Latest Fieldnotes

[visited 28/11/04] This is really only half a barrow cluster, there being another line of barrows (Ashen Hill) 1/2 a mile to the North. One thing I noticed when up here, besides the fact its cold on the edge of the mendips in late November, is you can’t actually see the levels from here. In fact they are a touch oddly placed imo.

I presume the sight from the Priddy Circles to the North would have been unimpeded 3-4 thousand years ago and this lovely linear cemetary would have visible shining white on the horizon.

Access is across a few fields, but you can see these beauties from a fair way off in most directions (except North).

[visited 28/11/04] I’m loathe to include this as a seperate site from priddy nine barrows (PNB), but as it is seperate on other websites and an extra eight or nine barrows would make PNB very badly misnamed... However, these should almost certainly be counted as the same cemetary, being less than 10 minutes walk from PNB and highly inter-visible. But maybe then the idea of a barrow cemetary is fundamentally flawed when you are talking about barrows. Where do you draw the limits?

Moving on, this is a nice linear cluster, acting almost as a counterpoint to PNB who’s line lies slightly further to the east. They are all in relatively good order and a fair size for todays barrows. One thing that did puzzle me were the ditches either side of the barrow line expecially as the Northern ditch had large stones within it. Whether this is a mendip thing I’m not sure, there is a solitary large barrow at 545492, with 300 metre long ditches either side of it. The ditches look newer than bronze age however...

Access is a 100 yards down a track then 200 yards across a muddy muddy field.

[visited 28/11/04] Yet to get into the field to have a close-up look at this, but through the hedge and the gate its little more than a ripple in the grass. The barrows in the henge are semi-visible but as with the henge, clearly ploughed out. The whole site has that fuzzy look about it. Sadly there is also a  hedge across the henge so you can’t even see the whole thing in one go.

The field containing the henge is on a country lane with 70mph cutthroughers, so if you keep your wits about you access is good as they don’t come along that often.

[visited 28/11/04] The lure of a concrete copy onsite lured me here, but I kinda failed to find it. I think I saw it across a field, but pain & mud put me off till the spring.

For those who are tempted in the meantime: Starting on the B road, head west to east along the footpath that goes past Pool Farm. On the other side of the first field on your left is what I think is the remains of the cist.

Access is unknown but looks like being across a muddy field.

[visited 28/11/04] Yet another possible trashed ancient site, I’m not that picky me, so I popped along. I counted 5 medium sized stones (4ft+) scattered on or near the village green including the two set up either side of the stocks. They certainly had the look of very weathered stones to me, covered in lichen as they were. I didn’t go looking for the cottage called “The Cove”, but I do think the evidence weighs in favour of this being the site of an ancient monument.

Access is excellent, you can park within 20 yards of the stock’s stones, on the edge of the green.

The cairn is located on the summit of Jeffrey Hill in Lancs and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The Cairn is now reduced to a low rubble mound now marked by a modern cairn.
The summit of this hill appears to have been severely overlooked by EH because there seems to be quite a few prominent features littering this hill probably associated with this cairn, i noticed at least a couple more ‘cairnlike’ features on the East side of the hill theres a cup marked rock amongst a bank of stones, 8 low stones in a roughly circular alligment and also another 5 that line up in a row i’d usually dismiss these as eratics but a couple of these stones do seem purposely placed being your classic ‘kerb stone’ shape but standing vertical very confusing. This hill needs to be seriously looked at again!
Beautiful views across to Parlic Pike, Beacon Fell and Bleasedale. Well worth a visit.

This circle seems to be slowly sinking into the ground. From what Fitz explained to me of the local geology, there’s a strata of limestone that’s eroded where a stream cut through it. The immediate area collapsed, forming Osmond’s Gill.

It could be that this is (at least partly) why the circle is here, and why it’s sinking. An underground stream gurgling away makes this a special spot, and the circle is at the head of the Gill, commanding a view down to the Gill and around to the moor, lovely and desolate it is too.

Maybe the water collecting in the inevitable sheep ditch around each stone has hastened erosion, hence the packing stones that are so very evident. I just can’t shake the idea of a time-lapse vision of these stones slowly returning to the earth. The hole under the musical stone Fitz mentions looked like it goes waaaaay deep. It’s a good place is Barningham moor.

This is a small stone situated in the graveyard of St. Lukes Church in Formby, near Liverpool. This curiously inscribed and mysterious stone is roughly 18 inches in height and was moved from the old village green to its present location in 1879. Any information as to the stone’s folklore and antiquity is unknown. On a personal note it’s gratifying to find something this odd and historic in my home town.

This 1,200 feet long stone row runs east-west within private woodland near to the A39 west of Porlock. There is a permissive path to the nearby Culbone Stone which stands 130 feet south of the western end of the row, but there are signs requesting visitors not to stray from the path. There are thought to be twenty one stones remaining; I managed to find thirteen in the sometimes dense undergrowth of the wood. None of the stones stand more than three feet above the ground.

