Latest Fieldnotes

This is one of the best round barrows I’ve seen: beautifully poised on the downs with magnificent views – it’s only a pity the dead can’t see, I suppose.

The MAGIC website says: “The monument includes a bowl barrow set below the crest of a north-facing slope in an area of undulating chalk downland and with extensive views of the Wylye Valley to the north and east. The barrow appears as a conical mound 25m in diameter and stands to a height of c.3m. Partial excavation of the site by Cunnington in the 19th century produced a cremation burial contemporary with construction of the monument as well as later intrusive burials. Although no longer visible at ground level a ditch, from which material was quarried during construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. ”

Not much to see here, alas, although there is an excellent tumulus very nearby. The barrow is adjacent to a road, but obscured by tree and shrub growth all over it.

The MAGIC website has this to say: “The monument includes a long barrow set on the crest of a hill in an area of undulating chalk downland and with extensive views of the Wylye valley to the north and east. The barrow mound is ovoid in shape and orientated east-west. It is 50m long, 20m wide and stands 2m high when viewed from the north. The central area of the barrow mound has been partially excavated in the past although no details are known. Although no longer visible at ground level flanking ditches, from which material was quarried during construction of the monument, run parallel to the north and south sides of the mound. These have become infilled over the years but survive as buried features c.3m wide. The ditch north of the barrow mound lies beneath a metalled track, the surface of which is excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath is included. The monument may be the `Maeden Beorge’ described in a charter of AD968.”

Upton Great Barrow belies its name in the sense that you’d not know it was there without a map. Like many of the barrows in this area, it is hidden in trees – in this case hidden all around, and fenced off to boot, but at least very near a trackway.

A Bronze Age bell barrow, 175’ wide, and formerly with a bank around the ditch.

Alas some philistine has put some kind of ugly water container on the top.

Not the easiest to find: on the minor road linking Avening to Minchinhampton. Travelling from Minchinhampton pass the stone bus shelter in the Hamlet of Hampton Fields and pull up in the wide mouth of the track that is the next right turn. The Tinglestone is a couple of hundred yards downhill, clearly visible in a field on the right. Being a summer visit the barrow on which the Tinglestone sits was very overgrown with nettles and a little rough underfoot. Be warned that this stone is on royal property and keen eyed locals/estate workers tend to be suspicious.

This is so close to a little lane, you could look at this without even getting out of your car. But do so, because it is quite charming. Climb over the gate (it’s padlocked) and you’ll see that the stones are big, almost out of proportion thethe diameter of the circle. But it’s quite a complete. It has the same character as Little Meg to me.

After asking permission and having walked west through the trees towards the M6 you have to climb over either a seriously wobbly gate or cheat death by clambering over a wall which threatens to fall and kill you at any time. I like a gamble so I went for the wall of death. I survived. Only after entering the field did I realise that it was right in front of me on a slight rise! I got a real shock. Cos its really fab! Big old rocks, most of them down but best of all you get two for the price of one with added cairny bit in the middle! Concentric! How cool is that?

The M6 is very VERY close – about 12 metres away – but somehow, it didn’t matter because the stones spoke with a louder voice. This one had got away with it and survived! Wonderful!

Though I nearly didn’t as the wall attempted to wreak its evil revenge on me as we returned, hurling rocks at my legs as it partially collapsed as I climbed up. The survival instinct kicked in and I went over the gate instead. Be careful!

Its a whopper. A great big fist of a stone, now standing in concrete shoes. You don’t really get a sense of its deep immensity until you’re right up close. Its footprint is dressed squarely but the looming bulk of it seems to rise like a blobby undressed mass as if the builders lost interest in cutting any more of it half way up.

Unlike nearby Kemp Howe, its not pink.

Lovely big pink stones, just like those at Gamelands have here, been cruelly bisected by the railway line. It’s quite shocking.

And you could see this place as megalithic roadkill, but I prefer to see it in a different way. As one of the those people who has a secret love of waving at trains (preferably from a beautiful trackside location, which this isn’t) Kemp Howe gets its own back on the railway line builders and waves at trains everyday. It may have been built over, but it certainly ain’t out.

As juamei says, nothing much to be seen here. Slight traces of the ditches can still be just about made out, best viewed from the parking place a little way along the road, rather than the track.

A beautifully preserved Round Barrow can be seen from the road. It still retains much of it’s height and has a clearly defined ditch around it’s base.

More barrows exist is the woods, but as we were short of time, we didn’t bother to check on accesibilty.

