Latest Fieldnotes

Shortly after Professor Sheppard Frere gave his opinions that this mound was erected shortly after the Roman conquest, around 1958 my class were taken there when for some reason we were unable to use the playing fields alongside and our form master stated quite clearly that this was a bronze age barrow. Although he was something of a silly old fool, history and geography were his specialities and I’m sure he would have picked this up from an authorative source. So perhaps there was discussion and disagreement following the original pronouncements.

We visited this area yesterday for the first time, and what a beautiful, crisp, sunny day it was too!

Didn’t check this page first, so trusted the directions in the big papery version and got a bit lost! Headed, as suggested, along the A35 between Bridport and Lyme Regis, but as Rhiannon says – no signpost was forthcoming... Eventually, I gave in and checked my seriously-lacking-in-detail road map, and, lo! Golden Cap was marked on it! Just next to Chideock...

So we drove back till we got to Chideock, and took a chance turning toward Seatown, where we then saw a sign for the Golden Cap Holiday Park – hurrah! At the end of said road is a car park just opposite the pub with voluntary £1 all day parking. Footpaths are marked from there (although currently diverted due to erosion).

We took the opposite path, heading toward Bridport, taking in the highest cliff on the South coast from Thorncombe Beacon – a fantastic vantage point! And a large tumulus right next to it as a bonus for the steep, hilly walk. Some lovely hills/hillforts to be seen from there.

The cliff garden at the Anchor Inn is a fantastic place to watch the sun go down with a rewarding pint of ale...

Getting back out onto the A35 was a bastard tho!

Access: This one’s for the *relatively* fit (or the determined!) Sometimes steep, frequently slippery. Cows.

Happpened upon Morden Park as a detour from wandering along the River Wandle nearby… Despite the iffy history (Roman; built upon previous older pre-historic remains and burial ground?) it is a clearly contrived mound built for some special purpose that makes you wonder.

Sadly littered and graffitied, with the mentioned information sign at the top of the mound removed, probably vandalised; (and yes – if you can deal with the muddy trek!) – despite that it is a wee oasis of calm in London, and commands quite a dominant position in the landscape with views all around, especially more spectacular at this time of year looking at the Winter sun setting through the trees…

Park up at Postbridge, Dartmoor, move to the western end of the carpark, and follow the track WNW (Driftlane Path) for about a mile, you will then see on your right Roundy Park Enclosure, follow the wall until you come to the gate, and from the gate, follow the well beaten track to the Cist, it is one of the biggest on the moors, two (huge) capstones, and seven side slabs, instead of the usual four, the measurments are approx 200cm by 110cm and 92cm deep. As you can see from the photo’s it had recently snowed and all was still, no people about, well not here anyway, it was just so nice, although cold.

From an archaeological point of view Doon Hill is still very much a blank sheet, but from its prominant and strategic position and from its shape it is very likely to conceal an ancient monument.
As far as I’m aware there has never been any kind of field study carried out to ascertain it’s origins. However, walk around and up to it’s summit and the hand of man can be clearly felt.

This stone was indeed moved in Edwardian times from its old site on the boundary between Gwinear and Gwithian Parishes at Connor Downs. It was actually moved on All Saints Day, 1 November 1904, by permission of the local landowner of the Rosewarne Estate, Mr Van Grutten. The present pronounced lean of the stone towards the east, as shown in the photograph by Alan S, is due to the falling of a large tree from the hedge on the Churchyard boundary wall just to the west. There is a local tradition that each of the dots on the panels of the shaft of the stone represents the life of one man killed at a great battle at Reskajeage on the North Cliffs near Camborne. In 1613 in the statement of local Parish bounds it is called “Meane Cadoarth” and was referred to as “a Long Stone called Meane Cadoar” in 1651.

I came up here to photograph the site two days before the Solstice as the light was good considering the time of year.

It is a very low barrow that does not come out well on camera, though is easy to make out while actually there. The setting is perfect for a bronze-age burial and it is still very easy to imagine what the view looked like before London existed.

On the Winter Solstice the Sun apparently sets along the Crooked Valley that apparently gives Croydon its name. This is the valley through Purley that the A23 now follows.

