Latest Fieldnotes

Things seem to be different at the moment for Kenmare stone circle, maybe its just the off-season for tourists but the space allotted for the circle seems delightfully neglected compared to the manicured grass in the pics posted previously. The grass is uncut and untidy, in its partly secluded enclosure on a cold, gloomy and wet bank holiday morning you could just about imagine you were not really a stones throw from the town centre. From a certain angle you could stand with your back to the shrubs and things seemed almost wild.

It’s a nice circle, its a pity the views are blocked in every direction but in its slightly overgrown state it was a pleasant surprise, I wasn’t expecting too much. I thought the shrubs were the low, flowery kind in neat arrangements, the taller tree like evergreens are the biggest annoyance at the site apart from the many crisp packets and coke bottles under the boulder burial.

Small stone by Arran standards, which just adds to the incongruity of its location, on neatly manicured grass at the edge of a small car park. I’d not read the RCAHMS stuff below when I visited, but even without that, the idea that this may be the sole survivor of a cairn seemed plausible, there are a few in the immediate vicinity. There’s bog all else to suggest it on the ground though, I guess the road and carpark have eradicated anything above ground. I can’t recall any linear ridgey feature such as is mentioned below.

The other points of note are the views of the strange little island of Pladda, just offshore, and the lurking cone of Ailsa Craig on the horizon.

RCAHMS says:

The ONB (1864) gives an alternative name of “Tumulus” for this feature, the surveyor’s comments being “I have no authority for this object beyond its general appearance to warrant it being called a tumulus. There is a large standing stone, 3ft 7 ins x 3ft 6 ins x 6 ins (Balfour 1910) on the N side of it, with a smaller stone adjoining (not noticed by Balfour) The whole object is higher than the adjacent ground although partly levelled for the road.” The words “giving the appearance of the remains of a stone circle” have been added by the examiner. Balfour adds “a stone circle, known to have existed here at one time, was removed when making the road”.

A standing stone situated in a level grassy area and located approximately 30.0m from the edge of the coastal cliff. It is a plain weathered stone 1.1m high, 0.9m broad and 0.2m thick. A small (0.3m high) scarp runs southwestwards from the stone for 9.0m; it is not clear if this is artificial or merely an undulation in the ground. There is no surface evidence of either a cairn, a stone circle or the second “smaller” stone.

Park at or near the aptly named Rock farm,follow the path east up between the cliff’s.Upon reaching level ground look for the fence off to the right follow it to the south and you’ll come to the big barrow with great views and the rocking stone, of course I didn’t know it would rock till I stood on it, boy was that wierd.(from here you can see Castle Dinas Bran)
Follow the fence back north for the standing stone and cairn,after reading Treaclechops field notes I doubt she actually got the right stone this one is about 5ft tall stuck in a fence right next to a big cairn,although there are smaller stones at it’s foot but these probably came from an old field boundary as they follow the line of the fence.
A good stone in a fantastic place, go now

These two pics are of the same stretch of rock and show what a difference appropriate lighting and a drop of water can make .

Clachnaben (or Clach-na-ben) is a near 600m hill south of Banchory, topped with a massive granite plug. Visible from miles around, it has given rise to the rhyming couplet “Clachnaben and Bennachie, Are twa landmarks frae the sea” and the similarities to Bennachie are obvious.

Accessed from a small car-park on the B974 a good, but sometimes steep track will take you to the summit. Passing through pine forest, across moorland, around a small wood and finally up to the summit, you get most of natural Scotland in a 4 mile return walk. The tor dominates the skyline, and changes at each angle of the approach. Once there, an easy scramble to the top gives massive views 360 degrees around – Bennachie & Lochnagar can be seen, and if the view is clear, you can see the North Sea, and down to the firth of Tay.

Whilst not famous for it, I’m sure a ‘face’ can be made out on the southern side of the Tor-see my photos. From the comments of other people up there, I’m not the only one to see it.

