Visited on Beltane 2005 A stunning site as always. Although ive never managed to get it to myself it still feels good here. On leaving the circle i heard a young American lad ask his mum why it was built and she promptly replied just think of it as a huge Digital wristwatch son!
Classic!
Visited Little Meg on Beltane was very suprised to see her without all the undergrowth and crop from the field. very peaceful and serene in her surroundings. I could also make out quite a few other stones in the vicinity. I’ve never thought this was a field clearance but possibly some of the smaller stones surrounding her are. I guess we’ll never know.
Coming towards the broch from Lyking, where the Burn of Lyking passes under the field wall (nice double bridge in drystane), I saw a short line of good stones along the bank running to the fieldwall at an acute angle. There appear to be remains of another bank wall over in the broch field section of the stream too. Going in for a closer look at these I saw that there is an earthwork with stones, taking the shape of a circular quadrant (HY27121514) rising from the burn, occupying the field corner this side of Lyking against a loop of the stream [it may be relevant that CANMAP shows mound of the Viking burial as having been in the next loop, north of this]. There appears to be an inner ditch below the top of the rise and the mound’s arc appears to continue on the other side of the road, though no earthwork is shown there on the first O.S. map. In 1882 a ford is shown at this area of the burn and the subterranean passage is indicated downhill from this area.
Two round cairns – one of them amongst the best preserved in Scotland.
The Nether Cairn is 15m diameter and 3.5m high and retains its pudding-bowl shape from all angles. Such a joy to see one not mutilated for building dykes or sheep shelters. No trace of a kerb.
700m to the NE is the Upper Cairn (NT11005091), a bit higher than Nether Cairn but it has suffered from stone robbing.
Access Off a Right of Way running NE from Garvald Farm. Rough track with several gates but all can be opened.
Visited 2 May 2005
A three-stone row running NNE-SSW beside the A701 between Moffat and J15 of the M74.
The stones look smaller than the dimensions in Canmore; the tallest is more like 1m than the 1.7m quoted. Possibly the ground level has increased following road improvements.
Too cloudy to see if the stones were aligned on anything.
Visited 2 May 2005
Though in most places in Orkney water levels have risen, the first O.S. shows this site as a seperate islet. Perhaps the topographic details of the 1882 map came from a particularly wet time ? The isthmus is matched by many Orcadian sites recorded as being connected by causeways or stepping stones. A few of these have been claimed as crannogs, an exception being the Loch of Wasdale’s comparison to the causewayed island duns of the Western Isles. You must tread carefully in more senses than the literal ;-)
Don’t try and reach it by going around the shore from Via (unless you ave some serious welligogs, when you might just).
In 2004 I found what appeared, on reviewing the photos later, to be a cist to the left of the Stones of Via and a little further uphill (as seen from the road), lying in boggy ground at the edge of a small and very shallow pool. From triangulation it has the same 8-figure NGR as the Via Mound. Indeed upon consideration of surrounding features it is evident that this occupies the upper right of that site’s scant remains. The only other structure in the field, a well at HY26051599 shown on the 1882 O.S. map, has been blocked up with stones that might have been from said “parcel of large stones”, and I surmise this could have then resulted in the issuing of water lower down the hill to form the pool.
Now that I have been back to the site and gotten my bearings this would appear to be the cist seen in 1991 at the SW quadrant of the remains of an enclosure about the Stones of Via, except that there is an apparent disparity in dimensions – the other covering an area approximately 1.5x0.7m whereas this one is 0.9x0.62m (and at least 0.44m deep originally). From triangulation it has the same 8-figure NGR as the Via Mound. Indeed upon consideration of surrounding features it is evident that this occupies the upper right of that site’s scant remains. The only other structure in the field is a well at HY26051599 shown on the 1882 O.S. map. This has been blocked up with stones that might have been from said “parcel of large stones”, and I surmise this could have then resulted in the issuing of water lower down the hill to form the pool.
Now to a fuller description of the cist. A side-slab 0.9m long and projecting 0.28m from the present ground level points directly uphill. Two further slabs at right angles to this lean over, so that it is difficult to see if these sub-divided the cist or provide one end of it. The one furthest uphill is 0.42m across and its underside projects 0.44m, the other has 0.62x0.34m projecting. Three stones lie by the bottom end of the cist. They are 0.32-0.48m across and project 0.3-0.6m.
Following the Dorstone road, don’t be fooled by the ‘first’ right. It’s into a farm and a bugger to reverse out on quite a steep slope. Look out for the site sign on the left directing you to the next right. There is a layby to park actually at the site. Stunning views down the valley.
We took a short walk down the footpath across the adjoining field and not 50 yards downhill there’s what looks like a robbed out /demolished burial chamber. Could I guess be a quarry site but it looked pretty much long barrow shaped with chambers. On the other hand could just have been a dump where the farmer had left some cleared rubble.
