Latest Fieldnotes

This tiny circle consists of 4 stones, only 2 of which still stand, the other two lying close to their original positions. None of the stones are more than 0.55m tall, and sit in very shallow sockets – one of the stones moves when touched. The circle is situated on a small mound close to the edge of a forestry plantation, and leading away from it are a perfectly-straight line of 5 hut circles, one of which crowns the summit of Elrig.

Visiting this circle it struck me how important the standing stones must have been to the people who erected them. From the looks of the landscape, this area would have been a temporary summer settlement, but the inhabitants still felt the need to build a stone circle – however small.

The Idol Stone PRAWR 322 SE 13265 45943 is part of a small group of cup and ring stones within 5 metres of each other, which includes PRAWR 321 SE 13265 45942, PRAWR 323 SE 13265 45944, and PRAWR 234 SE 13265 45945. I have included photos of these here, with explanatory notes.

The carving on the Andle Stone referred to by others is split into two sections, carved side by side as follows:-

1st Carving
Field – Marshall
Duke Of Wellington
Died 14 Septr 1852
Aged 82 Years

2nd Carving
Lieut – Colonel
William Thornhill
7 Hussars
Died 9 Decr 1851
Aged 71 Years

Underneath is carved
Assye 1803 Waterloo 1815
T Masters

I know it’s hardly neolithic but I thought worthy of record

I visited Robin Hood’s Stride on 23rd July after firstly visiting the nearby Andle Stone and Doll Tor circle. It’s not too bad a climb to the top of the outcrop and the views from the top is worth the little effort.

From the top I noticed that you could see the Andle Stone on the horizon and it may be that Doll Tor stone circle lays on a direct line between the two. I had thought that (when leaving Doll Tor) the Andle Stone may have marked the sunrise when viewed from the circle, perhaps the linear arrangement stretched all the way to Robin Hood’s Stride.

Visited 9th July 2005: This is not an easy site to find. For directions detailing how to get to Bedd yr Afanc, take a look at my map and notes. We were blessed with glorious sunshine. The heat was almost too much really. I had Emily (less than two weeks old) in sling on my front and Lou was supervising the boys. We trudged our way to the site. It felt a bit like a scene out of Beau Geste.

Bedd yr Afanc is a modest site, especially when compared to it’s nearest neighbour Pentre Ifan. Having seen photos of the site I knew what to expect, but there’s a danger of disappointment if you’re expecting something like a Breton gallery grave.

I wondered about for a while trying to figure out where the capstones could have ended up, and found one large stone a few metres away from the tomb. Assuming that this is a capstone, why would anyone come to this place and shift a stone that large only a few metres?

Bedd yr Afanc is definitely worth a visit if you’re an enthusiast, but is probably not worth the walk if you only have a casual interest in prehistory. The terrain is relatively level, but by no means wheelchair friendly.

There’s what looks very like a standing stone here, complete with packing stones at the base. To begin with I thought (since it’s not listed anywhere) that it was maybe a marker for the track, but it’s on the wrong side of a ditch beside the track so would be useless for this purpose. I’ve e-mailed the county archaeologist to get his opnion.

Found this site a couple of weeks ago. Did the O.S. chappie really fail to see the cups? The third period of markings include the cross incised stone with very small “cups ” at the terminals. There are a few other marked rocks in the area.

You do risk life and limb getting to this stone circle. When you look at the sketch in the MA you cannot help but think that it is a miracle that the stones survive but a tragedy that they are in this unwanted position where only people like us would dare to visit. Thousands of people roar by every day unaware of the history hidden in the copse by the roadside but at least this way they will survive. One of the stones looks as if it is growing out of the tree which has grown so large beside it.
Noise outside but tranquility inside the stones when I visited 15/7/05 on a red hot day with the sun burning down it felt cool in the shade admiring the stones and wondering.

Aubrey Burl, in his guide, reckons this to be an ‘outstanding site’ with ‘easy’ access. To be honest I made a bit of a mess of it myself, but it isn’t really that hard to find.

Take the road south past the circles at Kealkil and Breeny More. When you eventually reach the T-junction head east for a mile and a quarter. There should be two houses down the slope to your right, with very close parallel driveways. There will also be a bungalow on the hill to your left. You can ask for permission here.

The gateway to the four-poster is a short distance back the road to the west. Keep to the track and you should pass back above the owner’s bungalow. You will cross a small stream and see an old wall topped with holly trees.

Walk up the hill past this and you can now, hopefully, see the tip of the tallest stone.

Gortnacowly is one of just five accepted four-posters in Cork and Kerry. This category of monument was only confirmed to exist here in the last thirty years. Its fourth stone, like that at Lettergorman, is missing. (According to O’Nuaillain’s 1984 description it was still present in 1899.)

