Latest Fieldnotes

A collection of about 20 round barrows with a variety of different types.

This is a total disaster. Weep, dear reader, then forget this one and instead see Poles Wood South long barrow which still lives.

Standing completely alone at the top of a field, nowhere near the field edge, crouches this rectangular megalith just 3 feet tall and 5ft 7ins wide. You just wouldn’t see it at all if the field was in full-crop. Today, planted with low-growing brassicas, I hmm-ed and ahh-ed about whether or not to trapse through the field to see it as there was no clear track. I decided to go for it, being careful to step between the plants. Like everything else round here its of oolitic limestone, pockmarked and weathered. There was something of immense pride about this stone. Definitely worth look-see.

Apart from its great height, (it’s very steep sided) there’s not much to see here. It’s big and tall at maybe 25 metres long, but there are no outstanding features. Badly overgrown, it’s now the domain of badgers. Could the Whittlestone have once been something to do with this? It’s very close.

This is a really big long barrow and not overly trashed. On the edge of woodland, it hasn’t suffered under the plough and its shape, height, total length and significance is clear. Punctuated by mature trees along the top, its outline is still relatively smooth and straight. And to my pleasant surprise I found two stones and a bit of rubble making up a little stone cist on the top, small enough to curl up in. What a great long barrow!

If you didn’t know it was a long barrow, you wouldn’t notice it. It’s a large unmarked hump, slowly being reclaimed by beech trees, today lying under a thick carpet of leaves, providing fantastic cover for the wildlife now being hunted around us. I thought I could make out the shape of the horns of an entrance way, as at Belas Knap.

Bang slap in the middle of Lower Swell village the Whittlestone lies dead. Were it not for the little brass plaque revealing its neolithic origins you would be forgiven for mistaking it for something the bin men forgot. It’s not pretty, but it is big and thick, too, and it’s recorded to have been shifted here at some point in the recent past. Dumped, more like. Given its proximity to Lower Swell long barrow, it may well have been part of that.

I was pleased that Moth, too, thought that these stones were more than just badly placed gateposts or idly strewn field clearance. And this time, due to lack of undergrowth we could see that opposite the tallest stones on the north side of the driveway were four or five more large stones, upright, large and Rollrighty. Moth vigorous set about pulling off the ivy and moss to expose them more clearly to view. I still have no idea what’s going on here at Churchill, but something very big once did, for sure.

More of a leaning stone than a standing stone it probably only remains at its tortuous 45 degree angle by virtue of the wall it lies against. Were it not for this, it would almost certainly be over, lost amongst the undergrowth. My guess is that this was once some kind of marker stone, perhaps leading to Lyneham longbarrow. Worth a glimpse if you are coming to see Lyneham.

Sorted out my confusion between this chambered tomb and/or henge and the Bookan chambered tomb further down. So much easier to find on CANMAP at higher mag – all visitors looking for particular sites (and ejits like me) should really check with this resource first, the archaeology is so thick on the ground in Orkney. My second attempt and I still misidentified. Going up the hill to Buckan Farm at the top I looked to my left and saw a big mound in the field with a couple of stones sticking up in the central hole. Thought to myself, oh I only have half a film left I’d better leave that for Stackrue, must come back and approach this tumulus another time. Then when RCAHMS finally came back online after the weekend I found out my ‘tumulus’ was really the sought-for Ring of Bookan!! Still, Stackrue Broch was well worth it.

On the ground the cairn is easy to approach a wide track going straight up from a barred metal gate by the roadside.
The ditch around the site, is shallow but fairly easy to see. Inside almost looks like a spoil heap and on the seaward side outside the ditch there is a standing stone that might once have been part of a fence. Before I left I saw the top of a slab that might have been part of a stall or a radial compartment and right next to this was a piece of black plastic(?) webbing held firm by the ground so I think there is a possibility further excavation may one day take place. According to CANMORE the 2002 excavation showed this Late Neolithic chambered tomb to be rather different from other sites of this type in size and aspects of its architecture. If you wish to look at the mounds further up wellingtons are advisable.

When I passed this site on the South Downs Way all I could see was this one mound, which looks like a round barrow. But it is referred to in the plural on the OS map and has a nearby pub named after it, so that’s good enough for me

These are stuck in the middle of a field south east of Alton Barnes and you wouldn’t look twice at them normally. But the fact remains that these are the southernmost visible traces of this ancient route.

All you can see is some raised ridges in a field.

Just to the north you can actually join the Ridgeway for the first time (unless you feel like hopping into the field!) while walking through Alton Priors, at SU110622, though the official beginning of the Southern Ridgeway is signposted just north of the village, at the start of the climb up to Adam’s Grave (SU110623).

I didn’t read the notes for here beforehand so I was only expecting the “cheesewring”. Missed the embanked avenue on the way up. Could have had something to do with the local hunt and the supporters riding past on bikes and quads.
Somewhat spoilt things.

Little Solsbury Hill – 23.1.2004

I like Rhiannon’s example of walking from Bath, but unfortunately my visit was a bit of an after thought and the sun was going down, so I lazily drove all the way up to the edge of the common land that surrounds the hill top!

