Latest Fieldnotes

7 August 2004

Whilst hordes of holiday makers pour into Cornwall and spread themselves all over the beaches I head for the hills. This is my second visit to Leskernick...and this time I know what i’m looking for.

I approach from Bolventor by taking the road to Codda and then following the footpath out onto the moor. As you go through the gate and out onto the hillside it is best to carry on straight ahead contouring around to Leskernick Farmhouse.
From there head up into the settlement, I wonder how many people lived up here?. The “quoit” is on the western side of the hill and after visiting that head back over the top and look down upon the settlement.
From here it is possible on a good day to spot both the stone circles and a path down through the huts leads to the northern one.
Once you have found this the stone row lies diagonally to the left towards the humps and bumps of early mining work.
The other stone circle lies just upslope to the right of the western end of the row.
The low squareish humps you will come across all over the hillside are peat stack bases known as steeds or ricks. I have never seen so many in a small area anywhere else on the moor.

Is it or isn’t it?

On a hillside littered with stones we have to take the experts view and say it is.

The “quoit” is to be found on the upper west part of Leskernick Hill, slightly away from the main settlement remains.

Although Leskernick is a bit of a hike to get to it is worth it, space, peace and just so much history.

After a respectful mooch around Mayburgh and King Arthur’s Round Table we headed for the site of The Little Table. To aid in our quest we were armed with the SMR summary and a copy of the Magic map.
We turned off the A6 and passed the Lowther gatehouse to be confronted by a thigh-high carpet of thick foliage on the side of the road where the ditch was supposed to be. Tip – wear don’t wear short trousers as I did, this is nettle country.
Apparently the henge was destroyed by a combination of the construction of the Lowther gatehouse and road and the meanderings of the River Lowther. The SMR states “The monument is located on a comparatively flat alluvial terrace between an escarpment to the west and the steep slope of the River Lowther to the east”. The Magic Map placed it just past the gatehouse on the lazy right-hand bend in the road.
We found the ditch sure enough but we weren’t sure whether it was a regular roadside ditch or part of the henge, so to be sure we clambered all around the wood, up the track to the higher ground, along the road, basically we looked everywhere to make sure that we had the right feature. We then returned to the ditch. Stu drew the short straw and clambered through the nettle beds whilst I took the easier route along the margins of the road. We soon sussed-out that the ditch was a short arc that began and finished at the road, we had found our ditch. I paced the length of the ditch and it came out at about 33 paces. For further confirmation, this portion of the road is the only part of the road that is fenced. The fence begins and ends where the ditch lays, we presumed this was part of the protection of what’s left of the monument.
So if you’re visiting the site, look for the fence on the right hand side of the road, a few yards past the gatehouse. There is a track halfway along the fence, this track bisects the ditch and reveals what’s left of the profile as can be seen in Stubob’s photo themodernantiquarian.com/post/29777. Don’t expect to see too much but be happy in the knowledge that at least something remains of the third henge.

The standing stones on the north face of the down facing Sols Hill were reputedly accompanied by a stone avenue. Some stones remain in a rough square formation but their origin/purpose is unknown. Nearby are Romano British field sytems. The site has been so disrupted by Roman/Medieval/C18th quarrying etc it’s difficult to make any sense of it.

I understand the ‘caves’ were actually created through mining and are now railed off to protect bat populations. Apparently a modern hermit used to live in one of them (just south of the tv mast) and collect cameras from the local camera shops in the city. When he died many were recovered from his cave – probably the most recent ritual activity to take place here...

Bronze Age burial mounds on either side of the summit imply that the hillside was clear of forest in antiquity.

Walk down Sham Castle Lane and you can here water from the springs coursing under the ground. This lane was the route taken to transport stone from the quarry for the building of Roman Bath. When you come to a crossroads you’re on the site where the stone carving of the 3 Sulevae (3 mothers) was discovered – Romano British but maybe marking an ancient shrine to Sul?

Towards Claverton Down there was a field with more standing stones that were unf cleared by a farmer in the last century, before NT acquired the site.

The present stones on C Down were put up for a race course in C18th and by the present day pony club. In the C19th a large oval enclosure thought to be Bronze Age was also discovered, now marked by a very faint rampart.

