Latest Fieldnotes

Not much now remains at all of Exwistle moor stone circle it looks to have been similliar to Hellclough the banks remain with a few sones still intact. All of the middle of the mound has been dug out

Rather than go the route I went by the straight ascent up the hill. From Skaill House you can see the line of two field walls running from behind Skaill Home Farm (originally The Mount) all the way to the top. From near the site of Brockan (HY23031797, the now dry deepcut streambed that gave its name to the Knowe of Geoso lying in the same field) looking across I saw a low flat hillock and a small peaky mound. When I had a closer look I saw they were the same site viewed looking from the SE along a curving hollow. Which means that from down below the whole of the flattened hilltop is the knowe. So it feels quite large when you get there. I was also surprised to find that from this ridge you can see not only all the way down to the Bay of Skaill and across but also down to the Broch of Borthwick (built on the site of an earlier structure) and beyond. A view as near panoramic as another chambered mound at Hurkisgarth (HY25451770) – perhaps in part these functioned as early precursors to the ward hills ?
Though at this time the grass is lower here than at the likes of the Hillock of Breakna the supposed cist slab would still be rendered invisible. There seemed to be various depressions underfoot but the most obvious feature is that deep large curved ‘passage’ carving up the mound. The knowe is described as “greatly mutilated by quarrying” which I doubt would be the case if this had been a simple mound of earth and small stones. I imagine more obvious stones having been extracted long ago, but there could well be some left below the present ground surface.
Perhaps my assumption of larger stones within the mound does relate to the O.S arc of earthfast stones just outside the area of the mound itself. Not having remembered about these I approached them afresh. What took my eye first was an apparent grouping of three of inconsistent appearance – one of bent bi-cuboid shape, one a small flat rock, the largest cracked and pockmarked – but these were merely the tops of these earthfast stones. Forgot to measure them but the smallest was on the order of a foot across the shortest dimension. This grouping is near the middle left of the mound. Nearer to the southern end lie two triangular stones against each other, one much larger than the other. These rest in a distinct depression that is additionally marked by different vegetation from that surrounding.
The mound sits above a crossroad of fields. The wall coming up from the farm and the two that run before its southern end are drystane walls. But running over the mound and down towards the seacliff is a standing stone ‘fence’ (from Brockan my camera picked out the ?first of these stones). This is reminiscent of the magnificent one across the Hill of Borwick on the way to the broch from Yesnaby.
From the knowe the more physically able might enjoy the walk down across the field to the right and try to pick out the burns and drystane structures from the probable remains of the dwellings of Rowhall (HY22861808) and Westfield (HY22831813).

Stopped by on my way past, having previously dismissed the signposts as being not worthy of stopping (“Tealing Earth House”-wtf?)

I wasn’t disappointed! My first soutterain, would you believe.

I wish I’d seen Nick’s instructions first, though... I followed the signs and continued down a farm track, until I spotted something in the distance that looked a likely candidate... Walked through a couple of fields and it turned out to be an old concrete air-raid shelter!! Well, it was very well-preserved... ;)
So don’t do that, kids! The real thing is just through the little metal kissing gate in the hedge on your right, up the little path and over the style. About 50 yards from the road.

This large rectangular enclosure is said to be a defensive 17th Civil War enclosure, The Lansdown Battle was fought on two battlefields about a mile from here. Its interesting because it stands in a bronze age burial ground, with three barrows still remaining, and the rest ploughed away, the large stones being stacked against its side. At the edge of the field is Littledown hillfort on the escarpment, obviously a prime area for defence!
The photo shows the reason why; the commanding view to the Welsh mountains over the Bristol Plain and Severn estuary.

This stone was found in 1933 . Originally flush with the ground the finder set it upright . The immediate area has many small cairns at least three times the dozen quoted in Canmore.

This stone stands on a mound 1.8m high, and has packing stones visible around its base. The stone itself is (naturally) shaped like a cross with one arm broken off (Crois is Gaelic for cross, Chnoca Breaca is “speckled hill”) and is around 2m tall by 40cm wide at the base, and 25cm thick. It is about 90m from the shore.

Visited 11th August 2004: Taoslin is accessible over a small stile. It’s a hefty lump of rock, with large packing stones around the base of it. It’s a lot smaller than Tiraghoil and far less elegant than Fionnphort. On my visit the hollow around the base of the stone was full of water, forming quite an aesthetically pleasing pond. The reflection of the stone in the water was great. I wonder whether Taoslin is the real deal though? Those packing stones can’t be original. They’re far too large, and inexpertly placed.

