Latest Fieldnotes

I have been looking for this for a few years. In the end I had to ask Baza and I finally found it. A little underwhelming but profoundly sad. I cleared the growth around the stone otherwise it is invisible.

Translation of the plaque at Bryn Celli Ddu:

This is a religious site (circa 2000BC) from the latter Neolithic era, which was built during two different periods. To begin with, a “henge” was built, with a ditch and a circle of standing stones (still visible from behind the mound). After that, a chamber made of stones was added where the remains of the dead were buried. This chamber was accessible by a path beneath the mound.

Translation by a Welsh speaking friend I asked a favour of – David Lloyd (cool guy who runs a cool Welsh language record label – https://www.dockrad.com). Apologies for the plug, but it’s kind of on-topic if you’re interested in the ‘language of heaven’.

These stones live up to the hype. The flat flagstone means that as you walk around the site, each stone presents a continouously changing aspect. The combination of the three tallest makes the number of angles even greater.
It seemes that the stones have a distinct relationship with the hills of Hoy, which are rather prominent throughout the whole area.

The Watchstone, like the Barnhouse and the Stones of Stenness is clearly visible from the Kirkwall-Stromness road. You cannot miss it.
I couldn’t help but imagine an avenue of stones connecting Stenness and Brogar, though of course, there’s no evidence for this at all.

Like the barnhouse stone, these two are best seen by visiting Brogar from the Stones of Stenness sans automobile. You could see them from the road, but it would be a case of ‘blink and you miss’em’ or even mistake the gateposts up the road for them.

Be wary though, for the road is not wide, and the cars come down fast.

Wideford’s suggestion that the Comet stone not being part of a cove seems right to my untrained eye. The two little stones are just too wee. The mound is definitely there though.

I got the sense that the stone had been moved from it’s original setting, but couldn’t give a rational reason why.

If you walk up to from the Stones of Stenness, careful not to end up in the middle of the rare lowland bog. It’s full of special plants, and not well signposted if you go through the first gate by the comet stone.

The second gate is far better, as you can be sure of seeing the permissive path to the stones.

To the SW side, look out for the recumbent shattered stone, apparently hit by lightning.

I have a slight suspicion that the stone towards the NW, with a ‘v’shaped notch in the top may be there to mark some sun-setting related event or other. It’s nearly right for the sunset of the night before the summer solstice, but not quite.

Can’t vouch for the claims that the stones have acoustic properties. I didn’t want to make a racket.

This is a smart stone.

It’s tall, has buckets of lovely lichen and moss, and despite the sheep protector fence (I assume it’s there to prevent sheep from rubbing the stone and making it fall on them), it has an air of stateliness. It knows that it gets seen from the road, and is self assured in it’s role as the blocking stone of Maeshowe.

Take the time to stop and get out of the car, or nip over if you’re at the stones of Stenness, it’s not far, though the main Kirkwall-Stromness road is busy at times. It can be easily reached through the gate, though as Kammer suggests there is no path. I tried to check for permission with the house directly across the road, but no-one was in (or not answering).

Probably not good for wheelchair users, or anyone with mobility issues.

The crag of Dun Deardail is 700’ high and the fort is 925’ above sea level. So it might be easier, though taking longer, to follow the Way through Nevis Forest ! The Way has the nearest turn-off down to the main road at Dun Dige.

I have searched the field walls in the vicinity off and on for some time. I finally asked at Caer’rarfau House. The lady, called Sandra, told me the chamber was in her garden. So here it is, all that is left is the Chamber lovingly cared for by a lovely lady. She doesn’t mind visitors.
A little info is available on Martin Powell’s pages at homepage.ntlworld.com/mjpowell/Neotomb/Neotomb.htm

Visited the fogou 9th June 2004.
(rewritten 23/06/04 cos I was half asleep first time!)

What a lovely place!

I was a bit nervous of this place after all I’d read about the odd happenings here, but found it to be a very peaceful place. We’d meant to visit many times but ALWAYS forgot to call ahead or bring the phone number with us (had to call Moth for it this time!)

The setting is very beautiful – I found it strange to think there was a house close by cos it just felt so secluded!

I find fogous odd anyway (I’m sure I’m not alone here!) – I start off full of beans, happily exploring and snapping away with the camera (normally just so I can see where I’m going! The torch normally gets swallowed up into the darkness...) and feeling like this is just a man-made hole in the ground... Then, unexpectedly, I get a shiver, and have felt quite scared (at Halligye I fair shat meself after about half an hour of feeling fine!)

So what is it with fogous? Boleigh is very beautiful, and very peaceful, as mentioned above, and is not exactly in the middle of nowhere...

I loved it here – it felt like I was in a time machine... I thought I was there for about 10 minutes, but emerged from the hole in the ground over an hour later!