In the woods to the south east, along the ridge, there is a raised area of ground that looks like it MAY be another barrow, but I can’t be certain. It isn’t marked as such on the OS map. The established barrow is at TQ338632 and this other area is at TQ338631. The path divides either side of it and when I was there it was a distinct area of greenery (See picture)

Winter solstice 2004
I had planned to watch the winter sunset at Long Meg and didn’t want to stray too far away, so a visit to Glassonby was ideal for a pre-Meg visit.
I parked up at the bridge of the Glassonby Beck and then lingered a while to have my lunch and watch a zen heron on the banks of the beck working a lot harder than I was for his lunch.
It was a strange day, sunny and misty, more of an early summers day than midwinter, only the snow covered pennines reminded that winter had arrived. After a mooch up the hill to the field I wandered over to the circle. I reckon this must be the best time of the year to see the circle, the grass is low and the shadows are long, the circle looked beautiful.
I found the carved stone in no time at all but the carvings were a different matter. All I could see was the long linear feature that to be honest with you I would have written off for a plough scar. I then tried feeling for the peckings but found nothing at all. I was hoping to at least feel the chevrons but no joy. He’s some fella that Stan Beckensall.
So all in all, this is a crackin’ circle and well worth a visit. It’s position on the same river terrace as the Long/Little Meg complexes make it even more significant and the fact that there is a possible terminal of a cursus monument and ring ditch in the same field, blows it up into a premier league site. Cursus-ring ditch-cairn circle-rock art, all implies some major continuity of use signifying a site of great importance.
The views across to the Pennines are the icing on the cake.

One of, I think, the few cup and ring-marked large boulders in Scotland – there’s another at Newbigging. Most carvings are on outcrop or smaller stones.

Had a long and interesting chat with the farmer who had been there for over 40 years. He remembered Morris coming to first record the site. His most recent visitors were “two dutchmen”. That must have been you Jan and Gus!

GPS reading NS 49507 95044.

There is a cup-marked stone at NS 491 951.

Access. Very easy. You can drive up to and park at NS 4960 9514 then follow S bank of stream to the stone. A drop down a steep bank is necessary if you want a close view.

Visited 15 December 2004

This 1.1m high stone sits amongst the gravestones in the parish churchyard. Just inside the entrance slightly to your right.

Visited 15 December 2004

A 1.2m high stone clearly visible from the A891.

A cremation urn was found at its base when the stone was re-erected in 1982.

Visited 15 December 2004

THE SAD TALE OF THE COCHNO STONE
NMRS Number NS57SW 32

The Cochno Stone is one of the most extensively decorated and most interesting rock art sites in this part of Scotland.

The good news is that the rock still exists in its original location; the bad news (for some) is that, around 50 years ago, it was covered by about a metre of soil to protect it from further vandalism.

The worse news is that it does not seem to have been properly recorded before it was covered. Morris refers to several drawings of the site which are consistent in recording the main features but contain many differences on the minor ones.

As well as a splendid array of cup and ring-markings, there are spirals, a circled cross, two four-toed feet and a lot more.

He produced a drawing for The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland (posted) incorporating as many features from the different drawings as he thought reasonable but this can be no substitute for a proper recording.

If you visit the site, you can get an impression of its immense size from the surrounding wall which remains.

Visited this site yesterday (19/12/04). Though small the location of this five stone circle is incredible. We got there at around 9am as the Sun was rising in a clear blue sky behind Simon’s Seat. Weather was cold, frost on the ground and snow on the hill tops.

The circle appears to be based around one natural boulder. At the particular time of day the shadow cast by this stone bisected the circle and pointed in the direction of the snow covered Whernhside away in the distance.

As other people have correctly stated the hillside is strewn with large stones. There does appear to be some evidence for an outer circle. One large flat 7 foot high stone with a flat base now lays on the ground directly in line with the largest stone in the circle. Other largish stones are also found if you pace the same circumfrence, the weathered striations down the sides suggested that they once stood upright.

Further down the hill, on the way back to the Grimdale Reservoir entrance we found a solitary standing stone, lined up with a boulder.

A great site, well worth a visit.

