Latest Fieldnotes

Danesborough is an iron age hillfort, which if it were in say, the Welsh Marches or the Berkshire Downs, wouldn’t get much more than a second glance from all but the most dedicated researchers. However, since it is no more than a stone’s throw from Milton Keynes, an area not rich in prehistoric remains, it is worth a visit if you’re in the area.

It is situated in Aspley Woods. Whilst the trees and bracken make it difficult to appreciate the scale of the site, they do make for a very nice walk to get there. You can wander through the forest for literally miles if you want to.

The hillfort itself is fairly standard: with a bank, ditch and counterscarp bank all visible. In places the top of the bank is still 12-15 feet above the silted bottom of the ditch. The land falls away fairly steeply on the southeast and northwest, making quite an impressive defended site, close to the pre-roman route of Watling Street.

The soft, sandy soil of the area (the nearest village is Woburn Sands – an accurate name) mean that there are numerous hollow ways and sunken tracks, which combined with the trees make interpretation difficult. There are entrances to the northeast and southwest which may be original, but it is difficult to make out any traces of outworks or other defensive gateway structures owing to the bracken and the confused nature of the ground.

There is no best place to park and no best route to Danesborough. It is at least half a mile from the nearest road, and the paths can be muddy. Get yourself a decent map, park up in either Woburn, Woburn Sands or Bow Brickhill, and enjoy the peace and quiet of the woods on the walk there.

When originally discovered this motif appeared to have five rings curtailed by the edge of the rock ,see themodernantiquarian.com/post/53565 ,
quite a common feature in rock art . However ,when the the area surrounding them was cleaned up a bit and with better lighting the ” rings ” turned out to be two sets of arcs giving the impression of rings . While there are lots of examples of rings being cut off at a fissure or or change in slope or texture I don’t know of any that have it on two sides .

It’s completely different kind of stone when compared to those at Machrie. It would look more at home on the Isle of Lewis.

It’s a damn good one. Nice shape, size, good lichen, nice views, fairly easy to get to, with the fallen twin hiding in the grass as a bonus. It’s lovely and sculptural.

It’s easy to get to from the farmhouse halfway up to Auchencar, where the folks were happy to dispense permission for tromping across the field. Beware though, dodgy narrow track and not much space to turn a vehicle.

This is an interesting site, I first read about it in some history of the parish book calling it a Druids Altar. In this, seemingly it was excavated and some bones where found under it in a pit. So perhaps this is more of a Kist.
I then had a look in the North Tipp Inventory and it calls it a possible megalithic tomb but it references that there are few remains and it looks like field clearance.
I used my GPS to find it and the coordinate took me exactly to the spot where the large rock in the pictures are.
Now I dont really understand how this could be confused with field clearance but I will do so more investigation (check both the references).
I was quite delighted in finding this, its a huge altar like rock. It may have been resting on the slab below (or vice versa). The area is full of large rocks that are part of field clearance so any of them may have made have been part of this tomb or possibly other monuments. In the field to south there is a possible bullaun.
Also less than 20m away from the tomb in the trees to the left there a large mound which didnt come out very well in the pic.
There is no mention of the mound in the North Tipp Inventory and looked to me like either a raised rath or else something older.
All in all, pretty interesting for a spot on the map marked with only a circle.

17th April 2016 –
I’m afraid the description above is incorrect and relates to a large slab of stone about 1 field away from the actual Megalithic Structure. The mound beside it is now mentioned in the Inventory and it is likely to be the remains of a Cashel.

This one would have been right at a cross-roads but doesnt seem to be here any longer. There is a unusual rock outcrop 100m to the east.

Some new motifs on a area of bedrock found a couple of months ago .

This standing stone appears to have gone missing. Fantastic views to the south from over the Glen of Aherlow to the Knockmealdown mts.

Park next to the southern end of the dam and go up the stairs to the picnic site (tables and chairs) next to this a fence runs follow to the gate and climb over, take care your now tresspassing, from here another gate can be seen open and proceed after closing.
The stone stands between you and the forest, between you and the stone is a barbed wire topped fence, which we didn’t climb.
Looking up at the stone from below in the valley it has a lozenge shape, about 6ft tall and half covered in moss, as we approached I was uncertain if it be stone or tree stump...

