Latest Fieldnotes

Park at the Sustainability Centre Woodland Trail (Natural Burial Ground) 100yds East of the path that leads North with the old HMS Mercury site to your right. Heading up past Westhers Farm and the two large radio masts the barrow is in a field on the left a further 400yds up that path, opposite where a path joins from the right. Its not much of a bump to be honest but stunning views south.

Hampshire Treasures entry – “Half mile north of South Hants Ridgeway. Normal barrow of Wessex type with flanking ditches, orientated north east to south west. O.S.A. No. SU62 SE12.”

This site isn’t easily found. Heading NE out of Owlesbury past the recreation ground on the right, straight on over the crossroads, about a third of a mile up the road the Kings Way emerges both sides of the road. Park in the southerly layby/field entrance and walk across the field following the bridle path. Take a left as you near the end of the copse, not well marked by a small post. Keep to the path following the narrow stretch of trees initially to the right and then crossing nearer to the left of the narrow strip. When the woods broaden around you walk through the trees to the left and Shortlands a square copse is visible on the other side of the field. All appears private but the barrow is just about definable in the hedgerow under the trees. The barrow is badly mutilated by animals, trees and is almost undefinable. It stretched from the front to the back of the copse

Hampshire Treasures – “In trees at southern edge of Shortlands Copse. O.S.A. No. SU 52 SW 13. Last O.S. Inspection 9.7.68. Ref: P.H.F,C., Vol. 14, p. 116.”

This is not the most impressive of recumbent stone circles. The recumbent has gone, both flankers are down and the views aren’t great. But it does, like Balquhain, have an outlier so that makes it unusual and interesting.

The 2.3m outlier lies to the N of the site in an area where the line of the circle is difficult to establish because of the absence of stones but the grading rules of RSCs mean that this cannot be a circle stone.

The prior existence of the recumbent was confirmed to Coles when he surveyed the site in the early 20th century. The tenant farmer claimed it had been removed by a neighbouring farmer.

It was wet when I visited this site. I’d had several attempts at finding the right tractor tracks to lead me to the site (they’re opposite the caravan). My boots were thick with mud. Mrs G had given up. Maybe these explain why I’m I bit downbeat about this site. Try it on a good day!

Visited 20 October 2005

Agree entirely with Merrick’s assessment that this is a sight you should not miss.

On paper, it sounds tame. A recumbent and one circle stone were not enough stones to include it in the list of target sites for my March trip... but this punches well above its weight.

The view has been well covered in Merrick’s post. The massive recumbent (second only to the lofty Tyrebagger in height) dominates the site. It’s amazing it’s still standing because, like most recumbents, it simply sits on the ground surface. Cattle rubbing and trampling have failed to shift its estimated 12 tons. There are suggestions of cupmarks on its outer surface.

Ask at Loanend farm. They suggested driving up to near the site where there is a verge to park on.

Visited 20 October 2005

Was down at Lough Gur for the Oiche Samhain sunset, I’ve read that there is meant to be an alignment between the horned stones in the circle and an Crom Dubh (the biggest stone in the circle). However from what I could see on the evening this seems incorrect but the sun does go down more or less behind the horned stones.

The “Rainbow Circle” had camped here for the last couple of nights and provided some lovely music that really added to the atmosphere of the sunset. Although I didn’t prove the above alignment to be correct, the setting sun and music really contributed to a peaceful and very interesting evening that I came back feeling a lot better from.

To the north of the circle was another circle that was destroyed in 1826 to used for road building. It was meant to be 52m diameter with 72 stones. It would have been a monster and is sadly lost. Would be interesting to do Geophysics on the area.

There is a group of Round Barrows on the hill brow looking North towards Petersfield/Langrish. The barrows are marked on the Info boards close to a recommended walk around the crown of the hill. I can’t believe there was no IA activity atop Butser. There’s clearly no hillfort but it would have been a fine sister to Old Winchester Hill. There was Neolithic activity all around too with Flint Mine (scatters) on nearby Windmill Hill (no not that one) and plenty of axes found around Petersfield.

