Latest Fieldnotes

Walking to the Mine Howe area I suddenly had this idea of the place as a bath-house of the soul, with analogy to frigidarium and tepidarium and plunge pool in mind. Looking from the last dyke wall Round Howe (a landscaped natural knoll) runs almost imperceptibly up into Long Howe. Mine Howe is hidden from view and from the top of the latter would have been yer actual revelation. It would be nice to have authoritative relative dating for the three sites – perhaps we think of affairs revolving on Mine Howe when it could have been an afterthought rather (explaining the possibility of objects from Round Howe being taken wholesale to Mine Howe at some stage).
Last night, afterwards, I tried again to find out why the present county archaeologist referred to the site as a “pseudo-broch”. Found a relevant clipping from “The Orcadian” of September 12th 2002. Nick Card talks of its being “meant to be a broch site” but that in the excavation “what we found...quite bizarre...a mound..surrounded by quite a large ditch...and outside of the ditch..an encircling bank”. Sounds more like a barrow or henge (similarity with Ring of Bookan??). Regarding the paucity of finds he speculated that the many finds from Mine Howe were deposited there after being removed from here. As later Bronze Age pottery turned up at Round Howe could it be regarded as being more in the nature of the capturing of a shrine than a plain transference of sanctity to the later site ?

11/4/04
You can park in Llanmadoc and walk up the hill to the fort which according to GPS is 350m but seems alot further walking up hill.
Once at the top the fort has astounding views to the North and North West of Broughton Bay and Whitford point and across the delta of Afon Llwchwrthe to the Pembrookshire coastline.
There is also (I assume) a cairn about 100 yards to the west of the fort very similar to the cairn adjacent to Maen Cetty (Arthurs Stone).
The ditches are substantial and the fort is roughly circular in shape.
*NB, one of the road workers at the bottom of the hill said it was an iron age structure.

I asked the farmer for access to the stone, he was very polite and showed us the way. The stone is tucked away behind his house as you can see in the images provided. The lambs in the field must have been hand reared as they are super human friendly even suckling on my finger – unlike the Alsatian which has evil in its protective bark – I never offered it my hand to check his friendlyness.

The barrows are signposted from the car park at the end of Hill Top Lane.

The top of the hill is quite steep sided and identifying the barrows can be a bit tricky – there was a lot of chalk pitting round here, these have now grown over with grass and it is a bit of a task to spot what is a barrow and what is deposites from the chalk pits.

This is one of the saddest sites I have visited. Hidden in a small wooded area is the Knob, which I believe used to be a small artificial hill/chamber. This has collapsed in the middle and one edge has been worn away to leave a horseshoe shapped mound.

Sickeningly the remains of Scutchamer Knob have been used by off road motorcyclists for scrambling and the area is littered with plastic bags and bottles.

Visited 04.04.04: Having just come from King Orys Grave, this was a pleasant surprise. I hadn’t been expecting such a large struture.

Parking in the lane is tricky, but the site is signposted from the road, and although the lane was too grassy for the pushchair the walk is short enough to carry small children who can’t walk the whole way.

Views from here out to sea are quite stunning and had we not experienced the whole range of Manx weather (warm sun followed by gale force winds and lashing rain and back to a light breeze) within 10 minutes of arriving it would have been a great spot for chilling out and watching the clouds go by.

Visited this site on 04.04.04: As there was no parking I was nominated to risk my life out on the road and check this one out. After having a good stare and a bit of a rub I couldn’t make out or feel any spirals, so I took a couple of photos and ran back to the car to see if the others could make them out (no joy).

I would post my picture, but it looks the same as the ones above – without any spirals.

After another busy break with the family in the Lakes, I managed to squeeze in a brief stop off at Castlerigg. Unusually for me, I was armed with a camera as I invariably have the bad luck to fnd myself in the ideal photo op with no means to grab the image! The weather had been typical April, overcast to rainy to drizzly and i wasnt holding out much hope. As Castlerigg is fairly accessible – ie having visited the lakes many times and seen many signs pointing in its direction from the town centres, i wasnt expecting much – TMA photos in the Gazeteer didnt impress me much and JC suggested that CR would present differing monuments depending on the viewpoint, so I went off with a quite blase attititude. As we approached, the weather began to deteriorate, and having taken the wrong turn out of Keswick (despite all the signs!) we came at it after a long drive. Several circuitous turns later, the sky had closed in and it had begun to rain heavily. The lane next to the monument was packed with cars, and my heart sank as I realised that it would probably be a busy venue. I climbed out of the back of the car, trying not to look like a rubberneck and sallied fort – sure enough, there were a few people taking pics and a couple of new agers ligging around taking in the vibe. Despite all this, I was hugely impressed, and scurried off through the mud to a vantage point where i could grab a shot in good ligh before the heavens opened. I had pinched the new digital camera from the office, and had been hammering away snapping right and left and by the time i reached CS the batteries were on their last legs! I grabbed a shot – apologies for blandness and duplication! – and they quit out, so i was grateful for the shot.

