Latest Fieldnotes

This is an interesting enough RSC. Nothing very remarkable about it but it’s in better nick than many.

I usually take copies of Thom’s plans to a site mainly as a handy starting point for my own scribbles. On this one he has the recumbent and flankers in the SE quadrant. They’re not. Makes you wonder, eh?

Anyway, of more interest, he refers to an outlying menhir in the SE having been removed by the farmer and his drawing shows the recumbent and flankers lying inside the circumference of the circle. Not unusual when there is a ring cairn but no evidence of that here.

Access The easiest way into the site is via the farm to the N on the E of the A97. I asked there and, although the circle is not on their land, they were happy to let me cross and to park in their yard.

Visited 17 March 2005

[visited 26/3/5] I started the day by scanning the dorset map for barrows and I found this, my third Bank Barrow. There are apparently only 3 left in a decent condition anyway so beyond ripples in the mud, this may well be it. Surfice to say I wasn’t disapointed, its another riproarer, a giant amongst little people. Standing proud on the dorset ridgeway, with beautiful 360degree views and so many round barrows paying tribute to it.

The really nice thing about this is it seems to be complete, I don’t think the road builders chopped a bit off the end and fortunately any ploughing hasn’t reduced it beyond amazing levels. Comparing it with the other brutes in Dorset, it didn’t seem as large as long bredy but was definately larger than Black Down.

Access is good as a road goes straight past the field this is in and tbh you get a great view of its hugeness from the road.

Visited 4th August 2004: We started off trying to get a view of Clach Stei Lin from the village of Siadar Uarach. You can see it from the end of the cul-de-sac that lies to the north west of the stone, but it’s not a great view.

In the end I approached on foot from the track to the south west of the stone, leaving Louise in the car. At the site there are two obvious stones, one standing (which we’d seen from the village) and the other, much smaller, lieing prone just to the north.

This is one of those places where you know very few people visit, despite being relatively close to the road. If these stones were in souther England they’d be litterred with rubbish and graffiti, but here on Lewis they represent a relatively minor site.

Vive l’indifférence!

Visited 5th August 2004: This is an interestingly placed site. It’s effectively become a garden feature, but it’s a well kept garden, and when we visited the owner was very friendly. She was happy for us to take a look at the stones from the garden side of the boundary.

If you visit, please ask before entering the garden area or taking photos from inside the garden. It would be a shame to upset the people who look after this site, especially as they are so congenial.

Coir Fhinn may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I rather liked it. Well worth taking a look at if you’re in the area visiting other sites.

Good views to the South and East from this 4 poster . Close to the ground, as is often the case, on the Southermost stone is a cup mark unmentioned in the Canmore report.

Another route up to the moor is from the village of Askham, as you can see on the map. this allows a quick route to the top of Heughscar Hill. This allows a good vista over Moor Divock, without having to get all knackered going up the High Street. With a pair of binoculars you can probably make out a lot of the stones and cairns. Without them, you can sort of see the way down to the Cockpit and White Raise.

There are a couple of nice pubs in askham too.

Nice site .... shame about the military jets flying low overhead every 30 seconds.

I stayed just long enough to get some photos then headed off somewhere quieter.

Visited 17 March 2005

Visited 5th August 2004: We approached this one all wrong. It was entirely my fault as well. We parked on the wrong side of the stream near the picnic area, and had to paddle across where the water was shallow. Then we worked our way up the headland, past some serious sand extraction quarries, up to the top then down towards Clach Mhic Leòid. It was an interesting route, but not ideal for the kids. There was a fence to get over before we got to the stone, and at this point I realised we should have done it all differently (presumably parking near the cattle grid).

The stone is big and macho. The views are splendid, but we weren’t blessed with sunshine. There’s a weird sort of notch in the top of the stone (like an inverted arrow), and I couldn’t help but wonder whether it’s an original feature. It could equally be the result of a lightning strike. A ‘must see’ if you’re on Harris, but not as charming as Sgarasta.

Visited 5th August 2004: On the Ordnance Survey map Sgarasta looks pretty accessible, sitting as it does just off the A859. I hadn’t anticipated the cows though. The farmer had kindly placed a ‘Beware Highland Cattle’ sign on the gate as a warning, but the presence of the cows on the other side of the wall rendered it unnecessary.

