There are two sites here
- NS88NE 9 which has a lightly-pecked (possibly partly finished) cup and one ring and
- NS88NE 53 (known as Castleton 2b) which has cup marks only.
They lie almost adjacent to each other at NS 85818 88303 on the far end of the first rocky ridge N of the farm. Under the telegraph wires. 2b is the easier to spot.
Visited 28 November 2004
Although it’s only 40 minutes away, I’d put off a visit to this site for some time. After all, if you’re going to look at a relatively rare cup and nine rings (amongst other things), you want the conditions to be just right.
The weather looked good for the day so now was the time to go for it. Low sun and virtually cloud-free. Excellent.
The visit got off to a good start. I met the farm owner just as she was leaving. Yes I could wander around and it was ok to park up at the farm.
There are 10 main areas of rock art here. I’ve listed them under Miscellaneous. Many of the references are around 20 years old so we can expect vegetation and weathering to have taken its toll.
I did not try to visit all of them. I was able to find Castleton 2, Castleton 3 and Castleton 7 and have created sub-sites for these.
I searched for but could not find Castleton 1, 4 and 5. I’m sure there is a lot more to see here – even in the areas where my search drew a blank.
Visited 28 November 2004
See NMRS NS88NE 30
This was the one I really wanted to find. Cup and nine rings – not many of them around.
My expectations were low. I had only a six-figure grid reference and the briefest of descriptions to go by and they were nearly 20 years old. Surely the site would be covered over by now.
However, I can confirm that is is there .... and looking wonderful. The rings and the seven radial grooves were very clear in the low sun. It measures 60 cm across.
Quite easy to find. It is in an open area between the gorse bushes at the far end of the ridge which runs NW from the farm. NS 85523 88185
This is site 7a in Canmore. All that you can see are the cup and nine rings and a cup and four rings. Their outer rings appear to be joined.
There should be a lot more here but it is probably covered and I was not going to start stripping the turf.
I could not locate the nearby 7b and 7c but I was happy. I’d found the main reason for the trip.
Visited 28 November 2004
Fitz made a very good choice of stone to seek. The front cover of the indispensable Laurie and Beckensall book has a photo of a glorious stone very similar to this. If I were them I’d have picked this one. It’s a dahza!
I’m stumped as to why the hill is called Eel hill though. Seems a bit peculiar, it’s not near the sea, or any rivers that look like they’d have eels in them.
It’s an especially complex motif for the area, and is also conspicuous in that it is the only one on the summit of the hill, whilst the slope on the way up had oodles of marked stones though none with the such a clear cut bowl. It nicely connects the cairns etc (on the slopes below) to the mysterious atmosphere of Osmond’s Gill . It’s a special stone marking a special place.
Stan Beckensall in “Prehistoric Rock Art in Northumberland”, Tempus 2001, page 162:
“The earlier name of Deershed Plantation may have been ‘Island Plantation’. If so, it is the place where in 1934 Mr davidson reported ‘an unrecorded camp’and ‘the vest pocket edition sculptured rock found by Mr Wake and given to the Black Gate Museum’. The rock is now in the Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle.”
We photgraphed the “Deershed Plantation” stone in the ‘Stone Room’ (not open to the public) of the museum during the FMD-crisis in May 2001.
This difficult to find tomb is at GPS coordinates D 20010 36753
The barrow is located on the right behind a fence as you drive into the entrance to Hartshill Hayes Country Park. Sadly it is neglected and overgrown. It was excavated about 1760 and a bronze age skeleton and dagger were unearthed. The top of the mound has caved in and several rabbit burrows lead inwards. The rangers are very knowledgeable on the considerable history of the area and worth talking to.
With some imagination parts of Oldbury Hill fort can be seen in the
woods. The area partly occupied by Severn Trent reservoir used to be part of a flint axe head factory, in times past a teacher from the local school used to dig up flint axe heads on the site.
Yesterday Hob and I decided to have a run up to Barningham to see what we could see.
