Latest Fieldnotes

Visited this circle today and it was slightly difficult to find. The village of Eyam is worth a look at, many lovely walks around there. However, we found a site on the internet that gives instructions for a tour of this area, google keywords barbrook moor wet withens and you should find it.

One again blown away with the fantastic panoramic views. Went to Hordron edge yesterday and we were surprised by the similarity of the view. Managed to identify the mother landscape before it started raining.

This stone cirle, whilst hidden in the heather, is well defined and not that difficult to identify as it is very near the cairn. However, there are many many more potential circles on eyam moor, and evidence of many cairns.

Thanks for the information below, it made this easier to find.

We visited the stone circle at Hordron Edge today.

Just to clarify previous directions. The layby on the South of the A57 is the one nearest Sheffield, not the one nearest Glossop (both are near a bridge)! I clarify this as we nearly ended up searching for the stones 10 miles in the wrong direction!

Also, on the rough path, if you walk as far a a shelter with some benches in it you have walked too far. Walk back and take the path that leads onto the moor.

When we got there it was astoundingly beautiful. The landscape was breathtaking and the stones themsleves were understaded but special. The weather was clear and crisp and the backdrop of Stanege Edge coupled with the hills (Win Hill, Mam Tor and Kinder) made it one of the best sites I have visited.

Well worth it – I will be making many more wisits to this beautiful place.

Thanks to the others on this site who give directions, they are very useful.

It is definately worth the visit. I didn’t want to leave, after a couple of hours it felt like home.

A wee while ago Kate Sharpe had told me that Gabriel Blamires had discovered a cup marked rock in the woods behind the National Trust Campsite. So with this in mind I decided to take a look.
I had it in my mind that this stone was going to be tucked away somewhere and difficult to find. So myself and the terrier trudged through the swampy wood that borders the southern edge of the campsite. Needless to say we found nowt.
On the afternoon, and after a good lunch at the Old Dungeon Ghyll bar, I decided to have a mooch up to Side Pike and take some snaps of the Langdale Pikes across the valley. I couldn’t believe it, I walked into the wood and there beside the path was the cup marked stone with a lovely shadow being cast across it by the afternoon sun.
The stone may not be its original location as the area has been forested, but owing to the size of the stone I suspect it is probably fairly close. The stone also looks as though it has been quarried, perhaps an edge was knocked of it during the forestry operations or perhaps a local waller has used the stone as a convient source of material for the nearby wall.

This is a great stone but its significance, as always, lies in it’s location.
The stone sits just above the head of the Great Langdale valley at the junction of a number of, possibly prehistoric, trackways. The footpath beside the stone heads south around Side Pike and connects with east- west trackway via the Wrynose Pass which in turn connects with the HardKnott Pass and the Duddon Valley both of which lead to the coast.
There are views into Mickleden and the route north to Keswick along Langstrath via the Stake Pass or branching off onto the Honister Pass and accessing the coast via Buttermere, Crummock and the River Cocker. Carved stones have also be recently discovered along this route.
All in all this is a beautiful site, if you consider that the Langdale Pikes may have been the prehistoric focus of Cumbria then this stone may enhance that view. The existence of these carvings may also add weight to the prehistoric origins of the carvings at Copt Howe.
Access to the site is very good for those on foot. However for wheeled access there are two gates to negotiate and the ground can be a little boggy.

This is the first time I’ve been to an urban site. This standing stone is about 1.2m high. Its in the Cork City suburb of Mahon. Coming from the south link turn off at the mahon exit, follow the road straight past the PM building and turn left at the traffic lights. Keep going straight until you come to a roundabout, take the exit to douglas and take the next right. Park here beside the churchyard.
The standing stone is about 30m away from here at no. 20 Ardmahon. This stone is literally about 2km from my new place of work so I just had to see it. There seems to be quiet a few standing stones within the urban area of Cork City.
I was talking to a woman looking for directions to the stone and she reckoned that it was used as a scratching post for sheep.