Elva Plain is one of the most northerly of the Cumbrian circles , it is situated close to the River Derwent and therefore on a possible routeway from the Irish Sea into the central lakes via Lake Bassenthwaite, Derwent Water and the Borrowdale Valley. Another route could have been to skirt the Caldbeck Fells to Penrith, this route would have taken traveller past the recently recognised causeway enclosure of Aughertee Fell
On my visit I followed Sals directions. Once past the farmhouse I splodged through the gate into a large muddy swamp. There were half a dozen bullocks standing in the middle of the stone circle in the centre of the field. In the next field there was a large solitary bull, who on seeing me began to hurridly patrol the area around the stile. I was a little worried about the bullocks as they refused to budge from the centre of the field. If I had to run for it the stile was definitely not an option.
Bollocks! I had driven for two hours to reach this lovely circle, I wasn’t going to give up now. So began the Mexican standoff of Elva Plain ( cue -Ennio Morricone).
I decided that my best strategy to shift the bullocks was to confuse the crap out of them. I did a little jig to the left and the bullocks moved with me, a little jig to the right, a couple wobbly jumps with arms outstretched and then a staggered but determined march towards them, jeez I hope no-one was watching. It worked! the bullocks were freaked and moved off to the stile and the safe presence of papa bull who had stopped his patrolling to watch the freak in the field.
I was dead chuffed, I was stood in this beautiful stone circle under a beautiful Cumbrian sky with the mighty Skiddaw Massif looking down on me and I was king of the field, papa bull and his boys couldn’t touch me.
The circle is beautiful, it’s knocked about with a few gaps in it’s circumference but that means nothing when you drink in the views.
The magestic fells draw the eye here but if you turn and look to the top of Elva Hill you will notice a natural outcrop of rock. Is it too much to speculate that prior to the building of the circle this outcrop was the focus and the circle was erected lower down the hill in deference to this earlier site. Who knows?
Burl notes that The longest stone in the circle is at the western point and the shortest at the eastern point. Also there seems to be a little confusion as to the number of stones in the circle. Burl counts 15, Waterhouse counts 14 and Seton counts 13. This confusion is due to the different ways each surveyor counts the small group of 3 stones on the northern edge.

Parking – Parking is difficult in this area and I would advise that you don’t block any field entrances. If you park at the Setmurthy Common carpark NY164314 it’s only a walk of a few hundred metres to the farm entrance.

Every now and then I wake up in the morning with an overwhelming urge to head for Cumbria. Today was such a day. Today my overwhelming urge was not only to get to Cumbria but to see the Irish Sea.
I jumped in the car and drove down to the beach which is approximately 5 minutes from my house, that’s the North Sea sorted. right, here we go.... coast to coast.
Two and a half hours later I was on my way to Maryport, it was a rainy morning with low cloud and poor visibility and I was just outside Maryport before I got a glimpse of the Irish Sea. That’s all I needed, I stopped and turned the car around and decided to check out a few sites from my ever-growing list.
It was Waterhouse who put me on to Studfold. His description of the circle as one of the largest rings in Cumbria had me intrigued.
I got to Studfold via the A5086 from Cockermouth. The long road from Ullock has many reminders of West Cumbria’s former glories in the form of the remains of pits, open cast mines and quarries.
I parked the car in a small carpark a few yards west of the house marked ‘Studfold’ on the OS map. The circle is situated just below the brow of a small hill and the low stones of the circle are not visible from the road. Visiblity was poor when I visited but I was still able to see across the northern plain towards Cockermouth.
The circle is bisected by a stone wall, the eastern half is in a boggy pasture, the western in an even boggier field of sedges and boggy stuff. Apparently this side was once a plantation.
The stones are small and many are missing with only five visible on the eastern side, one visible in the dry stone wall and one visible in the western field. This said, there is still enough there to visualise the circle.
There is also a ruined cairn within the circle. The cairn is on the western side and initially appears to be pretty formless. On further examination you can see the stones of the cairn poking through the sedge with one large slab capping the cairn. Poking around the margins of the cairn reveals what could be a fairly narrow kerb.
All in all Studfold is definitely not a showcase circle, Burl classifies it as “Ruined but recognisable” I can’t argue with that.