Nothing marked on the O.S (Streepmap) might check the SMR
Paid a visit here yesterday for the first time in something like 20 years; had the place to myself, and wandered around enjoying the silence & tranquility. The mist was steadily shrouding the hill, completely obscuring the views that would have otherwise been camera fodder but certainly adding something to the ambience. This site is easily accessible (I recommend the OS ‘Explorer’ map of Land’s End) albeit involving quite a climb up a broad, part-concrete track (I pushed the mountain bike up this bit – I know when I’m beaten!), but well worth it. I’ll be returning in the summer, but as for yesterday – ‘atmospheric’ isn’t quite an adequate word.
I don’t usually get odd twinges at most sites. Maybe it was just the fact that the portal stones were as tall as me, but walking through them felt like the feeling you get going through a police checkpoint.
The electric fence is too damn close, other than that this is a nice circle with some odd bits and pieces lying around outside it.
The southern part of the ridge it sits on is rapidly becomming engulfed in briars, hopefully someone in the locality keeps it in check.
I nearly hit a ditch on the main road to Rosscarberry when I saw this clinging to the side of the valley. I wasn’t expecting it to be so near the road, in fact I thought I wouldn’t have time to go and find it at all. It ‘looks’ accessible from the road and with all the gorse and bracken removed from around it, it stuck out like a sore thumb.
After a few minutes knocking on the door of the farm and shouting into the various barns I gave up looking for permission and directions and made my way downhill. I probably went the hard way, figuring it would be easier to see looking up the ridge rather than down, there may be a path there somewhere but it was a pretty hairy climb up to it once I finally found it.
It is a very nice tomb, the chamber is too collapsed to climb inside though and it leans at a seemingly dangerous angle. It has two plate like stones lying horizontally on the backstones supporting the capstone, careful planning and practical construction most likely saved this tomb from total collapse.
A nice tomb with plenty of character.
Years ago, as a young lad (aged about 8 in 1972), my dad took me down the Pike of Stickle scree run, and being used to steep places I revelled in it. The man-made cave was exciting to someone my age, and we explored inside. We also looked for axes, but found none. Further quick descents were made this way in the 70s, just to get off the mountains quickly.
In the late 80s onwards I used the scree run as a very fast descent from a days rock climbing – from the top, around 2,100 feet, to the bottom in less than ten minutes. It felt as fast as the speed of light when surfing down on a wave of stones. Little did we (or many others like us) think of the damage we were doing.
Now I resist the quick way, and hammer my knees on the steep tracks.
I will return soon to check out the cave again, but will take great care not to dislodge any stones – it will be the longest descent of the scree on record.
What a spectacular place.
The first time I visited Avebury was incredible. We had been down from the northlands, visiting friends in Bath. One day they drove us to Avebury. After passing Devizes the landscape changed into beautiful, gentle, rolling downland, with barrows pimpling the skylines. Antiquarian heaven. Every turn in the road disclosed more evidence of prehistory.
North Down and Bishop’s Canning Down closed in over the road, and a special atmosphere was all-pervading.
The only jarring note was the buildings inside Avebury, but we knew about these. We spent hours wandering the banks and the internal site, trying to piece together what it must have looked like.
In the distance we saw a crop circle – the perfect ending. We left, and I felt we left sadly, knowing it would be quite some time before we could return.
A special site with a special atmosphere. Oh yes, and great archaeology.......but first impressions count in fieldnotes.
Back around 1989, a load of us went to a mates wedding in Southampton. On the long trek back north we called at Stonehenge. It was shrouded in fog, and there were few visitors. We jumped over the wall and down to the underpass, which was possible then, and got in for free. We reckoned it was obscene having to pay what they were asking to enter the greatest stone circle ever.
It didn’t disappoint, although the clinical surroundings did. I just looked at the stones in awe. I wished I had come sooner. My mum and dad visited when you just walked over grass and entered the chalk floor of the circle at will. Impossible to allow that today, even though I moan about the regulations, I begrudgingly agree to them.
Up to that point I read all about stone circles, but hadn’t read much about Stonehenge, due to focusing on sites closer to home. That day I bought my first Stonehenge book, and since then have been fascinated by the Neolithic and Bronze Ages in Wessex.
The Cumbrian sites still take some beating with their savage surroundings.
My mate used to rent a flat on the farm about 100 yards down the lane from Castlerigg, and said there was a constant stream of visitors, by night as well during summer.
I’ve been there countless times, and I’ve rarely had it to myself, except during a storm, when it comes into its own. Mind you, the mountains disappear behind the clouds then.
I love looking at it from the surrounding peaks, trying to pick it out, finding the rough area, then resorting to binoculars, from which you can see it clearly.