West Rudham South TF810253

A second long barrow can be found nearby, just behind the woods alongside the road.

It is well overgrown with bracken and has a young oak tree growing on it’s southern end. Traces of ditches alongside the length of the barrow can still be found.

Managed destruction at Rempstone?

Making another visit to Rempstone on Thurs 10th June and again on the Sat I was shocked to see ‘forest management’ being undertaken ... (tree clearing so the phone lines don’t get snagged, I think).

This is resulting, and has resulted, in the stone nearest the road being completely exposed and the two ‘avenue’ (?) stones in the approach clearing are now very clear indeed ... from the road also.

I was alarmed that the ‘tree fellers’ (although there were 4 of them

A small single standing stone, about 2’6” high, probably marking a spring or water source found nearby.

The big round stones are all down and today lie deep in the tall meadow peppered with buttercups and daisies. Look closely and you’ll see the stones are pink – bright, sparkly Barbara Cartland pink, shimmering and round like something sensual and erotic, ironically in a way that Barbara Cartland wasn’t. The stones are in proportion to the diameter of the circle somehow – people reading this who have seen a lot of circles will know exactly what I mean. It’s impressive but lacks the ‘oomph’ of Swinside and of Castlerigg. Visit it anyway. Just to see how pink it is.

Counting the field boundaries to find our way, we looked over the gate at the top and there it was! Looking down the hill, the stones were almost too small to see but raised up on their little platform they became clear. Fourteen or perhaps even sixteen tiny weeny stones make up this most charming of circles at the side of a valley. The level platform is the perfect stage for the minuscule stones to dance endlessly around. I cannot state powerfully enough just how small the stones are and cannot express my amazement enough of how these frail and vulnerable stones have survived. The land here is unploughable and this maybe what has saved it. A man with a sharp spade could have all these stones up in a couple of hours.

A couple of the stones were badly cracked, one was quite loose. But the peace here... the peace! We picnicked, we sat, we lay down, we chilled out. Perfection. Come here.

For directions, see my miscellaneous post below.

From The Hillock I decided to try for the Snaba Hill Cairn at HY35221470 (Snaba Hill Cairn & Mounds RCAHMS NMRS Record no. HY31SE 10). Back into Finstown then down to the road that snakes round the mill. As you pass the mill look across The Ouse at the shoreline base of the dump sticking out into the ‘pool’ and tell me those huge stones don’t scream archaeology at you. Around the shoreline here is a black stone pavement and also two standing stones on their lonesome many metres apart. Near the top of the climb a track turns off from the road back over the hill. Follow this all the way to a junction and take the upper line that goes behind Binnaquoy. The first thing I noticed was a small dome cairn sitting atop the far right of a huge band of quarry stone. Even if I had been prepared the combination of the hill’s steepness and the many outcrops and quarries (not all obvious even with hindsight) makes mapreading rather haphazard. So I don’t now even now if I found the sites !! Anyways, at the tracks end (after taking a couple of shots and debating whether to go back or no) I stepped up to the field fence, took tight hold of the wires wrapped round a post, and cautiously swung myself over the barbwire gate. Up to the fence along the top of the field where my two new targets lay. The other side was the quarry outcrop. To its left unfortunately just the other side of the fence was the mound that could have been Snaba Hill Cairn. But that was distinguished by the tops of a circular ring of stones splayed outwards whereas this (?HY352146) had many stones over it and when I went to the right end and looked at the back there was a chunk out at the lower end with a very neat open-ended box wall inside it. At the top end of the fence was a large spanking-new shed so for now I curtailed further investigation. Along the lower side of the track back down was the other seeming mound (?HY354145). The record for Snaba Hill Cairn does mention mounds to its NE. Some mound seen previously were not found later so perhaps these are they misplaced ?? Just as with Paerkeith over the alley mounds are specifically mentioned at 200m and 350m datum and I wonder if there is a significance to that.

A ‘possible’ standing stone of the Bronze age.
Beware if you visit it – it’s right by the side of a busy road, at the top of a hill, on a slight bend! Great views though :-)
The words ‘Stump Cross’ are just visible at the base of the stone.

A rather uninspiring mound, which is clear to see as you drive over the crest of the hill on the B6465 North of Bakewell.