There is room for 2 cars to park (at ST770678) at the end of the dead end lane that leads right up to the top of the hill. The hideously out of place house and virtual scrap yard at the top of the lane has ‘No Parking’ signs outside but presumably that means don’t park in front of their gate. I can’t see any reason why people couldn’t park a few metres down the hill, as I did.

Over a muddy stile and up the short slope to the top of the fabled hill. It was a misty drizzly day but the views were still spectacular. As Rhiannon says, the flat hilltops surround you and look like you could reach out and touch them; I know Lansdown and Bannerdown particularly well. I walked all the way around the triangular top, surveying the lumpy land and fortifications below, and trying to recognise all the areas and features I know from my home city. I’d love to return in the summer and be able to lay down and chill more!

Didn’t quite get down to the circle this time. Heavy downpours and the arrival of the local hunt kept me high on Rough Tor. Saying that there can not be many places in the British Isles where you can look down on a circle like this. There it sits, a ring of dots on a golden brown carpet. next time...

This barrow, more oval than long really and possibly an example of a transitional style, lies in the middle of Lewes golf-course and is used as a hazard on one of the holes, so you visit at your own peril...

It is visible throughout much of the town, with its distinctive dug-out shape.

See also the Tump: themodernantiquarian.com/post/24106

Long barrow 107m long and 2.4m high next to public footpath off A354.

I’ve been to this place many times. The barrow itself is a little difficult to make out as a long barrow, once you are actually standing on it, but the view will make up for this!

The visit that stands out is when I reached it from the east on my walk of the South Downs Way on 17th April 1999.

I had reached Bo-Peep Bostal car park just as a hail and thunder storm started, and waited there for it to pass. Thinking it had passed, I carried on on my way, only to hear more thunder approaching just as I was approaching the Giant’s Grave. This meant I was in the middle of a thunderstorm and just about to reach the highest point for many miles around.

I stood there nervously, wondering whether or not to throw myself to the ground (This would have been very sensible I have since discovered!).

Eventually the thunder and lightening passed and I carried on. My photo of the Giant’s Grave was taken just as the clouds parted and the sun came out. I had miles of downland all to myself, as the storm had cleared the whole South Downs Way for two miles either way, as walkers legged it back to their cars.

Standing there on top of the barrow, relieved and completely on my own, with melting hail glistening in the surprisingly warm sun, was an incredible time, especially with the views of the Way for miles to the west that had just come into view as I reached the summit.

To the east Windover Hill was white with hail, as the storm had reached it by then.

Truly a memory worth getting wet for…

Not an impressive Long Barrow, in terms of its definition within the landscape, but it does cover quite an area.

It occupies its own enclosure within scrub growth along the South Downs Way and is easy to miss. Stand upon it and look at the view east and it’s easy to see why it was put here.

Colerne Park Barrows – 23.1.2004

These aren’t quite fieldnotes because I didn’t see them! I was visiting the village I was born in (Colerne) and decided to have a quick look for the barrows, trying to remember where they were on the map (which I didn’t have with me!). I must have got so close though!!

If heading from Colerne to Ford, turn into Thickwood Lane and go through the old bit of Thickwood. You’ll come to a crossroads, go straight ahead along the narrow lane to Slaughterford. The barrows should be in the second field on your right.

I later learnt from my mother that my father had worked at Hall Farm (the farm near the crossroads) as a young man and knew the area well.

A very well preserved broch on Shapinsay where they took the decision to only excavate the interior , which means you can walk along the top and take pictures of the inside as well as from the inside .

Carry on up the Brodgar road past Buckan farm and you could easily miss the small sign on the right pointing out the Lyking road . No great distance from Lyking ( why does the road take such a strange turn there when it could easily have kept straight on it seems ) is the Stackrue site on the right . Oh I thought , another scrappy broch remnant . And so it appeared as I approached , only when I came up to it was the ruined splendour revealed as the other end a broch corner shone with large intact blocks still standing several courses high . Around it runs a large deep ditch possibly similar to that at the Broch of Gurness . At the resplendent end are a few standing stones and at one point against the bank several largish slabs . The rest looks like your average (?post- ) broch remains .
That a round steatite plate with a partial runic inscription was discovered here shows that like the Broch of Gurness and The Howe occupation continued till Viking times , explaining why the broch wall remains stand out from the rest .

I visited here today after stopping at Clach a’ Mharsainte nearby. I first spotted this stone on the 1867 OS map, and haven’t found any reference to it anywhere else. I originally listed it as a standing stone, but it is in fact a earth-fast flat-ish boulder. It was covered in two inch-thick moss, and I tried to scrape some away, but the heavens opened and it would take a while to clear the whole stone, so I left it. I’ve changed this site to Natural Rock Feature until someone can investigate further, but I wouldn’t be surprised if under all that moss there were some cup-marks.

Visited here today during a perfectly-timed break in the rain. The stone stands just off the road in front of the timeshare complex – you can’t miss it, it’s right next to a huge blue sign! The stone is a fairly regular cuboid in shape, but the top has a point to it. Standing behind the stone (with the timeshare behind you) you’ll notice something striking – the top of the stone appears to mirror the shape of Schiehallion’s peak. Checking the compass shows that Schiehallion is exactly to the SE.

There is a plaque affixed to the stone which suggests the stone may have been moved in some way by builders many years ago, but it seems to imply that it was re-erected in it’s original position, so it’s alignment with Schiehallion may have been unaffected.