell now. Maybe another visit in better light or more optimistic mood would show something up.
The second record, this site, certainly lived up to its description and there’s certainly no reason to suspect that the cups here are anything other than artificial carvings. Hawick Farm is situated to the E of Sweethope Loughs about 2.5km S of Ray-Sunniside. The cup-marked panel is in a field close to a footpath some 200m E of the farm and lies on the E side of a grassy mound, partially turf covered (possibly a cairn?). 8 cup-marks were exposed, the largest 10cm diameter, the others about 5cm and between 2 and 3cm deep. I resisted the temptation to take anything more than a restrained peak under the edges of the covering vegetation and this only revealed some smaller cups. The horizontal rock surface appears to be partly rounded but its overall extent is hidden.
The surrounding land is gently rolling, improved pasture, mainly given over to sheep. The map shows enclosures and a tumulus two fields to the NE in the direction toward the deserted medieval village of West Whelpington.

The views up here are amazing. I would suspect that this may have been some kind of passage-grave at one stage. The view to the setting sun is fantastic over some low hills in cork and to the east is the sea around youghal.
I would think that the rising sun coming up out of the sea here would have been amazing. So if there was a passage perhaps it was aligned to a sun-rise. All just conjecture of course.
Also this cairn has great views into the mountains of Tipp/Waterford to the north.

This stone row has 2 large stones and 1 smaller stump. The highest is about 1.25m high. Unusually the axis of the row is aligned north-south.
It is easy to get to from the road. It is down a quiet cul-de-sac. I parked opposite a new stone house and then walked thru two fields to get to it.
Some of the foresty plantation have been cut recently and open some views to the west but nothing too significant.

This standing stone is pretty mathom about 2.2m high by about 1.5m wide.
It is set with great views of the Tipp/Waterford Hills. It looks like a fairly average stone but the edge or narrowest side looking towards the hills is all gnarled and interesting looking.
It is just behind a new house at the edge of a foresty plantation and access to it is easy.

No sign of this standing stone on Slievecorran. There is a huge slab of granite lying in the corner of one of the fields near where it should be, prehaps that is it?

No sign of this standing stone. Used GPS but still could find nothing.
There is a stone about 300mm high in a ditch but it doesnt look significant enough to me.