Overall, the site was absolutely stunning, framed by Blencartha and Skiddaw still topped with snow and dressed with a garland on brilliantly coloured lichens, the stones sat on that windy hillside as if they had always been there. The impression of monumental scale and the feeling of ‘oneness’ with the landscape was awesome. it was if the pancreator had paused here, while labouring to form the surrounding landscape and set down a mug of tea on the new tabletop of earth and left a ring behind, indelibly marking the ground for all time.

As with all the (few) sites ive visited, it left me with a lasting impression, not a visual bu an emotional one – of ancient time and huge scope and weight, the feeling that I was transplanted to a time before time and the ground had barely ceased its tremors as the last stone had been raised. Fantastic.

Visited 09.04.2004: Don’t be put off by the walk, although it can be busy the road is quite wide and the site is worth the short walk – we parked in the plantation car park about 500 yards away on the opposite side of the road. We visited on Good Friday and like most of the sites on the IOM had the place to ourselves. Views over the surrounding countryside are stunning and it is easy to see why this was an ideal spot for a settlement. Your neighbours certainly wouldn’t be able to just turn up without you spotting them.

On the old footpath between Cleveley and Church Enstone to the east of Enstone village, I finally located this stone.

This is a big lump of a stone about 4 and half feet high and a fat diameter of about 2 feet, now nestling by the drystone wall overlooking a the river Glyme and a nearby waterfall.

It is reported to have been moved from its original location in recent years.

There are two stones to see in Lidstone.

Leodwine’s stone, also known as King Lud’s stone and another one, which I can’t find a name for in any of the material I have, further up the hill at the roadside.

Leodwine’s stone is an unimpressive lump now built into the end of a wall. In 1235, this Lidenstan was described as located in a of the field on the edge of the village.

The second -unnamed- stone looks mightily unimpressive at first glance, but pulling back the ivy and spring vegetation reveals a monolith, perhaps 2 feet high, up on a bank, leaning into a wall, like a mini Thor stone at nearby Taston. This one stands at the top of the hill at a sharp bend.

Finally found the cup marks described here, after walking over them, round them and through them for about an hour ;)

It would appear that, without digging up too much of the surrounding vegitation, there are 17 cup marks visible on the bedrock.

The main group of 11 (?) is described above, and the snow makes them a lot more visible than they were when we went up. About 3m uphill from this main group there are another 4 which ‘seem’ to be the start of another circle, one in the centre and 3 round it.

About the same distance downhill there is at least one other mark, possibly three but as two were poorly defined they could be natural.

The final one is to the south of the main group, again about 3m.

Don’t believe I used to play up here all the time as a kid and I never had the faintest idea this stuff was here :)

Visited 26th August 2003: Balladoole hillfort is relatively small, and would in itself be not too spectacular. However, within the boundaries of it’s defences are three other sites (listed below).

Parking and signage are reasonably good, as is access to the fort. There is a maintained path up to the site, and grass cut paths around it’s perimeter. It’s not a long walk to the top, but the views are pretty impressive, both looking inland towards the mountains and out to sea. It’s obviously a good defensive position, as well as a place to be seen from a long way off in the surrounding countryside. Well worth a visit, but not very wheelchair friendly purely because of the gradient.

This is a superb row of stones next to the B47 Draperstown to Plumbridge road. They appear to be aligned with a depression in Carnanelly to the south.

Visited 26th August 2003: The hillfort has a circular path of cut grass around it. The first thing you’re likely to come to is the Viking ship burial, but if you keep going anti-clockwise you’ll then get to the Bronze Age cist.

Although not as impressive as the Viking ship burial or the relatively modern Keeil, it does represent the oldest evidence of ceremonial activity on the hill. The site is well kept, so there’s no foliage to fight through to get close up. There are excellent views from the cist there are fantastic views across Bay ny Carrickey towards Port St Mary.

Badbury Rings – 3.4.2004

A lovely big hill fort, but so popular that there are obvious signs of erosion.

As others have said the trees on top aren’t as bad as you might think. At first I scoffed when I saw a panoramic plate on the summit. But given a day with better visibility I imagine you could actually see quite a lot from here (including neighbouring hill forts), through the trees.

Two car parks available. The main car park is the signposted one at ST960033 and is open 9am to 8pm between April and October, and from 9am to 4pm between November and March. The car park is used for point to point races on a few days each year, when a charge is made, and it might get full. The three races for 2004 have all now been and gone, so I think visitors shouldn’t find any problems for the rest of this year.

There is also a smaller car park, a bit further away at ST967023. This is on the south east side of the hill fort, next to the main road.

