Latest Fieldnotes

There is an easier way to get to the apostles, without having to struggle up the hill from the Ilkley side of the moor. If you drive up to bradup circle (Kieghley side of the moor) and follow the road to the top it brings you out by the tv masts. Park your car at the small car park and go through the gate. Turn right and follow the path (I warn you, it gets abit boggy) until you come to the far corner of the square where the ashlar chair is (probadly should have mentioned you need a map). Turn left and follow the path till you hit the brow of the ridge, here turn right and after a few minutes you’ll find the circle over a slight rise in the path. You will miss a fair few sites if you go this way but it will save your legs if you are going on the moor just to see the twelve apostles.

This pair of standing stones (the 3rd pair known to have existed in this region, the only still complete pair there) should perhaps have an alternative name of Bridgend rather than Brodgar Farm as this appears to be the name of the associated cottage . It does seem passing strange though that Brodgar Cottage has a similar arrangement , with stones embedded in a small hillock parallel to the road and on the ‘downhill’ side of a cottage at right angles to the road. But at the farm the stones are ‘only’ a pair of strangely isolated gateposts . The very slight mound (before you reach the standing stones) in the area appears by geophysics to be a probable broch , there is nothing to be seen there apart from the hill itself and a big scoop showing excavation .

Discovered in the Pierowall Quarry on Westray, my photos are from its first day on Orkney Mainland (Tankerness House Museum).

To find these from the Tregeseal stone circle, take the path from the SE corner of the circle that runs NE just skirting the S side of the southerly of the three cairns. The holed stones start a little beyond the cairn.

There are five stones. Three are in an alignment of four stones (one unholed) and these have been numbered 2,3,4 from E to W. Numbers 3 and 4 have fallen. Number 2 still stands and is the tallest of the five at 1.4m.

There are two outliers – stone number 1 lies 90m to NE of the alignment and is fairly easily spotted on the hill. Number 5 is easily seen 18m NW of 4.

1 and 5 have been repaired and are made of different stone from the other three.

Visited October 2003

There are two main barrows at Hob on the Hill.
Both are approximately 17 metres in diameter.

The southerly mound is the Hob-on-the Hill barrow and is pretty wrecked. There are large stones laying around it that may be remnants of the kerb.
There is a boundary stone set into the top of the mound which has a number of legends carved into it’s faces
On the north face is the letter ‘G’ and a benchmark, the south has the letters ‘SK’ the west ‘G’ ‘RC’ and the date 1789, the east face has the letter ‘S’ and the words ‘Hob on the Hill’ carved into it.

The second mound is about 70m north and is in better nick with some of the kerb and structure visible on the eastern side.

Both barrows are visible from many points on the northern moors and command 360 degree views.

One interesting view is from the Hob mound. If you look across to the east you can see the Black Howes with the tip of Freebrough Hill rising behind them.

There are many ways to access this wonderful site. My favoutite is from Commondale along the old ‘Monk’s trod’ path. Once you pass through the gate at the bottom of the Whitely Beck valley you will notice a large earthwork running along the eastern side of the valley, this is Park Pale, the boundary of a medieval deer park. As you gradually walk up the valley, passing the war memorial to two fallen Grenadiers from WWI, you will notice that the skyline ahead is dotted with stones. These are the Bridestones.
The earthwork starts at the edge of the river valley and runs roughly north-south for about 1 km. Over this distance I counted 55 individual stones all free standing, all very weathered, all ancient. There are other stones scattered about and a cursory glance in the numerous grouse butts shows where other stones have been used.
One of the stones close to the ancient Guisborough road has been marked with a cross and a bench mark.
As you move away from the river valley, the earthwork becomes more defined until it finally peters-out on the moor top 15 metres west of the most northerly barrow.

An enclosure defended to the north by banks and to the south by a steep incline. It spreads across two fields and is quite large. The afore mentioned farmer (see other entries in this trip) had used some of the stone that formed the banks to help rebuild his stone walls!
20th January 2004

On the very summit is a robbed tumulus made up of small stones. No view on this occaision but it was in an imposing position.
Dave 20th January 2004

I found a cluster of very large stones in an irregular pattern between the path and the southerly wall. I will go back when there is less fog around. By the way the land has been tended, I would not trust that any of the piles of large weathered were not it, or indeed those of Ell Clough.
Dave 20th January 2004

At the bend of, and above the path, this circle stands. It is 14 yards in diameter and has a bank and interior ditch. It is well pronounced and has a dramatic position. There are several stones in a pile at one side of the feature, next to what looks like an entrance.
Dave 20th January 2004

This one is off the beaten track, it certainly was in the thick fog that I went in today. A very small stone circle. Access is via a very muddy footpath, but there is loads to see.
A circle of 6 stones, 2 of which are upright, but it still looks like a good circle. There is a central mound and an embankment.
The immediate land surface has been obliterated by the farmer in his/her tractor. There are deep ruts and flotsam and jetsom everywhere. I am deeply concerned about the future of this site.
20th January 2004

This looks much like a henge to me. A large rubble bank and internal ditch, it is 45 yards in width. In the lush green grass, it looked quite obvious.