We parked up at Haythwaite Farm and followed the footpath onto the moor.
The rocks that we looked at are basically split into two groups, one on either side of Osmonds Gill (marked Osmiril Gill on the OS map).
We initially had trouble locating any cup marked stones as were unsure which contour we were walking on.
I would advise that you follow the footpath to the area marked Black Hill Gate and then backtrack east along the terrace. The first group of stones are just below the craggy outcrop and scattered around a bizarre ‘cairn’ – you’ll know what I mean when you see it.
Many of the rocks are covered in vegetation so it’s a case of peel to reveal.
After checking out the westerly group I would advise that you have a mooch up the hill and seek out the wonderful Eel Hill stone. From here you can cross Osmonds Gill and check out the How Tallon circle. After the circle you can walk through the gill and head east along the 420m contour, this is roughly on the same level as the boulder laden slope on the east side of the gill.
There are a number of cup marked rocks here along with a decent hut circle and some confusing linear features ?walls.
The burnt mount that Hob mentions is a bugger to see. We only really knew it was there because Hob found a burnt cobble.
This is a beautiful North Pennine landscape. The scarp edge of the moor has many features that imply that this was a pretty special place to our ancestors.
The rock art may look pretty but you really have to experience the place to get any idea of it’s power.
Djang by the bucketload!
What an absolutely grand spot! Cup-marked stones all over the place. My eternal thanks go to Fitzcoraldo for showing me this place.
A copy of Beckensall and Laurie’s ‘Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale’ is very helpful. The sketched map, cross referenced with the diagrams, means that if you find one, you can find loads. It does appear that there’s a map amiss in the book though. Stones 3-13 are represented on the ‘West and South west’ map, as are stones 19-32. 33-81 are shown on the ‘Barningham- South’ map, but 14-18 aren’t shown. Which is a shame, as from the diagrams in the book, they are some of the more complex in the area, with multiple rings, arcs and pennanulars.
After a nip up to Eel Hill to find the big cup, then to Osmond’s gill and the circle near Howe Tallon, the marked stones of the South side were in shadow, and harder to spot, but the whopping cup of stone 48 decided to reveal itself. The hut circles in this area are quite clear, more so than the enigmatic burnt mounds further down the slope.
It would be a right pain in the neck if the bracken were in full flush, but in the winter, with some nice direct sunlight, the stones are easy to spot at a distance. There are many, many more unmarked than marked though. The shelves with the marked stones, sited as they are either side of the wonderfully atmospheric Osmonds Gill, are extensive markers for what was, and still is a very special place.
It has taken me three visits to Barningham Moor to locate this gorgeous stone, I finally found it today with the help of Hob.
The stone is located just west of the highest point of Eel hill and is in the perfect postion to look out over Barningham Moor to County Durham in the north and the Cleveland Hills to the east.
A beautiful North Pennine stone.
We did a circular walk, parking just off the B4306 to the south east of the burial chamber (SN486123) and following an extremely overgrown footpath onto the common.
With an eight figure grid reference from Coflein (SN48541328) I used the GPS to navigate. There were a lot of brambles and general undergrowth in the way, and Lou was wearing sandals, so we ended up hopping from boulder to boulder. We eventually arrived at the spot where the GPS thought we should find the chambers – the top of a large rocky outcrop. Of course there were no burial chambers on top of the outcrop. It eventually dawned on me that the site was directly below us, a short distance as the crow flies, but a long way down (here’s the view we got).
The climb down to the chambers was laborious because of the brambles, but on the flat the foliage was a little less daunting. There’s a mess of rubble and vegetation at the base of the cliff, some of which is clearly cairn material or collapsed chamber. The two capstones are really easy to spot, as are some of the remaining orthostats (the easterly chamber still has one apparently in place). The cliff next to the chambers dominates them, and presumably blocks out quite a bit of sunlight (not for us thankfully). The landscape surrounding the chambers is very distinctive, with another outcrop to the north east, similar to the one by the chambers. This must have been pretty poor agricultural land when the chambers were built.