I parked at Stanton Prior and approached the hillfort on a blazing August day. The pathway form the hamlet to the top of the hill is not signed (surprised?) but you can make out the pathway through the middle of a large cornfield. I was amazed to see a hare pop out from a hedge and scarper into the bushes ahead, was this some sort of Boudiccan omen i wondered... Just continue through another field after this and bear right to find the pathway disappearing into the trees that surround the hilltop. The top of the hill is cultivated and would have commanded extensive views on both sides of the ridgeway. unf the view is now screened by the woodland that surrounds it creating a peaceful if not desolate spot. It’s worth a trek to anyone who would like to see what Solsbury Hill might look like if it had not been kept up by the National Trust.

Its hard not to think of the nearby conical Winsbury Hill as being a religious focus for the people who used the fort. I once spoke to local archaelogist Bob Whittacker about Winsbury, apparently it was excavated but was found to be clear of any prehistoric archaeology. The fort and nearby Winsbury hill are prominant features on the Bath skyline, it would be interesting to know what relationship if any they had to Solsbury and the springs of Sul.

Not much I can add at present as on the day the mist was often heavy and the site lies in a probably marshy area. The site is visible coming down the road to Kirkhouse and all along the coast from there. To get there would seem to require a time of year when only grass occupies the field about.
I did try to get there going by the drystone wall past the other Kirk Ness mound on the coast, where the bed of yellow flag just where the Kirk Ness Dyke turns probably indicates the old loch shoreline (the Kirkhouse Burnt Mound at ND47169119 stood by the far edge of the same shoreline), but even that pasture soaked me below the knees and seeing no features through my binoculars I gave up the attempt.
Its one-time ascription to a Danish fort does make you think broch, especially as a local farmer found a “Pictish house” over by Manse ( 3’ wide, 2 1/2’ wide, 11’ long and neatly paved. Most likely a souterrain, quickly reburied). But if it was rather on an island then the two site-types that it could be are a crannog (like the ones at Voy) or a causewayed island dun (as Wasdale supposedly is). Might be none of these.

Definitely one of the more peculiar visits I’ve ever made to a stone circle.

Arrived in Matlock late, on the way down south, and thought ‘What the hell, it’s not dark yet...’ Predictably, by the time I was half way there it was dark. But that’s no problem. The Quarry site is impossible to miss, and the nice ‘eco-warriors’ (daft label) have enough banners to direct the hapless nocturnal wanderer.
Equally helpfully, on a friday night, the dark isn’t as much of a problem as you only have to follow the sounds of the drums...

However, I wouldn’t reccomend this route. It involves scrambling up the side of a slope that could be classed as a cliff in places, with sufficient foliage in summer to make it pitch black.

I was shocked at how close the old quarry is to the stones, to think of starting it up again seems gut-wrenchingly vile. The landscape around here has already been trashed enough. For example the highly unplesant mineral processing factory on the road to Matlock, which thrums and glows in the night like a giant malevolent predatory alien insect. Bleurgh!.

Here’s hoping the quarry remains forevermore dormant, and also that the toxic factory gets bored and flies back to its home planet. Leaving Stanton moor to recover it’s dignity and peace, with no need for caravans up trees or tunnels beneath them.

Although less than a kilometre away as the crow flies, and clearly visible from Langstone Moor Stone Row, this runied circle requires some dedication to reach it. “Crossing’s Guide to Dartmoor” published in 1912 warns of the dangers of the bog on PeterTavy Great Common – a warning which is still valid today! A splendid view of the Great Mis Tor, the local ponies, cattle and an ominous looking “murder” of crows (who were just hanging out at trhe circle when we arrived) is afforded from the circle. It is now in a sorry state runied once and then re-erected by the miltary and now little under 100 years later it’s been ruined by them once again.

It’s easy to miss this row. Granted the standing stone’s a whopper. But, on arriving you could miss the row altogether and wander like fools around the area to the north of the stone until you notice a 300 foot line of stumpy stones poking up through the grass and moss with the line ending at the standing stone (I speak from bitter experience). I don’t ever recall seeing such an “unbalanced” arrangement and wonder if the standing stone was added much later. Petit (Prehistoric Dartmoor 1974: 131) reports that the row was “discoverd” in 1893 by Baring Gould. The 9 foot terminal stone was re-erected the follwing year by order of the Duke of Bedford but was used for target practice during WW2. Shell-marks are clearly visible in the photograps posted below.

