Latest Fieldnotes

There’s a faint track marked on sheet 62 at the north end of Moylisha hill. To get to it you need to enter the white gate at the edge of the farm buildings and walk up to the fifth gate on your left. The farmer was more than happy to allow me up the track and offered directions.
Over the aforesaid 5th gate, walk through 2 fields in a south-east and upward direction and you will spot the site in the corner of the 2nd field by the pine plantation.
This is one of the best sites I’ve visited in Wicklow. It’s a pity that it’s not better looked after. The OPW sign was in bits on the ground. The tomb itself is now overgrown with bracken and gorse. Those negatives aside, the stones here are very well preserved and the layout very easy to see. It’s a pity that the roofstones are cast aside and left on the ground. A small bit of restoration here would not go amiss.

I visited Llanelltyd on the 31st August 2006. There is what appears to be an external fountain or spring in the southern quadrant of the surrounding circular wall. One of the meanings of ‘llan’ is of an enclosure, and the church is right in the middle of this circular, sacred enclosure; a local (Gwynedd) man told me he thought ‘llans were druid enclosures’ and I cannot see any ecclesiastical reasons for ‘enclosures’ instead of Christian ‘houses of god’ (or indeed village ‘preaching’ crosses which preceded early churches?). The church gloss on the interior stone seems to fall apart on inspection – at one point it is described as ‘shaped like a coffin’, at another, a pilgrim’s footprint is described on the stone, ensuring ‘a safe return’ from a pilgrimage – so the anecdotes appear to contradict one another?

St Elltyd also features in South Wales where he is associated with deer symbolism – I think this is the early Church building on pagan traditions in the area? Elltyd does not appear to be connected with deer hear by Dolgellau, however – at least not within the fabric of this church?

The road outside this church is very busy – beware!

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Great circle (actually on oval) in a field at the edge of a wood, skirted by two minor roads, and reasonably far from any houses so it’s quiet. Ring cairn in the middle. The fields here are like a stone circle construction site, with enormous boulders all over the place outside the circle, which is presumably why there are so many circles in this area.

I can’t help wondering whether there used to be even more circles around here – nearby fields have odd boulders standing in ones and twos; the area might benefit from a proper resistivity survey.

Found a modern stone pyramid in the centre of the ring cairn, so I presume people believe it has ‘powers’ (although it just looked out of place/ruining the feeling of the circle to me.)

There’s now a notice up asking people to respect the stones, and no evidence of any fires having been lit, a definite improvement on how it used to be.

Nice site, easy access/parking if you’re in the car. Park the car here – it’s an easy walk from here to the more intact Esslie the Greater and Esslie the Lesser.

Paulus’ advice is to visit this one on a wet day and catch it in low sunlight – I managed to visit on a dry February day late in the afternoon when the sun was coming in from the wrong direction. Some of the rings are just about visible and can be traced with a finger but the design is incredibly worn – shame.

This is an interesting stone propped up against a wall on the edge of the churchyard close to the ‘plague stone’. It consists of a central cross within a diamond shape with the centre carved into a shallow depression, further grooves continue the diamond shape out towards the edge of the stone. I wasn’t sure if it was prehistoric when I saw it but PRAWR has it recorded as stone 208 and says that Eric Cowling suggested it may have been a cist cover.

Easy enough to find in the churchyard, PRAWR says this stands ‘among other stones of interest’. The only other stone I could find here was the lozenge stone (208 in the classification) that stands a few feet away, the rest are all medieval from what I remember.

Despite the name, this hillfort dates from the Iron Age. Huge, ‘stepped’ ramparts on the north side (most visible and impressive, as you might expect, at sunset). On the south side, there is (rather inexplicably) a hill taller than the one the fort stands on. Excellent views, particularly at dusk, in one direction all the way to Arthur’s Seat, across the Firth of Forth, to the Forth Bridge and beyond to Fife, and in the other to Berwick Law and Bass Rock.

To get there, if you’re walking, take the North Berwick train or bus from Edinburgh, and get off at the small village of Drem. Cross the railway road bridge and climb over the fence, then follow the tree-lined road up the hill. The Chesters is on the right and very visible.

By car: the hillfort is well-signposted (it’s looked after by Historic Scotland) and has a small, unobtrusive car park below the W side.