A large enclosure with south-eastern entrance (ish, sorry, no compass). Approximately 30 yards across. There is a very evident rubble bank, but no inner ditch, all around and a central robbed mound. There is however a large stone in the mound. There is a large robbed mound next to the entrance.
There is a short steep climb up to this one from the road, and it is situated at the northern end of a small quarry.
It was far to foggy on this ocaision to explore further.
Dave 20th January 2004

Small desolate moor to the West of Halifax, above Mytholmroyd. Much evidence of ancient habitation, but little charted on OS map. There are three bronze age enclosures to the south of Crow Hill which I have yet to confidently find.
You can park on the roadside in Midgely or walk up from Mytholmroyd Station

I received an e-mail last night from George Currie, one of the Scottish Megaraks with a habit of turning up relatively unknown sites. In part it read “the possibility of a stone circle in the seedlees might be of interest . i noticed it last summer and thought it landscaped a la “cuddy stanes” but had another look today and i’m not so sure . anyway it’s near the short cist in auchterhouse approx 3560 3888 . there are 5 stones in heather 40 metres in diameter , a path goes round them hence the landscaping effect. anyone wanting to have a look (it’s nearly yer backies nick) park in the layby just after the double gates just west of the 234m height mark on the map, walk back to the stile on the bend cross field to the N.W. over the rise and the stones are due south of the pylon which is about 150 yds away”

Couldn’t resist that as I hadn’t been out for ages, so off I set this morning into what was an extremely dreich day. His instructions are spot on except it’s NE not NW, and I walked past the site initially trying to find the pylon in the mist...

It’s definitely the remains of a circle, I estimate probably 12 stones originally, of which one solitary one to the west survives, along with 4 on the eastern arc. None of them terribly tall, but it sits in a lovely little natural amphitheatre. The photographs are terrible, the mist was very thick, and I’ll try to get back on a sunny day to see it in a better light. A great atmosphere though even in the mist and drizzle, and only a short distance away from the Balkello stone.

Access to this site is via a pleasant path along Froggat Edge. This is a very popular site with the wearers of multicoloured man-made fibres, what’s with the ski poles?
The views are beautiful but are soon to be blighted when the Stoke Wood Limestone quarry expands and gobbles up the hillside, for what? roadstone!
The circle is a beautiful ruined double ring with two entrances. Burl calles the northern entrance ‘questionable’. Stu tells me that a cairn was placed in this entrance shortly after it was constructed. I would say that it looks better than questionable and would be so bold as to say that it’s quite well defined with 4 corner stones.
A nice spot and a lovely circle

This is a big bugger. It’s a lovely circle but lacks the intimacy of Barbrook I & II. There is also a lack of other monuments in the immediate area of the circle. Makes you wonder what was going on here.

As we left Barbrook I, I asked Stu if the circle was the best site on the moor, he said nowt and gave me a wry smile.
I now know what that smile meant.

Is this a stone circle or a circle of stone?
Whatever it is, it’s a cracker. I’ve always maintained that reconstruction should be done on a case by case basis. In this case the reconstruction is absolutely spot-on.
A premier league site.

I met up with Stu in Chesterfield, we were due to go and hear a bunch of lectures but it was a sunny day and when Stu suggested that we go and check out some circles I didn’t have to think twice.
The drive up to Big Moor took us through the beautiful Derbyshire uplands, groups of birches and coarse grasses gives us an insight into the prehistoric landscape.
The circle is a cracker with it’s lovely south western stone.
This part of the moor is divided in two by the steep sided valley of the Bar brook. Stu tells me that there are hut circles and field systems on the other side of the valley which would indicte that the living and the dead inhabited well defined regions of the moor.
There are cairns dotted around the circle with one particular beautiful cairn looking down on the circle. It’s worth mooching around the cairns, some are well defined and large stones have been used to enclose them.
A lovely necropolis.

I stopped by here just as the sun was setting. I wasn’t expecting to see much, but actually it was a pretty top spot. The sun-lit ridge of Lansdown and the barrow-shaped Kelston Round Hill made up the horizon on one side. Near the barrow on this side is a stream. This leads into the River Avon, which flows close by (unseen). An overall feeling for the landscape is a bit obscured by the old railway – though it’s now a path and you’d probably get a good view from up here of the overall scene.