On the way back to the car we had a go at finding the cairns to the north west of the chamber, but the bumps on the ground weren’t convincing. We did meet some friendly horses though. From the summit of Mynydd Llangynderyrn we walked back to the main road, rejoining it near the milestone (SN481127). This was a lot easier than our route in!
NB. The chambers are easy to get at from any direction other than the south east (the way we approached them). Visit in the winter for a less bramble orientated experience.
Just had this reply from Steve Hartgroves, Principal Archaeologist
Cornwall Historic Environment Information Team
“The circular feature on the map has been surveyed and examined by the OS archaeological surveyors; they were unable to come up with a convincing interpretation.
The SMR says this:
PRN 1782: A roughly circular enclosure lying at the bottom of a gentle SE slope immediately above an area of marsh was located and surveyed by the OS in 1973 and surveyed from the air and on the ground by the RCHM in the 1980s. The enclosure measures 35m in diameter overall and consists of a turf bank up to 12.0m wide, and nowhere more than 0.7m high with a few exposed stones. There is a depression in the centre, but no trace of an entrance, and no sign of any round houses in the interior. In 1973 the OS recorded that its origin and purpose were ‘obscure’, but added that it may possibly be a small round. In 1984 Quinnell’s view was that it was not a small round as previously suggested, but possibly a natural feature. This seems unlikely however; excavation may be needed to properly identify the function and date of the feature.
I don’t suppose this is much help...it isn’t likely to be a round in this location; could it be some kind of animal pound?”
I am not convinced, it aint natural that much I know!
watch this space
I can see this site from where I currently work and live, strange though how for months this hillside has taken my attentions so much!. I’ve stood and watched the sunrise over this place from where I work now many times.
This place is easy to find, turn left of the A6097 onto Greaves Lane, youll see the footpath sign on the right hand side, several hundred yards up the lane, park on the side and you just follow the trackway turning righ as you come to the woods, its easy from there!
First impressions... you can see for miles from here! What a vantage point!! To the west(ish) you can see what is supposedly known as Robin Hoods Pot, and down over to the southeast(ish) you can make out embankments and a ditch system which I would have interpreted as once being a small community under the shadow of this hillfort. Spend time here and it all comes together.
Visions came to me as I stood here, I saw a curved trackway coming from the northwest side of the embankment making its way up to the mound called the ‘Pot’ and more in the surrounding landscape.
Didn’t enjoy standing on Robins Pot though, supposedly a burial mound, the feelings I picked up there ushered me along quickly!
Wonderful enviroment though, somewhere to breathe deeply and lose yourself and find yourself!!.. ;)
Must get myself a compass.
Visited 23rd May 2004: This is a fantastic stone. It’s slap bang underneath a load of power cables and standing in the shadow of an enormous pylon, but that’s part of the charm.
There’s no public right of way near Gwempa. The stone is just about visible from the road, but we decided to take a closer look (the field didn’t have any crops or livestock in it). Parking is a considerable problem because the lanes are so narrow.
Once we got to the stone Louise was less than happy about the drone of electricity from the cables above us. I just marvelled at the arrogance of the people who strung them right above the stone. Amazing! It reminded me a bit of Tinkinswood.
Gwempa has survived the rigours of modern agriculture, and the insult of almost being stomped on by a pylon, so pay it a visit if you’re passing; It needs some respect.
Visited 23rd May 2004: Not really a visit, but we did spot Maen Llwyd from the road that passes to the south east of it. It’s not a very good view (as you can see from the photos).
I liked this stone, although it is re-erected it has a certain ambience. If you have a chance to talk to the farmer he (for a Cornishman) gets quite chatty about it.
