An obvious barrow feature, with three boulders at the centre. It is about five metres in diametre and doen’t have the yellowy grass of the surrounding area. A great view across to Round Loaf. To locate, stand with your back to the woodland alongside Pike Stones and walk north up to the next bit of level ground, the barrow is on the east side of that.
3rd March 2004
This is a tough area to walk as there are few footpaths, certainly between the sites mentioned here. So wear some stout boots. Wherever you look there are possibilities of past human settlement, my imagination ran riot. Top place though
Dave 3rd March 2004
100yards west of the quarry and the scattered rocks is a chambred cairn, aligned south-west north-east. It is quite large and lozenge shaped, made of rubbled banks with a large cap-stone collapsed inside and a standard cairn at the sourthern end. Nearby and closer to the cliff are further similar structures. I found this quite an amazing site.
Dave 3rd March 2004
There are lots of candidate for this title when you go up here first of all, I counted 4 similar structures, but when I found this one it was excellent. There is no evidence of carving, but this is very similar to the Pike Stones. I have mentioned that this forms an equillateral triangle with Roundloaf and Pike Stones and could be connected with Stronstrey Bank Stone.
Dave 3rd March 2004
Easy to find in winter, it lies the otherside of the fence that runs along the bank. A very big stone with a wide base, and it is very weathered on top. It would have taken a great effort to place it there. It would be a great setting for a stone circle with the valley and Grey Heights beyond, if any evidence of other stones could be found.
A quick note about the incised triangle, if you look on the map the Pike Stones, Round Loaf, and Black Coppice are equal distances away from each other creating an equalateral triangle, of which the Bank Stone could parody.
Take a look on yer Explorer map
One for a dryer day.
Dave 3rd March 2004
The English Heritage description describes this as the remains of a stone circle, 16m in diameter. It gives the details quoted above by BG, and goes on to say “Within the SW part of the circle there is a small circular mound of stones and earth standing to a height of 0.1m.”
This is pretty accurate, but stretching the meaning of “standing”. Leaning at 45 degrees more like. It’s rather overgrown, and the smaller stones are almost invisible under the marram grass. The circular mound was only discernible as rougher going underfoot
The placement of the circle within the surrounding landscape is worthy of note. It is tucked away in a fold in Ridley Common. Cuddy’s crags to the south, and Greenlee Lough to the north are imposing features, but neither is visible from the circle. A gap in the horizon draws attention to the snazzy natural feature at Queen’s Crags. Investigation of alignments between the circle and this feature may prove interesting. There are a few subliminal recumbent figures in the horizon for those who care to look. The overall effect of it’s placement in the landscape is to make the circle appear to be hiding from any possible viewers.
The circle is close to the Pennine way, but is reached via a private track. It’s also not accessible to anyone who might have trouble getting over a stile. Also note that the private track is marked as unfenced on the OS map. It’s not, so trying a shortcut will probably mean getting entangled in barbed wire.
It’s about 45-60mins from the B6318, which has small lay-bys available for those with cars to park. The spot on the map with the blue phone symbol is probably best for this, but in the real world, there’s not actually a phone to mark the spot, so blink and you miss it.
This site lies close to an exceptionally zigzaggy burn (another mound of similar nature now gone). Down the road from Mine Howe looking to the right I could see a long green mound and at one end a standing stone. Coming round the junction nearer to Hawell I now saw another stone at right-angles to the first and apparently abutting it. On the other side of the road by the corner of Hawell at the roadside were two stones echoing the sight, the one parallel to the road having piercings top and bottom on one side.
RCAHMS NMRS record HY50NW 10 describes this a several stone compartments with a slab-formed rectangular tank just off, so presumably I misread the view. Prior to excavation the mound survived as an E-W ridge.
NS38SE 6
Getting to this site does give you wonderful views over Loch Lomond and its islands. You’d need some incentive, because the site itself is not great.
It sits, overgrown with trees, at the edge of a wood. The S half of the facade can still be made out as can part of the axial chamber. There was no sign of the W chamber.
On the way up, you pass the Round Hill (NS38SE 5 at NS369825). Canmore entries debate whether this is natural or man-made. Looks natural to me.
Visited 26 February 2004
NS46SW 9
This should be a good site. Its elevated position would have allowed long views to the N. Sadly it now sits vandalised in a wood and largely covered in turf.
There are five cup and ring marks but only two were visible.
Visited 26 February 2004
NS55NW 5
Not a great site but included to fill in cup and ring mark distribution in the area.