In the sunshine the stone and the views looked gorgeous, and I wasn’t about to back down. The cows watched me intently as I climbed over the gate and after a moment of hesitation I decided not to run for the stone. I casually strolled in a respectful arc around the cattle and kept up the same sort of pace until I got to the stone (it unnerved me having my back to them).

What a great stone! What a great view. The mountains and the sand make for a staggering back-drop. I nearly forgot about my bovine audience. Despite the road, this place has a real feeling of solitude. Not much time to enjoy the ambience though because everyone else was waiting in the car. We spent the afternoon on the beach (Bàgh Steingidh) within site of the stone. Highly recommended!

Finally good enough light to properly see the site’s extent – today my new digital camera easily made out the oval banks mentioned by the O.S. (still from way over on the Orphir road). These do extend both sides of the wall, though most visible to the eye in The Well Park. Which latter presumably explains why the site was first seen as a large fragment of a circle (note to self, must post Sandaiken soon), I had thought of sideways displacements to explain the later reports but I can see no such evidence. Could still be that this is a multi-period site and we are dealing with two seperate creations, one nestling within/upon the other.

This “cairn” is, in fact, the Carn Barn broch.

There’s just so much here that’s good -
- the extensive view taking in the sea
- the way the recumbent and surviving flanker fit together with near Inca-like precision
- the ring cairn, probably the best surviving example outside the restored Loanhead of Daviot
- the interesting way the recumbent is linked to the ring cairn and not the stone circle.

I’m not going to post plans of all the RSCs (they are referenced here themodernantiquarian.com/post/36258) but this one does help give a clearer picture of what’s going on.

Difficult to argue here that the ring cairn was added after the circle and recently three RSC excavations by Bradley have shown that the ring cairn came first.

Visited 14 March 2005

Across the river from the A897, but can be accessed on foot from the road through Glen Loth. Nothing much remains, except a 6 feet high pile of stones.

Pretty much across the road from one of the easiest approaches to Kilphedir broch. Not much more than a pile of rubble, as it has long since been robbed out, but it’s likely to be a chambered cairn – possibly one with the Caithness “horns”.

Easily seen from the A897, south of Kinbrace, as one of the images I posted shows. Very good defensive ditches, especially to the south where they are still around 8 feet deep. Sadly, the interior is full of the tumbled stones of the walls.

Located on the east of the A897, just south of Trantlemore. Easily visible from the road, at the top of a small hill.

A short, but quite steep, walk across boggy heather.

Not much of interest to see here but since it’s in an area with a large concentration of RSCs you’ll probably pass near to it travelling between other sites. It’s worth stopping at for a quick look.

Access Easy. Park on the minor road at a point just NE of the site. Enter the open grassy area on the N of the road and head up to the left. No gates or fences.

Visited 18 March 2005

Couldn’t get worked up about this RSC.

It might have been the field clearance or the half-hearted flankers or the rather irritating fire-damaged and now speedboat-shaped recumbent. Nothing seemed to fit.

One interesting feature of the site should be the stones at right angles to the inside of the recumbent (unusual but best seen at East Aquhorthies) but the field clearance behind the recumbent makes it difficult to know what you are looking at.

One of the two low outliers to the SE has two Pictish symbols carved on it.

You’ll get all the usual views etc from here but, I’d suggest, not one to go for if you’re pushed for time.

Access. Easy parking near Ardlair Farm. Through one gate for the RSC and over a low fence for the outliers.

Visited 18 March 2005

This is a great site but you really need a good day to fully appreciate it.

In the sun, the 3.1m white quartz outlier would look magnificent. In the dull flat light of the day of my visit, it was just another stone. Similarly the cupmarks needed a lot of faith to see and they just refused to be photographed.

Oh well, at least it wasn’t raining.

Visited 18 March 2005

For some reason I was expecting this one to be smaller, even when it was first spotted fron the top of the hill. I dunno quite why, maybe the landscape around here plays havoc with sense of scale.

The stones ain’t big, but the circle is nicely wide, seems to fit in with the openess of Moor Divock in general. It’s well worth a visit if you’re in the area. It’s easier to approach from the east, from the direction of the Cop Stone, which also gives the opportunity to have a look at a couple of cairns and the stone row.

Access:
Just about do-able with a three-wheeler and determined assistance, not suitable for wheelchairs, paths are rough and strewn with cobbles and ruts. If on a bike, try to have suspension.