What made me really mad at the time was how the field containing the barrow had been divided up by horse owners, who’ve stuck their usual ‘private property keep out’ signs all over the place. I felt rather intimidated, and was sure they’d blocked off the very footpath that goes right past the barrow. However, I wasn’t feeling brave enough to get shirty with them. So I didn’t approach the barrow as I would have liked (and as would seem perfectly reasonable from the map). My 1:50,000 map seems to have the paths in a different place to the larger scale one, and I would probably go back armed with the latter next time, and before I start whinging to the council about public footpaths*.

I was annoyed at the time, but looking back I think this would be an interesting spot to return to. The barrow was quite big, unlike the usual vague bumps you get used to seeing, and its position in the landscape seems interesting.

*you can now cross the fields quite easily – so long as you don’t mind horses nibbling at you. You just have to unhook bits of fence and rehook them behind you. I’m sure it’s better than it was.

All that is recorded are the bare measurements and yet this is the stone that named the hill and the road . Unfotunately my scanner insists on cutting off the bottom of the slide , but just visible here on the very bottom right-hand side is an exposed horizontal rock stratum and I wonder if this extends behind to form a natural platform for this stone ( or even have to do with why it was stood there in the first place ) . Oriented ENE/WSW.

This well preserved set of earthworks is marked on the map as ‘fort’ and James Dyer calls it an Iron Age Hillfort but I would think it falls more into the category of defended settlement. The best approach to the site is to park on rough land at the start of the track at SK948431, the track then leads uphill and to the southeast. It takes a sharp right turn as the land levels off and continues along the side of a small wood for about 600 metres before turning left and leading 500 metres to the earthwork. The track is rutted and very muddy in places and would be unsuitable for wheelchair users.
The site sits below and to the northeast of the highest point of Barkston Heath and consists of a small roughly rectangular set of banks and ditches enclosing an area of 0.4-0.5 hectares. The earthworks themselves comprise of an inner bank, ditch, larger central bank, ditch and then a lower outer bank or counterscarp. There is an entrance through the eastern defences and the ditches are still a couple of metres deep in places, the whole site being in remarkably good condition considering its exposed position and the fact that it sits on a gentle slope in good farming land. I can’t see that its primary purpose was as a stronghold though, there are some decent views to the north and east but the middle distance view to the west is blocked and that to the south isn’t fantastic and anyway the defences look like they could easily be overcome. I got the impression that it would be better suited to a small family group, perhaps farmers who were cultivating the lower slopes to the east that are now taken up with an airfield. Finds from the site include some Roman coins (Ermine Street runs about a mile to the east) as well as remains of (Iron Age?) weapons.

It has been called by this name since at least 1880 but no-one knows who excavated it , the only famous Howe Harper that I can find is a present-day sportswoman rather than a proto-archaeologist . The twice I have been in the vicinity I have been put off accessing it by the combination of its siting and the walls and fences closing it off .
I had an Alfred Watkins moment once , seeing Wideford Hill Cairn looking across to Cuween Hill cairn and wondering where Howe Harper (on a hill the other side of the Finstown ‘pass’ from Cuween Hill) looked to (?Bookan) . This could be seen as a fantasy based only on which known sites in the Finstown/Binscarth are I had visited . Quite liked the idea of pais of cairns bookending plains still . Now , looking again at NMRS record HY31SW 9 on RCAHMS , should I see support in this site being built on a platform like Wideford Hill Cairn and “being similar in size, profile and topographical position to Cuween Hill Cairn” ?
The Wasdale site is only a short walk from here .

Cribbing here : most of what you see is mediaeval around a modern cairn but at the west side are broch-like stones and a resemblance has been noted to ‘causewayed island duns’ in the Outer Hebrides . A crannog by any other name ?
I have come across several sites like this but usually with causeway still obvious all the time . On a map they resemble spores attached to the shoreline , you might not even notice the
?indicative causeway if it were over a certain size and you were simply walking the shoreline rather than striking out or looking from a vantage point .
This is a complicated multi-period site whose use has changed several times , so I would refer you to NMRS record HY31SW 8 on RCAHMS for further proposed history (traditionally the site of a chapel but a recent two-volume tome on early Christian sites in the Northern Isles etc. found no evidence, finding a broch origin more in accord with what’s there).

There is some discussion over wheather or not this is a quoit or just a well balanced group of stones.
It lies on the northern slope of Carburrow Tor and can be easily found by following the remains of an ancient wall from the eastern cairn.
I have also been told that there is some talk of it being a pointer stone....but you will have to ask Cornwall Archeology Unit about that.