There are many huge megaliths like this around Moytirra east and over on the other side of Lough Arrow at Carrowkeel. They are very probably glacial erratics but this one seemed so like it had been PUT there that I’ve posted it here. Should anybody have the slightest difficulty with this I’ll delete it. I would like the chance to go back there and investigate further, hopefully when the cows aren’t around.

Marked as an Ogham stone on sheet 33, this pair are parked on the south side of a rath. The western stone, which is almost entirely covered in white lichen, has the aforementioned inscription. Both stones are about a metre tall.

Slightly closer to the road than is marked on the OS map, you can see this one as you drive by (12/11/06). It’s a delightfully odd, 2 metre tall, deeply eroded, leaning phallus. How it hasn’t collapsed is anyone’s guess. The erosion on the side away from the road was a nice surprise.

A massive slab of stone, 2 metres long, tapering from 2 and-a-half to 3 metres tall and about three-quarters of a metre thick. It’s leaning slightly to the west now and must have taken a massive effort to erect. A complete wild estimate of about 15 tons in weight makes this the biggest standing stone I’ve seen yet. Impressive.

Finding this is not for the faint hearted.Park down by the sawmills and walk back up the road, on the right is a mountain bike path,follow this and you come to a forest path,follow this to a wider path walk up the hill and on the right at this time of year you can just see the barrow on the right through the trees.Best of luck.

The tor, and the area around it, is still very much closed off to the public...and will be for the foreseeable future as the owner is not prepared to budge on allowing access.

The tor itself can still be seen, and is a fine lump of rock which changes shape as you view it from different angles (as most things do!). Some say it looks like a witch’s head from one side and this ties in with the legend of Vixanna.

In the good old days I regularly climbed to the top, a tight squeeze up a gap in the middle of the tor. From the summit you could look out over the surrounding moorland , just like the witch used to do.

Yet again I get to visit a site that I have driven past hundreds of times but never stopped. To make up for it I spent most of the day in the Merrivale area on Nov 6, starting at 10 with the sun climbing high in the sky, slowly burning the fog away... and finishing at 4.30 as the sun sunk into Cornwall.

I had been told that there is a theory that one of the rows points directly to the Rillaton Barrow on Bodmin Moor, sadly the day was to hazey to pin point the barrow, although I could make out Stowes Hill.

Part of the day was spent with a National Park guide and several young ladies from Cornwall College who had never walked on the moor before. The guide pointed out that the rows run east to west (so!?). From my experience of stone rows I would say that is just coincidence, but there may be something in it.

I find it interesting that someone should have driven a leat right down the middle of the two rows. They obviously had no fear of superstition connected with pagan sites, or did they not realise what the rows were?

I thought that I would have to leave before sunset, but the gods were with me and provided a fantastic sky to end the day. I could post at least a dozen photos, but I won’t. Maybe a couple though.

Just to the south of the two rows stands the lovely menhir. between it and the rows is a circle of a decent size although none of the stones are of much more than a foot or two tall.

Around the menhir there are possibly the remains of another circle/row. A small cairn and what is thought to be a fallen menhir.

Is this all part of the settlement and stone row complex? the cairn is similar to the one found in the middle of the southern stone row, only really big enough for ashes, but if they do all date from the same time what is the realtionship between them all?

Visited on Friday 27th October. I was surprised when I looked at the photos on the website because they didn’t look like the one I’d taken! I quickly realised that a lot of the stones and wall in which the Cromlech was embedded have now been removed. It now looks more impressive.

Bloody hell, it was windy! We nearly got blown off the hill when we reached the Broch and Mark gave me one of ‘those’ looks which I took to mean, “never again will I follow you up a hill in a force 8 gale”. Oh well.

Easy to find, with a brown tourist sign pointing you in the right direction. The visitor centre is closed in winter though, although the toilets remain open all year round (very obliging folk, the Hebrideans)

This was my first broch and to say it is impressive is an understatement. When I visited Newgrange I was blown away by the corbelled ceiling and here I was equally amazed at the skill and ingenuity of the people who built this. Incredible.

I have driven past this stone on previous visits to Harris but this was the first time I got to see it up close and personal. There is a sign on the road for parking, with a bench by it. Park here and then make your way across the beach and up the sandy headland...it initally looks closer than it is and with the wind howling around us we were knackered by the time we reached the stone. But it was worth it. The views across to Taransay were amazing and the stone is another of those skinny Hebridean ones which shouldn’t still be still be standing after all of these years.