Rob and (I’m so sorry I didn’t catch your name!) his wife/partner (sorry again!) were absolutely lovely. Very welcoming indeed. The house itself is amazing, and some rooms are being let for a really relaxing B&B style holiday, along with a HUGE cottage that sleeps around 6!!! (Check out rosemerrynwood.co.uk/ for more info)

We shall definately return to Boleigh – not just for the fogou, but to spend the week (or 2) – maybe I’ll even pluck up the courage to explore the fogou at night – wooo! Big chicken... ;o)

Certainly not the easiest site to locate, as suggested in the book an Ordance Survey map is needed. I should have paid attention. Alternatively I should have asked the hill hermits to the local goat dung heap.

Having got hopelessly lost we ended up travelling south on the A4067 and turning off on the right turn signposted towards Crai & Trecastle (if you reach Craig-y-Nos country park you’ve gone too far). After approximately two miles down this narrow road it finally runs direcly alongside the stream as indicated in an earlier posting. I kept driving until the road and stream parted and made a hasty three point turn. There in front of us was Maen Mawr, clearly visible about fifth of the way up the hillside on a plateau. Again, as stated earlier, this site is not visible when approaching from the south.

The stream proved a little treacherous to cross and the walk up the hill towards the plateau was equally difficult underfoot. One twisted ankle and one fall later we got there (be careful as there are stones littered everywhere). The elements clearly didn’t want us there as the wind began to strengthen and dark clouds began to roll in.

The site itself? Sad to say that having become tired from a long morning’s drive first thing I noticed was the huge quantity of sheep shit and the remarkably spongey ground underfoot. Back to the point. As someone from the south-west of England the Rollrights, Stonehenge & Avebury are only shortish drives away but used to the dramatics of these sites the small stones of Cerrig Duon seemed humble and unspectacular but equally magical in feel. Call me daft I’ve started to assess places on their feel rather than the eye candy. Wind aside it is stirringly quiet on the plateau and the quality of the air is something I’ve missed since moving away from the country.

Something made me not want to touch Maen Mawr – whether it was its imposing stocky form or the abundance of goat turds that surrounded it I’m not too sure.

Drove past these about 6 times last week, on the road to and from Glen Lyon. Decided we would leave it until the final day to explore and this proved wise.....not only was the sun shining and the skies blue, but the farmer had kindly cut the field, so instead of having to wade through knee high grass, I had an incredibly easy time of it!

Parked at the Church and walked across to the field. It was quite sad in a way, to see the Stones so battered and neglected but the site is quite a little beauty! Although the field had been cut, the Stones were partially hidden by the grasses and nettles growing in between. Didn’t spend as much time here as I would’ve liked as we were on the long journey home.

This Fogou has existed in its present state for 50 years at least.
I believe the rest of it existed seawards.
It is known locally as Giants Hole.
It is now thought by some that the meadows landward maybe a type of courtyard house.
The NT has only owned this area for a few years however there’s plenty of time in the future for them to make a mess of it.

Just spent the week in Perthsire and a visit here was on the agenda. We first paid a visit to the Scottish Crannog Centre, which was great – would advise a trip if you are in the area.

When we arrived at the Stones, the skies were turning grey and rain was in the air. We didn’t spend long as the field was full of sheep and it wasn’t the most welcoming of weather!

Didn’t notice a sign or any info – but that may be because I didn’t look properly! Not usually one to give in to the elements but today got the better of me.

Approaching the Stones from Kenmore, they look fabulous as you first see them above the road. I shall return and make better use of my itme......

An very circular enclosure, that has had allegations of hengedom levelled in it’s direction. It does look as if the ditch is inside the bank, but there’s no berm, and only one entrance, to the west. To make matters more confused, an old raiway cutting slices one edge of the earthwork.

It also looked a bit dodgy as it wasn’t on a flat platform, it’s on the curve of a spur of Ewesly fell, which isn’t very hengey from what I know.

There’s another earthwork, rectangular, in the trees beyond.

Saturday 12 June 2004
In the area anyway, thought I’d pop up & get a few more pics for Stubob & Fitz who’ve shown an interest in this place.

You can still recognise the circle by the fact that there’s an uncultivated patch in a cultivated field. At the moment this year the right field is recognisable by the fact that the field to the north is either fallow or has only just been seeded – it’s bare dirt either way.

The undergrowth the stones lie amongst is not quite as thick or vicious as last year, with fewer nettles, making it MARGINALLY easier to see what’s ‘going on’.

There are roughly 12 stones left around the outside unevenly spaced and of varying sizes. The largest are probably about 6ft ‘tall’, though the majority of these are down.

I get the impression that with the possible exception of the few that are still ‘rooted’, the stones are not necessarily anywhere near their original positions. But as they stil form a vague circle, I’m not sure that it’s likely they’ve been moved far either.