There are 2 possible routes to the cairns on Patrickstown Hill. You could climb Carnbane East and head across from there; or you could do what I did and park at N604783 on the east side of the hill and follow the faint track that starts behind the gate opposite the parking spot.

This track leads around in an arc on the south side of the hill. It starts to dip a bit but then rises once more on the south-west side, terminating in the small meadow that holds the three X cairns.

Having seen the drawing posted here my expectations were high. What a pity then to find the stone almost completely eroded, with only very faint markings and a jumble of various lichen further obscuring the matter. Cairn X1 may have been glorious once upon a time, but those days are long gone. Of the three here it still has quite a bit of kerbing left and is structurally the most cairn-like.

I could only find 4 stones of Cairn X2 and there is no visible mound to suggest a cairn. One of the stones in the centre of the putative cairn has a bullaun but this looks to be of a more recent vintage.

Cairn X3, of which it is said that two stones remain, has only one visible, and not much else to write home about.

You may wish to head up to the summit to search out Cairn Y. Make sure you have good footwear and a ton of patience: the heather and brambles are waist high and the ground, in late October, was extremely boggy. I did a cursory search and found bupkis.

The one happy thing to report from this site are that the views across to Carnbane east, with Cairn T as dominant as ever, are magnificent.

I visited the circle on Sunday 29th October 2006, a lovely warm sunny day, to have a look at the extra stone that had been added. As Mr Hamhead said in his news item it has only been placed in the circle not set into the ground. It is in a position where another stone could possibly have been. I could see no reference to why the stone had been placed, this had either been removed or blown away in the gales we have had down here. There was however a small plastic bag containing a triangular stone, of some sort maybe a crystal,and a completely incomprehensible note placed in the centre of the circle. Also a feather had been stuck into the ground beside it.

IronMan is correct in stating that this is off the beaten track; Anglezarke Moor is open access land and there are no continuous footpaths. It can be heavy going on the way here.

In answer to Stroller’s query, and further to Charles’s reply, there’s been no known excavation of Round Loaf. Some flints have been found on the surface over the years. There’s no point in visiting Bolton (or Manchester) museum as they have nothing from local, human prehistory on display whatsoever.

In the village of Bweeng (on the road between Donoghmore and Mallow) there is a large tourist information board stuck to a wall that you will miss coming from the south but is quite obvious on the way through the village from the north. Quite a number of the large amount of ancient sites in the area are described, this stone row was one of two ‘fine examples’ of the type, the other being An Seisear (or Beenalacht on the sign). ‘Well’ I thought, ‘if its anything like An Seisear it needs a look!’.

Its not easy to find, you have to approach the OS co-ords from the south, through a farm house with two very large and very noisy Great Danes (no sneaking past this farm!) so do ask for ‘the three stones’ at the house (w465926). I was brought down through three fields by the 10 year old son who played ‘catch’ with a stone while I frantically took pics before the sun slid behind Bweengduff mountain. He also showed me a disused lime kiln, a very odd structure indeed.

The three stones are wildly mis-matched, the larger is over 10ft and the other two are pretty similar at around 5ft. The larger stone is set perpendicular in section to the two other stones in the line. I couldn’t see the horizon too good in either direction to evaluate what they might mark. The ground here has been heavily eroded so it looks like there’s about a foot of old ground level clinging to the base of the stones, packing stones are clearly visible and all the stones lean this way and that.

The farmer was very interested in the stones and even gave me directions to visit the Nursetown Beg Stones nearby which I had not heard of before.

They may be dark & a little smoky (tho not as bad as the blackhouses!) but they give a real impression of snugness & warmth. The lady from Historic Scotland was quite pleased to see us, we were the only people to visit all day – and this was July!

