Latest Fieldnotes

The Three Howes of Cold Moor and their two neighbours sit smack bang in the middle of Cold Moor and have great views (more mounds scattered about can be seen). These are three mounds, two on the west of the track and one on the east.

I had a wander up here on Hallowe’en, and here just before (or just after, depending on your direction) the Three Howes are two more mounds. Why they’re classed as seperate is beyond me as when you’re up there they’re next door neighbours!

When visiting the heather was high and one of the mounds was hard to make out once I left the path. Some good views of two more mounds at the head of (the Eastern beck of) Raisdale which appear as two dark circles amonst the lighter field.

What a small, squat standing stone. Less than three feet tall, with weathered grooves on the sides and a big eroded cup on the top. But it has a good view. It stands on a ridge just above Rothbury (the name’s bit of a give away really), and you can see the whole of the profile of Simonside. Rather neatly though, you can’t see Rothbury.

It’s close to the footpath, and if you’re in Rothbury it’s only a couple of minutes walk up the hill. Not much to look at on it’s own, but if you get this far, you’ll be rewarded by the view, and may be tempted to explore the plateau of Debdon cairnfield, or nip around the corner to Football Cairn.

Access isn’t very good, the path from Rothbury has stiles and gets a bit ‘rubble and mudslide’. There is a bridlepath, but the ground is rough, mostly heather and stones, with peaty holes and mini bogs.

This is a corker but happens to be on the opposite side of the road to the location marked on my map, which is a little confusing. Even OS can make mistakes, eh Julian?!?

The fields surrounding the stone are cairn-central and we counted a fair few before we noticed this stone through a gateway. Had to wade through very muddy fields (it was October though) to get to it but all worth the effort. The cairn in the field opposite is well worth a gander too!

An improbably warm late October day meant we could sit at the centre of the circle for more than an hour, sleeves rolled up and just take it all in. The views are magnificent and even with the road so close by, only the odd intrusion of 21st century life challenged the sense of timelessness.

‘tis lovely to sit and look across at the stone row in the field opposite – I’m sure all part of a bigger site at one time. They appear interlinked but the road dissects them and it’s difficult to visualise. Also walked down the road to the cairn but little left to see (unless we were looking in the wrong place?) I had read that a single standing stone is also linked to the site, south of the circle, but we didn’t find it. Never-the-less, this was enough to make us both very happy indeed.

I could waffle on about this place for hours, but a large part of that waffle would involve the setting of the circle rather than the stones themselves. It’s such a fantastic landscape with the cuestas of the Whin Sill doing their thing.

It’s very like it’s companion at Greenlee Lough in terms of the size of the circle and he stones which comprise it. None are large, but one in particular is an odd ‘L’ shape. The thing that struck me the most was the fact that it’s on a fairly pronounced slope, with the stones at the top being smaller, so that the overall effect is to make the tops of each stone roughly level.

I also entertain a suspicion that both this and Greenlee are some how connected with the highly conspicuous outcrop of Queens Crags, which at Greenlee I’d mistaken as Sewingshiels.

Parking on the military rd can be easily missed, though Sewingshiels is closest, it’s worth the walk from dreary old housesteads so-called fort. This takes you over some great crags and affords very good views of the snazzy landscape.

Either way, access is not easy, though easier from the track heading for Old Stell Green from Sewingshiels. Decent shoes essential, quads being the only wheeled things that are going to get here easily.

On my oldish (1970s?) OS map of this area, 2 circles are shown either side of Englishman’s Burn. We found Glenquickan but couldn’t find the 2nd, although a friendly walker we happened upon assured us that he had come across it some years earlier. Strangely enough, when I looked at the most up-to-date map, no trace of that 2nd circle to be found....

Anyway, loved this site and found it almost too perfect to be true. It felt like a Disney circle, almost perfectly round, with lovely stones surrounding a large central stone. From the roadside, you can just make out the central stone, which appears to be a singular standing stone – makes it all the more impressive as you approach and see the circle come into view.

Set in the most beautiful of landscapes (if you can ignore the masts and satellite dishes on the hill above.....) and the most amazing toadstools I have ever seen – all they needed was a pixie sat astride!!

This is about as perfect as it gets. Spent Saturday (30/10) afternoon and evening playing around the sites; watched the sun set over Wigtown Bay from Cairnholy 1 and Saturday night sat on the capstone of Cairnholy 2, bathed in moonlight, watching the most amazing nightsky. We were blessed with the warmest October day and the clearest nightsky I’ve seen for a longtime.

For those who like their comforts close to hand, Cairnholy Farmhouse offer B&B and I would thoroughly recommend it. Yes, the farm buildings intrude upon the 2nd cairn, but the couple who run the B&B are friendly and enthusiastic (as it Harry, the boxer dog!) and cook a mean evening meal, if you don’t want to stray too far from the stones.....www.cairnholy.co.uk for details.

In one of the adjoining fields, the local farmer had cobbled together a number of small “sheep cairns” – the remains of dead sheep, covered over with stones. On one of the smaller ones, a large stone with cup and rings marks is just visible.