Revisited Sunday 21st November with BigSweetie, George and ActionMan. Some idiots had been using the central depression (from a previous land-owner’s dig) as a fireplace... Fortunately the stones are far enough away from this not to have suffered any apparent damage. Shame though that even as remote a site as this can be damaged. A very cold day, with horizontal sleet, made sure we didn’t linger too long.
This has variously been described as a homestead, a dun, a fort and a ring fort, the last by the Forestry Commission information board at the site. The walls are around 3m thick, and defense is what immediately springs to mind. The 24m diameter seems too big for it to be domestic, particularly given its location. It sits high above Loch Tummel, guarding a strategic path through the hills, and is reminiscent of the forts around Glen Lyon (see Caisteal Cona Bhacain).
Get an OS map, and there’s a field called ‘long field’ between two lanes going toward farm buildings. Pull off the lane that runs parallel with the Cashel River. Park in this field through the (hopefully open) gate at 405266. And walk up the field, it’s a long field (duh!) and stretches towards the field in which the stones are. When you get to the top of ‘long Field’ keep walking. The stones appear on the left.
Well worth the trouble, and it’s not that far a walk. . honest!
Two stones, no more than 3 foot high nestle by a hedge. Dig a bit in the undergrowth and you’ll find a third. It’s right by the road, so if you want to ‘up’ your stone circle count. . it’s easy to find.
This stone is situated in a caravan park, and as such we found it hemmed in by caravans and white plastic garden furniture. However, while the initial thought is that the site isn’t very atmospheric, at least it is safe. The stone is actually well-protected by the nearby caravan and tree, and will no doubt fare better than some stones out in the middle of nowhere.
I’m slightly perplexed to say these are the most ‘threshold’ of all of the rock art listed by the Beckensall. They are so heavily eroded, Mrs Hob and I were not sure we’d found the right rock, and searched extensively, but found no others.
As Pebbles says, the big flat rock looks like it is crying out for carvings, but has none. It’s a good marker though, being clearly visible from the top of Dod Law.
In high summer, the ferns and bracken make getting under the gorse bush a bit of a clarty endeavour.
Found this whilst out walking last week. Not totally convinced that it isn’t a rubbing post but...
It is a large stone for a rubbing post, about 4ft high and around 2 ft wide.
It lines up nicely with Brown Willy.
Why erect a rubbing post when ther are walls, trees and barns nearby.
It is natural in shape, ie has not been cut by man.
To look for yourself take the footpath from the east end of Davidstow Airfield, very muddy at Oldpark end. Once past the barns at Oldpark turn right down wide track, the stone is in the field on the right.
This can be found by taking a lane running north of the village of St Neot towards Colliford lake. When the road turns into a muddy track, the mound, as it is marked on maps, is just inside a gate on the right.
In Robin Payne’s Romance of the Stones it is called the Penkestle Menhirs and is described as a multi phase cairn, the standing stones being added at a later date.
The mound does lie on private ground, but a quick hop over the gate isnt gonna upset anybody.
Letter Moor is a small area of open moorland just to the south of Colliford Reservoir and north of St Neot. On the OS map a couple of cairns are marked plus a tumulus just to the south in a field. Slap bang in the middle there is marked on the recent OS Explorer maps a dotted circle, i was curious as to what this was so took a walk.
The whole area is made up of very gently slopeing moorland with gorse bushes here and there. There are a few lumps of granite poking up through the soil, I did line up five with a large stone at the southern end but decided I was imagining things...
I wandered around trying to see what the round object on the map could be, there was no obvious feature. Then I turned round to look at where I had come from and spotted it.
Lying on the gentle hillside and facing south east was a low earth circle with a depression in the middle. The circle was about 75ft across from bank to bank. There was no sign of stone in the low banks and the centre was very smooth all round.
I have no idea at the moment what this feature is but will look into it. It may be a cairn or tumulus but there is no sign of the earth or rock that must have made up the inside.
One other inteeresting feature is the fact that looking east from here I believe the sun would rise over Brown Gelly on Midsummer day whilst all the other high points of the eastern moor are equal distance in a row moving south