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE’S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS
MONUMENT: Dumpdon Camp
The monument includes Dumpdon Camp, a prehistoric hillfort located on a
detached hill, 260m high, at the southern end of a steep-sided ridge of Upper
Greensand between the River Otter and the Luppitt Brook. The flat topped and
triangular shaped hillfort of 2.6ha was defended by two substantial ramparts
and ditches on the northern side, controlling the only easy line of approach,
and by single ramparts on the east and west sides. A single inturned entrance
on the north east side provided the only known point of entry.
The layout of the defences largely reflects the configuration of the hilltop
which is flattest and widest towards its northern end, narrowing down to a
steep sided point at its southern end. The northern approach required the
strongest artificial protection and here the defences were bivallate with a
berm 30m wide separating two ramparts and their accompanying ditches. The
inner rampart is on average 1.3m in height on the interior with an average
width of 4.5m. It has a depth on the outer slope of 8.3m and is fronted by a
ditch which is mostly filled and waterlogged but which has an average width of
4.7m. The outer rampart is on average 1.2m in height and 3.1m in width. It is
fronted by a well defined ditch which has an average width of 3.5m and in
places is up to 1.35m deep. The remaining two sides of the monument were
defended along part of their length by a single rampart and a single ditch of
much smaller dimensions than those on the northern side and with a small
counterscarp bank on the outer side of the ditch. Controlled excavations have
demonstrated that the base of the eastern rampart was constructed of sizeable
chert blocks forming a wall 2.15m wide and 0.4m high; it was noted in the same
excavation report that the unexcavated western rampart becomes less distinct
and breaks up into a series of small dumps. It has been suggested by the
excavator, Professor Todd, that the defences were never completed and that
only the rampart base was constructed along part of the western and eastern
sides before work ceased. The fading out of the defensive ditch at about the
same place as the rampart base on both sides of the monument would support
this view. The hillfort was however provided with a single 20m long inturned
entrance close to the north east angle; this comprised a 7m wide causeway
flanked by low banks between the ditch ends. The thickened end of the southern
rampart may have been intended as a fighting platform covering the approach in
front of the gate. A gap in the northern defences is considered to be modern.
The interior of the hillfort is featureless and limited excavations in the
interior have revealed no signs of occupation. The suggestion is that Dumpdon
hillfort was neither finished nor fully occupied.

There are several barrows on Stanshope Pasture most of which are impressive in their own right, but their position high above where Hall Dale meets Dove Dale, the Peaks most dramatic limestone gorge, is perhaps more impressive still.

AT SK132 542, is a huge barrow measuring some 41m x 35m in diameter and maybe over 1.5m in height, although it’s position on a narrow ridge makes it appear much larger.
Excavations in 1849 unearthed 3 rock-cut graves, a disturbed cist. These held 5 inhumations, 3 beakers, horse teeth and flint and bronze artefacts.

Built onto a low rocky knoll the most southerly of the barrows is the pick of the bunch. Measuring around 15m in diameter, the barrow is around 2.5m high and pretty complete. Excavated the mound contained inhumations, cremations, a cist and flint and bone artefacts.
The views across the valley to the Nabs and then south down Dove Dale are something else.

Excavation info:
J. Barnatt’s “Barrow Corpus”
B Marsden’s “The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire”

I was up here again yesterday in search of the other stones of the triple dykes. The dead bracken and winter heather were ablaze with colour in the low winter sunshine. The whole moor seemed to glow with a chimney/brick red light.
I walked from the May Beck car park up onto the moor via John Cross and then followed the path to Biller Howe Dale Slack. I then followed the slack east for about 1km until I had had enough of stepping into knee deep bogs and decided to track north to intercept the dykes and then follow them back to the Robin Hoods Bay Road footpath.
I found 6 large stones along the length of the dykes 5 of which were still erect and one recumbent.
I left the moor as the sun was dropping behind the far-off tabular hills. I was cold, weary and had lost the sensation in my toes, a happy gadgie.
Johnny Cash came to mind “Like that lucky old sun, give me nothing to do but roll around heaven all day”.

Hob’s cup marked boulder (see photos), just W of and in sight of Fontburn b, does not correspond to the other marked rock in the Beckensall archive, Fontburn d. This is located further to the NW of Hob’s stone on the opposite side of a small stream just N of the bridle way (NZ 031 935).