My first attempt at finding a site in Cork and it seems to have gone missing. Its to tough spot to get to although it looks easy on the map. You have to pull in at a dangerous stretch of road near Burnfoot, cross a railway line and fight through a fairly thick ditch to get into the field where it is supposed to be nestled up against the bank of a stream. However when I got through the obstacles there was no sign of it. I have no other info on it really so I dont know what has happened to it. I had a look in the stream and there are some reasonably big rocks in it, possibly the remains of the circle. Its hard to know.
The location of it to me wouldnt have been great, no real wide views, the views would by blocked by a hill at the stream side of it and the other side would be pretty unimpressive.

I couldn’t quite find this tomb, it has been swallowed up by a pine plantation. I think a return trip during the winter, hopefully when there is less grass and fern, may help me find the tomb.
To get to the plantation coming from the east (by road), I stopped at the first gate into the right, it has a small security sign on its gate. I followed the track on the map straight up and keep to the right. You will come to a branch to two different pine planations in the distant (this is subject to plantations regrowing), follow the one to the right. Keep following this path about a half km. You will need a GPS to find it from there. Where I searched was above a lip on the hill.
As an aside I did find a complete deers antler but no tomb.
Update
I decided to head over the mountains from Nenagh to Cahir and as I was passing by Kilcommon I decided to look for this tomb again. When I got up to where the plantation used be, euraka, it was gone, they had cut the trees.
The ten digit OS Ref is R9127659984 for anyone that happens to go up here when the trees have grown back.
Its a small tomb (about 1.25m long by 0.5 high by 1m wide) but it does have some interesting features, like all the tombs in the area it is dominated by the Mahurslieve to the North. To the east there is a funny looking artificial ridge built up and to the west a range of hills with a notch in between.

This is in the same area as the three wedge tombs. Follow the track that leads to the east tomb, however rather than turn right at the farm-yard, continue through the old farmyard and when you are on the other side of it, the standing stone is on the left hand side about 50m away. Its not marked on the OS map and I havent checked the Tipp inventory but im pretty sure it is an authentic standing stone. Its approx about 0.5m high.

Situated in a sloping field in the Glenshesk valley at the foot of Knocklayd mountain, just under 2km from another stone in Breen forest. Unfortunately the stone was toppled by a bull, according to the resident farmer and has been very crudely reset in concrete, with no real finesse. According to the NI Environment & Heritage Service, it once stood on top of a small mound, 17m in diameterx0.3m high. The mound was excavated, and was found to predate the stone.

The stone is 1.9m tall, and approx 0.5m wide, appears to be basalt, and has a quite interesting shape from certain angles. I’m not sure if the stone broke when toppled, or if it has always been this way.

The site is marked in the OS map, about 3-400m up a gated farm track just off the B15 from Armoy to Ballycastle, which winds along the Glenshesk valley. I was lucky enough to catch the farmer at work, who was kind enough to point out the stone, which isn’t visible from the road.

A 1.7m tall vaguely pyramid-shaped schist stone, with four faces tapering towards the top, which has a natural split.
There is a small pile of loose stones around its base, which can be seen in one of the photographs. I’m unsure whether these are just from a field clearance, or have any significance.

The stone stands in a field, in a clearing of Breen Wood, just off the B15 in Glenshesk, about 5km west of the round tower in Armoy. The dense conifer plantation nearby somewhat blocks the view of Knocklayd mountain, which looms over this stone, and the many others in the area, which encircle it.

The site is easy to find, only 100m or so from a forestry track leading into the forest, and is marked on the OS map.
Worth taking a detour to visit, even on a dismal grey day like today.

We were so hungry and tired by the time we got here that we just sat and ate our butties, whilst lots of Italian tourists came by, stood by the dolmen, took a picture and then left. Why is it that men always have to pose for photos like they are trying to pull? One arm, ever so casually raised, resting on the stone and a look of disinterest on their face? Maybe I’ve just met some strange men over the years.

Anyway, when we eventually felt revived by our tuna butties and apple juice, we explored. This is a huge bugger! The capstone is so enormous you just cannot imagine how it ended up on top of the portal stones. It must have been in-situ and the rest built up under it, surely?