Contains one possible cup and partial ring – very faint.
The nearby site on Deaconsbank Golf Course (NS55NW 8 at NS5458 5779) on the outcrop near the dovecot was also examined but the rock art could not be seen. (Found a golf ball though!)
Visited 25 February 2004
There are over a dozen rocks in this area decorated with cup and ring markings and several more with cup-markings only.
The area has been turned into something of a country park and an information board at the car park refers to some decorated rocks being covered to “protect them from modern human beings”.
Nevertheless at least six decorated sites remain visible but, in the interests of protection, no location details are given here nor are actual site names attached to the images shown.
Anyone looking for more details should email me.
Burl describes this as “a delight to see”. I suppose it depends on your view on four-posters.
It must be one of the smallest (2.4m x 2.7m) and least imposing (in terms of stone size) of all stone circles so maybe that makes it distictive enough to want to see it.
There is another stone of the same size 12m NE.
Visited 1 March 2004
These two sites lie together in the same field.
They were excavated in the mid 1960s and became something of a cause celebre (see Miscellaneous below).
From experience, you tend to have low expectations about the current condition of sites excavated that long ago so it was a delight to see the condition of Mid Gleniron I.
All three chambers are clearly visible and free of any rubble. The partial facade is still there to see and the outline of the cairn is well defined.
Mid Gleniron II has less to offer. The chamber is no longer visible but the cairn remains well defined.
A large round cairn lies across the track from the chambered cairns.
Visited 1 March 2004
Wow. That’s what I say, anyway! What an absolutely peaceful place this is... only the wind, sheep and birds making any noise. Oh, and the occasional low-flying aircraft! Bloody MOD...
But what a weird one! I knew this was made up of smallish stones, but I was shocked at how small! Some of the stones are weeny, but the whole place feels really powerful... Just so peaceful, calm and relaxing... I will most certainly come back here... and so should you!
Directions: On the A386, come off the big roundabout at Yalverton. There is a row of shops, and a small road leading off behind them towards Meavy. Follow the signposts to Sheepstor until you see a sign for Nattor – head for Nattor – the car park is at the end of the road.
From the car park, the circle is roughly North-West and can be reached in a number of very squidgy, marshy routes: Direct – through the stream – very wet!; From the left – along the fence – still boggy and streamy!; from the right – boggy, soggy, marshy, but probably the driest and there are some discernable paths...
Go on then! Off you go!
Another limited excavation of Bulstrode Camp took place in 1969. It was motivated less by academic curiosity than by Eton Rural District Council’s need to install a sewer. The operations were observed by S.A. Moorhouse of the Ancient Monuments Department, Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, and by Gerrards Cross and Chalfont St. Peter Local History Society. The excavators were able to record the stratification of the bank and, despite being hampered by water, managed to reach the floor of a ditch, unlike their 1924 predecessors. They also found two post-holes in the interior and evidence of a previously undiscovered inner ditch, but no objects or unusual features were uncovered. The excavators concluded, as Fox and Clarke had done in 1924, that the Camp was “rather a camp of refuge for intermittent occupation and not a permanent settlement” (Records of Bucks, Vol. 18 p. 324).
A geophysical survey between March and November 2002 detected “a number of possible prehistoric anomalies”, mostly around the margins in the northern part of the site. Since these anomalies are circular and between 9 and 16 metres across it is possible that they are round houses. The survey also found evidence of what might be a 60 by 15 metre Neolithic or Bronze Age long barrow (John Gover – Bulstrode ‘Iron Age’ Camp Gerrards Cross: A Site of Many Periods, in Journal of Chess Valley Archaeological & Historical Society, 2003).
For more on the Camp and these excavations, go to gerrardscross.gov.uk/gx/bulstrode.htm
I’d been wanting to go to Barnscar for quite a while, apparently it was an entire city abandoned. Theres not many references to it and no photos i know of, so i set off to find it.
Its a bit of a trek to find it (to say the least!)and wasnt entirely convinced it was still there. Im so glad i was wrong wow! what a place!
Barnscar is situated on top of a small hill with two peaks on a plateau surrounded 360 degrees by much higher peaks, surreal mountains with the sea to the west an absolutely beautiful idylic location with no roads noise or buildings to disturb the serenity.