The three surviving stones are all tall, again like Lettergorman, miles and hills away to the south east. On the other hand the domination of the triangle by one huge ten foot hulk gives it an immediate visual similarity to four stoned Cappaboy Beg, a hill and valley to the north. The monolith there is at the north east of the structure, while here it stands to the south west. Apparently at Reenkilla in Kerry, which I have yet to see, there is a similar domination to the north west.

Its setting is spectacular. The Maughanaclea hills rise above it to the north east. To the east sits Nowen hill and to the south stretches wide Mullaghmesha.

The monument itself however leaves me feeling somewhat underwhelmed. Perhaps it’s the absence of the fourth stone. Even when a circle mirrors the horizon, or perhaps because a circle does so, it has an intentional impact on the landscape. With the fourth stone removed the structure seems more random and natural. Or maybe I just like things round.

PS. I’ll stick in a plan ‘after’ O’Nuallain or Burl to show where the missing stone could have been.

Pick a nice day to come here, its really spellbinding in the late evening on a fine day. That bloody pallet is still there though...

I took a good wander around the vicinity today, I never noticed how steep the valley is below the tomb, I didn’t go all the way to the bottom but it looks fantastic perched on the edge of the ridge. This is another tomb I find difficult to imagine a cairn around, there is the large platform remains there but it is such a perfect angular structure it would be a shame to hide it away.

There is now an area cleared across the road which, if it is going to be parking, would fit quite a few cars. Most likely another bungalow though...

Visited 6th August 2004: We asked at the farm before going to see the stones (presumably this was M’Lellan’s croft). The owner was very friendly and didn’t seem to mind us taking a look. The route to the stones takes you across a rocky and seaweed strewn beach, so not recommended for anyone with limited mobility.

The site is relatively easy to find, but not quite so easy to interpret. In contrast to the experiences of some others we found Fang Circle to be a pretty inhospitable place, mainly because of the insects. It may have been the time of day that we visited (late afternoon) or the weather that made it bad, but the midges were a nightmare.

[visited July 2005] I walked here from Stoney Littleton, if you take the most direct footpath route its about a 40 minute walk and rather pleasant except for the mud. In addition to the 5 stones on the green I mentioned last time, I also found 3 others by the stream. You can see these by following the footpath on the other side of the main road from the green.

Cove Cottage does exist, but being a polite person I didn’t enquire & they have big hedges so no idea whether its megalithically named. Opposite this cottage are a row of houses called lansdown view. To prove these right, head North away from Faulkland back towards Stoney Littleton, about 5-10 mins out of town on the footpath, the world opens up for you. Rhiannon may be pleased to know Kelston Round Hill is clearly visible, as is the Westbury white horse and the mendips. Lovely.

I’m not sure if this is a new find or not. Canmore lists two instances of marked stones in the general area but neither is anything like this one and both may be lost (see rcahms.gov.uk/pls/portal/newcanmore.newcandig_details_gis?inumlink=24982 & rcahms.gov.uk/pls/portal/newcanmore.newcandig_details_gis?inumlink=24988). At a height of 332m it has great views of Ben Lawers, Loch Tay and the Glen Lyon Hills.

Time for a break from all the rock art. So I went to see some standing stones. The 3 Kings is in a nice sheltered spot, and I’m pleased to say that whilst it requires a bit of a walk through pine plantation, the plantation has been managed well, so the trees aren’t packed too close, so that on a sunny say, it’s actually quite pleasant. It’s not a long walk from the car-park at Blakehopeburnheugh where the WC is, and there have even been handrails placed on the precipitous parts, and there are small marked posts to keep you on the right path. It’s easy to miss one of them ,so if you find yourself back at the River Rede, after reaching the point where the path becomes a track, turn back and head uphill.

On the map, it looks as if a shorter route would be from Cottonshopeburnfoot caravan/camp site. It is, but the owners are a bit miserable, and don’t like people parking there if they aren’t pitching a tent.

The four poster itself is quite nice. Gnarly old stones, lichen covered an all that. There are still 4 stones, but one is having a rest. The cairn is still quite clear. The only down side is that the trees have grown back, so the view is limited. It’s a good sun-trap though and makes a smart spot to just sit and relax.

Very nice rock art site.

The photos here by Jan and Gus show what it looked like before the excavation. It looks a bit different now, the cairn isn’t there at all. Instead, there are a couple of motifs that were previously overlaid by the cairn. The results of the excavation concluded that the outcrop had been marked, then some of the carvings had been quarried, then re-marked, but in a way that implied a lack of understanding of the original motifs, and in a much cruder manner. Now I think this might be being a bit harsh on the Bronze agers who made the cairn. The crudeness of execution could possibly be that their motifs haven’t eroded quite as much, and just because they are not placed in a manner that allows the running of water from one to the other, doesn’t make them cruder as such. Whilst they may have not known the meaning of the original markings, it’s got to be highly probable that their own symbols, which are more complex, had meanings of their own.