The rather industrial backdrop of garages and workshops doesn’t exactly lend itself to an atmospheric location and the chikcen wire fence is less than lovely but this really is a site/sight to behold

I approached this tomb from the farm-track on the north-east side of the hill (Kilmacoliver). You can park at S434293 and head up from there.
It was a very windy day and lots of low cloud obscured the fantastic views that have been described on megalithomania. That said, it’s great to see another passage tomb around here. I could see across to the quarry near Knockroe but couldn’t get a bearing on the tomb itself.
Approaching the site it looks like a stone circle; the kerbing on the south-east side looking more like standing stones than kerbstones.
The circular marking on one of the entrance stones is a bonus. One wonders how much more art there had been here once upon a time. The remains of the chamber say that it was of the cruciform type but there’s only vague hints of a passage left.
Blown away by the wind, I was slightly underwhelmed by the ruins here.

Parked in the large entranceway on the road above the village of Owning (Onainn, as gaeilge). There is an old mill/workhouse at the end of the track here. Walk to the right around the back of the adjoining house and the ruined tomb is in the 2nd field on your left.
It’s quite a sad sight, with the slipped capstone resting on the collapsing uprights. The day I was there (19/08/06) I noticed that some chemical weedkiller had been used on the brambles etc. but the resultant burnt foliage hadn’t been cleared and new growth was in evidence. There’s work going on around the tomb and maybe when the ‘important’ stuff is done, they’ll finish clearing up the tomb.

One of those chance driveby stone sightings. I spotted this nicely shaped stone silhouetted against the sky on a bank above the west side of Coolkeeran Road, which runs through the village of Loughguile.

The large basalt stone stands about 2m tall, tapering up to a point in a kind of wedge shape, and contains some small seams of quartz. As you can see by the photos, its not in the most spectacular setting ever, but a fine standing stone nonetheless.

According to details from DoENI Environment and Heritage Service, the stone was moved a short distance to the west when the road was widened, and now stands only about 0.5m from the field boundary, not ideal, but at least it was saved.
There is also a mention in their notes on the site of

1.8m S is a recumbent basalt slab c.1m long. Its relationship to the standing stone is unknown & no-one knew if it had ever been upright.

I didn’t notice this stone on my visit.

Being right by the road, its a very easy site to get to, with only a gate to contend with. Loughguile is clearly signposted off the A44 (Drones Road), which branches off the A26, the main road between Ballymena and Ballymoney/Coleraine.

A great example of a single standing stone, complete with an ogham inscription, which is remarkably well-preserved: AVUO ANUNAO UATE DOVENI (’Avuo Anunao, soothsayer of Dovenio’). Stands 8’ 6” tall, and is the only Ogham-inscribed stone north of the River Forth still in its original location.

The inscription is unusual because it mentions what Avuo Anunao’s job was. Dovenio was likely a local chief, and probably organised the stone as a monument.

There is also a double disc with a bar carved on the NE face.

Getting there: best by foot; approach from the A957, either from the W via the road towards Rumbleyond then through Auquhollie Wood, or from the E by taking the left fork of the road towards Raedykes.

(Source for facts: Archibald Watt – “Highways and Byways Round Stonehaven”, 1992. “The most interesting and most ancient sculptured stone in the county”.)

When I was there I took the usual pictires associated with this circle, but when exploring the site I came upon this outlying stone. I do believe it is a part of the complex but no-one mentions it.

A ruined portal tomb beside a farm track in this small Kilkenny townland. I parked on the road and walked down the track.
There are 2 uprights remaining standing. I couldn’t tell if these were portals or otherwise as there is so much ivy and growth around. The massive collapsed capstone, about 3 metres square and half a metre thick, lies over the chamber which is inaccessible. The capstone is of an aggregate similar to that at Howth demesne, or of the stones at Bawnfree Hill passage grave nearby. It really is a giant.
A large tree has now grown around one of the supporting orthostats. There is so much additional rubble here that it’s hard to distinguish the original stones from recent additions.
With some time and a little effort, this site could be restored, or at least cleaned up. Cutting down the tree would be a start.