This is it – the number one most awe-inspiring ancient site I have had the pleasure to visit. The photographs really don’t do it justice. We visited in early September, and went there twice – the second time at midnight, under a completely clear sky, with beautiful twinkling northern lights, the solitary light of the Flotta Flare, and the huge expanse of the Milky Way directly above us. The lack of light pollution in this area (and I’m from Aberdeenshire, where it’s not a major problem) means the night sky here is absolutely stunning.

The correct pronunciation is, according to a local tour-guide friend, ‘brodjer’ (with a slight nordic ‘y’ on the j). It’s easily accessible, with an unobtrusive car park nearby. There are 28 stones remaining out of an original 60 (!), and stones 3, 4, 8 and 9, numbered clockwise from the NW entrance, have runic carving, a cross, an anvil, and an Ogham inscription (source for these last two facts: Janet and Colin Bord, ‘A Guide to Ancient Sites in Britain’, 1978).

Not a particularly incredible site; I wouldn’t even say it was really worth a look unless you were heading from Stonehaven towards the rather more diverting Nine Stanes. Situated off the A957, just before the main village at Rickarton, very exposed and easy to see from the road. Cross the field and head towards the forest.

There appear to be trenches running the length of the heathery/grassy area below the forest, although they are largely obscured by the heather. Around the forest are dotted many stones, some large, increasingly so as you reach the forest itself. The forest is in fact a ring of trees around an open area with deep and obvious trenches around its circumference.

Unfortunately, this area seems to attract two major annoyances during the summer: horse poo (do these animals never stop??) and swarms of flies, so bring a hood.

This was to be our last site before heading home, but will be remembered most. This must be the biggest capstone round here. Just how did they get it up? Crazy. We parked on the B3306 and followed the path south (not easy going at all). It went this way, then that way, and I wondered if we were on the right one, but it got us there in there end. After the long hard walk I was surprised to find other people there. They sat on one side and we had the other.

After a while we went over to the rocks by Sperris Quoit (didn’t go to it though ‘cause it’s unrecognisable as a quoit). The rock’s were really stone island’s in a sea of bracken and thorny gorse. Not wanting to retrace our steps, I decided to cut through it straight to the car. Big mistake! With a 7yr old on my shoulders and a 4 year old in my arms, it felt like an army yomp and I came last. Damn gorse cut me to shreds but I did see a smooth lizard for the first time ever. Karma’s a funny thing isn’t it.

PS. Why dont they get rid of the cow shed stones?

We parked by a house in the Try valley to the east, in a one car grassy layby .Walk north to the footpath and climb the hill it was quite easy even the children didn’t ask to be carried.Upon reaching the dolmen you cant look at it too long because the view is too demanding of your attention .Being up here you just know the view was important to the ancient’s whether for beauties sake or as a territorial marker, either way we benifit

I was camping in Cardinney campsite just two fields away (you can see it over the hedge at the bottom of the campsite)and only 5ft from my tent was a footpath heading right past the chambers field,So I got up early as postmen do and trod the path seldom trod ,boy was it overgrown ,slug’s and snail’s of many colour’s and sizes.there was no footpath sign but it was marked on the O.S map ,then a small jump over the wall and I was there .What a little beauty ,looked to be grown rather than built with a little chamber that one could just squeeze into if you dont mind more slug’s than you can count,I dont really have high regard’s for farmer’s (collectively how much land do they own)so i played a kind of peekaboo with a nearby farmer in his tractor he went one way and i went the other allways keeping the barrow between us, lot’s of fun

A brief gander at the OS map reveals this second site directly across the road from Mains of Clava NW, hidden (at least during summer) by overgrown bushes and dense grass. Be careful crossing the rickety drystane dyke (wall), unless you’re an expert at rebuilding them.

These ‘hidden’ stones are somewhat special because you are almost guaranteed to be the only visitor that day.

A pleasant, 1.5 mile walk will take you from the Culloden visitors’ centre, down past Clava Lodge and Mains of Clava to this lovely fantastically well-preserved site. If you’re going in summer, you’d be advised to visit early in the morning or late in the evening, as this is a ‘coachloads of tourists’-type attraction. Two graves, a ring cairn and the ‘kerb cairn’, plus numerous other stones of all shapes and sizes.

Excavations in 1828, 1857 and 1858 found bones and pottery in the NE cairn, flint flakes in the ring cairn, and bones in the SW cairn. Prof. Thom found that the entrance passages align exactly through two stones in the ring cairn with the midwinter sunset. (Source: ‘A Guide to Ancient Sites in Britain, Janet & Colin Bord, 1978).