The remote Langstone Moor is located on the edge of the Merrivale Firing Range “Danger Area”, and thus is inaccessible at certain times of the year. To access the Moor you’ll need to be prepared to walk for more than 90 minutes from your car – if parked at Peter Tavy – or to get up out of the saddle of your Mountain Bike. The area is dominated by White Tor (468 metres above sea level) to the West and the Great Mis Tor (538) to the south. The walk to the foot of White Tor past Stephen’s Grave (marking the cross-roads burial spot of a suicide victim who killed himself when he discovered his betrothed had been unfaithful to him) is a well defined track littered with spent bullets. After that the footpath becomes more indistinct. You’ll need a map with you and a compass in case of bad weather. Langstone Moor Circle comes into view on then right but do not attempt to walk directly there from the footpath – there’s a very sticky bog in the way! The tall standing stone marks the eastern end of a poorly defined row. Both the stone and the circle were re-erected in 1894 but both have suffered from damage caused by military operations on the Moor. The poorly defined “Lich path” which cuts across Langstone Moor continues eastwards towards Conies Down and Beardown Man standing stone.

Coming out of St. Margarets Hope take the Eastside road down all the way the crossroads and pass over to the Wheems Hostel road. The fence beyond Sorquoy carries on either side of the road, the stone is incorporated into the barb-wire fence of the field on your left. Meet grandad. A block of red sandstone 4.4m high, 0.8m wide, 0.45-0.55m thick, with some packing at the bottom.
Lest you think size is important I should point out that the shore below here is like an open-cast mine for standing stones – why quarry when you can simply lift them from the ground, it’s comprehensively littered with stones of all sizes above the storm beach.

Bit more detail on how to get to Lanhill Longbarrow. Heading west out of Chippenham along the A420, there are two entrances to the site. The first is almost directly opposite the right-hand turning for Yatton Keynell and Castle Combe. The entrance leads across a cattle grid to a metalled road beyond. To get to the barrow, turn immediately right into the nearby field and carry on into the second field, where you’ll see the barrow’s distinctive hump. The second entrance is further along the A420. It’s less conspicuous but leads over a stile and directly into the barrow field. Anyone who wants to ‘enjoy the atmosphere’ should be more discrete than we were. Apologies to the couple who had walked four miles to get there, only to promply flee after stumbling upon us...

This is one of the very few ancient sites of interest in Ayrshire.
Having been born and raised in this area I have always wondered why there is such a lack of ancient sites in this county, afterall, its low lying plains are extremley rich and fertile, and to this day it is one of Scotland’s most arable counties, and bounded by the Firth of Clyde to the west, where there are a multitude of estuaries rich in shellfish and widfowl, it would have been a heaven to our ancestors.

A clue to this conundrum may lie a few Kms southish of the Stane Park monolith in the shape of Dundonald hill, with the tower of Royal Dundonald Castle commanding the local countryside on top.
Recent excavations at this site have shown that this fortress was an important power base, with almost constant usage going back to the stone age.

Could it be that as ecological conditions remained suitable for our ancestors to thrive in this area that the ancient monuments were not abandoned as else where but underwent a succession of changes on the same site and to this day lie waiting to be discovered
beneath the forts and farms of Ayrshire?

From Irvine follow the B7081 to Dreghorn. At the cross (traffic lights) turn right and follow the road B730 about 2Kms to Drybridge. Turn right in the village and the Stone is in the farmers field on your left hand side.

It stands alone in the area, at 9-10 ft tall and is very chunky, almost square.

It’s not big but it is clever.

An excellent counter point to the likes of the massive Swindon stone and al the other massive testimonies to stone age know how, this is an absolute gem. If you have your fill of Avebury, make the effort. It’s such a superlative illustration of the amount of time and effort taken by humans to work stone.

To be get a sense of just why this is such a significant bit of rock, try grinding two small bits of (non-archaeological) sarsen together. This is hard stone, so to polish it to this degree is no mean feat, even if it did take 1200 years.

Can’t really testify to the difficulty in finding it, as I was well guided by people who had been there on more than one occasion. But I reckon that if you look at the photos with the tree and the triangular stone, they are effective markers.

Cheers for posting this one Mr Paulus. It’s much appreciated as the presence of RA not only this far south, but in the area of all the Avebury stuff is very interesting.

