Latest Fieldnotes

I called into Sunhoney after visiting Midmar Kirk. The grey November morning and The Kirk had combined to leave me feeling a bit gloomy but this soon lifted as I approached Sunhoney.
Not too much to say about the circle that hasn’t already been said, although I would like to add my appreciation to the farmer for providing excellent access to this lovely ring.
Sunhoney will brighten your dreichest day.

There’s good news and bad news for this very nice stone, it has definitely deteriorated over the last number of years but I dont think it as bad as it seems from the photos taken without the aid of water or side lighting. When I arrived the sun was directly on it and there were very few markings visible, once the sun went down they started to appear before my eyes. The good news is that the ground has risen considerably around the base, I’d say about 10-15” of carved surface is safely underground, the rest would be so much clearer if the moss was removed (the bad news). A few hours with a toothbrush would do wonders for this charming slab, if there was a way of doing it without damaging the surface I’d love to see the result.

‘not easy to find’ says Fourwind’s visit notes, ‘Wellington boots are essential’ adds Anthony Weir on the Portal. Why oh why didn’t I take heed? This isnt easy to find or access but its very much worth the effort, with plenty of time on your hands you should find it ok but do make sure you’ve got good boots, not ten yards from the farm gate I was six inches in mud, including the organic kind.

The farmyard is very easy to find, I knocked on the door of the old house and just about five minutes later was giving up and moving on when I heard a very croaky ‘hello?!’ from the back yard and a blonde girl in her pyjamas and slippers poked her head around the corner. ‘Oh the stone with the markings on it? What time is it? God I’ve got a rotten hangover.. half two in the afternoon.. oh. The stone’s over there’ ‘passage tomb? thats a very fancy name for it.. I think there’s something further up the next field’. Oh yes, a great start! Twenty minutes and ten inches of sludge later I still hadnt found the chamber so there was no option but to phone up Fourwinds who kindly obliged with directions by proxy and some handy GPS co-ords.

The fields are all now barbed wired over and the stile has been removed so its a bit tricky, there’s also what looks like a motte (marked ‘rath’ on the map) near the road with trees all around it which had me on a wild goose chase. I think the map actually has the chamber marked as a rath also as there does indeed seem to be a large standing stone where the map has a second one marked.

The chamber is bigger than I pictured and its hard to imagine a roof over it, its very wide in comparison to the height of the chamber, like a smaller Fourknocks with no sub chambers. /the markings are very faded indeed and it took quite a while to bring them out with flash but running your fingers over them gives you a good feel for whats still visible, the moss has claimed most though.

[visited 10.12.2006]

The mound is about 600m north of Shooters Hill, part of the old Roman road from Dover to London (Watling Street), which may have been an earlier trackway. Although now surrounded by houses it would presumably at one point have been visible for some distance from below as it is close to the crest of a hill.

It is between the southern entrance to Brincklow Crescent and a footpath, Mayplace Lane. Worth combining a visit with a walk in nearby Oxleas Wood.

Mrs Goffik and I were extremely lucky to have seein this on the last day of our trip in September.

It’s a cracking example of a quoit – the arrow-shaped capstone (which needs no introduction as it’s well documented) is HUGE!!! I know our ancestors were nifty with the old stone erection, but still... HOW???!?!

This place feels quite isolated, in a nice way. It’s difficult to see from below as it was covered in ferns and brambles when we visited (no crops, luckily for us!) but it commands some nice views.

And has anyone else noticed how it appears to point towards a gap in the distant hills that reveals the sea? Or is it just me? See themodernantiquarian.com/post/54132

After looking at the map, I’m now curious to explore what is marked, between the quoit and Men Gurta, as “Pawton Springs”. :o)

Access: From Wadebridge, follow the A39 South past the Cornwall showground, and take the left turn at Whitecross – signposted, as I recall, to Pawton and Nanscow(e). Follow the road for just under a mile and bear left at the junction. Take the next right (this heads toward the wind farm). The quoit is in, I think, the 3rd field on the right at the top end. There are several gates in the hedge along the road which are traversable. Parking is difficult, but once in the field, the going is quite easy.