I scurried in here on a very wet day to take this photo. Didn’t stay long.

Handy to access not far from the new extended ringroad (B8082) around Inverness. Follow the “General Wade” road until turning right into the appropriately named Druidtemple Farm.

I asked at the farm for directions and permission to park. They gave me instructions to follow the path behind the farm, which gave fantastic views right across Inverness and the Beauly Firth.

This site is one of these wonderfully atmospheric places now protected by trees.

I love it when rock art is carved on a big hump like this, and although there are quite a few humpy shapes in this landscape for some reason this one was chosen for the carvings.

The day we visited it was one of those autumn days that although you leave the house wrapped up for winter it was actually quite warm. I felt so snug... so I lay against the side of the hump shelter from the breeze and had a little sleep ;)

Nice!

Inschfield Farm seemed to be the correct place to ask permission on this visit. Two routes were offered: our chosen one through the farm then up to the right (which had just been harvested) or park at a layby a little NW of the farm entrance then up through two fields.

Visited 18 October 2005

To get there: Drive through the centre of South Kirkby, following the signs for Brierley. As you leave the built up area and start to go up a long hill, look out for a wooden fence on your left with an entrance (unmarked) which leads into a very nice car park. The Hillfort is the open access area behind the car park.

Walking around the site reminded me a bit of the interior area of Bratton hillfort in Wiltshire which I used to visit in my childhood (although the surroundings and geographic positioning are completely different). You’ll need boots as there is a spring on the site, which on a wet October day had turned into a stream at the bottom of the site.

A possible stone circle (possible modern folly?) is nearby at Brierley Gap – see notes on Brierley Stone Circle, Barnsley following up on Podofdonnys news post above.

As this is the closest site to home, I went to have a look – but there really isn’t a lot there to see ...

To get there: Take the road from Castleford to Ferrybridge and turn right into an estate called Pollard’s Fields, immediately opposite the main gate for Ferrybridge C power station. Park up and then walk back up the main road towards Castleford, with the power station on your right. There is a farmer’s lane to your left running parallel to the road. Join this, and it takes you into the field where the henge is (see photo above).

This is a very difficult site to decipher when there are crops, and the only above ground evidence I could see was a raised area in the field of crops, which according to the plan provided by the “local site” link below is part of the banking of the henge (see photo).

I also took a photo from the centre of the henge area towards the power station. Apparently the far left of the photo is where the outer banking meets the road.

Walking the perimter of the field / road only confuses matters – particularly with all the road building works which are ongoing at present and which doubtless in the future will have altered the geography somewhat.

Most of this once sacred landscape has been flattened, and I did feel a bit like I was standing in an island between several motorways, what with the the powerstation on one side, the M62 on the other – and now the new A1(M) improvement route is in the process of eating up a large part of the remaining area.

Visited this site late October so thankfully it was free of horseflies! The grooves are quite prominent just a shame to see it lies in a puddle of water on its side, I would love to get a look at the other side of this stone as it looks to me to be a fallen standing stone.

A beautifully ‘Cup Marked Rock’ that sits right next to the road however the road is that quiet that I don’t think it really represents a threat. A pleasure to visit and my first piece of Highland rockart.

Very difficult to find all that remains now is a low mound with a jumble of stones a little scuffling about in the undergrowth revealed the Kerbstones of a burial chamber in a rectangular shape this place has been heavily excavated and you could quite easily walk past it not knowing what it was.

Sat in an idyllic location on top of a small hill this brock remains with many features still visible, you can make out the passage between the walls and the steps leading up cubby holes in the wall and an intact entrance. I’m probably a little over enthusiastic with this one as it was my first ever Brock I’m sure theres more intact ones than this but I found this place very special.