It’s a great place to check out fresh peck marking. The two most complex designs are so clear you can count the individual pecks, they’re quite shallow and form unique designs, with closed penannulars and a strange keyhole shaped thing with a serpentine tail. There’s also an excellent example of what are referred to as enhanced channels. This is one of the ones that would have been covered by the cairn.

I’d definitely recommend visiting in dry weather when the bracken is low, as there are bogs and the bracken tops 6 feet in places. The ground is very uneven too, so it’s quite easy to trip over boulders, or have a foot or even a whole leg disappear into a crevice. There’s a IA settlement to the west and some BA cairns just to the east, but these are invisible in the high bracken of summer.

I didn’t have time to look for the other panels, but the main one was enough to make me quite content. There are enough motifs, some clear, others really faint, that I found an hour not long enough to appreciate the place properly.

A handily convenient little panel, close to the road, just a short hop up the slope. The motifs were not immediately apparent, as someone had placed small rocks ver them, presumably in an effort to protect them from the elements. This had the advantage of providing a good spot fo a spder to make a nest in one of the cups. It was probably a bit surprised when it the stone lifted up and a hippy started peering at it with a camera.

There are faint traces of an older. Much more heavily eroded CnR, perhaps implying that like the nearby Hunterheugh panels, this one was re-carved at some point. It’s difficult to say, though the peckmarks on the lower CnR are clearer, it could jut be because it’s been covered over, whilst the others have been exposed.

There are a few panels at Snook, but I only caught a couple of them,, the lighting condition were appalling, to be honest the few pics I got are a bit naff.

The rock art is in an area with a cairnfield, one of which is supposedly a ring cairn. It’s also been quite heavily quarried. It’s proximity to ‘Millstone’ Burn gives a hint as to why. It’s really an extension of the Millstone Burn site, on the east side of the burn , with excellent views out over the coastal plain of Northumberland.

The highlight of the visit was undoubtedly the opportunity to see the Northumberland Rock Art Project at work. I have nothing but respect for these dedicated folks, who are giving up their spare time to help try and make sense of these enigmatic artefacts and determine the best ways for them to be protected for the future. The attention to detail in the recording is quite frankly astounding. They are collecting vast amounts of data on the placing and condition of the carvings, as well as spotting a few new panels.

This big old carved slab of a stone has a special place in the annals of rock art as it was one of the first (if not the first) to be recognised a prehistoric relic, back at the start of the 19thC.

There are a good few bits of lesser RA dotted about in the field with the main slab and it’s smaller sibling, many of which quite clearly show the signs of quarrying. The quarry marks on the big slab indicate that it may have had a narrow escape. Perhaps it was recognised as something worth keeping just in time.

I’d advise taking the route up behind the trees, rather than straight up the quickest route, save that for the way back down. The former is a much gentler slope, and as the ground is a bit on the sludgey side when wet, it’s probably easier and safer to go the slightly longer route.

I wish I’d known this when I once lugged a bloody great old style video camera up there. Nearly as much as I wish the tape hadn’t been recorded over. So it goes.

Once you get to the area marked on the map, you can’t miss the slab, stands out like a sore thumb with the smashig expanse of the moor stretching out behind it. The temptation to go yomping off over the moor is almost irresistable. There are cairns, cists, a hillfort, a ruined farmhouse, waterfalls, crags and allsorts of moor-type stuff.

This was a nice surprise, the tomb gets little attention due to the spectacular Aughnacliffe Dolmen in the village but its very nice indeed. Even the locals downplayed it, saying it was better to see the other one instead.

The field it is in is down a very narrow boreen and there is very little room to park, best bet is to go past the field and park outside the next house on the right, its hard to tell whether someone still lives there. Its easy to miss as you drive past because in the field opposite there seems to be alot of stones sticking out of the ground that look like the ruins of something or other.

The tomb is larger than I had expected, its at a funny angle but this isn’t as noticeable now that the field is so overgrown and it blends in perfectly in the warm evening sun. It clouded over as I was here but for the ten minutes the sun was out it was very nice indeed.

I only went to this site as a last minute detour on my way to the Castle Folds settlement after visiting Sunbiggin Tarn its a long barrow marked on the O.S. maps but no references to it on the SMR so i was expecting to be underwhelmed.
After getting stuck in the middle of a thunderstorm i found the barrow and remember thinking how huge it was as i approached it (its actually 150 metres long!) i climbed up the top of the barrow and was very suprised to find three chambers one being quite well intact.
Its obviously been cut into quite a bit but still retains its basic shape, the barrow starts with a bank then a small ‘courtyard’ where you walk into the main chamber behind that is another deep cut and a possible chamber and further on towards the back where the cairn tapers off. It was that good i actually ended up spending the entire day here.