A small lane heads south off the A52 to the little village of Wooton, after passing Weaver farm a small car park appears on the right , a footpath goes to the trig point 371m high .
This is the last Peak hill before descending onto the Staffordshire plain (though outside the national park)
The first barrow is on the crest of the hill above about 1 metre tall, from here we can see the biggest barrow and the built upon barrow and further on the smallest barrow with the hilltop trig point .The biggest barrow has the obligatory scooped interoir and a fenced off tree ,the stranger of the group has no grass covering and a concrete floor on it despite it’s modern appearance it really is a bronze age barrow.
Farther on is the smallest barrow about 3ft tall then it’s down and up a small valley to the trig point and a great view marred slightly by three big quarries.
On the way back to the car it started raining and twenty feet from the car I realised I’d lost my carkeys half an hour retracing my steps precisely with my fingers crossed and whoo-hoo success ,quick tip allways fasten your pocket zip

My 2nd attempt to find these stones was fortunately successful; Vicky and I tried around a month ago but the OS map was slightly out and we spent an hour wandering around the woods in the rain geting more and more frustrated.

The easiest way to find them is to park by the picnic benches at the bottom of the public footpath. This is a steep path initially, and very slippy underfoot in the rain so beware, but levels out after about 10 minutes. Just as you start dropping down there is a gate on the right hand side with a map giving directions to “the rocking stones” There were bullocks in the field but they didn’t seem very interested in us and when we finally came across the stones, it felt like we were totally alone in this most beautiful of landscapes.

I would definitely recommend visiting in late autumn when the trees have lost their leaves and you can see the whole landscape, it is stunningly beautiful. When you first approach the stones they seem much smaller than they appear in the pictures on here but when you get up close they seem to grow in stature. Lovely.

[visited 9.12.2006]

Situated on the highest point on Richmond Hill, overlooking Thames valley. Easy to find – from the Pembroke Lodge car park on west of park walk towards the Lodge (building with cafe in it) and bear right, heading about as far as you can go within the fenced off garden. The mound is signposted, with a handy free telescope on top to take advantage of the remarkable view through to St Pauls. The official sign at the bottom is quite informative, it quotes from Edward Jesse (1835): ‘it has been opened and a considerable deposit of ashes found in the centre of it’.

A nice shapely barrow with ten tall trees growing from it, in a field below Musden low , in a field next to dun lows is another standing stone ,it has been used as a gate post but has a wierd twisted shape its probably not ancient but so close to at least 5 barrows one has to wonder

Thorswood nature reserve has it’s own carpark and wooden posts showing the way round .
Three barrows all intervisible occupy the hilltop varying in size from a small bump just 2 ft tall to a bigun about 8-10 ft tall (in the same field as the bigun a small probable barrow hides in the corner)
In the woods is a barrow lookalike but its too perfect and has a stone built barred well ,deep too.
Great views north in to the Peak district and south across Staffordshire

I found Midmar to be a bit of an odd place. The circle is smaller than I expected. I didn’t hang around here too long. All in all I found the whole experience here a little un-nerving.
The mortuary in the hospital where I used to work was painted in exactly the same shade of blue as the Kirk.

I parked up at the cottages and walked through the wood that runs along the edge of the field.
Fortunately the crop in the field had just sprouted so I was able to carefully pick my way across to the circle.
This is a lovely ring, the choice of stone, the views through the leafless trees to Mither Tap and the two mighty outliers all combine to make this a special place.
If you’re up in Aberdeenshire you should definitely put Balgorkar on your list

I was up in Aberdeen for a couple of days on a course. My course was scheduled to finish at 4pm, sunset was at around 3.30pm. Fortunately a couple of my colleagues had flights to catch so we wrapped it all up at about 2.30pm. I dashed out of the building, jumped in the van and made a beeline for Tyrebagger, racing the sun.

The Path to the circle offers various views of the stones but cannot really prepare you for the sense of lovliness that flows over you as you step into this circle. I was fortunate enough to be there on a sunny November day. The sun was slowly sinking below Tyrebagger hill and I was able to sit in the circle and watch the shadows grow longer and longer.