Or if you’ve just visited the Kingston Lacy Estate you could walk from there. It’s about 2½ to 3 kms.

Badbury Rings Barrow Cemetery – 3.4.2004

Three well preserved barrows, in a line, just to the west of the hill fort (next to the track to the main car park). Like three big jelly mounds of earth! Compared to all sorts of degraded and scrubby barrows I had just visited in Cornwall, these are almost like picture perfect barrows.

Very easy to find as you need to drive past them to get to the main car park, or you will walk past them if you walk into the National Trust land from the main entrance.

Halfway Wall Cairn – 30.3.2004

This cairn is only about 100m north of halfway wall. Despite it’s tiny height (the English Heritage report says 0.11m high – that’s 11cm!) this is easier to spot than many of the other cairns on the island, because 1, it’s a relative high point in the area, 2, it’s close to the 4x4 track, and 3, there are lynchets running from it.

Visited 26th August 2003: The Giant’s Quoiting Stone is marked on the Landranger map (not by name, but as Standing Stone), and visible from the road between Port St Mary and Rhenwyllan. It stands in a large field, with no obvious signs of public access.

The stone is much larger than I expected it to be, and quite uniform in shape. There’s a dark band around the lower part of the stone, presumably as a result of being rubbed against by livestock. There’s also a solitary stone at the foot it, that looks like it might plausibly have once been part of the packing material.

Chambered Stone Dwelling – 30.3.2004

Full 8 figure grid ref (from English Heritage scheduling) = SS13274613

Well I thought I had found this. I was definitely in the right place but the English Heritage directions fail to mention that there are two rocky outcrops in the area. After the natural spring there is an outcrop of rocks after barely 10 metres, and then another 20/30m further on. And the directions say the dwelling is “tucked under a rock outcrop” – do they mean literally under the rock on the cliff edge? So which one is it closest to? Well there is some sort of dwelling between the two, on the cliff top, and it’s pretty stunning, with rooms that can be made out. BUT a pic on the National Trust leaflet (’The Archaeology of Lundy’) shows what I think I found and labels it as a “ruined medieval building on the east coast”. The more I think about it, the more I think I didn’t find the ancient site. Needed more time. I’m disappointed because this is a unique dwelling on Lundy and sounded cool.

Ackland’s Moor Cairns (North) – 30.3.2004

There are two Cairns listed, very close together towards the north part of the moor. One is at SS13234478. As this is clipped by a shallow quarry pit on the south west side, it’s pretty easy to locate. As with most Lundy Cairns there is little to see. But the quarry pit pond does add a little photogenic quality to this one though.

The other is at SS13194473. Given limited time I gave this one a miss, but given that the other nearby cairn is easy to locate, I imagine this could be found via that cairn if need be.

Ackland’s Moor Standing Stone (West) – 30.3.2004

Full 8 figure grid ref (from English Heritage scheduling) = SS13084458

Thanks to the detailed English Heritage directions I definitely found this stone. I would add though that this is not in a ‘wall’ as you and I might think of as a field wall. It should really be described as the last remains of an old field wall, i.e. you can clearly see a few stones that are in some sort of line, but that’s all. The ‘standing stone’ does stand out because it is very wide (1.4m – actually slightly wider than it is tall) and like most of the Lundy stones it is not earthfast (i.e. it is set on the ground rather than in the ground and has stones packed around its base to keep it upright).

Ackland’s Moor Hut Circle & Enclosure – 30.3.2004

Full 8 figure grid ref (from English Heritage scheduling) = SS13044451

This is a probable Bronze Age hut circle & enclosure. I was definitely in the right area for this (well, I was definitely in the area English Heritage described; 30m from the cliff edge and 30m south of a natural spring) but not convinced I could see on the ground exactly what the English Heritage report mentions. Stunning location though. Not a bad place to live on a nice day like this, but being on the west side of the island it would get the Atlantic winds!

Ackland’s Moor Cairn Stones – 30.3.2004

Full 8 figure grid ref (from English Heritage scheduling) = SS13244460

Took me quite some time to be relatively happy that I had found this site. There are a lot of stones in the area and this cairn is not obvious! And if I did find this cairn then I didn’t find the standing stone that the English Heritage focuses on. Maybe it has fallen? There were definately no 1.4m tall standing stones in this whole area.

There is a very distinct large stone on the ground, and apart from spotting this stone there is no obvious way of getting to this spot again. This large stone looks like a classic schoolboy drawing of a penis and scrotum!

Ackland’s Moor Standing Stone (north) -30.3.2004

Full 8 figure grid ref (from English Heritage scheduling) = SS13264445

Another easy one to spot! Probably even easier to spot that the Ackland’s Moor Standing Stone (south) just 70m to the south, because this one is a really thick stone.