The Beckensall archive describes Fontburn d as having four cups, one elongated, on the SSE face and two cups on the E face. The top surface of the boulder also has prominent grooves and these don’t look particularly natural. The boulder is said to be located in the centre of a denuded cairn and there is another, more complete cairn further down the ridge towards the reservoir.

There are clearly other marked rocks on the S side of the Fallowlees Burn in and around the old enclosures further W (see, for example, the Fallowlees site post).

Allan Tofts is an area of rough scrub, pasture and moorland on the west-facing, sandstone scarp edge of the Murk Esk Valley.
The area is best accessed via the A169 and then following the signs to Beck Hole. Once on the Beck Hole road you’ll pass the massive linear scars where the igneous Cleveland Dyke was quarried for road stone and cobbles.
The area is well worth a good mooch around. A few carved rocks have been recorded here in the past but this number has been increased significantly by the diligent surveying of the mighty Graeme C. and those tenacious hunters of rock art, Paul & Barbara Brown.
The rock art here appears to be associated with cairns, of which there are over 200 (at least 220 according to the SMR extract). This is a pattern which is repeated on Brow Moor which about 12km due west of this site.
As well as the rock art and the cairns there are numerous earthwork features including banks and irregular enclosures, which have been interpretted as prehistoric field systems.
The site can be quite confusing as you have bields and medieval workings overlaying prehistoric structures.
Another good reason to visit Allan Tofts are the wonderful views across the Murk Esk valley. It’s possible to sit on the scarp edge and lose yourself in the beautiful North Yorkshire mixture of bleak moorland and fertile dales.
Incidentally Graeme C. has discovered marked rocks on the opposite side of the valley on Murk Mire Moor.

If your looking for reasons to drag your family to this area you can always use the excuse that the tv program Heartbeat is filmed about 1km away in Goathland and the NYM steam railway also runs through this valley.

This is a sad and solitary little stone situated in a farmers field on your right hand side, between the road and the seashore, travelling south on the A77 about 1km past the seaweed(alginates) factory.

As it is quite small it may, or may not, be of human design.

Visited 21st June 2004: We walked to Budloy Standing Stone from the Dyffryn Stones thinking that the footpath would continue to be relatively easy going. We were wrong. After Dyffryn it deteriorates, getting narrow and overgrown in places. There’s a stream to cross, then the path follows the bank of a tiny tributary with the inevitable insects. Lastly, after Budloy Farm, there were shoulder high grass and stinging nettles to get through!

The stone itself is elegant and feels relatively isolated even though it’s not far from the farm. By the time we got there the kids had had enough. We stopped to have a drink and apply sun cream (it was scorching!). I rattled off some photos and we made use of Budloy Farm track (not a public footpath) to escape further suffering and return to the car along the road.

Maybe this is a site worth visiting in the winter when the undergrowth and insects are less of a problem.

Visited 21st June 2004: This site was the highlight of our Summer Solstice. We parked on the little lane that runs to the south of the Dyffryn Stones next to a dilapidated set of farm buildings (SN05502825) Dyffryn Stones. The walk from there to the stones was pretty easy, but a bit on the muddy side.

The stones themselves are in a field adjacent to the public footpath. The size of them was surprising, and the fact that there are stones still standing. It’s much more circle-like than I anticipated. If the remaining standing stones are kerb stones, then this is a very unusual site. Was this once a circular chambered cairn? There’s quite a bit of foliage in the centre of the cairn, but it’s easy enough to see that there’s not much sign of a chamber. Very curious.

Another curious thing about Dyffryn are a couple of corrugated stones on the northern side of the cairn. In cross section they look like a ripple. It’s hard to imagine this effect being artificially created, so it’s likely that these stones were chosen specifically for their look.

Access to this site is reasonably good, and it’s well worth the visit. Not as glamorous as Gors Fawr, but more mysterious.

Visited 21st June 2004: Following a disappointing Summer Solstice dawn at Gors Fawr this was the first bit of prehistory to get me excited. There is no public right of access, but at the time of our visit the field in which the stone stands was empty of livestock. The stone can be seen from the road, but not very clearly.

I spotted no attractive horses, but there are a couple of interesting lumps of stone in the hedgebank. If Maen-y-Parc was a stone row then perhaps these were once part of it.