The approach to the plateau itself is a fantastic array of stone avenues follow these upto the hill and on top are just inumerable cairns buildings and roundhouses. theres more stone avenues up there too walls that seem to surround the city and on the most northerly peak of the hill there is two much larger circular structures one being roughly 20 metres in diameter the other slightly smaller. i also found a circle of 6 cairns on slightly more levelled ground. Ive no idea how far this place stretches as the shadows grew longer the light began to fade i had no more time to spend here today but i must come back here soon this place has blown me away. I left rather reluctantly feeling slightly nauseas by the hugeness of the site and the vibes here, on the way home i was greeted by 2 wild deer what a perfect day,fantastic!
This site is roughly 300 metres from the pikestones on a bearing of roughly north! (sorry guys i didnt have my compass!) but the grid location given is exact.
Its a low mound circular in shape 3-4 metres in diameter on the side of the hill with a complete set of kerbstones i beleive this is the ‘stone circle’ mentioned in the fieldnotes on the pikestones which ive been looking for, for quite a while now winter visits are definately worth the effort!
From the road, this cairn doesn’t look like anything particularly special. But hop over the fence into the field, and it becomes much more interesting. There is one standing stone at the base of a large cairn, in amongst the trees. Walking around the cairn it becomes clear that it sits on a flattened platform with possibly the remains of a slight ditch around it. Me and Scotty were here the day after some light snow, and the snow appeared to be collecting in the slight depression that is all that remains of the ditch.
When walking around the base of the cairn, keep your eyes peeled for other stones of a similar size to the standing stone. They appear to be at fairly regular intervals around the base, 10 in all (including the standing one). Looking even harder, you’ll see the remains of several cist covers. We counted four the remains of four large slabs, as well as lots of smaller pieces which may also once have been covers. There’s also a cist intact if you look carefully. As far as I know, this site has never been excavated.
Viewed from the road this looks like a little bus shelter. We had to laugh when we got up close the dear little stone looked so cosy in his little house. The stone has a latin inscription on one side so it looks likely that this stone has been reveared since at least the 5th or 6th centuries. Other sources say it could have been a re-used standing stone from the Bronze age. It stands at the head of a stream. The sign board inside states that the little hut was erected in 1906 for protection.
there were lots of other stones scattered around the field as well as the main stones. the main stones are right by the roadside and had lots of coins as well as some beads and feathers left around on the stones. they have an amazing texture with lots of really interesting cavities within them. we actually found it quite difficult to find the stones at first although if you find the sign for nine barrows down the stone circle is in the field just to the right at the begging of the pathway. you will find the stones amongst all the trees.
this barrow cemetary and rempstone stone circle are two of the closest places to where i live that i’ve visited. nine barrows down is signposted from the road and is situated in the field at the top of a really nice walk climbing up from the main road. there are a couple of small lay-by’s near by if you are travelling by car.
We visited the site and found it to be well preserved despite local children using it for a huge BMX ramp/racing circuit. There was loads of spaces to park the car on the roadside, and free too. We found it to be a really impressive place to visit due to the size of the ring and that once we stood in the middle all the surrounding roads and traffic lights are completely out of view making it easier to imagine how it might have been before the surrounding area became so built up.
Ceasar’s Camp is best approached from the nearby LookOut Visitor centre by following the marked route through the woods. The outlook isn’t particularly brilliant due to the coniferous plantation surrounding it.
A roughly circular area of 6.5 ha (16 acres) is enclosed by a bank about 11m wide and up to 1.2m high. There is no evidence of a ditch or any entrances. Its area takes in the head of the Blackshouse Burn.
The 1794 Statistical Account reported the finding of some urns containing, probably, cremated bone set in cist-like structures set under the ruins of the bank.
In 1985, a survey of the area revealed that the interior contained 19 mounds and small cairns and was “traversed by a network of trackways and drains of various dates” [Canmore].
A limited excavation of the bank carried out at the same time revealed a sequence of events including the construction of large, upright timber posts on the bank’s inner and outer edge the decayed stumps of which produced a late Neolithic radio carbon date.
In 1999, a geophysical survey of western part of the enclosure produced “anomalies which may represent burning events or waterlogged posts used in the bank construction” [Canmore].
To get access, I decided to take advantage of the quarry’s proximity. Parking was allowed at their weighbridge from which it was just a short walk across a couple of fields to the site.
From Greens Moor, follow the forest edge N for 0.5 km.
Once again, the monument has been mutilated for the purposes of ovine accommodation but, from the right angle, you can still see that it must have been an impressive cairn.
One estimate puts its original dimensions at 18m diameter and 2.5m height.