In the bottom left corner of the field containing the Rim of Bookan there is a sheep gap under the barbed wire fence against the ‘standing stone’ which I used as a shortcut. One of few sites that actually look better in summer, needs vegetation to bring the shapes out. Stll not photogenic, and now some big rabbit holes have appeared in the large southern exposure of material. Coming from this direction there appeared to be a slight lip at the base of the downhill side of the mound maybe a metre across. Perhaps this was a smaller version of the Ring of Bookan itself I thought – presently it is thought to be a natural mound, but antiquarians noticed the soil had been brought in from elsewhere. A natural assumption is that it is a satellite rather than of a piece with the mounds that used to lie nearer the loch. I wonder if it could be the other way about ; three burials were found around the outside of Skae Frue but not the expected one in the centre, and the Ring of Bookan had a central ‘chamber’ of some kind. From the way the burials were arranged the excavators also expected another to square the circle. What if a fourth individual had been due to take that place only they achieved so much in their life that they were able to have the Ring of Bookan built instead ? Of course even if there is still datable material deeper in the mound the rabbit activity could critically disturb the stratigraphy here. Skae Frue as presently exposed stands a mound of mostly earth with very few stones, mostly debris. It struck me as possible that after the excavators finished they chose to replace their diggings – there are likely signs of digging on the top, surely they would have dug straight down the middle for their expected central burial. I took the long route out, which entailed going through an ‘Orkney gate’ and a pair of disparate gates held together with rope that were leaning against the fence. Scraped through one (beware barbed wire round gateposts) and muscled the other.

Visited : 17/08/06

Got here after Trefignath just down the road, and this is a delight. As we got out of the car there were the first drops of rain from an all-day threatened storm. The same storm engulfed us whole as we left & drove down the A55.

There’s an unmowed circle around the stone with some iron posts to guide the mower. Further out are some short stakes, painted red and with numbers on. These follow a partial circle around the stone. Didn’t see whether they extend all the way round. Has there been a survey done? There’s now some blue mesh plastic half buried in the ground around the stone. Maybe to help reduce erosion.

The long grass puts the stone in a better setting especially when viewed with the Alu plant behind you.

Visited the site carrying a camera with full batteries this time, which was a good start. After a short steep climb and a close escape from personal injury on a barbed wire fence, (farmers in North Antrim don’t bother with stiles, they’re more likely to be seen on a tractor the size of a small planet.) and a further short wander across pretty unspoilt bogland, I spotted the gleaming capstone of the still-standing tomb peeking above the peat and rushes.

Two portal tombs lie just over 15m apart, oriented E-W. The larger tomb to the east has collapsed, and lies below the present ground level. The western tomb is pretty well preserved. All the stones contain large seams of quartz, and there are a jumble of assorted stones scattered between the tombs which i assume may be cairn material. The capsone of the collapsed tomb is truly massive, measuring 3.75x3.5m, and just over a metre thick. The intact tomb’s is slightly smaller, about 2.5m square.

The site would be even more incredible if the peat surrounding the tombs was lowered a little more, although i guess i should just be grateful there isn’t a fence and sign three feet from them.

I opted against climbing fences on my return to the forest drive carpark, walking down along the fence to the next gate. On the way down the sloping field by the river i noticed a distinctly man-made, but ancient stone structure. I uploaded a picture in case anyone with more knowledge could enlighten me as to what it could be.

p.s. i live nearby, and have never paid just to use the carpark, although the gates to it are rather zealously locked at 8pm during the summer. If you want to drive to the rather disappointing dual court tomb further along the ‘forest drive’ you will have to cough up.

We walked around the whole site, trying to get our bearings and were just amazed by the evidence of 5000 years of habitation, before heading towards the Mound of Hostages (another great name!)

Sadly, after having such excellent access at Loughcrew, the metal gate at the entrance of the tomb was a real downer. I managed to take some photos through the bars but the site felt unloved and neglected, which is strange as there were quite a few people around. Rubbish was strewn on the floor of the passage and it made me feel sad that such a site should be treated like this.