Visited 2001

Went for pics of the Gothic boathouse and decided to approach from the far side of the low ‘cliff’. With no expectations I was delighted to find very definite burnt mound material, ye olde black earth, in several areas four and more feet across exposed by livestock and rabbits on the topside. Most definitely it extends far beyond the obvious mound. This material occupies half to, say, two-thirds the field length. Past the actual mound along the cliff’s vertical section the burnt stones become the greater visible content, overlain by large irregular slabs as you near the boathouse end, where the ‘cliff’ peters out. Taking into account the various erect stones protruding along the shore we must surely be dealing with a series of burnt mounds and/or houses. Taking into account that the Bronze Age houses are at water level and below I would suggest that they preceded the burnt mounds.

It has been closed every time I’ve tried to visit! Anyone else had better luck?

Driving from Limerick junction to tipp town take the first left and follow the road. The standing stone is in a field on the left hand side. Further on is a massive motte which is definitely worth a look.
The stone is over a 1m tall. I only got a pic of one side because again a few angry bullocks took a run at me. They are pretty mental this time of year. Weird you think they would be happy with the warm weather and all the grass.

This is an interesting standing stone. Take the tipperary town road to golden and turn left in Kilfeackle at the motte. Carry on this road until you come to a cross-roads/ church, if you are at the church you have gone too far!
There is good track across from a house about 400m before the cross-roads on the right hand side (Coming from Kilfeakle) follow this to its end and the standing stone is behind two ditches from here.
The stone itself is more lieing down than standing and id say is about 500-750mm high.
I couldnt get close to it with a herd of hungry looking bullocks in the field it was in.
Interestlingly enough in seems to be in a bowl-barrow or a depression in the ground.
Would be nice to get another look at it sometime. There is a ring-fort about 300m away.

Kedrah is an interesting fort to the north of the town of Cahir. It really is huge with the banks up to 2-3m high in parts. Im not sure whether it was built up or whether it is a hill that was altered. It seems to be looking to the cairn on the summit of Sturrakeen. However there are so many cairns on the hills around here its hard to know.
There is a ring-barrow to the south of the hill-fort. The banks of the fort seem to be dug from the inside henge-like but to be honest I’ve no idea what period this fort belongs to so any help would be appreciated.

This I got from Fourwinds site Megalithomania. It really is a lovely place to go with a old Church and a holy well nearby.
While I was at the church a wee doe ran out followed by his friend, which was lovely!
As per Toms site this is a turning stone that could be used for cures by turning the stone in the bullaun clock or sun wise and for curses by turning anti-clockwise.
Its very close to the town of Caher on the road to Tippeary Town.
Its not signed posted but follow the OS map and cross the railway line into what looks like someones farm-yard and follow the road/ stream you can see the cell in the distance and the church is on the right-hand side.

Link to the church
megalithomania.com/show/site/1235

There is a new information board here and they have cleared some of the wall at the back of the tomb away so that you can get a better picture. This is a truly impressive tomb and definitely worth a look. The capstone on top of it is massive and really would have taken some moving.

A few excerpts from the info board:

Labbacallee is aligned on the setting sun of the equinox, 22nd March and 24th September when the day is of equal length. On these days the sun illuminates the chamber.

The excavation in 1934, a womans Skelton was found. Her Skelton was found in the inner chamber, her head in the larger outer chamber.

Edit 15th April 2011

I sped down from work in Limerick to try and make the March 22 equinox at Labbacalle – my first problem was a sign-post on the Mitchelstown bypass that read Glanworth was only a few kms. Unfortunately it must be a least 14kms. I made it for about 6 30 but at this stage the sun was all but gone down as you can see from my pictures. If there is an alignment it must be from much earlier possibly 6 00pm.

[visited 21/10/06] Back here again, sans pain, but still with the mud. We walked towards the farm from the West pondering where the cist is and found a helpful sign just before the farm which directed us straight to it. Reading the miscellaneous notes here, it seems a round barrow mound covered the pile of rocks now lying in a muddy field. There isn’t much to see now beyond that, but I think its still worth the effort. Does make me wonder what is at the bottom of the other few thousand barrows around the south...