Dragon Hill is an amazing place. As we walked down from the White Horse the sun shone through the cloudy sky illuminating it as we made our way down. There are great views from here of Uffington White Horse and Uffington Castle and of the surrounding Oxordshire countryside. It’s a great place to sit and gather your thoughts too, whether contomplating the slaying of dragons or anything else for that matter.

Charlie and I visited this site again today. This time it was late afternoon and the sun was setting fast as we got out of the car and took some photos of the henge on this Halloween night. Last time we we here in the middle of the day and the ground was covered in snow. Today the place took on a completely different feel as night set in, and we saw the place for the first time in relation to the night sky. There is some work going on inside the church at the moment, and the scaffolding inside from some angles somewhat spoils the overall vibe of the place, as does the portaloo right at the entrance to the henge. However this didn’t detract from our time, walking around the henge in the dark, lit only by the moon and stars with the sounds of owls hooting and far away farm dogs barking into the night.

A beautiful Autumn day was spent yesterday at Waylands Smithy. The orange leaves falling all around on a gentle breeze, in this most tranquil spot. People came and went as we sat there and moved around taking our photographs, a popular place for those on foot or bikes and passed every now and then by huge off road vehicals powering down the ridgeway. Sstill this didn’t bother me as I sat inside each of the chambers totally switching myself off from the world outside. This place is an absolute treasure.

Charlie and I visited the white horse for the first time yesterday, and what a place! The views from just above the horse on the hill are breathtaking. We walked down past the horse looking at the chalk close up. The actual outline of the horse makes no sense at this close range, but it seems really well looked after and maintained. On reaching the bottom and climbing up to Dragon Hill the white horse figure takes on it’s full shape and the dramatic landscape all around adds to this viewing pleasure.

We visited the castle yesterday Saturday 30th October 2004. The landscape here is so dramatic and exciting to view. The views are truly inspirational from any point you choose on top of the castle. Over Dragon Hill and way into the distance. As the afternoon went on the sun began to lower in the sky and the silhouettes of people walking over the other side with a full red sun setting behind them was a beautiful sight.

I found this curious feature on one of my many walks on Anglezarke Moor. Its cut into the rock on the side of the hill with the entrance gap being about 2 foot wide the well goes about 4 foot down, at the time i visited the well it was almost dry however i did manage to pick a few pieces of worked flint out the bottom of the well which is good evidence as flint isnt native to this area, sadly by the time i found this it was getting dark and photos werent possible i’ll return here soon.

Visited 2nd May 2004: Not really a visit as such. Having visted a number of Carn Ingli sites we were heading for the beach when I took this. The stone ramparts are pretty clear, even from the road. I’d definately like to take a closer look.

Visited 2nd May 2004: Not really a visit as such because we didn’t get up close, but this natural outcrop is a significant landmark in the area to the south of Carn Briw so you can’t easily miss it.

There are some lovely natural arches here, if only they were not so inaccessible and slippery to approach they would have tons of visitors. Should you come this way watch out for an ?arch in the making, a huge rectangular hole in the coastline going all the way down to sea-level. I’m sure there must be a proper geological term for it.
Finally the coast heads into a deep dip where the promontory is, a truly treacherous place to tread nowadays. Surely if you are building stuff for people you don’t put it opposite a water-holding cup of land. This seems a little strange to me – was it excavated by people themselves for some now obscure reason. Though there are two sites here, The Brough itself and the ‘Covenanters Graves’, opinion is that they are basically one, to whit a promontory fort and outbuildings. You can’t really make anything out, I think unless the grass catches fire or there is a severe drought you are unlikely to see what is recorded. Lots of bumps and hollows that could be structures threaten to trip you up, but basically all you see is grassy tussocks all over. I saw one erect slab in the ‘cup’ (the ‘Covenanters Graves’ section) and one on the promontory fort proper (The Brough). From one place to the other are meant to be features both circular and rectilinear , some in a straight line to the side of a path.

This is a true ‘palimpsest’ of a landscape. There are a lot of bumps, and yes, some of them are bronze age barrows. But some of them are actually the remains of a bizarre scheme from WWII: an attempt to recreate the street plan of Bristol on top of a heathy hillside, to lure the bombers away from the city. You can read more on MAGIC’s extract from the EH schedule: magic.gov.uk/rsm/33064.pdf

From up here you can see for miles in practically every direction, and I am sure this is where I could see from the outlying circle at Stanton Drew.

re-visit midnight 20th/21st October 07
Managed to get down to see these stones at night this time. The yomp down the hill is pretty awkward without any light, as it’s all pine needles, logs and bracken, with a fairly steep slope.

However, it was wonderfully peaceful. Some nice ground hugging mist and an appearance by the half moon made for an excellent atmosphere, but unsurprisingly (if somewhat dissapointingly), no ghostly figures gliding about anywhere. The quarts in the larger of the stones did manage to reflect the moonlight quite well, so it’s easy to dismiss the ghostie tale as a misreporting of similar moonlight/quartz interaction, possibly enhanced by a bit of a more distilled kind of spirit. I dunno. Nice spot either way.