Visited 11th August 2004: Tiraghoil was the second stone we came to heading east. I left the others in the car (the rain had subsided a bit) and made my way to the stone. This is a large lump of rock, much bigger than Fionnphort. It has quite a presence to it. With the weather as it was the stone did a good job looking immoveable (sort of, “I ain’t budging!“). The lichen hair might have been what suckered me into thinking of the stone as human.

Visited 11th August 2004: On our way back from Iona I persuade Louise that we should pop in and see a few standing stones. Fionnphort was the first we came to, and at the point when we arrived the rain was torrential.

What I should have done was ask at the house for permission to take some photos of the stone. Instead I wound the car window down and took some hurried photos from the relative dry of the driver’s seat. Yes, I know, this is not in the spirit of things at all. The stone looks rather pleasant as a sort of garden feature. It’s an elegant monolith.

Visited 10th August 2004: I was a little bit disappointed by the circle itself, having trudged through the wet to get there. The ‘natural amphitheatre formed by the surrounding hills’ was partially obscured by low lying cloud, which in itself might have seemed mystical had we been a little more dry.

In hindsight I think the weather played a big part in our desire not to linger. We were feeling pretty soaked, and were ready to get back in the dry as soon as possible.

The waters of the lochan being lower than on any of my previous visits there were several areas of ground just about breaking the surface and I could see the tops of at least one side of the short causeway to the artificial islet (though later I see a poor photograph in an hardbacked thesis shewing its entirety laid bare in a drought year). Mostly what you are aware of is the ‘modern’ cairn atop this creation. Like the Holm of Groundwater on the Loch of Kirbister in Orphir used to there are the traces of a wall round it at the (winter) water-level. Here, though, there is a causeway from the southern tip behind which are the remains of a massive stone rampart. Of the suspects it does sound more like a dun than a broch or any kind of roundhouse.

Today i decided to visit Cheetam Close. i was prepared to be underwhelmed but also excited about the prospect of seeing the circle anyway.
What a sorry state this place is in theres still lots to see you just have to look a little harder than most sites! The Mire stone is quite easy to find and from there you can locate the other stones and cairns.
The first thing that struck me was a huge barrow as i approached the hill which i havnt heard mention of before, the cairn on the north side is still intact and has a hollow inside about three feet deep.
If you carry on north over the hill theres a ruined structure more modern than the circles with four more of those perforated stones Mr Treebeard mentions, making 6 in all. theres also a lot of fallen stones almost the same shape as the Mire stone which gives a good indication of how the place might have looked. The views up here are stunning especially looking across Winter Hill

I have heard of an ancient settlement at Slipper Lowe im just not convinced that the one marked on the map is the one. Also a recent tree plantation inside it helps back up what i already thought that it looks like an old quarry. i’ll have to go back for another mooch about soon!

The lantern at Cuween Hill is next to useless, the pinprick of light and its umbra good for picking out points but next to useless here, really need one of those dome lanterns to see much of anything (especially if you wish to take photos, for which it is necessary to know what is in the frame before the flash goes !). And my 1 lux videocamera proved useless too, once inside. Decided to take pics of the ceilings as I figured not many people would have done this. Simple technique, lay the digital camera on its back roughly central and press go. This works well here. (But when I tried it at Wideford Hill’s chambers this Sunday I only got half of un in, so credit to whoever shot the ‘beehive’ chamber there). Bit of a hands and knees job but reasonably dry. Only one I put myself entirely inside for a good look was the double at the back, all the rest I basically laid out flat with arms in front to place the camera. If there had been more light and if I hadn’t been alone ... The double was split by two thin slabs across the width, the chamber on the right has a thin slab acoss the end of the the entrance flag marking the chamber itself. You certainly have the feeling that all the cells are by different hands, finally unified by the covering mound. Apart from that at the left (which you can practically walk into therefore) all the chambers’ entrances are raised above the floor of the main chamber, though at differing heights. A lost rough sandstone ball came from the s’ern half of the doublet. On this occasion I missed the chamber to the left of the main entrance (It actually showed in a photo, but being uncertain of the batteries I looked at none whilst there). I was looking for four spaces and found four, not thinking one main chamber plus four cells leading off !
Looking along the entrance to the outside it is possible to see Wideford Hill in the distance like the say. But on the diagonal – was this an accident, explaining the slight curve of the passage, or deliberate like the sightlines that ‘pass’ across the outside of a mound for instance. And rather than looking across to the other chambered cairn did it look down onto the various settlements.