Access is fineish. We parked in the pub between the third priddy henge and the incomplete henge and then walked along the road to get to the path to the east of Pool Farm. There are “No Parking” signs up there, so I suspect its the closest point. Just before you get to the farm this way, turn left across 2 fields and you’ll see the cist. Best bit about walking this way is you can walk through the farm and back along the road to the West of the farm past the field with the incomplete henge!

Oh and chalk up another victory for the evil cows, we were chased out of the field to the West of the farm. Yet more proof of the Bovine threat, how long before our govt moves to combat this evil????

Item no. 295 of the Arch. Inventory of Co. Meath, this is said to be a “standing stone with about thirty cup-marks.” The stone is very like a kerbstone, about a metre high and 2 metres long and it is possible that it comes from a local passage grave. I counted 54 cup-marks, though not very scientifically.
The site is a very well looked after graveyard in the drumlins south and below Sliabh na Cailí. I couldn’t help but speculate that the mound that the graveyard is sited on is a passage grave that has been christianised and that this is where the stone comes from. There are some very rough-hewn gravestones that look suspiciously like the structural stones of a megalithic tomb.
Across the road is a holy well with some lovely sweet water.

Well, we chose a nice day for it, swirling mist and driving rain mean an absence of photos for this site I’m afraid!

This is a truly amazing site, Mither Tap is so visible from so many sites, yet I hadn’t realised that so much of the ‘nipple’ as it were, was actually man-made-I knew it was a fort but there’s a real scale to it. The vitrified walls are incredible-I had read about them, but never seen them up close. The heat and sheer size of fire need to melt these walls must have been off the scale-the walls are at least 100 feet high, and yet clearly melted and slumped. If, as theorised, the burnings were carried out by an invading force, it must have been a real statement of intent to the locals – shock & awe anyone?

Wonderful site, and although steep only about 1 hours walk from the Bennachie Centre car park, even with 2 four year olds in tow.

I have named this stone after a nearby glen , it should really be called Monzie (pronounced mo -nee )but that would cause confusion as there is a more famous monument at another Monzie near Crieff . This stone was found about a year ago and is interesting in that the cups are aligned to the cardinal points. The nearby hill is Carn Liath (975m) part of Beinn ’ Ghlo .

I can confirm the reports of the figurehead on the walls of Lud’s church. My grandfather was brought up on the old farm accross the river from the Youth hostel in Gradbach. He always told me on walks there as a young man he would often walk past the remains of the firgurehead rotting on the floor of the ‘church’ and always referred to her as ‘Lady Lud’. He is no longer with us and would love to have known more. All I can do is confirm its prescence.

On holiday in Penwith last week, I’d agreed to meet Mr Hamhead for lunch in the Tinners Arms as he was also in the area. Suitable refreshed after a pint and a meal, we set off for our agreed target, Mulfra Quoit. I’d last visited the quoit some 3 years ago, and took the steep approach from Try Farm on that occasion. Today though, we took the much easier (but longer) approach from the north. After a couple of comedy pictures, we discussed the apparent moulding on the underside of the capstone, whether the quoit was ever ‘whole’, and the alignments with Chysauster and Castle an Dinas (and the time difference between the ages of the sites).

Some of the gorse had been burnt off near the quoit, and investigation to the south uncovered some old field boundary walls, and a possible hut circle. As the weather was closing in from the south, we made our way back to the car, and the heavens opened as if to say “Get orff my hill!“. We got.

There is supposedly a second circle in the vicinity, known as ‘Tregurnow circle’, located roughly at SW 437 245. However, I was there last week, and could see no sign of it on the ground (last reported sighting was in the 1970s.)

Lots of interesting stones in the field boundary wall a few yards away, but that’s not unusual around these parts.

The OS map has two standing stones here in Moohane. However on investigation I could only find one. The one on the top of a small hill. It is about 1.6m high and the hill it is on gives it a commanding view.
I think Knockfennel and Knockadoon can be easily seen from here.