I was quite impressed by this, but then anything like this impresses me!

The ditch and remains of two raised banks either side of it were clearly evident. There also appeared to be an ‘entrance’ to the enclosure in the middle of the ring.

The track probabley cut the circle in two, if it was a circle, which seems likely to me. The field opposite must’ve been worked enough in the past to leave little trace of it discernable to my untrained eye.

Shame the light was too grim to take many pics!

Don’t know why it’s called the Sack stone , there’s another in Lincolnshire , the top of which is said to resemble an opened sack . If you take the South road to Little Glenshee you get to drive through the ford ,or walk across the bridge. Just round the sharp bend after the ford there is room for a couple of cars to park. Take the track heading North follow it until it forks , just after a mile , the leave it going due east . The stone is unmissable at 3M x 2M . what is odd though is that there is a bit of a view to the South but all other directions are quite limited being in a wee corrie.

Although I have put this site in under cairns it is more than that...but I was not sure if sacred hill was quite the right description.

3 Dec 2004

Bray Down is the most northerly hill of Bodmin Moor, and I must admit I had never explored it until this week. Not that it is hard to reach or access, just that it had never looked that interesting. As it is I had noticed that there was a settlement marked on the OS map at SX191826, just above the road that runs from Altarnon to Davidstow Moor. Being in the area I decided to drive up and have a look.

I parked the car at Bowithick where the river is forded and a track goes off onto the wild moor below Buttern Hill. From here it is a plesant walk along the very quiet road back to where the settlement should be. After a while a muddy track heads off up the hill at a slight angle and I decided to follow this for a while before cutting back to the settlement.

That was the plan....

Then i noticed an abandoned farmstead ahead and went to have a nose....nothing ancient, well perhaps mid 1800s but still got me interested. After exploring the four cottages and adjecent barn I headed uphill to the summit. The views over the wild northern moor were superb, it is a very lonely empty place up here, no signs of habitation at all, no signs of roads, very few “landmarks” just rolling moorland.

But just to remind you that you are on Bodmin Moor the twin hills of Brown Willy and Roughtor stand proud to the west...and this afternoon they are silhoetted by the sinking sun.

On the summit of Bray Down are two cairns, one has been vritually destroyed and a trig point sat in the centre of it whilst the western one has been dug into but is still a mound. This could be something to do with the fact that it seems to be, like Showery Tor, a cairn built not over a burial site but around a natural feature. Two sides of the cairn have been dug into but only as far as the natural rocks. On the northern side three uprights remain on the edge of the cairn.

With the sun sinking I open the flask and pour a coffee, put on my coat and wait...the sun turns the rocks around me orange (and possibly me as well) before it dissapears behind clouds coming up from the west. It is time to move on..

I descend back down the hill to the car, the light fading with every step. As I reach the car I remmember that i was going to look for the settlement...oh well, goood excuse to come back.

Visited 20th and 21st June 2004: After Moel Drygarn we went to pay our respects to Gors Fawr with some good friends who’d not been before. It was fun showing them round in the sunshine, collectively anticipating the Solstice dawn.

We spent the night in a static caravan at Trefach Campsite and headed back to Gors Fawr to see the Summer Solstice sun rise. There were a handful of people there, including two women who appeared to have spent the night in the circle in sleeping bags (madness!). Sadly it was not to be. Clouds obscured the view to the east, but it was good to be there so early and get a feel for the site in the eerie dawn light. Then it was back to the caravan for a celebratory fry up breakfast!

Visited 20th June 2004: Having come close to visiting Moel Drygarn in April 2003 on our way back from Bedd Arthur (William was far too tired after the 4 mile walk) we finally made it on the eve of Summer Solstice 14 months later.

Ironically, William pegged it up the hill leaving the rest of us a long way behind him. At first we were tickled by his fell running, but then as he got smaller and smaller it got a bit alarming. Lou had to run to catch up with him while I plodded after with Alfie on my back.

Near the top, just beyond the Iron Age defences I found Lou (looking exhausted) and Will looking bored. The three Bronze Age cairns in within the defences of the fort are blinking enormous! We made our way to the trig point (insensitively placed in the centre of the middle cairn) and were rewarded with beautiful panoramic views. To the west Carn Meini dominates the horizon, but you could be equally transfixed looking in any direction.

After a snack in the lea of the trig point and some exploring, we headed back down towards the car. On the way back we met our friends who, by coincidence had been passing, and the run up to the Solstice began early! Bonza!