I set off optimistically after these stones, hoping that things so sizeable would be easily spotted. I was wrong. It didn’t help that I didn’t bring the notes below with me.

It would certainly have been a good spot – high on the hill overlooking the river valley below. But now it’s a sprawling housing estate which has lost its shine. It was muggy and uncomfortable, and people do give you funny looks when you’re staring in their gardens in a cul-de-sac. I suppose I could have asked for help but I could just imagine the blank expressions so didn’t have the heart. Perhaps the stones are still here somewhere. If you’re ever in Frome please take a look. I want them to be here. I don’t want to think that people would get rid of their stones – you’d think they’d make a nice landscaping feature. This was disappointing.

Visited 10th August 2004: This is the largest stone in the Lochbuie group, and it’s so close to the circle that it may as well be part of the same site. An impressive lump of rock, even in the rain.

Visited 10th August 2004: This is the first ‘proper’ outlier to the stone circle (I can’t see how the more distant stone can be described as an outlier). Contained within the same field as the circle and Outlier 1 you have to double back on yourself a bit from the gate to get to it. It was at this stage in our visit that the severity of the rain really became apparent. We were sodden!

Visited 10th August 2004: This was the second Lochbuie site that we came to. The light was very poor thanks to the low cloud and drizzle, but the site was relatively easy to find. The trees sit in amongst the stones making the site a bit of a jumble to interpret.

Visited 10th August 2004: With a foolhardy lack of regard for the weather we set out from our parking spot (NM61552557) and made our way to the ‘Lochbuie’ standing stone (the one furthest away from the circle). In this instance we approached over water-logged ground. The stone itself was difficult to get close to without getting soggy feet. At least the rain wasn’t too bad...

Visited 9th August 2004: Not such much a visit as a drive-by. Caisteal Eoghainn A’ Chinn Bhig is clearly visible from the A849, so I insisted on taking a look from the road.

Despite not getting all that close to the site I was disproportionately excited at seeing my first Crannog. The whole valley has quite an appeal, in a bleak sort of way. In this instance the dire weather seemed a very appropriate backdrop.

Visited 9th August 2004: William and I visited this stone without the others (they opted to stay in the car).

When we visited there was a lot of silage stacked up near the stone tractor in the field and a knackered old tractor (William liked this). The biggest obstacle we faced was mud. The part of the field nearest he gate was awash with it. It took us ages to cover a short distance.

The stone itself is tall and slender, but this I didn’t find the site very inspiring. Perhaps I had the wrong head on for it, or perhaps it was the mud, but I didn’t feel any great urge to contemplate the place for very long.

Using Mr Hamhead’s wonderful directions I finally found this circle after many false starts in the past.
I cannot read maps so this makes my life looking for stone circles very difficult!!
However this one was well worth the wait. On a beautiful day in mid July as I came up over the ridge and saw the circle before me it was like coming home.
I ran down the hill calling out to the stones as I went. We spent several happy hours together in the sun before I made my way back to the car.
So thank you Mr Hamhead you helped me achieve an ambition.

Visited 8th August 2004: Parking is a bit tricky if you’re visiting Kilninian, and when we visited the giant bracken was quite an obstacle. The stone itself is beautifully positioned, but possibly easier to appreciate in the winter when the undergrowth has died back.

Visited 8th August 2004: Dervaig B is easier to find and get to than the other two Dervaig rows. As a result it’s the most visited of the three. Unsurprisingly, this site isn’t wheelchair friendly.

The row is now just inside a forest plantation, with tall pine tress planted on either side of it. Any intervisibility between Dervaig B and it’s neighbours (if there ever was any) is now hard to imagine. There’s an ambience here though, and the stones are impressively large. Well worth a visit, even for the non-enthusiast.

Visited 8th August 2004: This site is relatively easy to get to, but not by any means wheelchair friendly. It took a couple of passes on the road for me to realise that the cemetery is the landmark we should really have been looking for (much easier to spot than the stones).

Because it’s built into a dry stone wall Dervaig C is unlike the other two neighbouring stone rows. It feels a bit tainted, especially with fencing wire still attached to the largest stone. Not exactly brimming with atmosphere.

I can’t really complain about our visit though. It was the first day of our week on Mull, and we had brilliant sunshine (unaware that it would be chucking it down in buckets for most of the remainder of the week).