This tomb almost made me laugh out loud when I saw it first, as you cross the field you can see the top of a luxuriant crop of leaves sticking up over the bank. The thought ‘surely it can’t be...’ was going through my head but yes, there it stood like a peacock pining for a hen.

The tomb itself is great, even the broken and crumbled portal stone cant detract from this one. the construction seems odd, the two back stones form a V shape negating the need for a closing slab. It appers to sit in a long wide cairn but is not in line with it, the portals would have pointed off to the right. Maybe the low mound stretching behind it was not a cairn but it does seem like it.

I saw one ruined passage tomb near to the tomb and a possible second slightly higher above that, the side of the valley seems to step and the tombs are in a mini plateau.

If you are going here, the first thing to look for is not the tomb, its the grumpy bull and his family that hide in the next field until they can cut off your path and out-flank you. They seemed to wait until I was 50 metres away from my camera pack and tripod before launching the manouveres but luckily only the weeny little baby bull looked like he wanted to get physical. Only got a few photos as a result. I will be back!

This bowl barrow is easily reachable on the track leading to Tongue How. When I first saw it I had to look twice it’s a beautiful example of a Bronze Age barrow. Alas its been cut into twice theres a deep cut/excavation into the side of it and the other cut being the gravel track itself cutting right through the side of the barrow. Tragic, it really wouldn’t have taken any more effort to go round it with a path,

This is an odd one.

I’ve seen a few cross sockets in Northumberland, and I can see why some people have suggested this could be one, as it’s probably been on one of the St Cuthbert pilgramage routes. The one time spring may infer some kind of fonty-ness, and whilst it does have metal chisel marks on part of the groove, it just doesn’t fit the bill as either a font or a cross socket. Not the ones I’ve seen in these parts.

But it doesn’t look like any of the prehistoric RA nearby either, but the area is dripping with such. So I’m going to hedge my bets and say that it’s a prehistoric jobby that’s been co-opted for early christian religious malarky.

Notes in the night

It serves as a very effective marker to let you know you’re on track to get to Ketley Crag after dark. It looms out at you, and the hollow in the side of Chatton Park Hill becomes a yawning gulf of shadow.

An low-profile site if ever there was one.

I include it here mainly from fond memories of dragging some friends out to see it in the early 90’s which was the first time I heard the term ‘underwhelmed’. On that occasion, it actually looked a bit better than it does on the photos here, as it was autumn, and the vegetation was much lower.

A minor point of interest is that the adjacent footpath yielded what at the time looked like no more than a suspiciously spherical lump of stone, about the size of a grapefruit. The benefits of hindsight, and a couple of museum visits have since pointed out that this lump of stone was excatly the right size and texture to be roman ballista ammunition. Such a thing, found next to a late IA defended settlement, within spitting distance of the roman wall, caused my imagination to run rife, creating scenes of valiant defiance against overwhelming odds. Of course, it’s just as likely that this was nothing more dramatic than a bit of target practise.

The floorplan fits well with other excavated settlements in the area, two hutcircles are quite well defined, with a stockyard area, a much reduced bank and ditch. In places, the remains of cobbling can be seen. Generally speaking though, I wouldn’t go out of your way to visit, unless you have a thing about Millstone extraction sites or Curricks, both of which can be found further along the path, as can one of the most peaceful, secluded, truly relaxing waterfalls I’ve ever seen.

It’s a lot easier to find the outcrop now that the trees have gone. You don’t need a gps for this one anymore.

However, the shortest route from the main road is deceptive on the map. The footpath cutting through the old plantation looks nice and straightforward on the map, but in reality, it’s seriously difficult to walk over. Half buried, rotten tree stumps and branches combine with heather to form a rather irritating obstacle course. And that’s on a good day, I shudder to think how awkward crossing this would be if it were wet, when the bogginess would add to the fun.

All of this can be easily avoided by skirting the edges of the old plantation, it’s now got an open access sign, so whilst it seems a bit like going out of your way, it’s much quicker.

When you get to the outcrop, just keep heading to the furthest edge, and the carvings are easily found.

There are at least two overgrown cairns between the outcrop and the road, they don’t look like they’ve been mucked about with, though they are low, so may have been robbed out. They’re not marked on maps or recorded on databases as far as I know.

With it’s cups and multiple rings, nearby cairns and the obligatory view of Simonside, Tod Crag is a nice example of Northumberland Rock art. A bit out on a limb, but it sort of links the more complex motifs found in the north of the county, with the simpler ones found to the southern end of Northumberland. It’s halfway in between, both geographically and stylistically.