The cups themselves are very smoothed out, and fit the bill from the drawing. The horseshoe is very evident, as is the ‘slug’ mark, possibly a half-finished groove from one of the cups near the horseshoe. There are also some angular, yet serpentine (?) grooves at turf level on the south side of the stone. These look like they might be enhanced natural marks in places.

Thy were easy to find, as the result of a very well informed guide, who knew of it in advance, and accompanied myself and diverse others, right to the stone.

It’s in a section of the IA field system adjacent to that containing the pollisoir. If you find the polisher, look to the east, just beyond the first of the old field boundaries, where the land starts to rise again.

To my mind, the most remarkable thing about these marks was the fact that they’re on Sarsen. It’s bloody hard, and would take some pecking even with modern metal tools, let alone another bit of sarsen. Much discussion ensued regarding the techinique used, and what they might mean. There may be more in the area, and it’s unsure if this one is in situ, or has been shifted during the construction of the field system. Fyfield cup spotters should note that as the local sarsen has so many natural holes, it’s not a straight forward business, for example, there’s a stone to the SE that has a lovely natural bullaun-type basin. Others have possible small horseshoe motifs.

Having researched the scant information available on-line about this circle, I decided to wait until the best possible weather before attempting to find it. Given the difficulty that it presented, this was a smart move.

Looking at the OS map, the footpath leading to the circle appears to skirt the edges of the Raybarrow Pool (not so much a pool as a marsh). This is very, very misleading. While the marsh may technically be at the bottom of the hill, the boggy area extends right up the slope, with the footpath cutting straight through the middle of it. When I visited on a very hot August day, the terrain was impossible to navigate. I was only able to make progress by back-tracking substantially and climbing pretty much to the top of the hill. Every other route eventually ended in marsh. Even getting up the hill was troublesome due to the heavy vegetation. I would imagine that in poor weather, this terrain could be extremely dangerous.

All in all, it took two and a half hours to get from the road to the circle. There is an alternative (but less direct) route, but I can’t comment on this since I didn’t have the time to check it out. On the plus side though, for the return journey, there’s a path leading from the circle up the hill that borders the footpath (doesn’t appear to be marked on the OS map). It’s possible to follow this most of the way uphill, and then cut back down to the main path.

All in all, I’d advise great caution if attempting to visit this site. Poor weather could make this potentially life-threatening for the inexperienced walker. In good weather it’s a challenge, but shouldn’t be a risk if you’re careful. However, it is a strenuous walk (mostly uphill), and I’d allow at least four hours for getting there and back.

For those who are up to the challenge, the reward is very much worth the effort. This is about as remote a site as I’ve ever seen, and the views are breathtaking. Sitting in the middle of this beautiful circle, you really feel as though you’re in the middle of a wilderness – and that’s no common achievment in this crowded modern-day Britain.

Uley Bury Hill fort 1-Aug-2004

We entered Uley Bury Hill fort from approx ST782981. There is a bridle path here which is basically a narrow gully that leads up to the top of the hill. Due to the fact that there appears to be a gateway into the fort at or near the top of this gulley, then I assume the gully to have been made as a passageway to the fort rather than natural, which would probably make it unique. At the bottom of the gully there is medium sized dressed stones that shore up the earth banks but whether they are original work, I don’t know, but they do remind me of the small visible wall found at South Cadbury Camp.
As one travels up the gulley there are small irregular stones that appear as stone walling and these may be original work?
As one reaches the top of this passageway/gully, you are greeted by a huge steep natural defence to the camp proper. You should note that there is a path between two artificial mounds that was probably once the gateway into the camp.
The camp itself is about 30 acres in size and although it’s fenced off you can still walk around the perimeter and take in the fabulous views.
To the Northwest one can see Cam long down and the isolated Peaked down, which has Arthurian connections. On the Southside of Cam long down and on the top there appears to be earth defences.

First time I’ve been up here for a while today (odd considering I live just down the road!). Windy as always! Definitely a sacred hill & twinned with it’s neighbour Bartinney to make the “breasts of the Goddess”. The former hermitage & entrance grave seem to have far too many really special quartz crystal stones lying about to be random. Living here i know that quartz always comes with granite, but these stones are really crystalline. Makes me wonder how white & shiny this hilltop must’ve been in its day. Must do the walk directly from here to Carn Euny soon!