The setting is perfection, raised above the valleys to the south, east and west, only blocked in to the far north. The far north? That’s where the sun and moon don’t appear, isn’t it?
Is there a more perfect setting for a stone circle?
Excavated in 1910 by W.G. Collingwood (ref. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Original Series, 1910, vol. 10, p 342). Included in “The Stone Circles of Cumbria” by John Waterhouse (ISBN 0858335663).
Described as an embanked circle, the stones are only 2 feet high at best. It is hard to find, due to its lack of presence. From a distance it is hard to believe there is anything there other than grass and bog.
The first time I visited was many years ago, when great, grey curtains of cloud were sweeping across the site. A steady drizzle added to the misery, but the site held a presence all of its own under those conditions. In my mind I peopled it, and tried to imagine the rites enacted there.
Today it was spring-like,and a totally different atmosphere pervaded.
Pottery found there dates it to the early Bronze Age, and it held several cremations. Also found were fragments of calcined bone, charcoal, urns, a flint scraper and a bead of white-ish-grey porcelain. Fragments of skull found are thought to be female. Also, attached to one of the urns was a fragment of finely-woven woollen cloth.
Some of the finds can be seen in the Ruskin Museum in Coniston (see link).
Roughly 100 yards ENE (ish) of the circle, I found an old cairn, very overgrown, and composed of boulders. I couldn’t help wondering if it was related to the circle in some way.
The kist at Trowlesworthy Warren is one of the most accessible as it is close to the path that runs up from the confluence of the Blacka Brook and the Plym.The path goes past the warren house which is now a farm and heds up to the tor.The kist is around 50 metres to the left of the path where it meets the leat running to the clay workings.
A relocated stone, this one is currently out of favour with the Archaeologists as it’s obviously not in it’s original context.
It currently resides next to the Chinese Pond in the gardens of Walington Hall, where it was placed in the 18th century, having been moved from it’s original position on the NE side of the Poind burial mound near Belsay, on the other side of Shaftoe Crags.
In it’s present state, it’s about 7ft tall, but was probably shorter when in a socket. It’s slightly squared base raises questions of possible interference by it’s re-locators and may also add weight to the argument that the Middleton stone, more or less halfway between Wallington and The Poind, may have also been shifted, as it too has a squared base with heavily weathered grooves and fluting on the top.
Rumour once had it that there was a circle in the vicinity of Shaftoe crags, and all 3 of these stones may have been part of it, it’s easy to imagine a Duddo-like small circle, with similar groovey-fluting.
Either way, this stone seems to have a bit of a ‘somebody-else’s-problem’ field about it in that many people visit Wallington and the Chinese Pond, yet few notice/remember this stone, despite it being smack bang next to the path.
In this position, it’s probably the most accessible of Northumbrtian prehistoric relics, but being in the grounds of the hall, you have to pay the entry fee.
This is a prominent cairn that has been dug into to reveal the kist which is still intact and has had the capstone levered to one side.It stands around 100 metres to the south east of the Tor so is easy to find as you walk up the Plym.
The kist in Joan Ford’s Newtake is in very good condition with all four side stones standing and the capstone resting on the south east side.The cairn is surounded by a small kerb that has been cut to the north edge by the newtake wall.There is another cairn that lies to the west along the wall that has been cut in half by the wall with stones on both sides.It is to the east side of a gate with one of the stones acting as the gate post and another used in the wall.The newtake lies to the south east of Royal Hill.
This kist is quite easy to find as it around 500 metres to the west of Horn’s Cross. This kist has only one side stone standing with two end stones and the other side buried beside it.
The seven kists that make up this group of cairn burials all lie to the north of Hen Tor and with the exception of one to the west of the Shavercombe Brook. One of them has suprisingly remained in quite good condition as it is very close to the warren boundry wall. The cairn across the Shavercombe is very prominent but only one side slab remains in position.
They are well worth a visit as it is one of only a few places on Dartmoor with many kists in such close proximity to each other. The Langcombe Group where there are eleven cairns/kists is only around a kilometer to the north east. They are within easy reach of each other so could all be visited in the same day,or a weekend of it could be made with a visit to Drizzlecombe as well.
There is not much left of the kist in this cairn.Only one of the end stones is in place and the cover stone lies on the edge of the cairn on the north side.The cairn itself is not all that big but is easily found as it lies between a field wall and a reave which runs east west and at the end of a wall that runs uphill from a small settlement that has been cut by the field wall of the plantation.
The cairn on the summit has obvious signs of modern adjustments but there is evidence of a kerb circle and other stones of the original cairn.The kist which is down hill to the north west is in quite poor condition,with only two side stones remaining standing and one of the end stones fallen between the two.