I arrived there at about 9am at the height of summer (although it was a traditional Scottish summer day – gray, drizzly and very still), and was only joined by a few other quiet people, who soon left me on my own for a good forty minutes. By 11, when I was returning from Miltown of Clava, the place was heaving with bawling children, amateur photographers, loud tourists and disinterested coach drivers.

The site extends on beyond the boundaries of the Historic Scotland ‘official fence’, in one direction into easily-accessible fields, and in the other, into people’s gardens (also easily-accessible, but I wouldn’t recommend it!) and beyond to the Miltown site.

Two lovely graffiti’d stone picnic tables are available next to the car park if you need to take a break. This site suffers badly from litter, so if you’re feeling charitable, bring a litter bag and pick some up. Historic Scotland don’t seem to be doing it (although I did see one of their representatives driving around so they’re not entirely neglecting the site).

If you’re looking for something else to do, it’s worth having a walk down to the rather imposing viaduct.

If you’re approaching the main cairns at Balnuaran and Miltown of Clava from the direction of Culloden (as most will be), this will be the first site you come across. Situated in the field immediately preceding the Balnuaran of Clava grove, it’s a single stone situated in the centre of the field.

This site is listed as “Not accessible to the public” by Historic Scotland, although there is certainly nothing to stop you other than the field and possibly its animal inhabitants!

Certainly not as exciting as the main feature at Balnuaran of Clava, but worth a quick look. But don’t forget to cross the road and also have a look at Mains of Clava SE.

Accessed via the drive to Cultoquhey Hotel, this one took a bit of finding. The owners are Italian, and seem to cater exclusively for Italian guests to Scotland. They seemed interested however, and especially so when after they referred to it as “The Roman Stones” I took great delight in pointing out that these were ancient when the original Romans paid their brief visit to Scotland!

There’s not much to see, and I didn’t attempt any photographs. There’s definitely a slight mound present, but it’s so overgrown with trees, ferns, nettles, moss and bl**dy rhododendrons that access is limited and viewing anything is next to impossible.

This one would really benefit from a proper archaeological survey, stripping all the undergrowth (and overgrowth!) away.

This one was a bit of a drive-by as I was in a hurry to head for another site. It’ll keep for a return visit when hopefully I can access the field and have a better look around.

Couldn’t actually reach this today as the field’s in crop at present. Made do with a couple of pictures from a nearby slope, and will have to come back in the winter. Looks to be about 150 feet long, fairly low, and with two great oak trees growing from it.

As BigSweetie has said, there’s a lot going on here. Many of the stones are field clearance, but the cist covers and several recumbent stones (along with the single upright remaining) show that there was a veritable hive of neolithic activity here at one time.

According to a local lady I spoke to, the land belongs to the Abercairney Estate and was at one time used as a burial ground. The estate has been held by the Moray family since the end of the 13th century.

The field was in crop today so had to make do with what can be seen from the side of the field. Easy enough to access, as the farmer was quite happy to point out the route through one field to the next, in which the stone stands. About 2m tall, but with quite a pronounced lean.

A group of 4 (?) Long Barrows close to Danebury, which they pre-date.

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Using the above, the northerly couple can be seen clearly. There is said to be another at SU323387 (Tumulus on OS) to the E in the corner of the right hand field above the farm sheds. The LB/Bowl Barrow can be seen by the Y junction to the E of Danebury as a black clump of trees by the road.

It’s interesting that the N group are orientated ESE and the others ENE.

2/8/06

Re-visited here at the height of the bracken season. After beating back some of the brambles and bracken, the enormity of the capstone is revealed. Somebody had been here about 2 months ago and kindly cut down the tree at the northern end of the tomb. This allows much better views of the stones.

Access was once again along the west side of the DCPCA grounds for about 60 metres, over the barbed wire and across the small field here, and then in through the slightly overgrown gap. The tomb is still hidden until you go through this gap and turn left.

My wife went and took more pictures for me on 28/7/06.
As I was putting them up on TMA I discovered that the CA have put the original article on this BACK on their website, including the offending picture.

Considering the fact that the damage is still visible at the Long Man I find this unbelievable.

Looking at Craw Howe for the other two mounds mentioned in the record. Most obvious are two in the same field to its left. Then there are one or two nearing the road in the field to their left, which closes the gap on the first of my suspicious depressions. Unfortunately modern stones do still occasionally get dumped in them, though the last activity that I observed was a posh gent pulling up alongside one and proceeding to help himself to a heap of them (presumably to get an authentic feel to some garden folly, he was no farmer).