I’ve visited the circle a number of times in the past whilst waiting to fly out of Aberdeen. Tyrebagger has become something of a touchstone from me. When flying out of Aberdeen I always try to take ‘a ringside seat’, which every now and then rewards me with a glimpse of the circle from the air. More often than the not the helicopter taxis onto the runway and heads straight out for the coast but every now and then it lingers momentarily over the airport allowing a quick view of the stones.

This is a lovely and unusual site. It seems to be a standing stone surrounded by a barrow which is very unusual for this part of the country.
It is pretty close to the village of Ballinahinch famous for that terrible comedy Killinascully. There is a road at the back of the church in the village that runs for about 1.25 km.
At the end of this road the site itself is probably a half km. It is almost directly in line with the road and i found it (GPS wasnt working on the day but it would be the best way to find it).
There are a number of other barrows in the area that I intend to view particulary now that the M7 motorway is going to be passing pretty close to the village.

Just north of the junction of the A52 and the A523 359 metres up hill is the big barrow known as Musden low, it’s the biggest of three barrows on top of the hill but also the most destroyed, a massive section of it is gone. Two standing stones are on the moor at the bottom of the hill one has been used as a gatepost at one time but are now stranded on their own in the middle of the field and arent ancient.
From on the hilltop there are marvelous views to the southwest Calton barrow can be seen,to the northwest Waterfall low , to the northeast the entrance to Dovedale ,and to the east and south the stafford plaines

Coming from the Staneloof-Hunclett track I had to climb over several inter-linked fences to gain access to the field next to the recognised Staneloof sites (unfortunately you cannot get into the area containing these for the new fence-lined ‘drains’ now making the field boundaries here). This is a rather marshy field, even skirting the edge my feet ended up getting damp – you definitely need ‘wellygogs’. Panning around I found myself half-jumping from grassy hump to hump, the marsh interweaving in similar fashion to Brymer. They were, as far as I could tell, irregular in shape apart from the one nearest to the fence by the Staneloof cairn. This, at very roughly HY485070, is circular and of decent size. I half-expected burnt mounds here. Trying to find a way down the field I saw a small quarry-like pool where rocks were. Couldn’t get there so splashed back to the mound. Which is when I saw dark material exposed near the apparent base, perhaps a failed attempt at digging peats. Very damp stuff. I picked some up and the texture was surprisingly granular, lots of spherods like small beads. It has taken a few days for the thought to arise that just maybe this was carbonised grain – but this would not explain the slightly larger irregular pieces. Should have taken a sample. Too late now.

I visited Easter Aquhorthies on a still November evening. I had watched the sunset at Broomend and then drove in the twilight along the single track road from Inverurie.
I parked up in the carpark and walked along the track, the moon was quite high and was encircled by a huge ice halo. I could hear an owl screeching in the distance. It was one of those moments when you know something special was happening.
I sat in the circle and the place just seemed to wrap itself around me. I can’t tell you how long I stayed there but it was a real wrench to walk away from the place.
This was my first visit to the circle and to see it in the moonlight was an unforgetable experience. I’m in love with this circle

Not quite in the Auchenlaich league for being long , you’ll get six of Bracklin Burn into Auchenlaich and still have room for another chamber , but at 53.5 m still quite impressive.It’s aligned WNWN-ESE and tapers from 14.8 m, at the eastern end to 8.5m at the west .

I called in at Tealing on my way up to Aberdeen. I was hoping to have a good nosey around the general area but unfortunately a number of factors conspired to ensure that I arrived at Tealing just as the sun was going down. There is a parking space opposite the farmyard and the earth house is just a small walk away.
What prompted me to visit the Tealing Earth House was the inclusion of two carved rocks in the fabric of the structure. The pair of carved rocks are lovely, the cup and ring carved rock is built into the wall of the structure, the cup marked rock is embedded into the turf that is enclosed within the arc of the structure. The inclusion of these stones couldn’t really be anything but a deliberate act, perhaps as a ‘nod to the ancestors’.