On then to Southside Mount, which in its day would have been much more than just a grass covered mound. Its proximity to beacon Hill means that it would have easily been seen from there. It too would also have had a view of the monolith at Rudston and like its neighbour opposite, its view is also obstructed by a copse of trees. To get there we had a short hike of not more than half a kilometre from the road. The mound was easily found with the help of our trusty OS map nestling in the middle of a fledgling potato field. I was glad we found it so easily, we dodged our way through the crops and clambered onto the grass covered dome. Someone had been there before us, doing what I don’t know but the grass was all flattened so make your own conclusions.

Our nest stop was the tiny village of Foxholes which according to the map in the TMA, the source of the stream is. My companion entertained us with stories of his youth on the way there. He entertained us with recollections of boredom, staying in the village whilst on holiday as a youth. The highlight of his time being a trip to the now non-existant mushroom farm. Indeed there isn’t much of Foxholes at all apart from the supposed source of the Gypsey Race that is.

Alas even this boast is not entirely true. The race merely disappears underground at the village only to re-appear along the road to Weaverthorpe a couple of miles down the road. There is much more to the complex of the Gypsey Race than meets the eye, namely Duggleby Howe one of the largest neolithic barrows ever found in Britain. It is the Howe that really marks the start of the ceremonial centre of the Gypsey Race for its true source is only a short distance away in a thicket on the outskirts of the tiny village of Wharram Le Street which in turn lies next to the ancient and abandoned village of Wharram Percy.

After a quick clamber up and then down we decided upon one last port of call. A trip down the Wolds way to see the Kirkheads and the site of the Folkton Drum Barrow, which according to the TMA, could be aligned with Beacon Hill over eight miles away.

There is nothing to see, we followed the Way and were rewarded by some really quite beautiful scenery but the fields were far too full of crops and ploughed out to see anything at all. We headed to the Camp and then back again, I suffered sunburn and my companions hayfever didn’t get better. The walk was wonderful though and the area and shape of the hills and valley floor reminded me very much of the Uffington White Horse and the Manger below

Danes Dyke is a fantastic structure. Whether it had anything to do with the people that built the centre around the Gypsey Race I have no idea but I do know that this is a great place. The Dyke literally cuts off Flamborough head from the rest of the mainland and even now the size of it leaves you in awe just thinking of how someone could have constructed such a thing.

We are lucky that these days, parts of the Dyke are protected as a park and you can walk along it to its end. We parked up and did just that, the Dyke is huge when you walk along side it and then when you reach its end the view of the coastline is so fantastic. A worthy trip in anyones book and had we not had only one day left to explore as much of this area as possible I would have loved to have walked its length.

There is much more to the complex of the Gypsey Race than meets the eye, namely Duggleby Howe one of the largest neolithic barrows ever found in Britain. It is the Howe that really marks the start of the ceremonial centre of the Gypsey Race for its true source is only a short distance away in a thicket on the outskirts of the tiny village of Wharram Le Street which in turn lies next to the ancient and abandoned village of Wharram Percy.

Duggleby Howe can easily be seen on approach from the village of Duggleby. It stands dominant on the brow of a hill overlooking the village. Alas its true majesty was disguised slightly by the wheat that was growing around us. My friend Andy had been suffering from hayfever quite badly all day and during the walk through the field his sinuses were giving him some serious problems. I’m sure the joy of reaching the top of the Howe was worth it despite his agony. I consoled myself afterwards with the thought that the tears streaming down his face were those of joy rather than the results of the pollen bombarding his senses.

From Willy Howe we headed to the gorgeous village of Wold Newton. Here the Gypsey Race flows freely and indeed supports a rather nice duck pond in the centre of the village. Our plan was to find the Wold Newton Barrow otherwise known as Ba’l Hill, a place identified in the TMA but only marked down as ‘tumulus’ on the OS map. Finding it was not hard. It lies in a field on the outskirts of the village it can be easily reached by going through a gate at the end of the street and following the race all of 50 yards to it. The Hill is not spectacular but I enjoyed being here much more than Willy Howe. The race in full flow and in such close proximity made it a bit more special. I could have done with taking a rest and enjoying a cup of tea of its summit however that would have involved forward thinking and I’m not great with that. From the top of the mound, its neighbour Willy Howe’s tree covered summit can easily be seen.

From Burton Fleming we made our way to Willy Howe, a tree covered artificial mound, which had been hollowed out by excavators in the past. The Howe is in a dominant setting on the brow of a hill overlooking the race and can be easily seen on approach from the village. You can clamber through the thick undergrowth and onto the top of the howe but once you get there you are conforted with a steep drop into the middle. The place is totally overgrown and quite literally you can get into the belly of the mound where trees now grow.