Cefn Maen Amor stone circle has absurdly small stones, no higher than 1 foot, and easily lost under the bilberry and heather. Marked on OS maps as a cairn just to the north west of Maen Penddu standing stone, on a higher track, this is situated on a flat area, just beneath the highest terrain (as many circles are).

Locating it was a matter of careful map reading, and looking for conspicuous bumps to the north of the track. After some work with my boots, I was able to make visible the stones that could easily be made visible.

Some five stones were visible in the end, with a sixth looking like an errant natural stone. I could feel probably another stone under the ground in line with the others.

The circle is there, but not as grand as one may have hoped!

This round barrow lies 300m to the south-east of the Longstone and is probably the largest on Exmoor at 34m wide by 2.7m high.

This is on the right topside of the mound on the ridge nearest the drystane walls. The two uphill slabs are virtually complete, giving a size of 1.2x0.8m. The longer slab points fairly straight uphill, so a N-S orientation I think. These two slabs are only slightly out of joint, the cause in the long ago perhaps a 0.6x0.1m stone showing not far above the lower end. I saw no sign of the other end slab but 0.35m of the other long slab can still be seen standing up 0.2m. Soil and grass comes maybe halfway up the inside of the cist.

The present 1:25,000 shows them just past Garlaine but there is now a bungalow nearer still. Before I reached the gate my eyes were taken roadside by a standing stone and setting HY28452894. A mini s.s. at only 0.9x0.17x0.1m, though probably extending underground which would make it even slimmer. Modern ?? Made me wonder if some bigger stone had been removed at some stage – this day I saw several modern concrete pillars in similar associations, passing curious. Like Via this setting is in front of the stone. The visible base of the standing stone is level with its top. Both standing stone and the abutting stone (0.45m long) are at right angles to the road, and then a stone 0.5m long is parallel to it. 0.47m from the abutting stone what I read to be one end of the setting is mostly buried – what shows a mere 5cm above the grass is 0.2m long. Underfoot you can feel the stones of a wall beyond the setting.
I always prefer to climb over gates, but this one is chained anyway. The downhill mound has a scrape in the top, though this could be rodent damage (rabbits are rodents too). At the top of the hill are the other two mounds. That on the left is another disappointment. Though there are more patches of bare earth this could still be the results of animal, rather than human, excavators. Probably the latter making digging easier the the former. Looking to the last mound from this one I was heartened to see a few stones protruding from the far side. Still it came as a very pleasant shock to find that these were part of a cist (Usually new observations from a watching brief are passed on by Historic Scotland to RCAHMS, but 8 years ago this one slipped the net, hence its none appearance on the NMRS till my observation). The two uphill slabs are virtually complete, giving a size of 1.2x0.8m. The longer slab points fairly straight uphill, so a N-S orientation I think. These two slabs are only slightly out of joint, the cause in the long ago perhaps a 0.6x0.1m stone showing not far above the lower end. I saw no sign of the other end slab but 0.35m of the other long slab can still be seen standing up 0.2m. Soil and grass comes maybe halfway up the inside of the cist. Coming off the mound HY284290 you could see the roundness of it and there is a ditch. At first I thought this too curved around the mound, but then it went over to the corner of a drystane wall – perhaps it is a robber trench ? However further down the road there is a ridge going across the hill. Could it and the ditch both be part of the site, a demarcation about the site ? I do feel there is more going on here than just those three mounds, a barrow cemetery would be luverly.

I took another visit up here a few days ago, had another wander past the site around the grouse butts, loose rocks, ricky outcrops and sheep, and noticed a rectangular shap that didn’t match the rest of the grouse butts, infact looked nothing like them.

I notice one of the previous posts mentions a cairn – could this be it? Fours walls with slabs over the top, small fern or bracken growing under the slabs. Still a wonderful place no matter how damaged it is (why it hasn’t been fenced off from vehicles I don’t understand)

It’s a three kilometres walk from the lay-by at Goat Hill Bridge on the B3358 to the Longstone, the tallest menhir on Exmoor. Formed from a slab of local slate, it measures 3m high by 1.25m wide and 0.25m thick at its base. There is a much smaller, companion stone sharing its hole, known locally as a trigger stone, which is 0.7m high.