Despite the fact you can see Addington Long Barrow from the road that runs straight through it the land that it lies on seems to be owned by the same woman who owns the land that the Chestnuts are on. This site would be much better apreciated if you can actually access the land it’s on instead of looking at the stones through the barbed wire fence. Unfortunately the owner was just leaving when we arrived and was unable to show us around.

People reading this website before visiting the Chestnuts will see that there’s information about calling ahead to arrange your visit. To get the best out of visiting this site I advise ringing the same number.

So, if you are looking at the Addington page on this site without realising there’s an more exciting tomb situated just behind this one I advise calling this number before planning your visit to make sure you can get access:

Phone: 01732 840220

Kent ... the garden of England. The car park of England more like! This longbarrow which, despite it’s name, survives with more than one stone, is sandwiched between the Channel tunnel rail link and a motorway. It even has it’s own petrol station attached! OK, as tombs go this place isn’t the greatest surviving monument in Britain, but surely it deserves better.

Visited 26th September 2004: We parked the car on the A470 in a lay-by opposite the track to Maen Llwyd. Crossing the road with the boys was a bit tricky, but once we were on the track (basically a private road giving access to a couple of houses) the going was easy.

Finding the stone was not so easy. The map indicated it was very close to the road, but we couldn’t see anything that looked likely. Bearing in mind we’d not got any photos to go on I think we anticipated something a bit more like Llech Idris. In the end we came to a small cottage by the side of the track and asked a gentleman who was coming out of it for directions (I think the cottage might have been called Maen Llwyd). He was exceedingly helpful. It turned out we had over-shot.

As it happened the owner of the cottage was heading in the direction of the standing stone to check his water supply, so he led us back up the track in the direction we had come from, stoically enduring a lot of pestering from William. It turns out that Maen Llwyd is visible from the road, but although it’s not far into the field it’s surrounded by boggy ground and reeds. The others stayed on the track and watched me hop from tussock to tussock until I could get a closer look at the stone. Trainers are not recommended footwear if you visit Maen Llwyd! It’s not very large, and the tricky access means I’d not recommend it unless you’re a thorough enthusiast. I was pleased we’d found it, but at the end of a long day it was a little bit disappointing.

Thanks to the gentleman from the cottage!

The field boundary and fence mentioned in previous posts have now gone – making it more difficult, presumably, to get access when the field is in crop.

Visited 18 October 2005

22.10.05
Drove up through village to the end of the tarmac. parked and followed sign up track rather than cross fields on footpath. Passed the farm and hit the mud! Once out onto the open moor it is a short walk to the right to find the stones. There is now no sign of the burning from a year or so ago, infact the stones are now surrounded by a good covering of bracken. The sky over Keninjack was ever changing from gray to blue as the sun threatened to come out...I waited patiently and finally got my rewards. Behind me from atop of the wall the Scilly Isles stood out proud whilst St Just church tower gleamed in the sunlight...I would have loved to have walked up to the carn but time was against me...perhaps next time.

Petite, panoramic... and pink.

That just about sums up this recumbent stone circle. It has a wonderful setting in a plantation which now has very few trees.

Not all the stones are pink but the most prominent ones are – including the recumbent and flankers and two stones on the E still upright.

The fallen recumbent measures only 1.6 x 0.7m and the still upright E flanker stands to the dizzy height of 0.7m.

There are views over Bennachie and Mither Tap to the N.

Access from the path at NJ 589144 (where you can park) then via the southern plantation fence line.

Visited 20 October 2005

I wouldn’t go balls out and say this was a place not to be missed like....but it’s all part of the Hope Valleys bigger picture.

The circular enclosure is more visible from the road. Up close and personal the enclosure walls can still be made out by following the encompassing moss covered rocks, but other possible structures within the enclosure can make for a confusing time of it.

Dated to the Bronze or Iron Age the enclosure is suggested to have been either for holding livestock (a similar purpose has been suggested for The Holmes a few km’s away to the SW), or a small farmstead. The confusion of walls within the enclosure interpreted as the foundations of small buildings.