My second visit to this site in 3 years and the most striking difference is that the landscape in November is even more extreme. The peatland is now a glorious rust colour and the hills are covered in low cloud. This time I did the walk between the 3 sites alone and it felt exhilirating. I saw no one else the whole time and other than wondering whether I was about to be consumed by a peat bog at one piont, the whole experience was spine tingling.

I stood at the stones and kept looking around me, surrounded by the stones of Callanish on all sides and with Cailleach na Mointeach on the horizon; it really is the most incredible of places.

Having not been here before I wasn’t sure what I would find ,from several miles away I could feel the roads were leading me to a hilltop copse far in the distance.
Park in the village of Back o’ the Brook,When we visited a lady was looking for her dog and we asked where was good to park and she let us park in front of her house.
Opposite the lane with a ford is a footpath, which should be taken up hill, it leads directly to Grub Low but as it’s a bit naff turn right and keep on going uphill to the much more impressive Waterfall Low.
The barrow is right on top of the hill and surrounded by a low stone wall amongst an attractive copse.It stands maybe 8ft tall by 20ft across and has a shallow scoop taken out of the top.Like I said having not been here before I was impressed by this large barrow ,a good find with spectacular views

Brian Byng’s book “Dartmoor’s Mysterious Megaliths” mentions settlement remains to the north of the B3357. He also talks about a fallen menhir and the fact that it might have lined up with Pew Tor on the winter solstice.

The field, now open access, is full of stone and also full of bracken. Even with a sketch of what I am trying to find I fail miserably. Nevermind, I decide to explore the hut circles and enclosures, again hidden amongst the bracken.

I found four huts, I think!, none of them easy to photograph, then crossed the road to head back towards the stone rows.

Shortly after crossing the road I came across the biggest stones I have ever seen used to build a hut circle...if thats what it is. The hut itself was not large, perhaps 15ft across but the stones used in the construction are not your usual random moor stones.

The hillside is dotted in circles and enclosures, one even features an 18th century millstone, balanced on granite uprights, inside its perimeter.

Slightly to the north west of the western end of the northern stone row (are you following?) there is hidden amongst the grass what Byng calls a stone circle. The National Park booklet about Merrivale calls it a cairn. I thought it looked like a small circle, there are three or four stones in the circle plus one in the middle, not very cairn like.

From here it is a short walk to the stone rows

I visited this amazing site on a freakishly hot day in mid July. What a location! Probably the most impressive views from a tomb that I’ve seen.
Unfortunately the tomb itself has seen better days, with only a few of the court stones still standing. The tomb is facing NE, and the court is about 6m wide, with the gallery stretching 9m to the SW. The cairn sits on top of a natural rise, and some of the kerb is still visible, dotted around the site. It seems to be about 11m wide, but its hard to be certain.

From around the site, I could see the Crannog at lough na crannagh, another little ruined wedge tomb, and with binoculars, several other tombs marked on the OS. a fun day indeed.

The site is marked on the OS map, and is about 2km NW of the top carpark at Murlough Bay, which is probably the easiest way to get to it, over pretty rough bog, past Lough Fadden and with no real paths, so be careful. Once at the site, the views are astonishing, and make up for the hike.

A dumpy little 0.93m tall lump of basalt, perched on top of a little hill, overlooked by Knocklayd mountain. Not as impressive as the other standing stones in the area, but quite easy to find, and with great views to the west.

From the Round Tower at Armoy, head east, straight ahead at the crossroads, and take the second (concrete) lane on the left. (There’s a little house at the bottom of the lane used to store wheely-bins) Just after a sharp turn in the lane, the road heads straight through a farmyard. The stone is directly behind the barn.

The stone is easy to pinpoint from the OS map, but I didn’t spot it until speaking to the local farmer.

A pretty poorly preserved Wedge tomb?? (I’m only guessing really), in a field just next to the road to Coolanlough Clachan, and Lough na Crannagh, with its Crannog. The cairn is aligned ENE-WSW, 7.5m long, narrowing on the WSW side to 2.5m, from 6m at ESE. Only one upright stone remains, about 1m tall, The rest of the site is a bit of a jumble of boulders, probably including field clearance stones.
According to the Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record, a porcellanite axe was discovered on top of the cairn in 1991.

Will return with camera and take some proper shots. This one was taken from the court tomb on the hill above.