Earth Houses, Souterrains, Weems, Fogous, call ‘em what you like, these are strange structures. We are told that they are possibly defensive structures or storehouses. Personally speaking, I feel that these structures had to be used for more than the usual explanations. The design and care taken in their construction implies that their uses ran to more than Iron Age storerooms or bolt holes. The limited geographical distribution, throughout our islands, of these structures also may imply that they may have had a specific meaning to a specific community. Truth is no-one knows.
The inclusion of the carved stones in the fabric of the building is not unique to Tealing, there are carved stones in the walls of the nearby Mains of Ardestine Earth House and there is a cup marked stone in the Aberdeenshire Souterrain at Clush.
The reuse of carved stones has a long tradition in our islands and abroad, an unbroken lineage from the Neolithic to the present day.

Tealing is a lovely site. The short walk from the parking space involves a low stile, a muddy field path and a kissing gate so may not be suitable for all.

The Glen of Imaal is one of the most beautiful places in Wicklow. A natural amphitheatre of gigantic proportions, it has one major problem: most of it is an army artillery range.
Marked on the map, just inside the range 400 metres along a track, is a graveyard that has many modern and less modern graves. 15 metres to its east-south-east it also has a bullaun stone. The stone is flush with the ground and has one bullaun, circular, estimated at 25 cms diameter by 8 cms deep.
The views from this commanding position, south to Keadeen and Brusselstown and East to Camenaboulogue and the hills up to Lugnaquilla, are gorgeous.

Easily seen on the A515 ,still quite big but hemmed in by field walls and recently planted with young trees in time it will become more and more invsible

The grounds of Stewart’s hospital are a bit of a maze. I had to ask directions for this from a staff member. On the last day of November ‘06 in the wind and rain I didn’t venture into the undergrowth to check the structure.

Plum Lane, junction Brinklow Crescent, SE18.
‘In the past six barrows existed on and about Shooters Hill. These mounds resembled the round barrows characteristic of the Bronze Age (2000 – 500 BC) but all except this one have been destroyed and sadly no proper examination was made of them before they were swept away. This last remaining mound is situated at the junction of what is now Brinklow Crescent and Plum Lane’.

greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/YourEnvironment/GreenSpace/Monuments/ShrewsburyTumulus.htm

‘The burial mound is on the eastern part of Plumstead Common, known as Winn’s Common, near Bleak Hill Lane. The mound is about 20 metres in diameter and very worn down. It is thought that it may have been part of a cluster of seven tumuli similar to the cluster known to have existed on Shooter’s Hill. The Winn’s Common tumulus has been opened some time in the past but there is no record of what was found or who was involved. The dimensions and shape of the two survivors suggest that they may be Bronze Age burial mounds. The barrow on Winns Common and the one in Brinklow Crescent on Shooters Hill Shrewsbury Tumulus are the only survivors. Five were destroyed in the 1930’s when the Laing Estate was built on Shooters Hill. One that stood in Shrewsbury Park survived the destruction by Laing but has subsequently vanished’.

greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/YourEnvironment/GreenSpace/Monuments/WinnsCommonTumulus.htm

What a fantastic place Carl Wark is, didn’t he play for Everton, or did I go school with him either way a strange name for a Hillfort.An even stranger place to live with all the boulders everywhere, it frankly looks more like an enclosure like on gardom’s edge.
parking is available to the North and the south, we parked near the Burbar bridge but then had to cross the river, so youll be better off walking down to the bridge and take the path there .
The stone built wall is quite impressive with the entrance and more walling plus some kind of stone trough but it’s outside the fort weather that means ‘out I don’t know,I told the kids it’s where naughty kids were made to sit till they can behave themselves.A walk up to Higger tor is obligatory as it looks over the fort and a window in the rocks fortuisouly looks straight to it .The Peak district is the most visited natoinal park in the world and on this day you could really tell it was teaming with walkers and climbers .The carpark near Burbar bridge south has what really looks like a standing stone long and tall aligned on the fort please someone go take a look