There is a large and possibly cup-marked rock (see photo) at the location of the site marked on the 1:25 000 OS sheet (NZ 022937). It is heavily encrusted with lichen with the rest partially covered in moss and turf. It is on the slope just N of the Fallowlees Burn to the E of the bridleway. The cups on the visible surface are certainly not deep, and I was not clear at the time of my visit if this was the stone referred to by Beckensall (2001) as Fontburn (a). No illustration appeared to have been published. Recent comparison with images in the Beckensall archive show that this rock is identified as Fontburn a (i), 185 x 135cm, in its original location, with a minimum of 15 cups.

The Beckensall archive describes three more marked rocks in the vicinity, all of which I missed on this visit, unsurprisingly when you examine the photographs. My eyes and experience are no match for Stan’s.

There is a very nice, deeply cup-marked rock to the west (NZ 018936) between the forest and the Burn (see photo) just W of the Settlement. There are many rocks in the area but this was the only one with clear markings. The rock is very close to the ground, about 60 x 30 cm in size, with four prominent cups (three deep and one shallow). High ground surrounds on all sides and the only view is E down the valley towards Fontburn. I thought this was a new find and was quite excited. Recent examination of the Beckensall archive shows it as Fontburn a (vi), where it is considered to be a portable, reused stone, possibly part of a burial cairn. Perhaps this is the origin of many of the scattered rocks in this area, including the large number of smaller rounded cobbles on a slope above the burn.

I photographed another cup-marked large boulder SE of this stone which corresponds to Fontburn a (v) of the archive (see photo), but missed (vii) and (viii). The marks on these were either not particularly prominent or I mistook them for natural erosion.

It would be interesting to explore further up the valley but the forest would perhaps make this impossible.

There is also an earthfast boulder with a possible single deep cup in front of Fallowlees Farm, right next to the bridle way (see photo) but I am much less certain of this one because of its position.

[visited 28/11/04] Apart from the Priddy henges, this is the one I’ve been wanting to visit longest in this area. I got the OS map of the area and then had to drive past the mendip main tv transmitter everyday, knowing there was a longbarrow I’d not visited right underneath it. Finally however I got to it, having picked our way across a sea of mud, the barrow is in its own little enclosure.

Its positioned perfectly, running along the crest of the hill and the view across the somerset levels is gorgeous. Of course most of the land you see now was underwater in the neolithic, but the distant hills were certainly occupied and the gods are always watching.

The barrow is in fairly good nick but is clearly denuded, I couldn’t see any sign of stones around or on it, so this is presumably an earthen longbarrow. Unless someone has nicked them all of course. I’d recommend this site, though the huge transmitter may put some people off as it really is hard to forget about it towering above you.

Access is up a metalled track to the transmitter, then round to the left, through the gate and the barrow is in front of you enclosed in fencing.

One more thing worth looking at is the weird linear feature to the east of the barrow which you’ll probably see before the barrow itself. This is the ‘bank barrow’ Rhiannon mentions. I’m not convinced it qualifies to be in the same league as the dorset ones. Its just not enough of a brute for that in my opinion, its too small in width and height.

It does however look similar to the weird tracks leading up to the Barrow above the long man of wilmington. I’d bet someone elses house on it being as old as the barrow.

[visited 28/11/04] These caught my eye a few months ago and finally I’ve had a chance to visit. The view was gorgeous and well worth the trip to these parts all by itself, but the site itself, hmmmm. Lets start with the dead badger lying close to the stones, not their fault I will admit, but it really didn’t add to the ambience of the place, though did provide a useful comparison for the photos.

Onto the antiquity of the stones, I’ve seen a fair few standing stones now about these parts and they have all to a rock, been considerably more weathered than these two. They’ve had much more lichen and are on the whole darker. These stones stood out lighter from a distance, which is never the best of signs.

Perhaps they’ve come from a barrow hereabouts, the roundbarrows round here contain cists after all, or perhaps they are a more modern introduction.
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Reading the site notes, one stone should defn be less weathered, presumably the upper stone as its lighter.

Access is via a 10 minute walk from one of two ebhor gorge car parks, along a road for a bit, then in a field.