Visited 26/02/05 on a grey day, whilst taking in the nearby Grans Barrow and Knap Barrow on Toyd Down. The footpath/bridleway from the long barrows takes you right through the middle of the Camp, and you could easily miss the ditch and bank as you cross it. The interior is thickly wooded and brambled. Not much in the way of prehistoric remains, but on a clearer day the views would be fantastic. The Knoll (sometimes called Damerham Knoll) is visible for many miles around. Nature note: we saw deer here.

Visited 31/03/05 in miserable (misty drizzle) weather: not much sign of fortification on the knoll, and the summit is now covered by fir trees making it very dark. There is some terracing and evidence of field systems around the knoll and on Pentridge Down, and there’s also a good-sized round barrow on the slope (grid ref SU037173) alongside the footpath from the hamlet of Pentridge.

To answer Rob Gillespie’s question, the picture of the cursus in Cope’s book is taken from around SU018161 looking north-east. In the foreground on the right is a remnant of the SE cursus bank and across the valley the cursus can be seen disappearing into Salisbury Plantation (private land). Apparently there are traces of both banks in the plantation, as well as a long barrow built into the NW bank. The tree covered hill summit on the horizon is Penbury Knoll.

My own version of this pic is available here and I’ve posted a similar one on this website here.

If you ever find yourself despairing of getting this circle to yourself, but can’t get there when there’s no-one else about, try the following:

Put a blanket over your head, get a 1500kW rechargeable lamp, and hop about from stone to stone, whilst trying to angle the lamp in just the right way to find the spiral carving, mutterring ‘No.... Nope, nope, not this one either...’ to yourself as you go.

Apparently, this works. When I put the blanket over my head, there were about 15 people, when I re-emerged, there were just the folk I’d visited with, looking a tad embarrassed.

If you want to actually find the carving, check out Stan Beckensall’s info, or that on the Rock Art in the British Landscape website. I wish I’d done that, then I’d have seen the spiral, but it wouldn’t have been as much fun...

Caught a glimpse of the boulders on the way to the Old Dungeon Ghyll. I made small ‘eek’ing noises in anticipation.

Then stopped off on the way back, having realised that there is just enough space for a vehicle or two, directly opposite the boulders, but it’s standard Lake District ‘narrow roads with fast cars’, so beware.

The boulders themselves are very nice. The view up to Pike o’Stickle stunning in morning sunlight. It was quite slippy underfoot, and there hadn’t been rain for a couple of days, so if it’s wet, again, beware. There are other cupmarks in the vicinity, but apparently the jury is still out regarding whether they are natural ‘vesicles’ or artificial carvings. Being me, I suspect the latter, I didn’t notice ‘vesicles’ elsewhere, only in the vicinity of Chapel Stile.

The carvings were quite visible, though being on volcanic stone, they are fainter than is usually the case with motifs on sandstone. But at the same time, they are not so eroded, so the peckmarks are discernable.

What was depressing though, was that there are still people climbing over the carved face.

The issue of climbing caused a minor stir, which the British Mountineering Council claimed was needless, as guidebooks would be altered, and a voluntary, self imposed ban would be enforced by climbers.

Whilst this may well be the case with most climbers, the Fell and Rock Climbing Club of the Lake district for exmple, flag up the existance of the carvings, and point out that English Heritage ask that climbers refrain from climbing in the areas containing the markings.

But the message isn’t getting through to all, or so it would seem. ‘Route 9’, the bouldering route over the face with the main carvings, is still being used, and the evidence of this is there for all to see in the form of chalk residue, used to assist climbers in attempting this ‘problem’ (as it is known in climbing circles).

Furthermore, close examination of the surface of the boulders shows that the cupmarks have been eroded over the years, but only on the lower lip, where one would place one’s feet if one were climbing up that face of the boulder. Now this may have taken ages to happen, but the cumulative effect is there, and it won’t get any the less with the increase in bouldering as a sport. Particularly as the Langdale Boulders are regarded as some of the best bouldering problems in the UK.

It’s unfortunate that this coincides with some of the best prehistoric rock art in the UK, surely there must be some way that both can co-exist without damage to this unique site.

I hope so. This is special rock art. Axe factory rock art. There’s not much of that about is there?