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re-visit march 05

About 100m to the SE of the circle, there’s what looks very much like a small barrow, built on top of a small outcrop of lovely red sandstone.

Didn’t manage to get here after dark, so no chance to check out the spooky vibe thing mentioned below. Next time mebbe.

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As Stubob says, there’re only 5 stones, but they have some great texture going on. In an area littered with glacial erratics, there are some choice examples in this tattered but determined seeming survivor. I was hoping to be able to see over to Mayburgh, but there’s just too much hill in the way. From the top of the hill, excellent view.

The trees have gone now, so it’s possible to examine the other side of the drystone wall to look for the rest of the circle. It looked to me as if the earthwork below the wall must have some of the circle as grounding stones. About 100m SE there’s a patch of binlinered bales, which hide a couple of big stones, which may be erratics, or may have once had something to do with the circle. I didn’t have time to check at close range.

If you approach from Leacet Cottage Stables, on top of Leacet Hill, there’s a path through the trees that starts badly, doubles back and heads straight for the circle. The last part of this isn’t marked on the map, but then the map says the trees are still there.

The land belongs to Lowther Estates, who can be contacted for permission on weekdays, but note that Lowther don’t work weekends.

Access is not really very good at all.

Visited 2nd May 2004: Starting from Carn Briw we headed off in a south south westerly direction, using Carn Edward as our point of reference. To increase our chances of finding things we spread out (not a bad plan, because none of these sites can be seen from a distance).

Louise found Carn Edward II Hut Circle and at almost the same time I found Carn Llwyd IV Hut Circle. I persuaded her to back-track, and we looked at the three Carn Llwyd sites before moving on to look at Carn Edward II. This was a good way of doing things (even though I say so myself) because the smaller Carn Llwyd circles give you an idea how very large their neighbour is.

Coflein implies that, rather than being a hut circle, Carn Edward II represents a roofless enclosure that had two hut circles within it. Alternatively if it is a hut circle, it’s size suggests it would represent either a large communal space or the residence of a very important person. Of these two I favour the former, because the area is relatively vulnerable to attack from high ground to the north (not a great place for a chieftain’s house).

There are two distinct entrances to the circle (see photos), both with visible stones delineating the passageway that intersects the outer bank. The bank itself is well defined, but darned tricky to photograph.

Definitely worth a visit if you’re planning a visit to Carn Ingli Camp. This site and the surrounding sites are subtle, but exciting. The remain obscure even though they’re very close a well trodden footpath. Sit and watch walkers pass-by, oblivious to this little gem (what’s that weirdo doing sitting up there in the heather?).

Not sure if this is already described somewhere within another site (couldn’t find it). The stone stands just in at the edge of a churchyard in a tiny village near the Preseli mountains. The Ogham markings are really clear on the left hand side, although less so in the photograph. Spotted right on the very edge of the OL135 map and well worth a look.

As Merrick says, the field is very boggy and I was there on a dry day. Makes sense when you look at the map – 4 springs converge in the area. The image taken from the road shows its just a hop, skip and a jump to the stones. It is, but wear wellies and watch out for some seriously spiky foliage...
One of the stones has amazing orange lichen unlike any I’ve seen before.

Visited 2nd May 2004: This is the furthest west of the hut circles in this group, and the third that I saw. It’s pretty small, and built on quite a gradient compared to the others.

A recent visit to this Stone caused some confusion possibly as a result of mis-reading OS references. Getting off the Harrogate bus at the Walton Head Lane stop allows you to walk the route of Walton Head Lane to Kirkby Overblow. I’m pretty sure the OS ref on this original post locates a wide and low stone that is sitting in a small paddock behind a bungalow. This was the only stone I could see at the OS ref quoted. Is this stone of any relevance. I didn’t enter the field but it was only a few yards from the road and it was easy to see that the symetrical rocks of Almscliffe crag were in direct view of the stone. However, I am new to all this and maybe mistaken about it’s relevance.

Further on up the Lane I eventually found the Stone that Paulus mentions which has the incription on it. I wasn’t sure whether it wasn’t just a boundary stone but again it does line up with Almscliffe Crag on the NW horizon. Its located with a 360 degree view of Wharfedale, Harewood, and Vale of York. Very beautiful spot to stop and contemplate.

Incidentally the Lane climbs up what appears to be called Spofforth Haggs, interesting name when you consider Julian’s discussion of the goddess landscape. Haggs Road runs nearby and here is a Cup and Ring marked stone on there somewhere too. Just to add some more mystery the Grey stone at Harewood also looks out to Almscliffe Crag. All this concentration of Hares and Haggs made me look at things in a different way.

HY23431979 Flatface-aligned stone pair below the cleared area in front of churchyard. Not aligned to the (comparatively modern) church but probably on the same NE/SW alignment as the majority of the fields in Sandwick. 3m apart – the stone at left 1.3x0.5x0.1m in a 1.1x0.5m stone setting, the RH stone 1.2x0.5m.