No need for hopping gates anymore, thanks to the wonderful right to roam and the nice little walkers gate.
The moor is a bizarre place with huge post-industrial piles of rocks, quarries and pits all over the place.
The Triple Cairn is an incredible site and considering the surrounding industrial landscape it’s a wonder that it has survived. The kerbing is suberb and the views across the dales are second to none. Stu even spotted a fox running across the moor.

Definitely a megalithic jewel and proof that even in prehistory people liked to do things ‘a little differently’ in the Peaks.

Unfortunately a modern cairn has recently been built into the middle of the centre cairn.

It’s difficult to know what to make of Hob Hursts House. It’s an impressive structure sure enough, the bank and ditch inform you that this is not your run-of-the-mill burial mound, but what lets the place down is the big impenetratable blanket of heather and bracken that obliterates all but the largest features of what I’m sure is an excellent site.
Surely given the importance of this site and the fact that it is already fenced-off. Replacing the heather with layer of lovely turf would be far better?

The trick to finding this elusive circle is......
to have a mate like Stubob to take you there.
It’s a lovely little embanked circle set in a beautiful moorland landscape.
Well worth the walk and the soggy boots.

Stu took me to see this stone after a mooch to the Bamford Moor South Circle.
As Holy mentions, the beautiful deeply weathered grooves on the top and bottom of the stone let you know that this lovely stone was once upright and had been that way for at least a couple of thousand years.
It’s possible by tracing the channels to see how deeply the stone was buried.

Stu informs me that the authorities in the Peaks are re-erecting guide stones that were toppled during the second world war to prevent the German invaders from navigating their way across the Peak District. I think given the recent history of this stone being toppled, a good case could be made for its re-erection / ressurection

Don’t let the fact that this is a replica of the original carved rock put you off. It’s a beautiful reproduction.
What makes me feel comfortable about this replica is that the original rock is buried directly beneath it.

I find it curious that the artist chose to ignore the rocks on the scarp edge within the enclosure and placed the carving in this particular place in the landscape.

This is a beautiful stone and as Stu observed, when you view it from each side, you see a completely different stone.
I’m sure this is why it was selected.

My impressions of the Gardoms Edge Enclosure reflect those of Davey.
Stu had told me about the enclosure and I expected to see the usual barely-visible humps and bumps in the fields. What I actually saw was a revelation. These walls were massive, truly megalithic, and wouldn’t have looked out of place on a medieval fortification
The huge stone-built enclosure walls have been severly robbed to provide stone for the modern dry stone walling but enough is left to give you some idea of the impression this enclosure would have made on any Neolithic visitors to Gardoms.
It makes you wonder why the modern stone masons bothered to take down the enclosure walls to build the dry stone wall. The original wall would have served the same purpose.

Visited 18th June 2004: This was a sneaky visit on my way back from a conference, so time was short. As it turned out, good weather was running short as well. Having approached cross country in beautiful sunshine, I arrived in ominous gloom.

No sign of an ‘ovine choir’ on this visit. I could smell the rain, and I had no coat, so I ran to the stone. As you can see from the photos, there was plenty of sunshine, just not over me!

Before the heavens opened I rattled off some photos. The sheep (although absent on this visit) are eroding the soil around the stone, and polishing it up by rubbing on it. The end result, a sort of grubby brown sheen, isn’t what I’d call aesthetically pleasing. Access is pretty good though. You could feasibly get a wheelchair up to the stone with some help from a lackey.

I can’t believe it is three years since I was last up here, and it’s still bloody cold! Stannon circle is in danger of being hidden by the grass. When I last visited it was being grazed by a flock of sheep that watched over me like hawks.

It is fast approaching dusk as I drive up to the circle and I must admit I drove right up the track to get as close as possible. Good job too, as my battery in my camera chose to go flat after about three shots!

After running back to the car and changing batterys, and having a sip of coffee, I venture out again into the biting wind. No sheep, no people... a dozen or so ponies cross the horizon to the south east and a flock of stirlings head towards Roughtor... and me. The sky starts to turn pink as the sun drops behind the cloudbank building in the west... will I get a sunset?

No! I decide that it is not worth the wait and head back to the car and the coffee. As I am about to leave a people carrier turns up and family and dog fall out... I leave the circle and the fading light to them.

As I drive home a huge moon rises over the moor... if only I had remembered...

Visited 2nd June 2004: Just wanted to check on the stone as I’d not been to see it for two years. It was a lunctime dash, and my mate from work tagged along for the ride (hence the shirt and tie).

See NS88NE 10

Some good stuff here – all very clear. NS 85710 87969 on the GPS.

At the S end of the rock is a group of five motifs (including a 50 cm cup and five rings with a “budding” cup and two rings) and a further two are at the N end.

If approaching from the farm, they are roughy 100m from the gate on your right hidden behind a gorse bush on a shelf on the edge of the ridge. Just E of the telegraph wires.

Visited 28 November 2004