Towards the western side there is what looks like it could be the remains of a cairn-kerb with a whole load of (probably) clearance stones dumped in it. There are a couple of ‘rooted’ stones in this bit, but because of the undergrowth I found it difficult to estimate where the curve would take them if more remained.

Couldn’t say whether it looked like i) nowt, ii) a few remnants of a small ‘simple’ cairn, off-centre to the outer stones, or iii) an inner circle/cairn circle like Gunnerkeld. Actually, if the latter, it’s more like Oddendale, as the outer circle doesn’t include any MASSIVE stones as at Gunnerkeld. Though they may have gone of course....

Anyway, I wish someone else’d go and have a look!!!! Preferably when the undergrowth dies down in the winter – it might be easier to make out.

Having thought about it further, the stone on the golf course is too far to the south-west of Comrie Castle for Coles to have described it as a mile and a furlong to the south. So I now think the original site was in the fields of Inchadney Park, or on the piece of land known as Eilean nan Ubh and Eilean Mor. Along the edges of these fields are piles of field clearance, including stones big enough to be the ones shown in Coles’ report. I’ll go back again later this summer and make an extensive search of the undergrowth!

Having read the previous note, I had expected something of a challenge for the last site of the day. In the end, it was a dawdle – but I was probably lucky.

There is now one of these new cycle path things running through the area (shown on new Landrangers but not on Streetmap) which may help access a little. It doesn’t follow the railway line to the site but it does connect up (further SW) with the old military road which also runs past the site.

I went for the railway embankment option having first parked (as recommended in the previous note, thank you) by the cottages at the N end of Balqhuidder (or Balquhidaer) Station village. The opening can be easily missed but it’s right by the village name sign. It doesn’t look much, but once in the whole of the old road opens up before you.

Yes, I found the large gate and fence – but the gate was not padlocked. This was probably due to there being a clay pigeon shoot off the embankment but you can be sure I checked out the other way in/out over the lower fence just in case it was locked on the way back. (It wasn’t even although the shooters had shot off.)

The site’s not bad. A standard Clyde cairn in average condition. Nothing notable about it apart from the fact that it wasn’t discovered until 1980.

There’s a full description and plan in the link below.

Visited 15 June 2004

I have been meaning to return here to get better pictures for some time but when passing it recently I have been unsure about parking. The Horn Carver threatens to charge £5 for his space.

This time I thought- sod it. I’m going to park there and, if he gives me aggro, I’ll buy one of his disgusting products with the most tines and then personally use it to give him a colonoscopy – or maybe just pay the fiver, if it’s cheaper.

As it turned out – no problem. Well it was 6.30pm.

Visited 15 June 2004

Too grassy to be interesting. Not a stone in sight.

Next!

Visited 15 June 2004

Nothing here to recall ancient architecture or raise the megalithic spirits – it’s all been landscaped away behind a retaining wall and topped with trees.

The remains of a chamber with three tall backstones can be seen along with some further slabs but the overall layout is not at all clear.

Access was a bit confusing at first as Landranger seems to show a road which isn’t there. Anyway park at the Derculich sign and walk up the winding road past the farm to reach the road running NW by the burn. It’s on the right of this road.

Visited 15 June 2004

This Clyde cairn is interesting partly because of its location – at the extreme NE edge of the distribution of these cairns – and partly because of its layout. No axial chambers, a facade on the SE lateral chamber and a SE orientation (if that can be determined by the wider end).

These all point to a long cairn being added to a series of earlier small round cairns. Something found at other sites but probably not noticed here at the 1954 excavation since that was long before it became fashionable to look for multi-period sites.

Because of my later-than-planned start to the day, I had debated whether I should do the 6km walk or should I ignore the notices and just drive up. I decided to walk but I arrived at the gate at the same time as a garage breakdown truck on a call who gave me a lift. As luck would have it, I had just finished when he was on the return trip so I also got a lift back. Lix Motors – take a bow. Got me back on schedule.

Visited 15 June 2004

Clyde tomb probably. Definitely one for the enthusiasts only.

Remains of a two-compartment chamber with tall backstone and prominent sillstone. That’s it!

Take the track S at NN894235 and park immediately inside the gates – room for one car only. Follow the footpath from here W to the cairn. May be obscured by tall bracken – it was certainly getting that way today.

Visited 15 June 2004

A neolithic long barrow on the West Wiltshire Downs. 19th century excavations revealed eight skeletons and two cremation burials in an urn.

The site can be best seen from an old rutted trackway heading up to the Ridgeway from Model Farm, to the west of Corton. There’s no direct access, but there’s a good gap in the tree cover along the track just past the barrow, where you can look back at it.

The barrow itself, as with many others, has trees growing on top of it, but is surrounded by corn, so at least has some visual integrity.