The carvings on the stone in the passage were clearly defined, even from the “outside” and I would’ve loved to have been able to see them closer.

After visiting Loughcrew, we headed for Tara. Unfortunately, before you hit the site of these 2 stones, you have to cross the path of St Patrick, which somewhat offended our lapsed-Catholic sensibilities!!

However, we struggled gamely by and entered the churchyard, the 2 stones immediately apparent on the right hand side. No-one else seemed remotely interested in them and we tried to photograph the larger stone with its carvings but the light just wasn’t right (the pictures I did take are pretty much duplicates of what has already been posted here, so I won’t bother you with them)

I like seeing stones standing in churchyards, there’s something quite heroic about it! Many people we spoke to whilst in Ireland commented upon how superstition had actually saved many of the sites from being destroyed, which is the only good reason I can think of for holding such beliefs!

As we approached Loughcrew, we wondered about getting the key, as advised in the many books we had read. However, when we got to the car park there was a note saying that guides were up on the hill and to come up and join them. So we did!

There were a group of 5 people head of us so we spent the first 30 minutes looking around the satellite sites and stones & taking some photos. We then approached one of the guides, a really lovely man called George Knight, and spent a good 15 minutes with him, chatting about the sites and asking him about access to Patrickstown. He was so enthusiastic about Loughcrew and had many, many theories about the site that I could’ve talked with him all day. However, we still hadn’t been inside the pasage tomb and he was due to take 4 other people in, so we joined them.

Bugger me, that is one impressive place! I thought Vicky was going to pass out with excitement at one point, the whole place is just so awe-inspiring. My head hurt when we tried to think of the science and maths which must’ve gone into working out all of the alignments. I get that tingly feeling all the time when visiting ancient sites but this was ridiculous! We were like love-struck teenagers!

George spent a good 20 minutes describing the alignments and the way that the sun floods the chamber on the winter solstice. He also talked about the theories he has about the alignment of other passage graves within the area. Other than the light from his torch, it was dark inside the tomb, so we were just pointing and clicking with our cameras, some of the pictures were incredible, others less so; though I really don’t think photos can do this place justice.

If you only have time to visit one place in Ireland, I would suggest you go for this one. It is incredible.

A word of warning. The approach to this beautiful wedge tomb is short but very, very steep! My knee almost gave out but I perservered and I am glad I did because it is well worth it. Although in a ruinous state, it is set amongst some lovely woodland and there is still plenty to see. Andy explained that local youths tend to use this area for partying and car burning but it seems to have survived this latest onslaught.

Again, the views must have been spectacular when it was first built; if you remove the planted forest, you would look straight over what is now Dublin and across to the sea.

Ballybrack is siutated on the beautifully named Cromlech Fields. Someone obviously thought long and hard about that one! It isn’t fields at all, but a council estate just outside Dublin, but never mind.

Having recently visited Hully Hill near Edinburgh, when Andy suggested we visit this site, we both jumped at the chance. It is so unusual to see prehistoric monuments surviving the onslaught of the 20th/21st centrury, that I am always somehow lifted by these sites. Yes, they are shown little respect and are often mis-treated, but they do still exist.

There was broken glass and crisp packets strewn all over but the stones retained some beautiful markings and at least they hadn’t been too badly damaged over the years.

This was our final site on a very short but packed evening in the lovely Ryaner’s company and it seemed fitting to leave him at this site and head back onto the motorway and back into Co. Meath.

Scamridge long barrow measured 165 feet long, 54 feet wide and 9 feet high at its eastern end, and 46 feet wide and 7 feet high at its western end. It’s not in bad nick, though the eastern end has collapsed through excavation, and trees now grow on the disturbed earth there.

Canon Greenwell, excavated the barrow in 1864, and found the bones of fourteen or fifteen individuals jumbled in an area 40 x 3½ feet at the eastern end of the barrow. One or more of the skulls was cleft at the time of death. More remarkably, the bones were burnt. Indeed, they constitute the earliest known evidence of cremation in north-east Yorkshire.