Latest Fieldnotes

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.

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.